You Don't Know Me

“I can’t believe you got Sean to go to a football game,” Michelle grinned at Tony. They were sitting together in the college café. “He has never had any interest in athletics of any kind.”

Smiling, Tony agreed. “He had no idea what was going on,” he chuckled. “But he was a good sport about it. He kept cheering at the wrong times and looking totally confused. It was really cute.”

Looking at the man sitting across from her, Michelle thought silently to herself for a moment. Like with Marcus, she had immediately made assumptions about Tony the first time she saw him. And like with Marcus, her assumptions had been completely wrong. Despite his obvious dark good looks and muscular build, Tony was shy. He was also kind and funny, and he treated Sean incredibly well. Michelle had really grown to like him over the past few months.

“Hi, Tony,” a female voice called. Michelle watched an incredibly beautiful girl approach the table, and quickly realized why she recognized her.

“Hey Janette,” Tony gave the girl a smile. “Do you know Michelle?”

Shaking her head, Janette grinned. “I’ve seen you around, but I don’t think we’ve actually met.”

“No,” Michelle said, the word sticking in her throat. “I mean, I don’t think we’ve met either. Hi.” This was the girl she had seen so many times flirting with Marcus, and the thought made her stomach sink, particularly seeing just how gorgeous Janette was up close.

“Would you like to sit with us?” Tony asked Janette.

“I wouldn’t be intruding?” Janette looked concerned.

“No way,” Tony shook his head. “I haven’t gotten to see much of you lately.”

“Yeah,” Janette sat down and rolled her eyes. “Luke sort of fucked up our little group, didn’t he?”

“I’m glad to hear that you see it that way,” Tony grinned at her. “Some people seem to think I’m the one that fucked up the group.”

“How?” Janette looked incredulous. “Because you’re dating a guy? That’s Luke’s business why?”

Watching the exchange, Michelle felt her heart pumping hard in her chest. So besides being stunning, this girl was also sweet. She found herself immediately questioning why Marcus could possibly be interested in her instead of Janette.

“Anyway,” Janette was still talking to Tony. “Once the weather gets better, you have to start skating in the lot with us again.”

“It might not be so easy,” Tony shook his head, looking awkward. “I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable or cause any problems…”

“Don’t be silly,” Janette beamed at him. “If anyone says anything, I’ll kick their ass.”

Laughing, Tony nodded. “Yeah,” he told her. “All hundred pounds of you.”

“I’m tougher than I look,” Janette giggled. “Anyway, I should get going. I just wanted to say hi.” Turning towards Michelle, Janette smiled widely again. “It was really nice to meet you,” she said as she rose.

“You, too,” Michelle lied.

“Take care, Tony,” Janette said. “Oh, and can you do me a favor? If you see Marcus, can you tell him I won’t be in class tomorrow, and ask him if he’ll copy his notes for me? I have a dentist’s appointment.”

“You have a class with Marcus?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, English,” Janette’s cheeks flushed as she said it, making Michelle’s stomach drop once again. “We study together sometimes.” There was a definite hint of something in her voice as she said that.

“I’ll tell him,” Tony said. “I have class with him later.”

“Thanks,” Janette replied as she bounced away. “Bye!”

“She seems… nice,” Michelle said to Tony after Janette had left the café.

Shrugging, Tony nodded. “She’s cool,” he said. “A little ditzy, but every guy I know has begged me to set them up with her.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Michelle told him, her voice a little sad.

“Marcus hasn’t,” Tony added, giving Michelle a small grin. “Only guy besides Sean that I’ve introduced to her that didn’t ask me to set him up.”

Blushing, Michelle looked down at her hands. “That doesn’t… I don’t… whatever.”

“Yeah, sure you don’t,” Tony teased. “You guys just stare at each other across rooms, and talk about each other non-stop, and end up making out randomly in the hallway…” When Michelle lifted her head in surprise at his last statement, Tony laughed. “Sorry, Sean sometimes tells me stuff he probably shouldn’t.”

“I guess so,” Michelle’s cheeks were now blazing. “But we’re not… we’re just friends.”

“Whatever you say,” Tony laughed.

-----

“Hey,” Marcus slid into the seat beside Michelle, giving her a big grin. He slid his messenger bag off his shoulders and set it beside him. “How are you doing?”

Looking over, Michelle made herself smile back at him. “I’m good,” she said softly. “How are you?”

A confused look passed over Marcus’s face. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. “You seem a little…” He couldn’t find the word for the vibe he was getting from Michelle. “Are you mad at me for something?”

Shaking her head, Michelle blushed. “No,” she told him quickly. “I promise I’m not. I’m just… I’m in a weird mood this week.” This was the truth. It was now Thursday, and it had been three days since Michelle had met Janette. But for some reason, she had spent all her time since then thinking about the girl. “I met your friend Janette on Monday,” she tried to make her voice sound light.

The darkened look that passed over Marcus’s face when she said that did nothing to calm Michelle’s fears. “Yeah?” Marcus tried to seem composed.

“She seems nice,” Michelle said, looking down at her desk, playing with the pencil she was holding in her hands. “She sat with Tony and me at the café for a little while.”

Searching Michelle’s expression for some sort of explanation, Marcus couldn’t read anything. “So, anyway,” he said, hoping to change the subject. “Last weekend you mentioned something about hanging out on Saturday…”

The fact that Marcus had remembered this, and that he looked excited at the prospect of hanging out with her, made Michelle relax enough to look back up at him. “Do you have to work or anything?” she asked.

Visually becoming more comfortable at Michelle’s friendlier demeanor, Marcus shook his head. “I switched shifts with someone. You didn’t say what time you wanted to hang out, so I didn’t want to take any chances…”

Looking into Marcus’s intense blue eyes, Michelle couldn’t help but smile. It was hard for her to believe that this beautiful boy had changed his schedule for her. “I guess we have the whole day then,” Michelle told him.

His eyes twinkling, Marcus gave Michelle a big grin. “That’s awesome,” he said, his voice filled with genuineness. “We can spend the whole day together.”

Before Michelle could respond, the professor entered the classroom and closed the door behind her, indicating that class was beginning. Sneaking a glance over at Marcus, Michelle smiled softly at him to let him know she was happy with his plan. Her heart was beating hard in her chest, but she was happy.

-----

“No, you have natural talent,” Marcus said to Michelle as he opened the door to his apartment. “I can’t believe you’ve never been on a skateboard before.”

“Then you’re blind,” Michelle laughed, slipping off her coat and resting it on the neatly-made bed. “I fell, like, twenty times. I’m going to have bruises on my ass for a month.”

Marcus and Michelle had gone out to lunch, then walked through a small park together, trying to ignore the cold weather, and afterwards he had taken her to an indoor skate park he frequented. After watching him for half an hour, Michelle had finally given into Marcus’s pleas and tried skating herself. It had been exhilarating and scary, but it was a wonderful time. They were planning on going out to dinner, but it was still early, so they had opted to go back to Marcus’s apartment, despite the nervousness taking over Michelle’s body at the thought of being alone with Marcus.

“Do you want a soda or something?” Marcus asked, slipping out of his jacket.

“I’m good,” Michelle said, nervously sitting down at the edge of his bed. “So how long have you been skating?”

Grabbing a soda for himself from the fridge, Marcus raised his shoulders. “God, I must have started at ten or eleven. So almost ten years now.” He took a seat next to Michelle and opened the soda can.

“You’re really good,” Michelle told him. “Some of those tricks you do… they’re amazing.”

Taking a gulp of his soda, Marcus smiled at Michelle. “Ah, the spoils of a wasted youth. So I’m guessing you spent your formative years reading and studying, making yourself the brainiac you are today.”

Blushing, Michelle shrugged. “I guess…”

“That wasn’t meant to be an insult,” Marcus quickly responded. “I love how intelligent you are.”

Looking at her hands, Michelle tried to gather her courage. Raising her head, she looked into Marcus’s eyes. “Really?” she asked nervously. “I mean… this is going to sound so dumb, but I’ve just been wondering why someone like you… why you’re interested in me.”

Shaking his head, Marcus gave Michelle a small grin. “You actually don’t get it?” he asked gently. “You really don’t see how funny and smart and cool you are?”

Embarrassment overtaking her, Michelle didn’t know how to respond. “I mean, I get why Sean is my friend, or why a girl like Brigitte actually seemed to like me. I don’t hate myself or anything. I just… I mean you…”

“I have told you a lot about my past,” Marcus said, setting his soda on the end table. “I told you about my cocaine addiction, I told you about getting Catherine pregnant… and you never judged me. I mean, you judged me when we first met,” he chuckled. “But on the real stuff, the important stuff – you took me at face value. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

Looking into Marcus’s eyes, Michelle gave him a questioning look. “But that was later. Why… why at first?”

It was obvious to Marcus that Michelle really didn’t see the side of herself that he saw. “Like I said,” he took her hand in his. “You’re funny and smart and cool. That’s all incredibly sexy.”

Blushing, Michelle looked down. “Really?” she asked incredulously. “You think I’m sexy?”

Reaching up with his free hand, Marcus slid a finger under Michelle’s chin until she was forced to look into his eyes. “You, Michelle, are one of the sexiest girls I have ever met.”

Before she knew what was happening, Marcus’s mouth moved towards Michelle’s. His lips pressed against hers, softly and slowly. Feeling Marcus move his hand from her face to her neck, sliding back to massage her, Michelle fell into the kiss. She reached for his shoulder as she felt him scrape his teeth softly over her bottom lip. As his tongue reached out to sweep over her lips, Michelle couldn’t help but let out a small moan. Her lips parted, and Marcus’s tongue reached for hers. His mouth was hot and moist and so inviting. Michelle barely noticed when the phone began to ring.

“Ignore it,” Marcus whispered against her lips. “The machine will pick it up.”

Michelle reached up to wrap her arms around Marcus’s neck, pulling him closer to her. She heard his generic message in the background, but tried to ignore it. When someone else started speaking into the machine, though, Marcus pulled back.

“Marcus, hey, it’s Peter,” a voice rang out through the apartment. The speaker was young and obviously upset. “I just… I guess you’re not home…”

Marcus immediately leapt from the bed and reached for the handset. “Pete, what’s up?” he asked with concern. Michelle watched his brows furrow. “No, no, you can call me anytime, you know that. What happened?” Marcus’s jaw drew tight as he stood in silence listening. “No, Pete, don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right there… No, it’s no problem.” He glanced over at Michelle, who gave him an encouraging smile. “Listen, my friend is here. Is it okay if she comes, too...? Okay, give us twenty minutes.”

Hanging up the phone, Marcus looked over at Michelle. “I’m sorry,” he told her. “That was Peter, the kid I told you about. His dad got arrested last night for drunk driving, and his mom went on a bender today, getting pretty violent. He’s locked himself in his room, and he’s really freaked out, so I said I’d come get him…”

Rising, Michelle nodded. “We should get there as soon as possible, then,” she reached for her jacket.

Sweeping across the room, Marcus gathered Michelle in his arms. “This…” he said softly, looking into her eyes. “This is why I’m interested in you. This is why you’re the only girl in two years I have even considered being in a real relationship with.” His lips brushed against hers. “You, Michelle, are the type of girl I could…” He faltered before finishing his sentence. “You are an amazing girl.”

“Thank you,” Michelle whispered, her eyes growing glassy. “But we can talk about this later. Peter’s waiting.”

Smiling with admiration, Marcus nodded. “Yeah, let’s get going.”

-----

Looking across the small table of the diner they were at, Michelle couldn’t adjust to how young the boy in front of her looked. He was fifteen, less than five years younger than her. He had a ring through his eyebrow and his lip, and he wore dark eyeliner around his brown eyes, although his earlier tears of fear had smeared it. He had his black hoodie pulled up over his head, and he kept glancing at Michelle with looks of suspicion, and then at Marcus with looks of total trust.

“I’m going to use the ladies room,” Michelle told them, seeing a look of appreciation come from Marcus. She knew that Peter needed some time alone with Marcus.

“So what happened?” Marcus asked after Michelle had walked off. He had seated himself beside Peter, but was careful to take note of the wary boy’s personal space.

“The usual,” Peter said. “Dad got wasted at a bar last night – he just got caught this time. But mom…” Tears filled his eyes, looking out of place in his angry face. “She… she doesn’t usually…”

Wrapping his arms around Peter despite the younger boy’s protests, Marcus finally forced him to give in. “She knows you’re with me,” Marcus told him. “You can stay at my place for a few days, at least until things settle down.”

Pulling back, Peter buried his hands into the pocket at the front of his sweatshirt. “Are you sure?” he asked nervously. “I mean, I obviously ruined your date tonight…”

“Did you meet Michelle?” Marcus smirked. “Coolest girl ever. It’s no problem. I promise.”

“Thanks, Marcus,” Peter said shyly. “I so wanted to sneak out and get fucked up…”

“But you didn’t,” Marcus reminded him in a serious tone. “I’m really proud of you for that. Really proud.”

Smiling timidly, Peter shrugged. “I’m kind of proud, too,” he admitted.

“You should be,” Marcus said, reaching for a menu on the table and handing it to Peter. “But for now, let’s get you something to eat. We’ll talk more once we get back to my place.”

Looking with admiration at Marcus, Peter took the menu. When Michelle returned to the table a few minutes later, he looked up at her. “Thanks for putting up with a fucked up teenager tonight…” he said softly.

“Hey, how old do you think I am?” Michelle joked, her smile kind. “I’m still a teenager, at least for another month.”

“Really?” Marcus asked, surprised that her birthday was coming up. “When’s your birthday?”

“May 9th,” Michelle said, reaching for a menu. “So anyway, what are we all getting?”

With appreciation, Marcus watched as Michelle bantered with Peter until he became more comfortable. This was why he wanted to be with her – this exact moment defined his attraction completely.

-----

“I’m sorry today got cut short,” Marcus told Michelle, his voice a whisper in the hallway as he closed his apartment door behind him. “Peter just…”

“Please, don’t apologize,” Michelle smiled at him. “What you’re doing…” Seeing Marcus blush and look down, she changed her tactic. “He’s a great kid.”

“He really is,” Marcus grinned. “But thanks, anyway…”

Reaching up to cradle his face in her hands, Michelle shook her head. “I really like you, Marcus,” Michelle said, her voice filled with uncharacteristic honestly. “And even though we’ve already… you know… That was different. If it’s okay with you, I would like to move slower from here on in. I mean, if it’s okay with you…” Her cheeks heated and she looked down for a moment.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Marcus told Michelle, surprising her enough to make her look up. Reaching to place his hands over hers, Marcus smiled. “You are one of the special ones,” he said softly. “We rushed things at first, and I’m sorry for that. But from here-on-in, I want to take things slowly, too.”

“Thank you,” Michelle’s eyes filled with tears. “Now go inside. Peter needs you.”

Staring straight into those nearly transparent blue eyes, Marcus grinned. “Earlier, when I stopped myself?” he said. “What I meant to say is that you are the type of girl I could see myself with forever.”

Taking in a deep breath, Michelle didn’t know how to respond. She just looked back into Marcus’s dark blue eyes. “I’m in trouble,” she smirked.

“Oh, I think we both are,” Marcus smiled back, leaning down to kiss her softly. “I’ll call you tomorrow, after work, okay? I’m going to take Pete in with me.”

Pulling back, Michelle nodded. “I’d like it if you called,” she said as she stepped back, still holding his hands. “I’d like that a lot.”

“Goodnight, Michelle.”

“Goodnight, Marcus.”

-----

Knowing that Marcus got out of work at six on Sundays, Michelle was surprised when the phone rang at 6:11. “Hey,” Marcus greeted her, his voice out of breath. “How are you doing?”

“You didn’t have to call the minute you got home,” Michelle laughed, moving from the seat at her desk to her bed. “How did everything go with Peter?”

”Pretty good,” Marcus said, his subtlety making it clear that Peter was in the room with him. “We had a great time at work. I think Peter’s going to start working eight or ten hours a week there.”

“That’s great,” Michelle leaned back into the pillows.

“Pete, I’m going into the hall for a minute,” Michelle heard Marcus call out. She waited patiently until he spoke again. “Okay, I’m alone now.”

“I’m not really one for dirty talk on the phone,” Michelle joked. “Nothing a fifteen year old couldn’t hear, at least.”

Laughing, Marcus felt good. “Thanks again for last night,” he told her. “Peter really needed someone…”

“And you were there for him,” Michelle finished simply. “I think that’s great of you.”

“Like I told you,” Marcus explained. “This isn’t a good deed. It’s more like retribution.”

“Liar,” Michelle called him out. “You’re doing this because Peter needs you. Face it, Marcus. You may have made mistakes in the past, but you’re a good guy now.”

”I guess,” Marcus was glad Michelle couldn’t see him blush. “But you didn’t have to be so cool about everything, so thanks.”

“No problem,” Michelle said honestly. “So what’s your schedule like next weekend?”

Chuckling, Marcus felt a feeling spread over him that he hadn’t felt in a long time – pure happiness. “I get off work at five on Saturday…”

“So we’re going out Saturday night, then?” Michelle was more stating a fact than asking a question. “I mean, you still owe me a dinner. We went Dutch on lunch, remember…”

“I remember,” Marcus told her. “I’d love to have dinner with you.”

”Okay, then I’ll see you in class on Thursday-” Michelle began, but Marcus cut her off.

“Oh, no,” he told her with a laugh. “You don’t get off that easy. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Smiling to herself, Michelle agreed. “That sounds perfect,” she said.

“Okay, then I guess we’re hanging up…” Marcus sounded sad at the prospect.

“Peter needs you,” Michelle reminded him. “And we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Marcus agreed. “Well, sweet dreams.”

“I don’t know how sweet they’ll be,” Michelle countered, blushing at the openness of her statement. She never said things like that…

“Sounds good to me,” Marcus chuckled. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Marcus.”

-----

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