Dedicated to Not-that-perfect

    "Come around for some coffee tomorrow morning." Mrs Ross hollered as I walked out of the house.
    "I'll try. Bye."
     Immediately I shut the door, I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe,trying to register what just happened. Marcus happened,that was for sure.
     I opened my eyes finally and shrieked when I saw a pair of eyes staring straight at me.
    "Dad,you scared me!" I exclaimed,clutching my chest with one hand while carrying the grocery bags in the other.
    "Where have you been? You'd been gone for about three hours now and going to the grocery store shouldn't take you up to three hours". He reasoned, maintaining a serious look on his face.
    "I'm sorry dad. I'm just coming from our neighbours house. I helped the woman of the house at the grocery store so she invited me over." I explained.
     He was silent for a while. "It's good to see you showing some manners." His eyes slid over to the grocery bad. "Well,come to the kitchen let's sort them out."
   I watched as he sorted the things out while I stood leaning on the door post.
    "How're you feeling now dad?"
     He turned to me with a sly smile. "Better.I'm thinking I should start applying for job vacancies. Staying at home is a great deal of work".
    "I second that. It's really frustrating when I remember you have no job. A lot of companies would be privileged to have a smart head like you in their company."
     Dad patted my shoulder tenderly. Lines of stress were beginning to form on his face and his hair looked so disheveled and unkempt. Back then when he had a job,he looked classy and younger,always clad in neatly ironed suits and polished black shoes. Right now,he only had a pair of baggy trousers and a faded green shirt on. It was really a sorry sight...especially to my eyes.
    "I know, I'm a mess right now". He breathed,gesturing to his whole body.  "Things are gonna change around here soon. Starting with me getting a job".
     Finally, dad was his enthusiastic self again.
    "But first, I need to finish my game upstairs. I'm on level nine!"
     Great! Just when I was thinking things couldn't get worse. Since when did dad play games?
     He scampered up the stairs like a kid in search of candy. The TV screen didn't look so inviting so I went up to my room. The light in Marcus' bedroom was on, illuminating outside a little bit. The deal I made with Mrs Ross played in my head again. How could I possibly fix his attitude towards everything and everyone around him?
     I popped my head outside my window, watching the stars gleam in the dark sky above. Everything seemed to me like a work of art that I couldn't help wondering how much of an artist God was.
    "Twinkle, twinkle little star,
     How I wonder what you - arrgh!"
     I squealed out loud as something buzzed in my pocket,interrupting my rhyme. Who was calling by this time of the evening? Deep in thoughts, I cuddled the phone anxiously to my ear.
    "Who's your friend who likes to play?" The voice sang out cheerfully. It was impossible not to know who the caller was.
    "What's up with you Jeremy?" I chirped in, leaning on the window pane. "Why did you decide to call me?Hope you didn't get into any trouble?"
     Jeremy fell silent on the other end making me think twice. Did he?
    "I'm finding it hard to sleep." He confessed. "Again".
   Although everyone admired Jeremy at school for his good looks,charms,great sense of humor and many more which i was too tired to remember, to me he was just an overgrown baby.
     My nights have been interrupted times without number just because he couldn't find some sleep. I was starting to think I deserved an award; Best friend of the year.
    "So what can I do to help?" I offered in the nicest way possible.
    "Sing for me!"
    "I'm not sure I know how." I argued, drawing small circles in the air with an index finger.
    "Please!" He begged.
    "No!"
    "Pretty pleeeeeease!" He stressed this time. I imagined him going all pouty lips and puppy eyes on me.
     After a moment hesitation, I gave in.  "Fine."
    "I'm tucking myself into bed right now". He informed me and I waited until I heard his voice again. "I'm ready."
     I cleared my throat reluctantly and started singing. Before I could go any further, Jeremy's voice cut me off.
    "Too fast!"
     I rolled my eyes and changed to another song. He cut me off again.
    "Too cheesy!"
     I mimicked him loud enough so he could hear me before switching to one of my best songs.
    "Too slow!"
     "Look Jeremy!" I barked out, pissed off by his picky attitude. "Let me remind you in case you've forgotten that I'm just doing this because I want to and not because you begged me to." I paused to catch my breath.
    "Do you wanna hear a song or not?"
    "I do". He replied meekly.
    "Then shut the hell up and listen."
    "Yes ma'm."
     I brushed some strands of hair away from my face, huffed out loud and began to sing a lullaby. To my satisfaction, Jeremy didn't interrupt one bit. I found my eyes drooping slowly as I sang. A yawn escaped from the other end and then perfect silence.
    "Jeremy?" I called out to check if he was really asleep. "Jeremy?"
     There was no reply. I cut the call and let out a sigh of exasperation. The window opposite mine closed and the lights went off. Seemed like everyone was retiring to the comfort of their beds. I closed the window shutters, dropped the curtains and walked with unstable strides towards my bed.
                  ....................

     I raised my hand to press the doorbell but then decided against it. It was 7 o'clock in the morning and I wondered what I was doing in front of the Ross' door. Having coffee with the both of them really made me feel nervous.
     Sucking in a deep harsh breath, I pressed the doorbell, half hoping no one was around. The door swung open almost immediately, like someone had been stationed by the door, awaiting my grand entry.
     Marcus stood at the other end, holding the door knob with a confused expression.
    "Good morning. I -"
     The door closed against my face, cutting me off. Sheesh! Where were his manners? I wondered with a deep frown.
     Just when I was about to lose hope of him ever opening the door again,it swung open but instead, Mrs Ross stood at the other end.
    "Good morning ma'm".
    "Oh I'm so glad you could make it for coffee Amanda. Do come in." She beamed.
     And that's what I call a grand entry!
     I walked into the house and caught sight of Marcus on the sofa. How dare he pretend like nothing happened?
    "You look lovely Mrs Ross."
     She muttered a quick thank you and strode into the kitchen, leaving me alone in the sitting room with Marcus. I knew what he wanted. He expected me to scurry to another sofa like the little scared girl he thought I was. Well, news flash!  I wasn't gonna give him the satisfaction of watching me do just that.
     I plopped down on the sofa next to him. From the corner of my eye, I saw him cock one dirty blonde brow in surprise but it faded off as quickly as it came. I pretended to be focused on the TV screen but deep down, I wasn't. Not when I was about this close...to stabbing Marcus. Ha!
     How long did it take to make coffee? Was this her way of giving us quality time together? I took the risk of glancing at him.
    "Ahem!" He cleared his throat. "Remember rule number one. Don't lose focus while checking me out."
     I snorted. "I wasn't checking you out and by the way, how did you know I was looking at you if you weren't looking at me yourself?"
     He opened his mouth to say something then closed it. Bam, I'd hit the bull's eye!
    "For the fist time you talked to me without having a heart seizure."
     I was dumbfounded. "What do you mean by that?" He flicked his hair aside, something that made him resemble Jeremy a bit.
    "Normally when girls see me,they have heart failure when they talk and eventually end up falling for me."
     Could he hear how dumb that sounded right now? For the love of fudge cake someone please wake him up from his dream state!
    "I'm not your typical girl who falls for guys like you. I'm not into snobbish and cold guys." I blurted out without realizing I was actually challenging Mr Perfect alone in the living room.
     He shifted closer to me on the sofa. "Is that so? You're not into me?" His dark turquoise eyes looked deep into me as if searching for any show of emotion that might give me  away.
    "I'm not into you." I assured him,with the courage I'd somehow managed to muster.
    "You're not saying it like you mean it." He prodded on and leaned back into the sofa with a half shrug.
    "Never mind,I'm sure you'll end up falling for me like the rest."
     "Not if you do so first!" I retorted.

     A/N: Well,what do you think? Do you still need me to tell you how much I love you for reading this chapter? *Smirks* I'm sure you do..so thanks either way. For those that love seeing Amanda and Marcus in action, hope you loved their little chit chat. The comment section is always open for feedbacks.
    If you love pickup lines,you'll love these:
   *Do you mix concrete for a living,cos you're making me hard.
   *Is your phone in your pocket,cos your ass is calling me.
     Note: They are not mine.*Rolls eye* I don't mean the story,the pickup lines.