Coming Home Pt. 01

About an hour later Mark woke up alone. Where was Jenny? There's no way she treated him like a one night stand and dashed in the morning... right?

"Good morning handsome," she was good at the door with his favorite t-shirt, tray in hand with breakfast and juice. Mark took in her beauty again, her cute smile and her bed hair. He hadn't seen her on a morning without makeup in a long time, and this morning he appreciated it more.

"You didn't have much in the way of breakfast foods, so I had to improvise." As Mark sat up, with a confused expression on his face as she placed the tray in front of him.

"I thought I was buying you breakfast?" He rubbed his eyes and yawned, Jenny waited for him to finish and kissed him softly.

"Sweetie, look at the time," Jenny showed him his phone, 1PM. "We'll be lucky to find anywhere serving breakfast at this time."

Mark rubbed the back of his head embarrassed and took a sip of the orange juice Jenny had poured out for him.

"How about we skip the meals, and the mall and we go get my stuff?" Jenny suggested.

"And what would Chris think?" Mark was nervous about the answer.

"He knows you're my best friend, to be honest, he always thought you were gay." She laughed.

"Wait, what? Why?" Mark appeared offended at the thought.

"Well, your best friend is a girl, you were single for a long time before you met that bitch, and you're very sensitive." She ran her hand along his cheek. "Don't worry, I know you're not." And gave him a cheeky grin.

"So that bitch, that's how we're referring to Claire now?" He mused.

"Well all of your ex's really, none of them have exactly been good for you. So I figured rather than saying ex, or ex ex girlfriend, I'd call her that bitch,the one before her can be that that bitch, and the one before her will be referred to as that that that bitch." She had clearly thought this through and was very entertained by her new idea, so Mark didn't question the fact that it didn't actually make sense.

"So, Chris shouldn't suspect that something has happened between us?" Mark moved the conversation back on track, he had gotten into a habit of doing this over the years as Jenny would tend to get a little distracted when she digressed.

"I doubt he'll even be home," she continued. "I only need my clothes and to leave this." She slid her engagement ring from her finger.

"And you're sure about this?" Despite the fact that Mark wanted to protect her, he had calmed down since his anger the night before and realized that the way he may have encouraged her had been quite forceful. "I'm sorry for losing my temper last night, I want you to feel like you have a choice in this, it's your life after all."

She waited for him to finish his breakfast and kissed him again.

"And that's exactly why I'm sure." She reassured him. "I always have a choice with you and you always want what's best for me."

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" He was genuine in his notion and finished up his breakfast. "Aren't you having anything to eat?"

"I ate two hours ago," she laughed.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Mark seemed quite embarrassed that he had slept for so long.

"You seemed so peaceful," Jenny explained, "besides, last night was just as rough for you as it was for me, I think you needed the extra sleep, I got plenty."

She started to leave the room and Mark finished his drink, following her with the breakfast tray in hand.

"I'm going to head in the shower, if that's ok?"

"You don't even need to ask, you're home, remember?" Mark reassured her this time. "I can join you if you want?" He teased.

"As much as I'd love to," Jenny started and Mark felt his heart drop a little and a feeling of dread washed over him. "It wouldn't be great if Chris was actually home and we turned up smelling of sex would it?" She winked at him and all was right in his head again.

"You make a good point. Well, leave it running and I'll hop in after you." Mark began to tidy up the kitchen, while the breakfast she had made was super tasty, Jenny knew how to leave a mess in her wake, by the time the tidying was done, Jenny stepped out of the shower and walked down the hall into the kitchen in just a towel.

This was another instance where Mark had seen Jenny exactly like this before, but after everything, it hit him differently and he took another moment to take her in. With no makeup, she really was beautiful.

"You can borrow some of my clothes if you like," Mark's offer was genuine, but caused Jenny to laugh due to their size difference.

"I might steal some of your boxers, my underwear is kind of unusable until I head home." She winked and stuck her tongue out at him. Mark was reminded of how quickly she could turn from sexy to adorable in mere seconds.

When she turned around and headed back to his room, he was reminded of her troubles as he saw the bruises on her arm and legs.

Mark headed to the bathroom and shouted to Jenny, "You know, I really am sorry, that you felt that you couldn't come to me with this?" Jenny walked back out of the bedroom and Mark noticed her wearing his lounging pants, they were a little long but they sat on her hips just right in a way that he really admired. "So, you found my lounge pants then?"

"I'm honestly shocked you didn't have them on when I came out of the shower. I didn't think you'd be cleaning in just your underwear, which, by the way, who puts on clean underwear before they shower? You're gross!" Mark laughed as she kept throwing her jabs at him. This kind of stuff would piss him off with most people, but with Jenny, it had been going on so long that he didn't care, it was just a natural occurrence at this point.

"Well I couldn't find what I was wearing yesterday, I'm going to change them again!" He defended himself playfully. "Now, I'm headed in the shower and if you don't mind, I'd like some peace while I'm in there." It didn't need to be said out loud but Jenny knew that he meant he needed a break from the insults she was throwing his way and respected his request.

She sat in his room drying her hair with a towel due to "that bitch" taking the hair dryer with her, Jenny silently cussed her out but realized she couldn't blame her for that, it was Claire's after all. She let out a little chuckle to herself. Despite everything she had put him through, Mark really had stuck by Claire in the worst of times and he was to be admired for that. If Claire wasn't going to do it, then Jenny would, she was going to take full advantage of the man he had grown to be and take him all for herself. She mused at the thought.

"Mine," she said aloud. "Mark is mine." She giggled and continued talking to herself, "it feels so surreal to say that out loud, but it feels right too." She hung her dress from the night before and looked around for any of Mark's clothes that might even remotely fit her, of course she was going to keep wearing the Sonic the Hedgehog t-shirt he had kept for her since they were teenagers, she tied a knot in it to show off some of her tummy, but didn't make it high enough to show the bruise on her ribs.

Mark came back from the bathroom into his bedroom to join her, it was his turn to enter in just a towel this time and as he entered he immediately felt Jenny's eyes on him.

"Are you checking me out?" He teased.

"Just admiring the view." She responded.

"Well I suppose that's all well and good now that I'm yours." He purposefully put emphasis on the last word to let her know that he had heard her muttering to herself only a few moments ago and watched her face turn red.

"That's not fair, I don't eavesdrop on you," She laughed, throwing a pillow at him.

"I beg to differ," He responded quickly, as if he had something in his pocket ready for her to say those exact words. "Fifteen years ago, I believe it was August, I told my mom how badly I wanted to get a second controller for my GameCube, so that we no longer had to take turns."

"Oh, you knew about that?" She was taken aback a little.

"Well when you turn up at my house a week later to play video games and you bring an extra controller, what was I meant to think? I knew you didn't have a GameCube." He laughed. Jenny had never realized that he had put two and two together at the time, even then there was no pulling the wool over his eyes.

"Well, that one doesn't count." She pouted.

"How come?" He was looking very proud of himself.

"Because I didn't know you knew about that." She broke down giggling and he threw the pillow back at her. He sat on the bed for a moment, his demeanor changing to that a little more serious.

"Honestly though Jen, it's Saturday today, you don't need to go back there. We could always get your stuff tomorrow and enjoy the positive atmosphere that we have today." This was a nice suggestion, although Jenny wanted to get the hard part out of the way, otherwise she would know she would keep putting it off and have to go there alone on her way home from work one day through the week.

"No, it's best we do it today, that way I can't put it off any longer, and the sooner the better, so hurry and get dressed!" She instructed him.

"You're one to talk!" he responded quickly.

"I have to go like this, it's been decided. The rest of my clothes are at Chris' apartment and I can't wear my party dress." She folded her arms as if waiting for him patiently.

"Alright, give me a minute!" While he knew she was joking, the stare scared him as much as the voice she had used on Claire the night before.