"Star!" Marco called out from the hallway. Without knocking, he had swung the door to Star's room open just as he was struggling to stick his arm in his same old red sweater that he never seemed to leave the house without. "I'm going out, won't be back until later! Bye!" Marco was such in a rush, he almost left Star, the hopeless lump on the bed, alone with her negative thoughts.

She had been facing away from the doorway and was curled up on her bed, hearing Marco's quick and frantic news. In her hand, her wand sparked briefly before going out again, a green spark. Star startled herself a bit and realized she had been left alone with her thoughts for too long.

"Marco?" She finally asked, making the brunette, who was an inch away from carelessly swinging the door shut, stopped. He turned to her, not being able to even guess if Star was upset or not, considering he was staring at the back of her head.

"Uh, yeah?" He responded slowly, a knot tying in his stomach as if there was something wrong.

Star rose up in her bed, staring down at the wand in her hand with tired eyes. "Can I... talk to you for a sec?"

Marco didn't take it as a question, not making the slightest of hesitation. He slowed down his fast paced behavior and sat down next to Star on her bed. Besides, Star was his best friend. If she had something that was worrying her, Marco was there.

But as she went on, trying to explain, Marco could feel the knot getting tighter and more unpleasant inside of him.

"I, uh..." Star stopped and retried but not before taking a breath in to compose herself. "Well. It's kinda hard to explain." Despite the two hours that she had been left to think it all over, Star couldn't find the words to tell Marco subtly how she felt. Or maybe it was because she didn't know either. Still, she attempted to go on, even if Marco began to raise an eyebrow.

"Star, c'mon. It's okay. You can tell me." He said reassuringly.

With that said, Star relaxed her stiff posture and sighed. "Do you just ever feel like - like you know you really like someone but you know they don't like you back?"

Marco cracked a laugh to that. "You mean Oskar? I wouldn't worry about him. Trust me, Star, anyone who plays the keytar and lives in their car is not the kind to be... 'taken'." He used air quotes with his hands as he said it.

"Wha - hey! I wasn't talking about-" Star's voice was interrupted by a girl's chill voice from down the stairs.

"Marco, I'm here!"

Star cringed at the sound of the familiar voice, knowing exactly who it belonged to. She held her wand tight in her hand, using it like a stress ball. "Jackie's here?" She talked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, sorry, Star. I got to go. Can we talk about this later?" Marco said, getting up and heading to the door.

"Nevermind." She mumbled back, crawling back into her fetal position in her bed, gazing upon the split star of her wand. "It's not important anyway." Surely, she was bluffing. In fact, as Marco left her alone with an "okay", Star groaned in frustration. Why couldn't he get the hint that she was more than worried and needed him so deeply, more than ever?

"Coming!" Marco called back down the stairs from the hallway.

"Marco Diaz!" Star hollered like a furious mother. She swung open her door to find Marco just leaving the hallway and about to trudge down the stairs to where a light blonde, blue-green eyed girl stood, Jackie.

The brunette moaned, finding Star to distract him from Jackie, who casually stood by the front door with her skateboard, waiting. "Star, I told you. We can talk later-"

"No! Wait!" Star said, her hands out infront of her. But as soon as she said it, she realized she didn't have a good reason to stall and was running out of time to find one.

Her face looked panicked to Marco and he moaned. "I have to go. What is it?"

"Marco?" Jackie said from the bottom of the stairs. Star reacted to her voice by squeezing her eyes shut tight. In her clenched hand, her wand sparked, a sporadic electrified green magic.

"Starrr?" Marco pressed. "Please, whatever you have to say, make it quick."

The blonde groaned with aggravation before bursting out. "But it wouldn't be fair to you!"

"What are you-?" He was interrupted.

"The truth is..." Star stared at the ground, not being able to finish her sentence. She knew these feelings she had towards Jackie were not only irrational, but just downright wrong. She knew it was not Jackie's fault that Marco was head over heels for her, but Star couldn't stop it. She still held some anger towards her. As the girl was lost in thought, Marco sighed.

"A little quicker." He said, gesturing to Star and looking down the staircase as if to see if Jackie was still there, hoping he wasn't keeping her waiting too long that she left. Fortunately for him, she was still there.

"I don't..."

"Yeah?"

"I don't want you... and Jackie... to... go... out..." Star cringed up her face, knowing it sounded just as bad as it sounded to Marco. He stared back at her with a sort of shocked expression.

"Star... w-why would you say that?"

"I know, I know! But I can't help it!" Star twirled her wand in her hand and hummed nervously. "I just... it's complicated!"

"Ugh, Star, please! Just tell me! What the heck is really bothering you?"

"It just kills me!"

"Star, spit it out already!" Marco shouted in a whisper, knowing if he actually did shout that Jackie would overhear.

Star closed her eyes tight, her mind becoming too overwhelmed in the moment and making her groan out loud, this time more deeply than the last. Then, she said it. "I don't want you and Jackie to see each other anymore! I hate it!"

The same shocked expression came back to Marco's face. Then it hardened, his eyes like daggers. "How could you say that, Star? I thought you'd be happy for me, but I guess not."

"No! Nononono! Marco, I was - I mean I am!" Star answered. As she spoke, her voice became soft and sympathetic. As for Marco's voice, it had sharpened and grew more angered by the second.

"I can't believe how selfish you are being! Do you know how many things I've been through just to make you happy? I saved Pony Head from princess jail, even if it costed me my sanity just to make you happy. Even if it was late and I was tired and you just wanted nachos, I made them! Just because it made you happy!"

"You think I don't appreciate those things, Marco? Even if it doesn't feel like it to you, those things mean everything to me..." She dropped her dead stare and her eyes softened. "You mean everything to me." She looked up again, her cold stare coming back to her face. "But I guess you really don't see it that way at all. I guess you just see me as some kind of problem that won't go away."

"Is... uhh, everything okay up there?" Jackie's voice said loudly from the first floor.

"Yeah." Marco stated sternly and a bit mad, gazing upon Star, making the blonde feel guilty and ashamed. "Everything is just fine." As he continued down the stairs, leaving Star agitated, she wailed.

"Marco Diaz, don't you dare walk away from me! I'm talking to you!" She stomped her foot down and raised her head up at the ceiling with her arms thrown down by her sides. In her hand, her wand reacted again with a single spark then a sudden lightening. She clenched her teeth together, biting down on the anger that boiled up inside of her, controlling her.

The door, with an unbelievable swing, slammed shut, locking itself from the inside and out. Marco jumped at the sound and so did Jackie, looking behind her at the front door. Star, frightened by the event, dropped her wand, the green sparks immediately going out. Her legs shook as she bent down to pick it up slowly and gaze upon the split star of her wand.

She knew now that that was definitely her that had made the door slam shut.

"Oh, that was a good one, Star!" Marco gibed, halting halfway down the steps to do so. "Lock us in! That's real funny!"

"Stop. You're gonna make it worse." Star mumbled with fear, not being able to take her gaze off her wand. "Just go." She closed her eyes and sunk to her knees on the floor, feeling the tears coming.

"Star... I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" Marco's hand reached out to Star and took cautious steps toward her but she retaliated. She looked up at him, her face hard and stern as her voice, as if in a dark and heart-stopping tone, yelled out.

"I said just go!" Her wand gleamed once more as her face had transformed from strict and angry to gentle and afraid in seconds. Marco flinched back before composing himself.

"I-I'll just give you guys some space." Jackie had briefly cut in to say as she turned back to the front door and unlocked it to open it and sit on the front door steps, but not before closing the door behind her first.

When Marco knew for sure that he and Star were left alone, he talked, his own voice coming out in a mumble. "Star, I really am sorry."

"I know. I'm sorry too. I should have been the best friend that I am and let you go with Jackie. I mean, that's what best friends are for... supporting eachother and knowing we have eachother's backs. But now... it just kinda hurts."

"Well, I guess we both lose because I wasn't being that great of a best friend to you either. I was being selfish and only thinking about myself. I should have been there for you to talk to when you said you needed me... but all I seemed to care about were my own feelings instead of your's. I'm sorry."

By this point, Marco had his arm draped over Star's shoulder, pulling her into a hug. Star hugged back, but only half-heartedly. "Marco, there's something I think you should know, y'know, before you go on your date with Jackie." She said, making the last part sound like a question, like it was uncertain.

Marco didn't respond, yet Star knew in his eyes that he was waiting to know. With him as close as he was, all Star had to do was lean in an inch closer. When she did so, she closed her eyes and let her lips connect to his own. It only lasted for a second or two before Marco's stomach flopped and he pulled away, unable to understand what just happened.

Star's heart raced and her stomach felt like it was being tickled with butterflies. Unfortunately, after Marco had pulled away in shock, she felt her heart stop and then regret poured over her body like a heat wave. The butterflies died off and brought a sickness to her stomach, rising in her gut.

Star and Marco stared at eachother. That's all they could do. They couldn't move or even say a word to eachother. Silence filled the air and soon, Marco found the strength to stand and go back down the stairs on light and unstable legs and go out the door, meeting Jackie in the front yard.

Star stared at the door that she had watched Marco leave through for a whole half an hour, got up, then trudged quickly to her room and shut the door and hid under her bed sheets. Shame came upon her and she dreaded when the brunette would come back home.