chapter 5: marius's curiosity

~marius~

       From going to busting my ass off for my parents' company to suddenly having an ample amount of free time during the days, I've grown to become very bored. I guess I just got used to being so busy that having nothing to do feels very weird for me.

       Which is probably why I decided to go back to school to work on getting my master's degree in business management, but I have to wait for September for my classes to begin. For the summer, I'm going to have to find a way to pass time.

      I've normally been an indoor person since my job mostly took place indoors. Whenever I worked from home, I worked in my room or office. So while waiting for school to begin, I want to shake things up a bit.

       I decide to spend some time outside. I grab a book I've been meaning to read before leaving my house, walking around to find a place to read. I soon decide on a bench that faces the ocean, close to one of the ports.

       Growing up, I've always lived in the city, and my family never went out of our way to go to the beach or anything. That doesn't stop me from, apparently, loving the smell of the salty ocean water.

       I'm not able to read as much as I wanted because soon enough, I get distracted. Very distracted. I take one moment to look up from my book to look around, only to spot Fawn on the port, helping load some boxes onto one of the boats. He wasn't kidding when he said he does pretty much everything for a job. Every time I see him, he's doing something different.

       Honestly, it makes me kind of jealous. I did like my job, apart from my brother sabotaging it and my parents taking his side. It's the business aspect I like. I loved working in business, but Fawn seems to have some freedom doing different things every day. Nothing is the same for him.

       Fawn takes a break from loading the boxes to reach for a water bottle, taking a slow sip out of it. I don't know why, but him doing that simple action causes me to just stare at his arms. Working outside in the summer heat makes Fawn wear a tank top, really showing off the muscles he has.

       I quickly looking back at my book once I realized what I'm doing. I shouldn't be checking Fawn out. Why would I check him out to being with? After the twenty-four years of being alive, I have never once checked out another man. Why would I start now?

       Maybe I wasn't checking him out. Maybe I was just, I don't know, jealousy. Like I said, I am a bit jealous of the freedom he has. I could have just been appreciating his freedom. Yeah, that's it.

       I glance up from my book again, looking at Fawn. Fawn finishes drinking his water and puts it back on a box. He stretches as he looks around me, noticing me on the bench. He takes out his phone and soon enough, I get a text from him.

       Fawn: I see you're stalking me again.

       I got his phone number a while ago in case I needed his help with more furniture or anything around the house, but I can see he's already misusing my cell phone number. If I wasn't sitting a bit far from him, I would glare at him, but he probably wouldn't have been able to see it from here, so I just have to send a text in reply.

       Me: I came here to read. I didn't know you were here.

       Fawn: You have to look at your book to read it, not at me.

       I ignore the text message, putting my phone back into my pocket before turning back to my book. However, I decide to make the stupid choice to look at Fawn one more time. He waves at me, so I do the very mature thing of flipping him off. Fawn places his hand above his heart as if he's offended by my gesture, but I don't care.

       I finally got back to reading, but I'm only to read a chapter and a bit of another before Fawn decides to sit beside me on the bench. I try my best to ignore him, but he decides to strike up a conversation. "I feel like I'm going to need to get a restraining order against you if you keep stalking me."

       Now that Fawn is close to me, I'm able to glare at him with him being able to see it. "I told you, I'm not stalking you. I just came here to read so I'm not stuck in my house all day. If anything, you're the one stalking me."

       "Right, I'm totally stalking you, even though I'm the one who's somewhere first, then you end up showing up."

       "It's... Pre-stalking."

       "Pre-stalking. Oh, right, that makes a lot of sense. This whole time, I've just been pre-stalking you. I've figured out every single place you're going to go to for the day, and I get there before you can. It's a very calculated thing."

       "You're mocking me."

       "I'm not mocking you, Marius. I am simply agreeing with your accusations. Pre-stalking is a very serious matter and should be taken seriously. But for real, I obviously was joking when I said you were stalking me. Unless you're actually stalking me, which would explain why you're getting so defensive. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you moved down here in the first place just to stalk me."

       "You're annoying."

       "Me? Never." Fawn stands up and stretches his arms over his head, causing his shirt to slightly reveal his stomach. I catch myself looking there before I quickly look away. "Well, I've got to get going to my next job. I just wanted to tease you, I mean, say hi to you."

       "And you think you're not annoying?"

       Fawn only smiles at me before he walks off, as if he's proud of teasing me. Part of me does get annoyed by him but the other part...? I don't know what's going on with the other part of me. The part that likes when he teases me. That's constantly staring at him.

       I sigh heavily and lean my head back against the bench, closing my eyes. There has to be something that's making me feel this way without it being me being slightly attracted to Fawn, because I'm not. I can't be.

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he is lol.

honestly, the whole town is probably attracted to fawn tbh.