Marked

Fifteen

I couldn't even say anything. He... he was asking me out. Like, he wanted to date me. Parker Adams wanted me, of all people to be his boyfriend.

I was pretty sure that I was taking way too long to respond because it sounded like he was going to apologize, but I cut him off before he was able to do that.

"Yes, duh. Why did you even need to ask me? We kinda are soulmates," I told him, laughing a little bit.

"You are so good at scaring me," Parker said. "You could honestly make an entire career out of it,"

"Ah, it is one of my specialties," I said with a smirk.

"A very annoying one. You're lucky that I like you," Parker said, shaking his head. He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss, which as always- set my cheeks aflame.

I would probably blush every time that he kissed me, no matter how many times he did it.

"You really don't need to get so embarrassed," Parker told me with a smile. Gosh his smile, I loved it.

"Just because you say that doesn't mean that it's actually going to work,"

"I mean, I'm not exactly complaining. It's pretty cute," Parker told me.

"Not nearly as cute as you though," I said. He was a little more than just cute. I would easily say that he was pretty damn hot.

All of you reading this haven't had the pleasure of seeing Parker in person. And that is a very sad thing indeed. You have missed out on a very important part of living a happy life

Have you even seen him?

He has really nice hair. It's really soft and fluffy, and it always looks so perfect. Even when he sends me selfies right when he wakes up. And I told you at the very beginning how much I love his eyes, and I really could talk about them for the rest of my life. Nobody should even be allowed to have eyes that pretty. Everything about him is perfect, from the tiny freckles on his nose that you wouldn't even notice unless you were right there, or from the way that he wears the small bracelet all the time, or how he's always wearing hoodies with flannels over them.

Shut up, I know. I've fallen pretty hard for the guy.

"Don't even try saying that crap," Parker said. Without saying anything else, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and I found myself leaning my head onto his shoulder, a small smile on my face.

"But you're obviously better in every way. Hot, funny, amazing, godly swimmer, you sure you aren't a mermaid?"

"Oh. Should have probably told you that. But yeah, I'm Ariel's brother,"

"Sweet. Nice to know. You better be able to give me like, some water breathing powers or something. I want in on this whole mermaid deal,"

"I'll find a way. Might take a few near-death scenarios, but I should be able to figure it out before long,"

I laughed. "Exactly. Funny, hot, amazing,"

"And you're all of the exact same things. And a million more. I'm surprised everyone isn't trying to hit you up,"

"Because I'm a pretty big idiot?"

"Nah, that title easily falls onto my shoulders,"

"Both of us. Would argue, but you can't expect to get away with that after you told me about the time that you dropped your baby cousin because you forgot you were holding her,"

"Hey! We said no bringing that up!" He was for sure trying to sound like he was offended. Spoiler alert: he's not very good at it.

Being with him was almost enough to get rid of the worry that came with knowing what I was going to have to tell my older brother soon.

***

"So. Dad said that you have like... a big reason behind this or something?" Elliot asked, sliding into the chair that usually belonged to Parker. I frowned a little bit, even though there was no way that he would have known.

I was not very happy to be in this situation. I didn't want to tell him, because I didn't want yet another person to tell me how worthless I was, and how wrong it was that I happened to like another guy. Big deal. Like we're gonna start World War III or something.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I said with a shrug. "What did he tell you?" I had to know the details, what he did know. That meant less talking for me, and that was going to make me one very happy camper. Or at least, maybe.

"He said that you did... something," He looked uncomfortable. I mean, could you really blame the guy? "He said that you were going to jump off a rock or something, and you didn't, you just fell, but that was still why you were up there in the first place. And he said something about an apartment, what is that about by the way?"

So he hadn't said anything about Mom disowning me, screaming how I wasn't her kid anymore, and kicking me out of the house. And the reason behind that. Great, so he had barely lightened my load at all. I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, I'm the one who has to tell him, because it's my thing. I think. Or maybe Dad just didn't want to.

"So. Gonna make this short. Went to a party and I met someone. When I got home, I saw that my mark went off. The thing about the person though? He's a guy," I looked down when I said that, waiting for him to get up and leave, or waiting for him to yell at me. None of those happened, so I just kept talking, my voice shakier. "His name is Parker. He's a swimmer that goes to West, and he's amazing. Anyways, we started hanging out more. And one day we were hanging out in my room... and uh, kissing, and Mom walked in. She compared me to you, then screamed at me, said I wasn't her kid anymore, and kicked me out. Me and Dad are going to live in an apartment. She picked having neither of us rather than both of us," I felt like I said that all really fast, and I wondered if he had even heard about everything that I had said.

The room was silent. Creepily silent. There wasn't even the noise of the heart monitor going off anymore. I didn't need it. I was going to the psych floor for a week later that day.

"Okay? She's always been a bitch. Why do you think I moved out? I was never good at sports like you. I got compared to you too, don't worry about being the only one that's happened to," Elliot said. "And are you like dating him or something?"

I nodded slightly. "Yeah, as of recently, yeah," I looked up at him, and he looked like regular old Elliot, not really having any emotions on his face, did he really think that this wasn't that big of a deal?

"Cool beans. I don't care about who you date. As long as they'll eat my amazing mac n cheese when I bring it for holidays," He said, a smile taking over the lack of emotion on his face.

"I'm sure that he will," I said.

"Well, Dad said that I couldn't be here long. The nurses wanna get you upstairs as soon as they can. Good luck, I'll see you soon. Love you, bro," He stood up and left. Which was okay. We had never really been that close anyway.

And now, for what might be one of the hardest weeks of my life.