"Who is it we're fighting for…" Marco hummed to himself, taping his desk like a drum set, his headphones blasting a rocking jam Tom gave him after their failed Beach Day plans fell through. Humming the tune, he grabbed some papers on the desk and started slowly sorting them. Various potential laws, acts and even suggestions about the dinner menus oddly enough were within them. Marco smirked at this, cracking his neck and taking out his pencil to sort some of it out. To his surprise though, his phone rang, making Marco raise an eyebrow. Turning the music off, he spun his chair around, his body and mind beyond happy Star restored his room finally. A real bed… Ah…
Phone still ringing, he put those thoughts on hold for the moment. "Marco? You their buddy?" Marco let out a somewhat tired sigh, hearing Tom on the other end. "Take it your busy?"
"Kinda but what's up? Thought you were with Star on your 'family get together' thing." Marco replied, his tone controlled. Marco felt… Odd, to say the least about the current situation. His friendship with Tom couldn't be any better, yet Star was still dating the demon. After we had a kiss and she more or less admitted to liking me back. But he quickly shook the thoughts off, assuming she finally did something about this at the get-together. At least she promised me that… Was going to announce to my family we were dating over the dinner. Marco was surprised Star never showed up, knowing she usually kept her promises.
"Lost in thoughts man? So am I." Tom said honestly, giving a weak laugh. Marco let out one of his own, flopping on his soft mattress and laying down. "Starship and I had fun, but she finally found out I knew." Marco didn't get up, but his body felt stiff hearing this. And? Marco wanted to ask but stayed silent. "She was mad at me of all things. I should be the angry one man!"
"I mean, if I found out my girlfriend was cheating on me, I would take it bad too," Marco said honestly, earning a scoff from Tom's end. "Hey! I said sorry and owned up to my mistake. Well, it wasn't a mistake… I'm sounding like a jerk, huh?"
"At least you are admitting you are," Tom said harshly, his voice clearly hurt. "Star acted like… The kiss you guys had was nothing." Marco mouthed 'what' but didn't say it aloud. "We just ate burgers later and ignored that dinner thing you told me about."
"Yeah…" Marco sat upright, his eyes narrowed. "...You didn't do anything sneaky, did you?" Tom said nothing. "I know you have curses on me man. And I had Janna remove them for 650$. Less said about what you pulled with Candle the better."
"I changed, you know this," Tom replied, with Marco having a thin line on his lip. It was true, Tom did grow a lot. But was it for himself, or to get Star to like him? Marco asked himself, this being a common thought recently. "I… I just want Star to make a choice."
"Same." Marco heard a portal open near his room. "Will talk later man, and please, wake up with another Nsayer on my neck, gonna sick Janna on you." Tom laughed heartily and hung up. Marco put his phone away, frowning at the door. One major disadvantage of your crush living not even a few feet away from you was hearing her mumbles louder than most would comprehend. She was saying to herself things like 'My gosh, I didn't end things back there' and 'It's okay, I can worry about it later'. Marco wanted to scream in his pillow, frankly, getting sick of Star acting like this about her problems. One thing at a time Diaz. Just talk to your friend and hope she listens to you. Taking a deep breath, Marco opened the door and Star continued pacing in place.
She was literally walking in circles, her boots slamming against the colorful carpet and odd spells she seemingly summoned watching her worriedly. Cloudy hovered toward Marco, giving him a confused look. "She is talking to herself."
"I know." Marco whispered back.
"Can I zap her?" Cloudy asked. Marco raised an eyebrow, only recalling Cloudy doing magic like that when the wand was messed up. Not answering, Marco walked toward Star, putting a hand on her shoulder. She jumped at his touch, Marco's expression growing somewhat hurt.
"Marco! What are you doing here?" Star asked surprised. Marco pointed to his door, literally only a foot away from Star's pacing. A deadpanned look on his face, Star giggled nervously before Marco just folded his arms. "Uh… Hi."
"Hi yourself." Marco smiled, walking to her bed and sitting down. "So, how was your trip with Tom? Figured you two busted some waves on lava and what not." Star rolled her eyes and jumped right next to Marco, kicking her feet in the air like a little girl.
"Weeeeell, we had food with his family, his mom tried guilt tripping me, his dad gave me a stink eye and Tom told his parents you and I kissed in a booth." Star tapped her chin, before nodding at something. "Right, and they made a joke about the Blood Moon Ball. Guess it wasn't special after all?" Marco's eyes twitched, seeing Stars carefree smile as if nothing bad just happened at all. "What? I faced with worse drama."
"Like confessing to my girlfriend you liked me in a room with half the town in it or your kingdom having your crush on me sung on radio stations," Marco said deadpanned, his tone clearly not happy. Star scoffed, folding her arms and looking away from Marco. "I think it's time…"
"Time for what? I make a choice or something?" Star asked rhetorically, with Marco's face turning a shade of red.
"Maybe!" Marco nearly shouted, standing up and throwing his arms in the air. Star just looked at him, see the boy she deeply loves so hurt. "I… I get what's going on." Marco rubbed his forehead, calming himself down. "You did deal with a lot lately, and more soon, with that royal dinner we are going to." Star was going to raise her finger but decided to lower it at the last second. "But it's time you told Tom the truth. That you don't love him anymore." Marco sat back down, taking Star's hand. "I think you still like me, right?"
"Of course I do!" Star nearly shouted, her hearts glowing a vivid red. "I… I just don't know what to do without hurting anyone." Star leaned on Marco's shoulder, the two looking at the wall, the most exciting thing in all existence. Marco let the silence settle their unspoken worries and thoughts, trying to find his voice.
"You will hurt someone regardless of what you choose, and if you keep doing nothing about it, people will get hurt even more," Marco said softly, brushing his thumb over Star's hand. She quivered her lip at this, blue eyes shut, but Marco knew they were lost. They've been lost since the big battle. "It hurt when I let Jackie dump me." Star turned toward Marco, her eyes wide open. "I… I could have salvaged that failed date, at the dock." Star's eyes went wide, hearing the full story about the infamous break up for the first time. Marco squeezed Star's hand for support as if this was hard to say aloud. "I could have put effort into making that date special, got to know Jackie as I should have. But I didn't, being so hung up on my own confused emotions." Marco let go, hugging himself and brown eyes glaring at his feet. Star just simply rubbed his back, letting him continue. "Then I rushed back to you, hurting you without even realizing it."
"I'm not mad at you for that." Star interrupted her grip on his shoulder tight. "It was a rough time for all of us." Marco shook his head, gently taking Star's hand off his shoulder.
"It was a rough time because I was too stupid to do anything about it." Marco's eyes were locked with Star's at this point. "Please, don't make mistakes as I did. If you like me, then do something about it." Marco stood up, taking a deep breath and walking toward his room. "I'm here, like always." Marco closed his door and threw himself on his bed, moaning in the pillow in frustration. Star just remained on her bed, hands clenched together and mind in deep thought at what her best friend just uttered.
Her eyes drifted to her balcony, walking toward its railing and looking up at the sky. A bright red moon, shining ever so brightly, had it's lights firmly on Eclipsa's home. Biting her lip, she just looked away from the light, unwilling to face the mystical object.