"Hey Star I just got the pizza can you start setting everything up?" Marco asked through Star's compact. Star replied with a merry yep before she hanged up. She skipped up the stairs to the closet where they kept their snuggie and struggled for a moment with the massive blanket before it finally gave in. Star then quickly entered Marco's room and grabbed the movie before heading downstairs. Setting the snuggie aside on the couch Star put the disc into the Blu Ray player and flipped through the inputs as she slowly backed up to the couch. Once everything was done Star allowed herself to fall back and sighed with relief. Star grabbed the snuggie and began wrapping herself in it while she waited for Marco. "It's been awhile since Marco and I had a Friendship Thursday not since...well not since Glossaryck and the book got taken by Ludo." Star thought. She hadn't realized how much she needed this; to just have a nice lazy day with her best friend and not think about her failings or how ashamed she felt about how bad she 'Star'd' up. The front door suddenly opened and Star got pulled from her thoughts when she smelled the amazing aroma of the pizza, a smile slowly growing as Marco waltzed into the living room as if he was some kind of high end waiter. Stopping in front of her, Marco leaned in as if to bow and pulled open the pizza box lid "M'lady, your dinner has arrived made of the finest quality fast food ingredients in all the lands." Marco said in his most classy voice he could manage before he and Star started laughing. Star moved over to make room for Marco as he placed the pizza on the floor, grabbed two slices and handed one to Star as he sat down next to her. He grabbed the remote and hit play as Star started eating greedily.
The movie Marco had chosen was a simple comedy, something that had come out two years before Star came to Earth. Star was surprised when Marco had told her about in the morning as Marco preferred action movies and since it was his turn to pick she figured he would go for a martial arts type. Comedies were her favorite and it wasn't till Marco hit play that she remembered that he had been acting extra nice today and doing whatever she wanted to do. She looked over to Marco and a small smile started to form; one not of excitement but of appreciation, as she realized that Marco was using today to cheer her up, to make her forget about her mistakes. She blushed suddenly when Marco caught her staring "What's up? Do I have pizza sauce on my nose again?" Marco asked as he reached down for the napkins. "Huh? Oh no no, I was just uh admiring your mole yeah haha," Star said as she screamed internally for saying the first thing that came to her mind. Marco looked back at her confused at the seemingly random remark "You're admiring...my mole?" Star panicking said "Oh yeah its totally cute y'know that little beauty mark is like an island in a sea of brown skin and like I'm just admiring how it uh refuses to back down against the tide and uh…" Star's voice trailed off as she couldn't think of what else to say. Marco raised one eyebrow before turning his attention back to the movie muttering about how his beauty mark wasn't cute but a part of his manliness Star sighed in relief, thanking mewni that he just dropped it in favor of watching the movie.
The movie was about thirty minutes in but Star was barely paying attention. She kept thinking about how much Marco did for her from his constant support to his willingness to risk his life with her whenever they went on adventures. He was there for her no matter what time of day and she adored it. Star stole a glance at Marco's face noting every detail from how his eyebrows would go up when he laughed, to his smile which always showed his straight teeth, to his warm brown eyes, and finally to his adorable beauty mark which was just a bonus to his overall cuteness "Or Manliness," Star thought to herself as she smiled and felt a warm feeling starting to rise within her. She knew what she was feelings was not just simple friendship; that this was something more, different than when she had a crush on Oskar. Turning her attention back to the TV she realized what these new feelings were, theses feelings that had quietly snuck up on her through their constant adventures and simple support for each other; it was love. Her heart cheeks began to turn beet red as she let the knowledge settle; Star Butterfly was in love with her best friend. Despite the sudden epiphany it wasn't all that surprising to Star, after all she had been aware that her feeling for Marco had been changing for sometime. This was just the first time she was acknowledging what they had become. Star stole a glance at Marco to make sure he was still focused on the movie, Star asked hesitantly "Hey, Marco I'm getting a little cold can I get closer to you?" Marco's eyes were still glued to the screen as he said "Huh? Oh yeah, sure I guess it is getting a little cold." Star carefully moved over closing the distance between her and Marco until the shoulders were touching. Blushing harder she glanced over to see his reaction, only to be disappointed that it had remained unchanged. She grumbled to herself as she adjusted in her seat only to have her hand brush up against Marco. Star stopped as she had a powerful urge to hold his hand but was reluctant to give into her impulse worried because it was one thing to use the excuse that it was cold and another to grab his hand for no reason. Her heart began to pound in her chest "Should I...risk it? I know what I feel for him but what if Marco doesn't feel the same? I can always say it was accident if he gets weirded out by it but what if Marco figures out what I was trying to do and he doesn't want that kind of relationship? It would totally makes things awkward for us maybe even... ruin our friendship." Star started to pull her hand back nervous about what she could potentially lose if her feelings weren't reciprocated. "No don't be afraid about this, he has to feel the same way after everything we've been through; I know I can't be the only one." Star steeled her nerves, taking a deep breath, her hand inching forward to where she had felt his only moments before. "This is the perfect change it's now or-" Marco's Space Unicorn ring tone went off suddenly causing both of them to jump startled.
Frantically Star pulled her hand back to her side as Marco reached into his pocket to see who was calling. Star saw the name before Marco even said it; Jackie Lynn Thomas. Standing up Marco looked over to where Star was sitting "Hey Star I'll be back in a sec it's Jackie." as he made his way to the stair. "Wait, Marco do you want me to pause the movie?" Star said as Marco started the climb to his room. "Nah, let it play I've already seen this movie and the call shouldn't take that long." Star watched as a big smile emerged on his face just before he disappeared from view. Looking back at her empty hand Star cautiously balled it into a fist as she sighed in frustration. "I can't believe how big of an idiot I am. 'Grab his hand' when I completely forgot about his crush on Jackie." Sinking into her seat Star silently thanked the Space Unicorn song for stopping her in time. "What am I going to do? Marco obviously into Jackie and has been for years. Plus I think Jackie is starting to crush him on as well." Then Star remembered the dance, the dance she had ditched Marco for in favor of that stupid clown seance. She pulled out her compact and flipped through the photos until she found it. It was the photo she had taken of Marco and Jackie dressed up for the dance, Marco looking especially handsome in his suit yet clearly nervous and Jackie looked as beautiful as ever blushing as she stood next to him. Star could feel the tinge of jealousy as she once again found herself wishing it had been her that had gone with Marco instead of Jackie. Shutting the compact Star closed her eyes and leaned her head against the couch. "I never did ask Marco how it went. Though they been talking a lot more lately so I guess that should answer my question. But... it's not like they're dating yet and it was just that one dance. I know it's not the best thing to do but Marco hasn't been officially taken and I mean Jackie is just barely starting to show interest, she wouldn't be that devastated and she can totally get with any other guy she wants." Star's eye shoot opened as she heard the thuds of Marco walking back downstairs. "But if they went to the dance…" Star thought to herself "Why were they skating at the park?" looking at Marco she saw that his smile hadn't gone down; if anything it had gotten bigger.
"Hey sorry if I kept you waiting Star the call went on a bit longer then I thought." Marco said as he sat back down pushing play on the remote. "Oh no its cool Marco I get it, especially when it's a one Jackie Lynn Thomas who's calling." Star said teasingly. Marco blushed slightly as he smiled and Star's eyes narrowed. Her curiosity got the best of her as she couldn't stop thinking about why they were at the park. "Sooo Marco I know I haven't asked but how did the dance go with Jackie?" Star said trying to play it cool and not seem like she was desperate to know. "Oh, um yeah that's right I guess I haven't told you how it went huh? Sorry just y'know thought you had more important things to worry about then how some stupid dance went." Star forced a grin as the painful memory of seeing Ludo run off with her book and Glossaryck betrayal flashed into her mind "Well yeah, that was true but we finally have some downtime so stop beating around the tree and give me the scoop." Star said as she forced the memory out of her mind. Marco chuckled a little "Ok ok and Star it's 'Beating around the bush' not 'beating around the tree'. Anyways um it started off a little awkward thanks to yours truly not knowing how to break the ice but Jackie was totally cool with it and she even told me not to stress out about it. Oh but when we finally got to the dance we realized how lame it was. I wasn't sure what to do until Jackie said she made a mistake about asking me to the dance." Star interrupted, "Wait she said she made a mistake asking you out to the dance?" Marco looked back at Star "Hold up, let me finish. So yeah I was thinking that Jackie was regretting take me to the dance when she said that should have just asked me out on a date instead and then she-" Star coughed "Wait she wanted to ask you out on a date?!" a brief look of embarrassment flashed on Marco's face "Star, come on let me tell you." Marco said not noticing the creeping panic slowly arising in Star's eyes. Star didn't like how this was going but she had to know how far things went. She had to know if she still had a chance. "Ok sorry Marco keep going." Star said, her tone not quite as excited as before. "Thanks Star. Anyways yeah um Jackie said she actually wanted to ask me out on a date and that we should just ditch the dance. I was super shocked and all I could do was follow her out of the gym. We ended up going to the park off of valley; the one your ban from after you destroyed it with what her name Mina? We stopped at a convenience store before and we made some awful malt shakes but it was all good because Jackie thought it was funny. Then Jackie was telling me how awesome she thought I was because I never gave up and she totally blew me away with how much she noticed about me." Star briefly thought "She's not the only who noticed." but she didn't interrupt. Marco continued on "I got a little freaked out when she found out that I didn't know how to skate but she got super excited and pulled out her skateboard and two helmets; not sure where she was keeping them; and said she was going to show me."
Star knew how the rest of the story was going to go. After all she had started spying on them at that point. She remembered the intense jealousy and hurt she felt when she saw them together, looking at each other and seeing how they held onto one another. Marco had put his complete trust in Jackie and let her take the lead; something that Star had always been secretly happy about knowing she had Marco's unwavering faith, being shared with someone else somehow felt wrong. Star was dragged from her thoughts when she heard Marco mention him and Jackie falling and then his voice had trailed off. Star looked at Marco and saw he was blushing intensely and was avoiding her eyes. "What's wrong Marco?" Star asked hesitantly, surprised by his sudden shyness "Nothing it's just that um…" Marco's voice trailed off again. "Come on," Star said encouragingly trying to mask the sense of anxiety that was slowly building up inside of her "You know you can tell me anything." Marco finally looked at Star and taking a deep breath "Ok, I know I can it's just… hard to say I guess. I mean I can barely believe it happened and I was there. After Jackie and I fell we just laughed it off and well I don't know maybe it was the heat of the moment or something but there she was looking at me with her beautiful green eyes and she leaned in and I leaned in and we… well we kissed." Marco's face was bright red and he had gone back to looking around the room. He hadn't seen the subtle shift in Star's face or her mood. Star had managed to keep her smile up but she felt completely numb. "They kissed… the freaking kissed… on the mouth.".
Star felt Marco move in his seat and realized he was waiting for her to say something. "That's uh that's amazing Marco. I can't believe you guys actually kissed," Star gulped hard on the word "So does that make you and Jackie a uh couple now?" Marco smiled "Well I guess we are though we haven't gotten a chance to hang out because I was helping you out with everything after the dance, but yeah Jackie says she wants to go on another date this Friday and she called me her boyfriend." Marco said while looking at Star with the same smile she saw earlier when he walked downstairs. "I hope you don't mind I know we didn't have anything planned for tomorrow but I wanted to give you the heads up before you started making plans." Marco said waiting for Star to say something. Star wanted to desperately say "Stay with me" but forced her mouth to say something else "No no no don't worry about me Marco. Go have fun with Jackie, I'm sure I can find something to do with Janna. But thank you for running this by your bestie." Star said as she put up a small smile. Marco seeing her smile said thanks as she moved in to hug him. Pulling out of the hug Marco saw that the movie was done "Oh it's over already? Hey I'll clean up but after I'm gonna call Jackie ok." Star grabbed Marco's arm suddenly as he was getting up. "No Marco don't worry about that. I'll clean up and do the dishes. I'm sure you really want to go talk to Jackie already right?" looking back Marco asked skeptically "You sure? I don't want to have a repeat of the November Bubble Flood again." Star shot back a look of annoyance "Come on Marco that was months ago I know how to wash dishes now." Marco laughed and agreed. He grabbed the snuggie since he was heading upstairs and Star started gathering all the trash when Marco stopped mid climb. "Hey Star?" Marco asked as Star turned to him "Thank you. Seriously I don't think I would have ever found the courage to do even half of the things I do now without you being there to get me out of my shell. I just wanted to let you know that. Thanks for being the best friend I've always wanted." Star smiled "Awwh, Marco you know your bestie always got your back." Marco smiled back "I know." he said as he went up the stairs.
Star poured soap onto the sponge as she placed all the dirty dishes into the sink. Briefly turning the faucet on to get some water on the dried up stains she began rubbing the dirt off of each one. She rubbed until she could see her reflection on the soapy surface on one of the plates. "So they are a couple then." Star laughed a little "Now or never, what a joke. I didn't even have a chance for a now." Star grabbed another dish and started scrubbing placing it flat on the sink and she recalled Marco's words "Best friend I've always wanted huh?" Star looked into the plate the was covered in soap. "But that's not what I wanted." Star whispered quietly to herself as water slowly fell on the plate washing some of the soap away. The faucet was off.