John pulled the car out of the little area it had been parked in it, roaring down the road to make it to the school in time. By the time they got there, there was about a minute left. John got out of the car, opened Mary's door and helped her out before grabbing her hand and running into the school building and to the attendance desk.
Mary quickly followed John, pushing through the door and standing before the ladies behind the counter. They each gave her warm smile; Mary was rarely a "bad" student, and she had a good reputation with them. Mary figured one little absence wouldn't ruin any of that.
"Hello," John said giving them an innocent smile. "I'm sorry that Mary as absent from school, she had a dentist appointment and I had to take her to it since her parents couldn't." John squeezed Mary's hand unconsciously, nervous the ladies wouldn't believe him.
The cute little old ladies looked a bit doubtful, but they decided to let it pass when Mary gave them a nod and an apologetic smile.
"Alright, that's just fine. By the way, Happy Birthday Mary. It is a shame you had to go to the dentist on your birthday." they said with warm smiles.
Mary thanked them, returned the smiles. John mouthed a 'Thank You' to the ladies at the desk before turning around, he really appreciated the fact they let it slip.
John and Mary left the small office where the attendance ladies sat. As they left, Mary noticed a group of Junior boys standing in the corner. Mary ducked her head and tightened her grip on John's arm, John noticed immediately noticed the change.
"Is anything wrong Mar?" He asked concern in his voice.
"No John," Mary said looking up and him with a smile, her eyes flicking to the group of Juniors standing by the door. "Everything will be fine, lets get going though."
John noticed Mary's not so swift glance to the group that was standing near the exit. "Hey Mary, do you wanna go start the car?" John fished the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Mary.
Mary opened her mouth to say something but stopped, she gave John a look of worry before complying with a curt nod. Avoiding the gaze of the boys she pushed out of the school doors, peering over her shoulder for a moment on her way to the Impala, hesitantly slipping into the passenger side and leaning over to stick the keys in the ignition.
John walked over to the small posse, "Do we have a problem over here?" As much as he knew Mary would probably hate him for it, he had to do something.
Two of the three seemed to back away, looking at least a bit threatened by the slightly larger man. But the third only took a step forward, shrugging. Most were intimidated by John, knowing that he had graduated their small town high school with a reputation of winning every fight he had been in.
The more cocky of the group rolled his eyes. "Look man, your girlfriend's the hottest girl in school. Get used to it."
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you could leave her alone." John said crossing his arms not wanting to create a scene. He knew Mary wouldn't try to stand up for herself since she was quite soft-spoken around strangers.
The Junior rolled his eyes, giving John a cocky look that practically said "make me", though he didn't respond, instead crossing his arms in front of his chest just as John's were.
John stood in front of the three of them waiting for a reply, he wasn't leaving until they said they'd leave her alone.
"We'll leave her alone." said one of the two that had backed away at John's approach, raising an eyebrow at the other two, who nodded a bit hesitantly. They lumbered down the hallway soon after, still murmuring inaudible words.
John thought about yelling after them but let it be, for now. If Mary spoke a word of them bothering her again he would actually get involved. John pushed the front door open and walked out to the car and opened up the drivers side door.
"You ready to go Mary?" He asked, peering over to Mary who had been messing with the radio tuner just a minute earlier.
"Thought about leaving without you." she teased, though the smile soon left her lips as she remembered that he had stayed back to "deal with" the guys that so frequently made cat calls at her. "You know, you didn't have to do that." she insisted quietly, averting her gaze.
"You wouldn't leave with out me and I know it." John flashed her a smile, complimented with a wink, before putting the car into drive. "And Mar, it was no big deal. They didn't need to be doing that. Don't worry, I didn't touch them, I just told them I didn't appreciate what they did."
Mary sighed with relief when she heard that he had not started a fight, as she knew it would have been three against one. She laced their fingers together again across the seat. "Good, I appreciate it." she admitted.
Mary only really worried of John's own safety, and almost hated to know he would defend her against practically anything but also felt protected by the fact he was willing to do so.
John squeezed Mary's hand, glad she wasn't upset at him. "If they ever do that again, please bring it up to me? Sooner or later they're going to have to learn I was serious and wasn't kidding."
Mary considered it, at first wanting to comply with the suggestion but deciding she would to purely to make him feel better about the situation. She nodded, smiling over at him and squeezing his hand in return. "Yes, of course I will." Mary agreed quietly.
"Good." John sat driving in almost silence with his hand intertwined with Mary's. The radio softly started to play Hey Jude by The Beatles, John let it play hoping Mary would start to sing along since he loved it when she did that.
A smile spread effortlessly across Mary's light pink lips as she identified the song playing quietly from John's car speakers. As John probably knew, it was one of her favorites, and she often hummed along to it. She decided however, to sing softly, her voice a only slightly above a hum.
She played with his fingers as she did so, smiling over at him and beginning to sing to chorus, her voice high and sort of pixie-like. John, unable to control himself joined in too. Usually he was okay with singing, but today he felt the need to almost yell the lyrics as they came out of the radio.
"NA NA NA NANANANA, NANANANA HEY JUDE!" John almost yelled smiling over at Mary who had joined in with him.
When the song ended, the two sat in silence. "Sorry about that Mary, I got caught up in the moment." John said with a slight chuckle.
Mary gave John a shy smile to tell him it was fine.
"You've got a beautiful singing voice, I noticed that before I went and ruined the song." John said, complimenting Mary as his eyes were trained back to the road. "Oh, and where would you like to go Miss. Campbell?"
Mary blushed a bit at the compliment and squeezed his hand in a silent 'thank you' that she was sure translated. "My dad's not yet the fondest of you. Would your house be okay?" Mary asked slightly tentatively, unsure. Mary knew John lived alone, he had just a week ago gotten a cheap apartment on the edge of town. Mary wasn't sure John would be okay with her suggestion since they never actually had just shared a day of sitting around.
"Yeah, that'd be fine. My apartment is a mess though…" John told Mary with a slight bit of embarrassment in his voice. "I hope you don't mind."
Mary perked up a bit at his compliance, giving a little, slightly shy smirk and nodding. "Oh, I don't mind." she insisted, listening to the radio for a few brief moments before peering over at him. "There isn't anything else you want to do? Movies you want to see?" Mary asked, almost feeling bad for not making exciting plans.
John shook his head, "Not that I can think of. We could get some movies if you have any at your house? I just got a WCR last night."
Another smile graced Mary's lips and she nodded at the suggestion. "Good, we can try out the VCR then." Mary decided, squeezing his hand and looking forward to a night with just John.
"We just have to stop by your house, if that's okay?" John glanced over at her. "And we should probably stop at the Grocery store and get some food since I don't have much and I don't want you starving."
"That sounds good." Mary complied as she pulling her skirt from creeping up her thighs, becoming aware that it was too early to curl up on the couch with some movies, anyway. It would be much better after night had fallen.
John took a sharp turn so he could re-route himself to go to Mary's house.
They pulled up in front of her house noticing that her Father's car was in the driveway. "Do you want me to come inside with you?" He asked as he turned the car off and put it in park.
Mary took a slightly deep breath before nodding, giving him a slightly strained smile. "Yeah, sure." she said. It made her a bit nervous, but she wanted her father to see how happy they were, and maybe he would loosen up. She could only hope he wouldn't say anything rude, or start a fight.
Mary slipped from the passenger side, stepping off into the grass and waiting for John to follow her through the house.
John got out, almost nervous. He made sure to fix his work shirt which he still had on; he rubbed a bit off grease off the side of his face before following Mary inside. He wanted to make the best impression possible since it was one of the few times he'd met Mr. Campbell and the first few times he didn't seem to have made the best impression on him.
Mary stood up on her tip-toes momentarily to peck his cheek, giving him a reassuring smile. "Relax, everything will be alright." she insisted quietly, wanting to believe it herself.
Soon they had entered the house, Mary's father greeting her at the door with a smile before he noticed John standing beside her, stiffening.
"John." he greeted a bit stiffly, receiving a stern glare from Mary.
John stuck out his hand trying to be kind, "Mr. Campbell, nice to see you. How have you been?"
Mary left John's side to go grab a few of her favorite movies from the family room.
Mr. Campbell completely ignored the outstretched hand, shrugging like he had no care. "I've been alright, boy. Now, may I ask you a simple question?"
John nodded "Yes sir." He pulled his hand back and awkwardly held it at his side.
"Where do you plan on taking my daughter tonight?" he asked with narrowed eyes, suspicious of John, ignoring how nervous he seemed.
Mary swooped in as John stumbled over his words. She always had good timing in situations like this. She kissed her father briefly on the cheek, sending him a playful roll of her eyes and a sweet, goody two-shoes smile. "Don't worry, dad. We're just going to hang out at his house, no big deal."
John nodded a bit too nervous to say anything, but thankful Mary had came in at that moment. John almost wished Mary could spend the night at his house, nothing weird, just hanging out but he didn't want to get on the wrong side of her Dad.
Mr. Campbell murmured something about 'not staying too late' and gave John a rather stern look, as if warning him without getting on the fiery side of his own daughter. Besides, it was her birthday.
Mary just nodded, flitting out the door and down the steps, glad John was following close behind. The sun was setting quickly, and Mary enjoyed the dim light it sent across the horizon. She slid into the passenger side quickly.
John walked over to the driver's side and sat down, relaxing into the seat before putting the car in drive and pulling away from Mary's house.
Mary let out a little sigh, smiling a small smile over to John and lacing their fingers once again. "Sorry about my dad." She said quietly as the house disappeared behind them. Mary wasn't so fond of the idea of coming back there tonight, wishing she could just stay with John.
"It's fine." John wanted to seem tougher than he was back there, hoping Mary hadn't noticed. "I'll make sure you're back in time..." He let his voice trail off not really wanting her to agree with his last statement.
Mary just shrugged lightheartedly, squeezing his hand. Of course, she had noticed the little dent in his usually manly facade, but she wasn't about to mention it. Her dad even scared her sometimes. "Or, don't. It's about time I got in a little bit of trouble." she admitted with a grin, knowing she didn't do such things often.
John bit the inside of his cheek, trying to keep a grin off his face... this wasn't his normal Mary but he was okay with it. "As long as if you're okay with it, it wouldn't bother me. You're welcome to stay overnight if you'd like." John pulled into the parking lot of the little grocery store in town and went around and opened Mary's door for her.
