Alrighty, guys! So anyone reading this who has been waiting with baited breath (yeah, right) should thank Miss-Paparella, hexgurl001, lalunafour, and SilverMoon Gypsy! BTW, you guys should check out SilverMoon Gypsy's new story, Anger Problems! I find it to be the shiznit.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lash didn't want to like Marcus.
He was a nice, funny guy, he treated Lash like a person and wasn't afraid of him, he joked about some pranks he would pull at his public school back in Jersey City, he acted like a goofball...
Mina probably liked him.
Lash came to this conclusion about an hour after the foursome had sat down outside of a Starbucks and started talking.
It was after that first hour that Lash determined that if it weren't for Mina probably liking him, the two of them could be good friends.
But he would need to talk to Speed. Speed was his wing-man. His equal. His 'brother-from-another-mother'. Hell, whatever way you put it, he was still his best-friend, and it still felt wrong to be doing something with multiple people without him.
"Hey, guys?" Oh my God, he just casually referred to them as 'guys'! "I'm sorry if this is wrong, but can I call a friend of mine and invite him to come hang out with us?"
"Is it Speed?" Was Mina's immediate response. When he nodded she smiled. "I'm surprised you didn't ask before!" He smiled and pulled out his cellphone, gesturing to a corner of the building that was relatively unoccupied.
"I'm gonna go call him over there..." The three nodded and he rose to his feet, walking over and dialing Speed's house number on the way. The phone rang three times before a Speed grunted a hello.
"What's up, man?"
"Dude this is going to sound so gay, but I feel like I'm cheating on you right now."
"What the fuck?" Was Speed's immediate response. Lash rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I bumped into Mina on the way home, but she was with Marissa and this guy-"
"Was it Peace?"
"No, it wasn't Peace!" He whined. "That's the problem. Apparently, he's Marissa's twin brother."
"Huh... So your out with them now?"
"Hell yes! I'm not gonna let Mina go anywhere with this asshole without me!"
"Does Mina like him?"
"I don't know yet! But, dude, it's just making me uncomfortable that you're not here. I need my wing-man, dude!" He heard a chuckle on the other end of the phone.
"Alright, where are you?"
"The Starbucks on the corner of Roosevelt and Hyde."
"Gimme five minutes." He blinked when he heard the 'click!' and then the dialtone. He slowly pulled his phone away from his ear and looked at it confusedly for about a minute. He slowly turned around and walked back to the table, grabbing an empty chair from a table and placing it besides his before sitting down.
"How long until he gets here?" Marcus queried, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Any second now." It was then that a blur appeared from around a corner and zipped up, stopping immediately behind the empty seat. Speed tipped his hat before spinning it backwards again.
"Hey, man." He greeted nonchalantly, hi-fiving Lash as he sat down.
"Hey, buddy."
"Dude, that was cool." They both looked up at Marcus, who was staring at them with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.
"What?" Speed was obviously confused as he readjusted his hat.
"He talks on the phone for a little bit, and then he pulls it away from his face for a little bit-" he gestured to Lash, "and then you appear in front of us, and pull up a chair! That was cool." Lash and Speed looked at each other and smirked slowly.
"You've never seen anything like that?"
"I've read about it." He shrugged. "But I can't go out whenever my dad has to fight something. I can't defend myself." Lash and Speed shared a look, Mina smiled sympathetically, and Marissa sighed dramatically while patting his shoulder.
"Well, bro, you might just be a late bloomer..." He shook his head, his black hair hanging into his face.
"I know it isn't gonna happen." He smiled at her. "You got all the luck. I'll settle for graphic design."
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Speed blurted out, raising an eyebrow. Marcus shrugged.
"I don't have any powers." The two bullies gaped at him, and Mina patted his upper arm.
"Don't feel bad, Marc." She sighed.
"Stop reading my mind, Mina." He stated, his face going blank. She smiled bashfully and returned her hand to her side.
"How can you not have any powers?" Speed smirked, dropping his legs and leaning his elbows on the table. He shrugged.
"It's like Marissa took after both of our parents in the 'special' department. We just look alike."
"But they're so different!" Mina laughed. "Marissa is practically schizo, being all happy one second and then all dark and depressing the next, she has a hair-trigger temper-"
"We still don't know where she got it from." Marcus smiled.
"And she secretly likes to read, she's actually really, really smart. And Marcus..." He smiled and leaned back casually, smiling at her.
"Just tell 'em." He laughed.
"Well..." She tapped her chin and then smiled. "Marcus is a complete sweetheart all of the time, and he's really quiet, but... he's a lazy bastard." Lash and Speed continued to stare at her in confusion, and she smiled and rolled her eyes. "He does the bare minimum for all of his work. He has a crappy memory, he's lucky he has a fantastic metabolism or else he would be fat because he's so lazy..." She shook her head and turned to smirk at him. "That was why our relationship failed. Epically." She paused. "And it felt like I was dating my brother, which is really creepy."
"Aw, don't be mean." He pouted, but laughed softly. "Even though you're right."
"So... You don't have any powers?" Speed pointed at him and he nodded.
"Nothing. Marissa got all the luck." Marissa snorted and put her chin in her hand.
"Ah, please. More like a blessing and a curse at the same time." Marcus rolled his eyes. Lash's brain was killing him as they had this discussion, his thoughts constantly flying back to Mina and Marcus. She had said something about them having a relationship.
Red flag.
Mina was sitting beside him, but Marcus was on the opposite side, and Lash was getting nervous with possible competition being so close.
"Mina, I have a question." Said blonde looked up at him, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yeah?" He swallowed and looked between the two, lifting his hand and wagging his finger between the two of them.
"Anything going on between the two of you?"
"You worried, Lash?" Marissa leaned across the table and smirked at him slyly.
"Once." Lash looked down at Mina and felt his heart sink a few inches. She had her lips pursed together as she stared straight ahead, tapping the side of her empty cup. "We dated for a little while once, but it didn't pan out." He turned to Marcus and raised an eyebrow, who shrugged.
"Not enough emotion. It was really awkward and never got better." He stated, casually. "And I was too lazy to ever do anything, and Mina can get to be like a squirrel on crack, she was just to... to..."
"Energetic." Marissa stated across the table, taking a sip of her nearly untouched coffee and grimaced when she realized it was officially lukewarm.
"Yeah, too energetic." Marcus smiled. "I couldn't handle her. She needs a guy who isn't nearly as lazy." Mina snorted and glared at her empty cup.
"I want more frappucino." Something clicked in Lash's brain and he smirked down at her.
"Now that we have that cleared up, why don't I go buy you another one?" She looked up at him confusedly, tilting her head to the side.
"Why?"
'Why do I think she's so... so cute?' Lash thought to himself as she did this. "Well, if I remember correctly... we had plan to go to Starbucks together, my treat, and then Delia pulled her fancy seduction-power trick on me, and then you did your weird telempathy thing-"
"Telempathy?" Marissa snorted.
"It was my idea." Speed smirked and leaned back in his seat. "You know, telepathy and empathy? I thought it worked."
"That's dumb." Marissa snorted, absentmindedly taking another sip of her not-hot-enough coffee and then grimacing again.
"Actually, I like it." They looked down at Mina, who had currently cupped her face in her chin and appeared thoughtful. "That's a cool idea, Speed." Speed smirked in pride at the compliment.
"But, as I was saying..." She turned to look back up at him, and he smiled at her nonchalantly. "I never bought you that coffee." Mina smirked at him.
"Tall vanilla bean frappucino." She stated, still smirking. He also smirked and stood up, grabbing her empty cup and throwing it in the trashcan on his way into the coffee shop.
'Lash, you are the man.'
