Disclaimer: The surprises keep on comin'; I don't own anything!
---Robbie's Beautiful Stranger--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robbie checked his watch when he got to Mickey's. '3:55, right on time as usual, McGrath.' As soon as he thought that, Mickey greeted him.
"Right on time McGrath. I like that in young people."
"Thanks...so what do you need me to do?"
"Well first you'll need to meet your new co-worker." Mickey calls over to the counter, "Hey Marpessa, come meet your new partner."
'Marpessa?! On yeah, life is good...Crap, do I look ok, how's my breath...Why didn't Lily tell me she was working here?'
In what seemed like slow motion, she turned around and smiled at him, her long shapely legs sliding off the bar stool she was sitting on. She glided towards him and everything seemed to fade away to the shadows.
"Robbie, this is Marpessa, Marpessa, this is Robbie."
"Nice to meet you, Robbie." She said. Her voice was soothing, like the sound of waves against the sand.
"Likewise, Marpessa." The sound of his own voice surprised him. He felt like he had lost his ability to speak.
"Now that formalities are done and over with, let's start with the tutorial. Here's a question for you. What letter does John Mayer go under?
Robbie, trying to impress Marpessa, answered, "J, right?"
"Wrong. It's P."
"Ah, call me crazy, but John Mayer begins with J."
"Yes, but it goes under P, for 'bands with public/federal office titles in their name.' Marpessa, would you do the honors?"
She takes the cd from his hand and places it before The Dead Presidents .
"Very good. Now where does Death Cab for Cutie go?"
"T, bands with public transportation in their name?" Marpessa answered.
"Great job. You're getting the hang of things. Here's the stack of cd and records for today's portion of inventory. Have at it, kids." The two divided their workload evenly, but Robbie added two cds to his stack when she wasn't looking. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.
"So you seem like the upstanding student at Roscoe High." Marpessa said as she began to file her cds.
"Who told you that?" Robbie asked a bit freaked out. Sure, Principal Waller considered him Valedictorian already even though he was only in the tenth grade.
"Principal Waller. He seems quite fond of you."
"Ah, sure, It's not the best thing to have, all that pressure to stay perfect."
"Trust me, I know what you mean. At my old school I was the brain child. Its kind of nice to start over, not to have any more of an expectation placed upon you than walking down the hall. Then again, after upstaging Ed and Ted-at least I think that's their names- my Algebra class, I might be a bit of a threat to their exceedingly large egos."
Robbie and Marpessa both laugh. Ed and Ted were the Math and Science 'dream team' at Roscoe High.
"You know Lily Randall, right?"
Robbie inwardly jumped at her question. He'd finally find out what Lily said to her about him today. He placed an Aqua cd under C for bands with color in their name.
"Yeah, she's one of my best friends. We go way back."
"Oh." Marpessa said a bit flatly.
"No, not like that, we grew up together."
"Oh." 'There's hope then.' She said, faith restored. She couldn't get enough of him, it seemed. "Anyway, I'd seen you in the hall and I asked her about you."
"What did she say?"
"Oh, she said that you were cool, and funny...and cute. I didn't necessarily need her saying the 'cute' part. I could see it for myself." She said.
"Do you think she's right? About the other stuff?
"So far, yes." Marpessa said with a smile, as she resumed sorting her stack of cds.
Mickey turned on the radio and tuned into Radio Free Roscoe.
'Oh, they're playing my playlist.' He thought. Mickey had tuned in halfway through his favorite song, Nine Days's "So Far Away"
"Hey, I love this song..." Marpessa said humming along with the music.
"You're into Nine Days?" Robbie asked
"Oh yeah. I can't stand "Absolutely" though."
"Yeah, it's way too..."
"Overplayed." The two finished at the same time. Coincidentally they both reached for the same cd to move, they both had to file Depeche Mode, their fingers slightly brushing.
"You go ahead." Marpessa said politely.
"No, really, you go. Ladies first." She loved how polite he was. Their eyes met for a while. She gazed into his silvery gray eyes, noticing his long eyelashes. She had to slightly elevate her chin though, he was about six feet tall.
Robbie snapped back to reality when he heard Smog announce his on air auction.
"And today, past our normal broadcasting hours will be-" the signal became weak and fuzzy. Robbie laughed to himself. "We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties, please stand by."
"I wonder what's up.." Marpessa listened to the fuzz. "Sounds like a faulty transmitter to me."
"You know about radio...stuff?" Robbie inquired.
"Yeah, my dad helped build a radio station back in Cali." He has tons of book and stuff. I built my own radio from one of those kits when I was little."
"That's cool."
"So are you into anything...any hobbies?"
He could have told her that he was one fourth of the underground radio station playing before her very ears...but decided against it.
"Not really...I mainly talk. I like discussing different issues." He said as vaguely as possible.
"Discussion is fun. It relieves a lot of stress. I write lots of poetry and stuff like that."
"Poetry, that's cool. Did you ever think of writing lyrics? Lily plays guitar and writes a lot of her own music. She's good at lyrics, but you never know, she might be open to suggestions."
"I'll keep that in mind." She replied.
Thirty minutes later, the two finished the cd inventory. Before they moved on to the vinyl, they decided to take a break.
"Let's get some milkshakes." Robbie suggested. Was it too early for him to offer to pay? Like he really cared. 'I'll at least offer.' "I'll treat."
"No, it's okay, you don't have to."
"But I want to."
Marpessa smiled gratefully.
"Wait, before I do pay, is there a prospective 'Mr. Marpessa'?" Robbie wanted to know whether or not she was seeing anyone. He'd pay either way, though. He wasn't...Ray...
"Well is there a prospective 'Mrs. Robbie'?"
"No." he was glad that she was interested.
"Well no then—not really anyway." She said, looking at him. "I've narrowed it down to who I'd think would make a good Mr. Marpessa, but I haven't made a choice just yet."
"Good to know." Robbie said as he ordered their milkshakes. He paid and led her to the crew's couch. "Nice." She said, settling down into the red cushion.
"Yeah, Travis, Ray, Lily and I usually sit here when we hang out.
"I was talking about the stud." She said, pointing at her own ear. She tucked a stray braid behind her ear. It didn't want to stay there though. It slipped from her ear. She didn't seem to notice.
"Thanks, I just got it done the other day."
"Cool. I have quite a few myself." She pulled the hair in front of her other ear back, revealing two hoops on the top part of her ear, one near the bottom and two in her lobe.
"Whoa," he said gently brushing her ear. She got chills. "Did the top ones hurt? I heard that they do."
"Not really, well, actually I shouldn't say that. They did hurt, but not more than say, stubbing your toe or hitting your funny bone."
"I see." He replied. She sat quietly stirring her milkshake.
"So who did you get those pretty eyes from?"
"My dad." He said blushing a bit. "I got my hair from my mom. Everything else, I'm not sure. Neither are my parents."
Marpessa laughed. They sat for about thirty more seconds before Marpessa decided to break the silence. Robbie couldn't believe how quiet he was. Normally, you couldn't shut him up, but around Marpessa, he couldn't bring himself to keep a conversation from almost flatlining.
"Choose...um...listening to the worst song in the entire world over and over again for the rest of your life, or never being able to hear music again?"
"Um, worst song."
"Why?"
"Because I'd go crazy without music. It's my life. At least I'd have something to listen to. You play choose? It's one of my favorite games." He and the RFR crew played choose quite often to remedy boredom. It was a really personal game to them.
"Yeah, all the time. My family and I play it a lot. Your turn."
"Okay, choose. A steamy kiss with Principal Waller, or being mauled by a bear. A small bear."
"Why would it make a difference if the bear was big or small?" Marpessa asked laughing.
"It just does. Choose!"
"Ok, I'll take the bear-sorry, small bear mauling."
"And why did you choose the small bear mauling?"
"Because bears don't kiss and tell." Marpessa tried to keep a straight face when she said this, but it was a futile attempt. She couldn't help but laugh. Her amber eyes looked almost golden in the lighting of the room. They were glowing , shimmering with laughter. He hadn't noticed until now how close she was to him, not that he minded.
"Ok, choose...a pool full of pudding or a hot tub full of Ben 'n' Jerry's ice cream.
"Wouldn't the ice cream melt if it was in the hot tub thought?"
"Nope. My scenario, my rules." Marpessa said cutely. Robbie laughed at her facial expression.
"Ice cream. I'd go for the ice cream."
"Yeah that was a no-brainer. Ice cream always wins over pudding."
"Yeah."
Marpessa just sat and stared into space. She was debating whether or not she should make a move. She had only formally known this guy for less than two hours. Should she really tell him how she felt? What if he didn't feel the same way? She shook off those thoughts and went in for the kill.
"Robbie," she said, sliding her hair off of her shoulders.
"Yes?"
"I really...like you...a lot." "That's good. I like you a lot too." Marpessa sighted with relief and smiled. "I was just picking up this..."
"Vibe? Yeah I felt it too."
"Its funny, this afternoon when I saw you in the hallway, I knew I had to get to know you better. Funny how things work out. Lily told me about you."
"I see. So do you want to do something tomorrow?"
"Dinner and a movie sound ok?
"Sounds great."
"Great." His voice trailed off as he leaned in. She slid her hand around his neck and touched his soft curls, pulling him closer. Their lips brushed.
"Are you kids making out ok?" Mickey asked. He was bending over getting something from behind the soda counter. He had just walked in so he hadn't seen anything.
"Just fine, Mickey. Just fine." He and Marpessa giggled to themselves.