Marcie sat on the edge of her bed, jockeying her cell phone between her hands. She thought for a moment before dialing, waiting as the line rang. "Hi, James." she smiled. "I'm good... is Eric home?.. Not yet?.. Oh, OK." she sighed. "Can you just--- tell him I called and--- it's not important. I'll call him tomorrow?.. Thanks, James... Bye."

Marcie hung up the phone with a deep sigh, falling back in bed. She stared silently in the darkness up at the ceiling, startled by a sudden loud boom in the hall.

"Son of a bitch!"

The hall light flicked on as Mark was awoken. He ran upstairs. Marcie opened her door. Nick was shaking his foot, having walked into a small table at the end of the hall.

"God... Ahh," he said "Who put this stupid thing here?"

"It's been there since we moved in" Marcie said. "Are you OK?"
"What are you doing walking around in the dark, Nick?" Mark asked

"Why don't you mind your own freakin' business!" Nick yelled. Marcie backed away, shaken by Nick's rage.

"I'm backing off," Mark assured him. There was obviously something very serious going on in Nick's head and Mark wasn't about to get in his way. He didn't want Marcie to get in the middle of it either.

"What's wrong with him?" Marcie said nervously as Nick left them both standing in the hallway. "This seems like more than just normal Nick attitude."

"Be lucky that you don't have to share a room with him." Mark said. "Maybe he's on edge. The season's starting early this year. It is crunch time."

"You think so?" Marcie asked.

"It's gotta be." Mark sighed. "He's been working pretty hard, training. It is exhausting... on top of working the project."

"You're right" Marcie said. "He's been hitting the gym an awful lot these past few weeks. There's no getting him to slow down."

"This is a big season," Mark said. "He's got scouts from pro teams all over the country coming to see him play."

"He's good," Marcie said.

"You're telling me."

Marcie smiled. "I didn't know you were into football."

"I'm... not" he said "I had to write a piece... for the paper... a few...pieces..."

Marcie's eyes widened and a smiled showed on her face. "You are such a horrible liar." Mark became suddenly shy. "Mark... you're not..." she looked at him. "You have it bad."

"I don't" Mark defended.

"You do too" Marcie smiled. "You really have it bad for Nick."

"Marcie!" Mark tried to hush her. She smiled, knowing that she had hit the nail on the head. Mark blushed. "It was just a stupid thing. It doesn't even count because... well I guess I knew all along that the two of us don't bat for the same team. Besides... I'm so over it." Marcie raised her eyebrows. "He's straight Marcie." He paused. "Can we pretend we never had this conversation... please?"

Marcie nodded. "Right..."

"Not a word to anyone either."

"I swear," Marcie smiled. "Don't worry, Mark."

"So are you OK about before?" he asked her. "Did you call your brother?"

"How'd you know...."

"Family's important to you" he smiled. "I just figured that you'd need to talk to him after a day like you had. Did you get in touch with him?"

Marcie shook her head. "I called but... he wasn't home yet. I'm gonna call in the morning..." she paused. "I'm gonna... call it an early night" Marcie said. "Before Shannon gets home and wakes everyone up." Mark laughed. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Night Marcie" Mark said making sure that she got back to the room OK. He paused for a moment before going to the room that he shared with Nick. "Nick?" he said. Nick was laying back on his bed. "What's going on?"