February 12, 2023
1 year, 6 months, and 3 days after Star and Marco's two-year anniversary
Marco Diaz was in hell.
Beautiful, agonizing hell.
It was Friday, and Fridays were always tough this semester thanks to a pair of back-to-back three-hour lectures. This Friday seemed to go by particularly slowly, as it was all that stood between Marco and a three-day weekend free of work and full of time with Star.
The temptation of the coming weekend, however, paled in comparison to the temptation on his phone.
In the back of one of his college's countless lecture halls, Marco once again scrolled through the pictures that tortured him all day. The gallery was up to twenty-seven pictures and counting. All selfies, all of Star. And, as evidenced by the latter images in the series, all of Star.
Marco normally got a few messages from Star throughout the day on Fridays, as he had to leave for his first class around 7:30am and wouldn't get home until 3:30pm. So when he received a picture of her eating breakfast at 7:45, he thought nothing of it.
It wasn't until 8:30 that Marco realized that, unlike a typical Friday, Star was only sending selfies. At 8:45, he figured out that the selfies were arriving precisely every 15 minutes. He noted that Star was intentionally posing by 9:15.
It took him until 9:45 to realize that Star wore fewer and fewer articles of clothing in each successive picture.
Star stopped removing clothes at 10:30, but only because she had run out of them. Her next pictures saw the introduction of props into proceedings. The last few entries involved a banana and a cucumber, both separately and simultaneously.
Marco found himself incredibly impressed with her ability to pull that last one off, even with the use of a selfie stick. He found himself even more impressed 15 minutes later when the selfie stick itself was brought into the fold.
The pair had sent each other the occasional naughty picture before, but Star's current output was far above anything she had ever done before. It was clear that she was looking forward to their weekend just as much as Marco.
The weekend couldn't start until the end of his second lecture of the day. Marco gave up any pretense of focusing enough to take notes hours ago, but he still needed to at least hear what his professor was saying. He glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was 2:44pm. Just sixteen more minutes until he was free to leave.
Class was ending soon, but not nearly soon enough for Marco's liking.
Marco was brought out of his thoughts when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He quickly grabbed the device, eager to see what awaited him.
02:44 PM
Sensei Brantley
you're coming to my party next weekend right?
'Not now,' Marco thought to himself. He dismissed the message with a flick of his thumb and began to shove the phone back into his pocket, but he stopped when the device vibrated again. He quickly reactivated the screen and saw exactly what he had hoped to see:
02:45 PM
Star 🌟
New picture message
Marco bit his lower lip. He quickly shot glances to the desks on either side of him to ensure that their occupants weren't looking at him. When he saw that they were fully enthralled in the lecture, he opened the message.
His reward was an image of Star sprawled out on their bed. She held an aerosol can of whipped cream in her hand and wore a large amount of its contents on her body. The picture included a one-word caption: 'Hungry?'
Marco nodded. Yes. He was hungry. Starving. Famished.
He wanted to be home right now. He wanted to be home hours ago.
Marco dropped his head on his desk with a thud and let out a growl of frustration.
"Mister Diaz?"
The voice of his professor brought Marco out of his thoughts. His eyes bulged in panic as he realized that he was still in his lecture. So was his professor. So were 40 other students. Most of whom were probably staring at him like he was a weirdo. Marco slowly lifted his head and looked into the crowd of students to confirm that yes, they were all staring at him like he was a weirdo.
"Are you alright, Mister Diaz?" the professor continued in a firm tone.
"Ummmm…" Marco felt the color draining from his cheeks. "Sorry, it's just a…" His mind raced to find some sort of explanation. "It's a… a home thing."
"Do you need to step outside, Mister Diaz?"
Marco didn't answer right away. Instead he eyed his phone, then the clock on the wall, then his phone again. He couldn't afford to miss any part of the lecture, even if it was just 15 minutes. He needed to stay… but he absolutely needed to go home.
"Yes, yes I do," he stammered. "I need to go home and- and- and take care of… the… the home… thing."
The professor rolled her eyes and extended her arm in the direction of the door. Marco instantly gathered up his things into his hands, shot up from his seat and ran towards the door. Once he got out of the hall, he sprinted even faster. He blazed his way through the hallways to the front door, then into the parking lot and to his car. He opened the door and haphazardly threw the things he had carried onto the passenger's seat.
He gathered himself for a moment, then quickly pulled his phone out again. 3:02pm. 'Good,' he thought as he tossed the phone atop the pile of belongings. He quickly secured his seat belt, started the vehicle, and peeled out of the lot.
If traffic was good, he'd be home in time to join Star in her next picture.
Next story:
Bet