I don't own Home Alone
Enjoy!
Monday has arrived faster than Marv would have liked. Who knew that when a person worked during the week, the weekend had the tendency to fly by so quickly. When he was incarcerated, he didn't know which day of the week it was. That landed him into trouble when he didn't attend to his duties. After having been woken in the early hours of the morning by Amy, Marv tried to drag himself out of bed. He couldn't go to work this tired! Otherwise, he would be sleeping on the job, and he felt that he could get fired for that. Afterwards, he had a very fulfilling breakfast that Amy was kind enough to make for him along with a cup of coffee. At least the caffeine was able to wake him up a little bit.
Amy sat across from him and beheld a gentle smile upon her lips. "I can't believe how fast this is happening."
"Whoa," Marv said as he emphasized by holding out his hand in a way of saying, 'hold your horses.' "I haven't gotten the job yet. I still have to do the interview."
"I know," Amy agreed, "but I can feel that you will get it. Oh! Should we—"
"No," Marv said before she continued that sentence. He knew that she was going to ask about rehearsing again for rue interview. First, it was too early in the morning for him. Second, they had gone through this during the weekend and when they returned from the park. Lastly, it made him nervous. "You have given me some great pointers, but I also want to do this on my own."
Was that some confidence that she saw from him? It was different from the one that she had seen before. She clasped her hands together and smiled at him. "Can I just say that I'm proud of you?"
The cup of coffee hovered next to his lips when she said that. When was the last time he had heard anyone say that they were proud of him? "Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," Marv said, hoping that the sentence and the position of the coffee mug would hide the blush that was forming at his cheeks.
A light chuckle escaped her lips. "I'm serious," she said. "It takes people a long time to get back on their feet. You did it in just a matter of days."
"I've had some help," Marv reminded her.
"That's nothing," Amy said. "No matter how much the other person helps, it's your choice whether you want to take it. And you made the right choice."
Well, that was one point that he could give himself. Now he just had to remove all those wrong choices with the right ones. Once he finished his coffee, he set the mug on the table and got up. "I'm ready to get started."
"You have got this," Amy said as she gave him another motivational smile. "Here let me fix this."
He was quite the tall man, so she had to stand at the tips of her toes to reach him. She held her arms up and fixed the collar of his shirt and then ran her hand gently over his shoulder to straighten out the fabric. She set herself back down on her feet and looked him over once more. He was…
"Everything good?" Marv asked her.
"Everything's good!" Amy confirmed with a nod her head. She almost let her tongue slip from what she was thinking. Get a hold of yourself, girl Amy scolded herself for saying such a thing out loud. Thank goodness that his sense of telepathy was not as strong.
Her outburst caught him off guard. Especially when she began to quickly gather her items and house keys. Were they late or something? He guessed that this was something that he was going to have to get used to, eventually.
Their walk at the diner was quiet…and he was glad for that. He wanted to have his mind free from any advice and just be in the serene moment. Maybe he ought to give himself a pat on the back for coming this far. As Amy has mentioned to him earlier, he was able to get on his feet in just a couple of days. He didn't think that he would be this determined to change his ways. However, he did miss that thrill of getting away with it.
"Here we are," Amy said as they approached the diner that was filled with less customers than the day before.
"Not as busy today," Marv commented as he walked inside.
"That's because we're nowhere near the brunch hour," Amy smiled. "Sit down. I'll go tell my boss you're here."
He watched as she walked away from him, and he took this as the opportunity to sit on one of the booths and gather his thoughts. He let out a puff of air and ran his hands over his eyes.
"Coffee?" a brunette waitress caught his attention as she stood next to his booth with a smile.
"No thanks," he shook his head as she went on her way. He could go for something stiff though. A Jack Daniels on the rocks sounded good right about now.
He didn't know how much time passed when he saw Amy coming over to his booth with another man. He looked to be the same height as Harry and had a toothpick hanging from his mouth. Why did that make him look intimidating.
"Is this the fella?" the man asked Amy as she nodded her head.
"That's him," Amy said as motioned her head to Marv.
As if that was his cue, Marv stood up from the booth and extended his hand towards the other man. "Hi sir, my name is Marvin Merchants. Marv for short."
The other grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Pleasure. My name's Tom Rossi. Of course, you knew that since I own the place."
Marv was taken aback by that. Amy never mentioned that her boss was the owner of this place! He glanced over at Amy, in slight panic, and then back at Tom. "Y-Yeah I know that," he responded nervously.
"Good," Tom said and motioned for Marv to sit back at his booth as he sat across from him. "I think we can take it from here Amy. Thanks."
"Sure," Amy smiled, "just so you know Marv, never call him Tommy. He hates that!"
"Ahhh get back to work," Tom said as he waved his hand in the air. "Calling me Tommy, who're you…my mother?" With a giggle, Amy walked away to perform her job and he turned his attention to Marv. "She's a great kid."
The fact that this man was able to take a joke made Marv feel slightly at ease. "How long have you known her?" Tom proceeded to ask him.
"It's a good couple of years," Marv said, which wasn't a technical lie. Ever since he had met Harry, the two had been married and they had been eventually introduced.
"So, you're like friends?" Tom asked.
"Yeah-I mean, yes," Marv corrected himself.
Tom rolled his eyes. Why did people have to be so formal when applying to places like this. He had seen high school kids trying to act like they were ready for the working world when in fact, they still had a lot of experience to get. "Look, this place ain't one of those high paying corporate jobs where they're trying to look for an impressive resume to hire. All I need is somebody that can keep quiet and do the job."
Keeping quiet was never his specialty. Even when he robbed houses, he wouldn't consider himself a cat burglar. "I can do it," Marv nodded his head at that.
"Can you guarantee to it though?" Tom asked. "I want this place spotless when we open for the day and when we close for the evening. There's a lot of duties involved that I wanna take off the waitresses. They already got too much on their plate."
No matter what the responsibilities would do, Marv wanted to take part in it just to prove to himself that he was going to get his act together. "Oh yeah," he said to him, "anything you give to me, I can do." He then though back of what his responsibilities back in prison and if he could assimilate those skills to this job. "I can clean the floors, do the laundry, the dishes."
"Aside from the laundry," Tom said to him, "it's basically what a busboy does. As well helping the waitresses and attending to customers when it's needed. Think you can handle that?"
Marv nodded his head. "Yes."
"Okay," Tom said as he wiggled around the toothpick in his mouth.
Marv didn't know if Tom was convinced with the answers that he has given him. He seemed to be a very tough person to read but the moment that Tom gave him another studious look, that's when Marv thought that he has reached his conclusion.
Amy has been on her feet for the past couple of hours that she didn't even have a chance for her break. Brunch was always a busy time of the day until three in the afternoon and after that, the number of customers were less than they were in the morning.
"We gotta hire more people," Amy muttered to herself as she ran a hand over her disheveled hair and took a sip of water from the kitchen.
During her work hours, she couldn't find the opportunity to ask either Tom or Marv on how the interview went. One minute she saw them both at the booth and the next, both of them were gone. Her stomach dropped when she didn't see either of them in the diner. Of course, she couldn't get anything out of Tom, but at least Marv should have said something to her. Her mind wheeled around on possible scenarios of what might have happened that would cause Marv to leave without saying a word. She hoped that she could find him later today.
"You're still here?" Anne asked as she walked into the kitchen. "I thought your shift was over."
"It is," Amy said. "I just need to finish with the dishes."
"Leave 'em," Anne said, "I'm pulling a couple of extra hours anyway."
Amy was thankful for that. Giving her coworker a thank you, she grabbed her items and exited the kitchen. Marv was nowhere to be seen in the booths. That worried her. She clung on the strap of her purse and headed out into the night air. Okay Marv, where did you go? she thought to herself as she headed down the street. Surely, he must have gone back to the apartment. She couldn't believe that she had exhilarated him into something that didn't happen. She couldn't imagine what he was going through with that disappointing news. Why couldn't Tom have been a little more lenient in what he was looking for? Sure, Marv may not have had experience but that didn't mean that he couldn't do it. At the thought of her boss and his choice, she rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Once she turned the corner on the street, she slammed against another person and almost lost her footing. On instinct, her hand reached inside her purse, and she pulled out a small bottle of pepper spray and directed it towards the rouge.
"Whoa!" a familiar voice yelled as he jumped back. "Amy it's me!"
"Marv?" Amy said as she slowly lowered her arm and once, she made sure that it was him, she lowered the bottle back inside her purse, embarrassed that she had almost attacked him with it. "Where have you been?" she demanded as she placed a hand on her hip.
"I needed some fresh air," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "After that interview, I needed to do something to clear my head."
A forlorn look passed her eyes as she looked at him. "I'm sorry Marv," she said as she gently shook her head.
"For what?" Marv asked her, "I got the job."
"You—You what?" Amy asked.
"I got the job," he repeated to her with a smile upon his lips, "apparently, they needed someone to start right away and since I was the only one that showed interest, he hired me."
Amy clasped her hands together and rested them under her chin. "Oh, I'm so glad," she said and launched herself into his arms for a hug.
Marv didn't expect that. He stumbled back but returned her hug. "Thanks," he said to her. "And I got something for you." He held a small bouquet of flowers between them, and he saw how her eyes moved from the bouquet and over to him. "It's the least I can do to thank you."
Amy was touched by such a kind gesture. She reached forward and took a hold of the bouquet but raised an eyebrow when she felt something sticky against it. "Why have you taped your hand?"
Damn it! Marv thought as he looked at his hand. "Oh this…" he played it off with a small laugh. "This hand gets very cold than the other. The tape keeps it a bit warm."
"That's odd," Amy said, "I've never heard of tape being used as gloves. We're going to have to get you some winter clothing, Marv." She looked down at the flowers and smiled as she bought them closer to her nose and sniffed them, "the flowers are lovely, thank you."
"It's nothing," Marv said as he waved his hand in the air. "I don't know what to expect for tomorrow but seeing how crazy it got later in the day, it's gonna be a busy one."
"That's how it always gets in there," Amy said to him, "but if you need a caffeine kick, it's always on the house. Now let's head on home. I want to put these lovely flowers in some water. And Marv?" she said as she looked over at him.
"Yeah?" he said and looked down at her.
"Never disappear like that again." She shook her head with a serious look in her eyes.
Perhaps he should have left a note for her or said that he would be back. He hadn't meant to cause her any worry. "Guess you're gonna be stuck with me for a little while, Amy," he said to her.
…and secretly she hoped that it would last.
A/N: I know that Marv is definitely OOC, but we only see the burglar side of him in the movie and not how he was before he turned into one. It's interesting to explore that other side of him. Thank you for the reviews!