Sitara
Dolores Park was lively this evening. It's long plain of freshly cut grass was populated by dozens of people enjoying the outdoors. Couples and families were lying out on blankets conversing, kids ran about playing tag with their friends. There was also a fair share of adorable dogs who pranced about as well. The sound of people chatting and children's laughter, flies buzzing and squirrels rustling through bushes filled the air.
The sun was slowly sinking lower behind the clouds, painting the sky with deep shades of red and pink. It wouldn't be too much longer before the velvety darkness of the night overwhelmed the park, as well as annoying mosquitos.
I hung out on my lonesome, crouched down on the backrest of a bench, my feet planted on the seat. It was nice being around so many good vibes, and the delightful earthy scent of flowers and grass made for a relaxing atmosphere.
Considering how late I arrived home from the hackerspace last night, only to wake up bright and early for the fundraiser with little to no sleep— it took a lot out of me. I was worn out and overworked. I honestly needed some R&R, and a little fun wouldn't hurt either.
Marcus should be here any minute. I texted him to meet me here instead of Gary's. There was no way I was gonna miss out on watching a gorgeous sunset like this—
Thud!
A sudden crashing noise against pavement, followed by a yelp and obnoxious laughter forced my eyes away from the sky and toward the source of the commotion. A young boy laid face first on the park's narrow, concrete path, a skateboard at his feet. He must had fallen off, poor kid. Carefully, he stood up, brushing off the fall. Thank God he was equipped with a helmet and safety gear. Without it, who knew what kind of injuries he would had sustained.
As if taking a dive off his board wasn't embarrassing enough, a group of much older children surrounded him— teenagers by the looks of it, all of them grinning like hyenas.
"You pushed me dummy!" The boy yelled, glaring daggers into one of the tall teenagers surrounding him.
The teenager cackled menacingly, and shoved the boy back onto the ground. "Oops, did it again," he snorted.
My body tensed as I observed the scene unfolding right in front of me. What a fucking bully. God, kids could be so cruel. No one raised a finger to stop it either. Everyone just casually went about their business as if nothing was happening. Little did they know, they were just as guilty as the bully for enabling him. Jesus, these people needed to wake up. Ugh, so much for good vibes this place had earlier.
Since no one else had the balls to do anything, I was forced to take matters into my own hands. I whipped out my phone, and profiled the biggest bully of them all.
Bradley Walker, a seventeen-year-old high school student. Judging by his varsity jacket, he must be part of the jock crowd. Douche bag jocks had a tendency to be popular— their thick skulls forever concerned with upholding their reputation above everything.
Unfortunately for him, his phone was susceptible to overheating. I bet I could crank up the heat. Would be a shame if his device were to suffer such a critical malfunction in the middle of his little power trip, in front of all of his friends. And to think, at one point I thought hacking was only useful for putting crummy tech giants in their place.
His boisterous cackling came to a complete halt once I took advantage of the overheat opportunity. He croaked, a tight grimace appeared on his face as he wrestled his phone out of his jean pocket. The device was literally smoking. He juggled his scorching phone in the palms of his hands, trying desperately to cool it off. His posse gawked at him, dumbfounded. With the group of teenagers distracted, the young boy was able to snatch up his skateboard and skip to his feet. He quickly scurried off out of the park.
The bully, unable to handle his phone's searing temperature, decided to hurl through the air into a row of bushes. His friends busted into laughter at him. Face reddening like a tomato, he stormed off out of the park.
Good riddance. A mishap like that was bound to get around and hurt his reputation among his peers. Maybe that oughta' teach him a lesson—
A pair of strong arms enclosed around me from behind, disrupting my train of thought. The sudden embrace was distinctively gentle, cozy and comforting. In mere seconds, my annoyance and agitation with the whole bullying situation faded away. With the tension and stress gone, a feeling of peacefulness and content washed over me.
There was only one person in the world who could melt my problems away with his touch alone.
"Marcus…" I mumbled, leaning back against his broad chest.
"Hey gorgeous," he greeted softly. "How you doin'?"
"Better, now that you're here."
"Aw, I missed you too." He planted a tender kiss on my cheek. "Been dying to see you all day."
A pang invaded my chest from the abrupt overload of sweetness. I spun around to face him, my thighs snuggling his. I brushed a hand over his clean white hoodie. To my surprise, he wasn't wearing his usual DedSec apparel. I loved when he represented our brand for all to see, yet I too wasn't disappointed feasting my eyes on his new look either.
Marcus' joggers weren't too tight or loose, the dark fabric hugged his legs just right. His hoodie's colorful poker print was definitely loud and flashy, I'm sure it turned more than a few heads on his way here. It fit his personality.
He looked great, but the icing on cake? For the first time ever, he wasn't concealing his gorgeous features behind the cover of his hat.
Marcus' chiseled face was much easier to admire without the brim of his hat getting in the way. And not only that, he had hair for crying out loud! I've only had the luxury of seeing it once, that night on the beach when he had first joined DedSec. But never up close and personal…
Against my better judgement, I found my hand smoothing along the shaved sides of his head. My fingers travelled upwards, caressing his short, thick strands. His dark, curly hair was a Hell of a lot softer than I thought it would be. I wonder how long I could play with it and not get bored. At this rate, it'd be a while.
He stared at me, a broad grin on his face. "Sitara?"
"Your hair…" I muttered, noticing it's subtle, natural wave pattern. Never thought I'd be the type of girl to gush over a dude's hair. Marcus was the first. He had a track record for making me do crazy things and experience feelings I've never thought possible. Still, I needed to get a grip. I wish it was that easy though. "I forbid you from ever, ever wearing your hat again."
"Damn, already making demands this early in the relationship?" He teased.
"I'm serious, jerk. Your hair is gorgeous—"
He blushed and captured my hand, his calloused fingers smoothed over my skin delicately. "We've got the whole night to ourselves for you to coax me with sweet talk. But first, there's somewhere I wanna take you."
"Where?"
"There's this Italian restaurant in Oakland I've been dying to check out. It's a little bit of a drive, but I heard the food there was dope. You down? It'd be my treat."
"A restaurant?" I shook my head. "You know you don't have to strain your wallet trying to impress me right? Society may think a proper date entails dining at some overly expensive, swanky restaurant, but screw that noise. We can have just as much of a good time at a bar, or a hole in the wall diner for all I care."
"Nah, it ain't nothing like that. Like I said, I heard the food was good, and to be honest, I'm starving. I could really go for some breadsticks and a beer right now."
"Are you sure?"
"Hey, stop worrying about the expenses. I got you. C'mon. I'm parked outside of Gary's."
"But Marcus, what's the rush?" I whined playfully. "Can't we just chill here for a little longer? I have such a good seat."
He took a quick glance at the cloudy, pinkish blue twilight sky. "I'm down to chill literally anywhere else, but here. The sun is about to set, and its mosquito season. You know how I get about bloodsucking bugs."
"Right, sorry. I'm just having a lazy day. Hardly slept last night, and then there was the fundraiser—"
"Worry not, my lady," he abruptly turned his back to me. "For I am your royal steed."
"My royal steed?" I stared at him blankly, unsure of what he was proposing. It took a moment or two, but it eventually all clicked once he arched his upper body slightly, to give me a better angle to scale atop of him. "Oh, you wanna give me piggyback ride huh?"
"Hell yeah, it'll be fun. C'mon, you ain't gonna leave me hanging, are you?"
"Depends. You won't drop me, will you?"
"Nah, of course not. I wouldn't dream of such a thing."
Although his tone reeked of sarcasm, I knew he was just teasing. After all, the idea of him carrying me around did sound kinda fun. I gripped his broad shoulders and he cupped my thighs, hoisting me up and onto his powerful back effortlessly— as if I were as light as a feather. He maneuvered around the bench and stepped onto the concrete path leading out of the park.
"You're a lot lighter than I thought you'd be," he stated.
I hugged my arms around his neck. "Good, because I can get used to this kind of treatment. You make a great horsey."
He cleared his throat loudly. "Excuse me? I'm your royal steed, Sitara. Not a horsey. The terminology means everything."
"What's the difference?"
"Steed sounds bad ass, whereas horsey sounds, well, like the exact opposite of bad ass. Regardless, this is a one-time thing, girl. I can't spoil you all the time."
"Oh, come on, you know you want to. You like carrying me around like a good little horsey, don't you? Admit it."
"I would, but lying ain't really my thing. See, on the many occasions that I've thought about you riding me, this isn't exactly how I imagined it going down—"
"J-Jesus Marcus!" I stammered, punching his shoulder almost involuntarily. My face felt like it was fire. "Dirty much?"
He glanced at me, his deep brown eyes softening. "Sorry, am I coming on too strong? Sometimes I can't help myself when I'm around you. My bad though, I'll be good for now on. Promise."
"No, I don't want you to behave, or be anything other than yourself Marcus. You just caught me off guard with that one, that's all."
Normally, I didn't mind his dirty jokes. Sometimes, they were kinda funny actually. But this was the first he had openly directed toward me. If it had come from the mouth of anyone else, I'd probably kick their ass. Hearing it from Marcus made me feel… flattered— special even.
God, the way he made me feel. All these emotions! One second I was elated, walking on sunshine, and the next, I was painfully shy and flustered. And that was just scratching the surface of it all. How in the world could I deal with so many at once? It was driving me crazy.
"By the way, how was your day?" Marcus asked. "Did the fundraiser go well? You make any dough?"
"A good amount," I answered. "And it's all going to a good cause. So my day was going perfectly well, that is— until a bunch of snot nosed losers ruined it."
"How so? Someone been fucking with you? Need me to teach them a lesson? Whoop some ass maybe?"
"Thanks, but no thanks. Violence only breeds violence Marcus. It's a vicious cycle."
"I feel you. Although, I don't necessarily have to get physically violent to teach someone a lesson…" He paused, his voice deepening to put on his infamous Jimmy Siska impression. "I could always deliver some much needed cyber justice—"
"God, you are such a dweeb." I chuckled. "Seriously though, there was a mob of high school kids, seniors probably, bullying a younger kid in the middle of the park in front of everyone, and no one raised a finger to stop it. I had to step in, but you have no idea how badly that crap triggered me. It was a mess."
"That's fucked. Sad thing is, it's a dog eat dog world, especially in high school. Teens who come from abusive homes have a tendency to redirect their anger and aggression toward those who are weaker. It makes them feel powerful and in control. They thrive on that shit. But that's only one case. There's a fuck-ton of reasons why kids bully one another."
"And not a single one seems justifiable to me. It's all petty bullshit. People need to get over themselves."
We reached Marcus' car. It was parked along the sidewalk outside of Gary's Games and Glory. The sun had completely disappeared behind the city's massive buildings in the distance. However, the metropolitan street and store lights did well to ward away the velvety darkness of the night. And the area was still just as lively too. Cars zoomed through avenues, and people casually loitered about with friends, their conversations amongst one another filled the air.
On top of that, there was pop music blasting from the alleyway just beside the game store. The beat was slow and sensual, yet the base was heavy. It must had been coming from a radio, an expensive one at that, considering how pristine the sound quality was.
Marcus set me down on the sidewalk, just before the passenger door of his car. "Damn, that beat is pretty dope," he said, his head bobbing to the tempo lightly. "I can get down with this."
"Can you?" I teased, hands on my hips. "Because now that you mention it, I've never seen you dance before. Do you even have rhythm? It's okay if you don't, it'd explain why I never seen you on the dancefloor."
His thick brows raised and his mouth slackened in disbelief. "What? Did you just say what I think you said?" He pointed at himself. "Me? No rhythm? Girl, you trippin'. I got footwork for days—"
I cupped my palm over his full lips, silencing him. "Prove me wrong then?"
Marcus seized my hand and smirked, a glint of mischief in his eyes. He twirled me around and captured my hips mid-spin, pinning me against his muscular frame. The suddenness of his passionate embrace left me breathless. Without a care in the world regarding the people around us and whether they were watching, we grinded on one another slow and sensually to the beat, our bodies molding together shamelessly.
My temperature literally skyrocketed. Sweat dampened my hairline and trickled down the side of my forehead. We were seriously grinding on each other like rabbits on a crowded sidewalk, right outside of the hackerspace. There were bound to be people who recognized me lurking about, but honestly, I didn't care. Everyone and everything faded to the background when Marcus was around.
I felt every remote movement and curve of his athletic body— from the solid planes of his chest and sculpted pectoral muscles, down to the stiffness in his lower midsection. I wasn't sure if it was the hard barrel of his stun gun he always carried around, or something else entirely…
His blunt fingers slowly travelled up my sides to the nape of my neck. He brushed my hood aside and caressed my skin fondly for a short while. I've never been one to shy away from public displays of affection, although I did have my boundaries. Sure, we were already nearing the tip of the iceberg with the dry humping in front of everyone, but Marcus' massages had always stripped my inhibitions away. Not necessarily on the account of how good they felt, but mostly because it was such a kind, thoughtful gesture. He never expected a thing in return either. He was too giving for his own good.
"You gonna take back what you said about me having no rhythm?" Marcus asked. His lips inched tantalizingly close to my neck. The sensation of his warm breath on my bare shoulder was enough to make my knees quake. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me, but he stopped his advance just short of the crook of my neck. I shivered. What a tease.
"Your decent," I found the strength to mutter. "You got moves, and you can flow to the beat pretty well, I'll give you that."
He smiled and reluctantly drew away from me. With him at a distance, I was able to catch my breath and calm my teetering nerves. Although, I missed his warmth and safe embrace. I could never get enough of it.
"Alright, so now that we've got the whole rhythm thing cleared up…" He turned for his car and opened the passenger door for me. "You ready to go?"
I nodded, and hopped into the passenger seat.
Marcus and I slid side by side into the leather cushioned booth near the corner of the restaurant. The place was definitely classy. The fancy chandelier lights were dim, and every polished table was well lit with flickering candles. The service wasn't bad either— our waiter, a clean-shaven dude in a suit and bowtie, was quick to arrive at our table to serve us. In his hand was a plateful of freshly baked, buttery breadsticks. My mouth watered. He laid the delicious looking baked goodies on the clean white tablecloth and proceeded to take our orders.
"You know what, I think I'll take the steak and fries man," Marcus declared after a brief inspection of the menu.
"Very well," the waiter feigned a smile at him before shifting his attention to me. "And for you, Ms?"
"Um…" I fumbled, still nose deep in reading the menu. "Crap, I'm torn between the veggie burger and the wild mushroom ravioli."
"Mushrooms?" He cringed. "Nasty."
"Meh," I shrugged my shoulders. "Just give me the veggie burger, well done please."
"And what may I get you both to drink tonight?" The waiter asked.
"Beer," Marcus and I said in unison.
"Lager or ale?"
"Lager," I answered. "We prefer pale. Budweiser or Heineken would be just fine."
"Splendid. I'll return with your drinks shortly." He grabbed our menus and hurried away.
Marcus lowered his head and stared at the waiter until he disappeared into the chef's kitchen. He then stole a furtive glance around the restaurant, eyeing the security cameras for a split second before dropping his gaze to his phone. He was practically hiding it under the table so no one could see.
"Marcus?" I asked. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, my bad," he stuffed his phone into his hoodie's pocket and gazed at me. "Wrench posted a rare Pepe meme. I had to upvote it real quick or it's bad luck."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Right. And I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Why wouldn't you? Wrench and I are serious about our dank memes. And not to brag or nothing, but in case you didn't know, we're admins of a mildly successful meme page."
"This must be the part when I tell you to drink bleach," I teased.
"Savage," he grinned.
"Seriously though, were you really just looking at memes? Or should I be worried right now?"
He shifted toward me and grasped my hand, our fingers intertwining. "Don't worry, everything's fine," he said softly. "I'm sorry I got distracted earlier. You have my full attention now, alright?"
"I'm such a worrywart, aren't I?"
"A little, but it's cute girl. I don't want you to change."
Smiling, I turned toward him as well. With a drawn-out sigh, I snuggled up to him, burying my face in the crook of his neck. He locked his strong arm around my waist and held me against him, his fingertips smoothed over my thigh tenderly. The savory scent of his fresh, earthy aftershave filled my nostrils with every breath I took.
"You're perfect just the way you are," he said. "You know that right?"
"I'm glad someone thinks so," I slowly ran my hand up his chest. My fingers reaching his neck, I fondled the nape delicately, returning the favor for the massage he gave me earlier. He sighed contently, and pecked my chin lightly, mouthing a 'thank you'.
We silently cuddled and caressed one another lovingly for quite some time. If only we could stay like this forever— just tuning out the entire world itself and letting time waste away into nothingness. No more responsibilities, no more annoying, mundane trials of everyday life. Only peace and relaxation. That'd be a dream come true.
"Sitara?" Marcus asked, breaking the silence.
"Hm?" I asked.
"Not that I want this to end, because I'm really enjoying the moment, but our food is here. You ready to dig in?"
I blinked, snapping back to reality. Two beautifully decorated plates of hot food were placed in front of us, paired along with our beers. My veggie burger looked delicious. The bun and vegetables were fresh, and the patty cooked well done. But when the heck did it get here? I must had been so preoccupied swooning over Marcus, I didn't even notice our meals had arrived. Talk about embarrassing.
I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Oh jeez, I didn't realize it was here already—"
"It's all good," he smiled. "Took me a second to catch on myself. It's kinda hard to function like a normal person when you're around."
"You can say that again. You'd think that we'd be used to one another's company by now."
"Right? When you're near, my stomach always feels like Jell-O, and just a moment ago, I thought my heart was about to burst from my chest from cuddles alone. That can't be healthy right?"
"Jeez, are you sure you aren't dying? Do we need to check you into a clinic?"
"We just might. You infected me with the feels, girl— got a brother out here in need medical attention. Who's gonna run ops if I'm hospitalized?"
"You better pull your lovesick butt together, Marcus." I pet his cheek mockingly. "DedSec needs you. I need you."
He beamed at me fondly, his brows arched. Our gazes locked. His cool brown eyes had a chestnut undertone, with subtle hues of bronze around his pupils. I could stare into them forever. Unfortunately, our eye contact didn't last long.
A nervous grin escaped his lips, and he lowered his head. "Damn, we didn't even touch our breadsticks yet!" He captured a breadstick from the plate and held it in front of my lips. "Wanna do the honors girl?"
"Don't mind if I do." I took a bite, savoring the bread's soft, buttery goodness. "Holy crap, it tastes freaking amazing."
"Let me be the judge of that." He tried it next, nodding in approval as he devoured it. "God damn, that is good. You know this restaurant ain't half bad, a little expensive but—" His words are interrupted by a harsh, buzzing noise coming from his hoodie. He freed his vibrating phone from his pocket and took a peek at it. "Wrench is calling. What do you think? Should I pick up?"
"I think tonight is our night together, meaning just you and me, thank you very much," I tapped the reject call icon on his phone. "Wrench can wait a few hours for your attention. He's a big boy. He'll be fine."
"Yeah, you're right. Oh, by the way, he seems to be under the impression that you and I have somethin' going on. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, Sitara?"
"What do you mean? Like romantically?"
"Word. Did you tell him anything?"
"No, I haven't said a word."
"Mhmm." He wrinkled his brow. "It's cool if you did. Ain't no big deal."
"No really, I didn't tell him. Honest."
"Okay, I'll take your word for it. Real talk though, do you wanna hide this from the others? Because I rather not… I mean, if that's okay with you? I know it might be awkward for them at first but—"
"Did you seriously just ask me that?" I rolled my eyes. "What is this, high school? We're fully grown adults, who gives a shit what anyone else thinks?"
"Alright, relax," he rubbed my shoulder soothingly. "My bad, it was just a question. Sorry I asked."
I sighed. "No, don't be. I should be the one apologizing, I totally overreacted. What I meant to say is, if we don't have any reason to hide the way we feel about each other, then why should we? Whatever this is that we have going on, I'm proud of it."
"I feel you. I'm pretty sure the whole world knows anyway. Lately, there hasn't been any shame in our game when it comes to PDA."
"That's because you're so wonderfully irresistible, and so unbelievably dashing—"
"Stop," he pleaded sweetly, dragging out the "o" for what seemed like forever. It was adorable. "Let's just eat okay? My fragile heart can't take anymore flattery right now."
"Fine. But as much as I'd love to stuff my face right now, I need to make a quick trip to the ladies' room to freshen up. It'll only be like two minutes."
"It's all good, take your time. I'll try and save some breadsticks for ya', no promises though."
"Thanks hun."
The public restrooms were across the restaurant, at the end of a small hall near the backdoor exit. I shouldered open the women's restroom door, the potent smell of bleach and hairspray filling my nose. My legs locked in place once I noticed the harshly flickering lights. The place went from well lit, to pitch black over and over. I could barely see my hand in front of my face. The lightbulb must have had broken. It was pretty eerie to say the least.
The thought of ditching this place and never coming back crossed my mind. But I was already here, I might as well just wash my hands really quick and hightail it back to Marcus. I took a peek under the stalls before making my decision to stay or not. I didn't see any feet, thank God, so I was alone and in the clear for now.
The bathroom was rather spacious at least, with rows and rows of small beige stalls, yet they were all dented and most of them were missing locks. There was a large, foggy square mirror nailed to the whitewashed wall just above a row of rusty sinks. Their leaky faucets continuously dripped and dripped to no end.
Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.
The never-ending plops of water droplets splashing against the ceramic, along with the spooky flickering lights, was enough to drive me insane. For such a nice restaurant, they could at least invest some TLC into their restrooms. The place was in pretty shoddy condition to be honest.
I hurried to the nearest sink, my feet shuffling against the dusty tilted floor. It was so quiet in here. I twisted the hot water knob. Warm water sprouted from the faucet. I wasted little time in drenching my palms with soap from the dispenser, and then dipped my hands beneath the flowing water, hastily scrubbing them clean.
I glanced at the foggy mirror before me, curious of how my hair and makeup was holding up. Just as I did, the flickering lights shut out completely, cloaking the entire space in a thick sheet of darkness.
"What the Hell?" I muttered to myself, a cold chill crawling up my spine. Something wasn't right. I was seriously getting freaked out. My instinct was to bolt for the exit, but it was too damn dark to see anything. I snatched my phone out of my pocket and swiped on the flashlight. Directing the light in front of me and toward the mirror, I spotted the reflection of a man dressed in black, towering over me from behind. His face hidden behind a mask, he held a white, damp cloth in the palm of his hand.
I froze, the sound of my racing heartbeat thrashed in my ears. I tried to cry out, to say something, anything, but all I could produce were incoherent blubbering and whimpers.
Holy fuck-nuggets. I was screwed.
This chapter was a blast to write, I hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment if you like, feedback is greatly appreciated!