When Zach, Evie, Cam, Ondina, and Mimi walked through the door to the café Marcus had come to a conclusion. He had gone about the bar, going back and forth between being invisible and visible at random intervals just to see if he could broker a reaction from the happy couple to no avail. He had once gone as far as to reappear right behind Serena, hoping to startle David from his love-struck gaze. He had given up after that, sitting down behind the bar and playing with the new phone he had bought. It had taken him some time to find his credit card, but when he had dug it up he had used it to buy the phone he was now holding. When they came through the doors he glanced to Serena and David, thinking that surely the appearance of their friends would garner a reaction. Nothing. Not unless a small happy sigh from David counted as a reaction.
"It's not natural." Marcus said, almost convinced that the two of them were under some sort of spell.
"What's up?" Zach asked as he sat down at the bar. He saw where Marcus was staring and laughed. "Oh yeah, those two. Don't worry it's completely normal for them to make googly eyes at each other for a couple hours at a time."
"Is there something wrong with them?" Marcus asked.
"Well, they're in love." Evie said as though that explained everything. "They're still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship."
"It's not natural." Marcus repeated.
Zach and Evie both ordered juiced and Marcus quickly set to mixing their drinks. He pulled out the recipe menu from under the counter and consulted it several times as he went about concocting the mixture. Ondina chimed in as he was making their drinks, ordering one for herself and Mimi as well.
"I don't think so." Marcus said, not bothering to turn around and face her.
"What did you say?" Ondina asked, clearly affronted.
Marcus looked at the recipe book again as he finished off the drink, ensuring that he had followed every step. Nodding confidently, he slid the juices across the bar to the patrons and waited expectantly. Zach and Evie sipped cautiously at their drinks once before nodding and taking a deeper draft of their juice. "Hey!" Ondina fumed, clearly upset at Marcus's refusal to serve her. "I'm talking to you!"
"Yes and I am so very eager to hear what it is you have to say." Marcus drawled, clearly enunciating every word. "Please, enthrall me with your thoughts on how I am the scum of the earth, a horrible person, and possibly the worst individual on the planet."
"Why are you such a jerk?" Ondina demanded.
"Years of practice." Marcus said sagely.
"Just make me a coconut-pineapple juice!" Ondina ordered him.
"Please refer back to my 'I don't think so' comment." Marcus advised her. "The last time you got near a juice you poured it on my head. I like this shirt and I don't want you to ruin it."
Zach and Evie were clearly enjoying this exchange, grinning into their glasses and glancing back and forth at one another. Mimi didn't seem to be overly upset with the conversation either, smiling softly at her blonde friend. Ondina and Marcus continued to glare at one another across the bar, neither willing to budge an inch. Thankfully, Zach stepped in as a mediator before the situation escalated any further. "Okay, Marcus, if Ondina apologizes and swears not to pour her juice on your head will you make her a drink?"
"Hm." Marcus mused, considering the offer. "Sure. I can't see a problem with that."
"Ondina?" Evie prompted.
"Fine." She sighed, unhappy with having to apologize to Marcus. "Marcus?"
"Yes Ondina?" He responded brightly. "How may I help you today, valued customer?"
Evie snorted into her drink in a much undignified fashion, whilst Zach laughed outright. Ondina shot them both a malevolent glare before returning the glare to Marcus. "I am sorry for pouring the drinks on your head." She told him haltingly, as if the words burned her tongue. "And I promise not to do it again."
"Apology accepted." Marcus said happily, thoroughly enjoying messing with the blonde mermaid. It seemed to make the day a little brighter in his opinion.
"Could I have a banana-raspberry juice please?" Mimi asked as she sat down next to Zach.
"Sure." Marcus shrugged, setting to making both her drink and Ondina's. When he finally finished making them, he slid them over to their respective requestors and took an immediate step back from Ondina.
The blonde mermaid smiled at him wickedly, but she simply sipped at her drink and shrugged. "It's not bad." She said airily. "But it's not great either."
"I made it with love." Marcus told her. "So it's probably burning you out from the inside."
"You two really like each other don't you?" Evie laughed. "Honestly, if this is how it is going to be every time you two are near each other I'm going to invite Marcus over for magic lessons with Rita."
Marcus's ears pricked up at that and he had to work hard to restrain the wistful look from spreading across his face. "Magic lessons?" He repeated curiously. "What's that about?"
"We go to Rita's almost every day after school so that she can teach us about magic and the sea." Evie told him. "It's more for Zach and me though, Ondina and Mimi are way ahead of us."
"You guys are doing well." Mimi said encouragingly, smiling at her. "You'll catch up to us soon enough."
"I doubt it." Evie said, but she smiled slightly at the encouragement. She looked back to Marcus and raised an eyebrow. "So are you coming?"
"Wait, what happened?" Marcus had turned away from them and had begun to wash dishes, but he was listening intently. "Yes. No. What answer works best here?"
"So it's settled!" Evie declared, jumping from her stool and striding over to David.
"Evie, wait!" Ondina said, swiveling in her chair. "Why should we invite him?"
"I have a name." Marcus reminded her, setting a glass of water on the counter in front of him loudly enough for Ondina to hear. She glanced back at him and Marcus looked down pointedly at the glass before turning his gaze on Ondina. "And a glass of water. You can choose which to use."
"I'm with Evie on this one." Mimi admitted. "He's interesting… for a land boy."
"So it's settled then!" Zach declared. "Marcus, come on, let's go to Rita's."
"I'm at work…." Marcus said slowly as he gazed out over the empty café. Neither David nor Serena had moved from the spot that Marcus had discovered them in. He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Okay, you know what? I'm going to close early. I don't think that David will mind. Actually I'm not entirely certain that he's even still alive."
"Oh, he's alive." Zach assured him, following Evie out of the bar. Marcus only hesitated a moment before pulling off his shirt and tossing it onto one of the crates in the back room. He emerged from the room just as he pulled his rock-climbing shirt back on. He nearly bumped into Ondina who had apparently been going into the back room
"Whoa, whoa," Marcus said, stepping around the blonde and walking after Zach and Evie. They were waiting right outside of the door, their fingers intertwined. Marcus rolled his eyes and the group set off with Mimi and Ondina bringing up the rear. Marcus felt rather like a prisoner for a moment with Zach and Evie in front of him and Mimi and Ondina behind him. He moved forward and began to walk beside Evie, just in case a quick escape proved necessary. "So magic lessons eh? What's the real reason that you wanted me to come along?"
"I don't know what you mean." Evie told him, though her cheeks turned rather pink. "I just thought it would be a good idea for you-."
"Little fun fact about me; I can tell when someone is lying almost all the time." Marcus told her under his breath. "Now if you don't mind, the truth."
"Okay, the truth is I think it's good for you to be around Ondina right now." Evie whispered quickly, glancing over her shoulder to see how far Ondina was behind them.
That well and truly stumped Marcus. He didn't see how his constantly antagonizing Ondina would benefit the blonde mermaid in any way. "Well, I think she might disagree." Marcus said eventually.
"Listen, I know you might not like her." Evie whispered. "But she just… she just went through a really bad break-up."
"With Erik." Marcus nodded. "Yeah. I know."
"How did you know?" Evie said, stunned.
"I met him." Marcus told her. "He told me what happened with the chamber and the trident stone. I told him that he was an idiot."
"We'll talk more on that later." Evie promised and Zach nodded his agreement. "But you are right. She hasn't been the same since she broke up with Erik. She's been sort of withdrawn. She hadn't been speaking much, that is, until she met you. For some reason she acts like the old Ondina whenever you are around."
"Well… That's the first time that my sarcasm has been appreciated." Marcus said, considering Evie's explanation. "Which I'm not entirely sure I like. I generally annoy people because it pisses them off. Are you sure that you want me to keep doing that?"
"Absolutely." Evie gave Marcus a very sly look and shrugged one shoulder carelessly. "I would be careful if I were you though, you might bite off more than you can chew with her."
That did it. If nothing else, a challenge was something that Marcus could absolutely not turn down no matter what the circumstances. "Well, that does it." Marcus told her, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "If you want Ondina distracted, that's fine. You can count on me."