"Three, two, one, let's jam!" Marie called out, tapping her drum sticks together while counting before starting the opening notes to Fight for Your Right by the Beastie Boys. The Lasers were starting to sound pretty good. Lars had a surprisingly large vocal range, which meant they weren't as confined to a single type of music or two. Pi and Sputz were also doing incredibly well with their instruments. Marie focused all her energy into playing her drums, mouthing the drum part she needed to hit as she hit it. The song came to an end and she sighed, setting her drum sticks down and stretching her arms.
"Marie, you missed a few beats in the in the second chorus. Stay focused," Lars directed before taking a big drink of water. She shook her head and sighed again. Focus, girl. Picking her sticks back up, she smiled at her band members. They'd been putting so much work in since they started the band.
"I'm honestly surprised Lars has even bothered to stick this out so long. According to Twister, if it's not sports or girls, he doesn't have much interest in it." Reggie's words crept into my mind from a conversation they had the week previous.
"I bet he has a crush on you and that's why he's sticking to it." Marie shook her head again, trying to get Sam's words out of her mind. She may have had a little crush on Lars, but there's no way he had one on her. Geez, a crush. She could honestly say that was a first for her. Rather, the realistic possibility of dating the person she had the crush on was a first. It was really feeling like she was going to stay in Ocean Shores for a while. Why not do normal things like go to school here and get a boyfriend? She had already made friends with the Rocket crew and the Lasers.
"Earth to Marie!" Her attention was snapped back to the moment and she noticed Lars standing in front of her drum set, microphone in hand.
"Huh?" That sounds intelligent.
"What's gotten into you today? Are you feeling alright?" Lars quickly went from annoyed to concerned, reaching his hand out and putting it on her forehead. Her eyes widened at his concern and laughed awkwardly.
"Nah, I'm fine. Just a little distracted, I'll try harder. Don't worry," she explained, swatting his hand away and ignoring the fact that she was starting to blush. Keep it together, girl!
"Alright, well, count us in." He turned back to the boys and they all smiled at each other. Their bond was definitely an interesting one. Lars was the obvious leader, and he had a habit of talking down to the guys but they never really had a problem with it. They just rolled with the punches. He got sassy with Marie more often than not, but she was able to dish it right back. She smiled a little bit before raising her arms up to count them in.
Two hours later, Marie was rubbing her arms. They were sore, but the good kind of sore. The kind of soreness that meant she had worked hard. Mrs. Rodriguez had brought out lemonade earlier and Marie was drinking the last of her glass, watching Lars rag on Sputz.
"You're seriously blowing off band practice tomorrow for a date? That's bull, man." Lars scowled at his friend and Sputz rolled his eyes.
"It's not bull. Marissa is really nice and I've actually got a decent shot with her. Plus, have you seen her?" He wiggled his eye brows and made Pi and Marie chuckle while Lars rolled his eyes, scoffing.
"Don't care, still bull. Love is shit and you know it."
"Geez, Lars, just because you can't keep a girlfriend doesn't mean everyone is turned off to love." Marie and Pi both 'ooooooooh'ed in response.
"Someone get the first aid kit because that's gotta burn!" Marie laughed, clapping her hands together. Lars turned his glare on her and sneered.
"Right, like you'd know anything about dating. You've barely had friends before moving here, so I highly doubt you know what love is."
"Oh, and you know enough about it to decide it's bullshit?" Marie countered, starting to feel defensive.
"I've got more experience than you do, for sure. And that's not because I've lived in one place for all my life. Even if I was an orphan I'd-" Marie stood up quickly, the sound of her knee colliding with the bass drum cutting Lars off. She hated that word. She hated that word more than anything.
"Shut the hell up, Lars. Pi, Sputz, I'll see you guys later," she growled as she exited the garage, making sure connect her elbow with Lars' ribs as she passed. She felt angry tears well up behind her eyes but tried to keep them inside. Not wanting to talk to anyone, she decided against going home and walked towards the Pier, hoping to calm down. She couldn't believe he would blow so low as to use that word against her! He wasn't looking too cute, now…
By the time she reached the Pier, Marie had calmed herself down. The sun was starting to set and the ocean was glowing a vibrant orange. She leaned on the wooden railing and just watched the ocean, feeling more at ease now than she did when she first reached the Pier. It was a beautiful sight, she just couldn't let her negative mood ruin it. It wasn't in her nature to get that angry, but he had to just say the one thing to send her over the edge! Calm down, Marie! There's no need to get worked up again, it's done.
"Marie? Marie!" A voice called out to her, snapping her out of her trance. Marie looked to her left and saw a guy her age with shaggy blond hair, a black t-shirt and blue jeans running up to her.
"Jacob? What… What are you doing here?" Jacob Paley had lived in Berkley when Marie had. They had been friendly enough and hung out on a few occasions, but they weren't the best of friends.
"I decided to take a long weekend trip and visit. You know, get away from all the stress. This is crazy, what're you doing here?" He was grinning and sounded genuinely excited to see her.
"Uh, my new home is here," she told him, smiling back. It felt a little awkward, suddenly seeing a part of her past in her present.
"Oh, that's cool! Wanna grab dinner with me? We can catch up!" He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her along. She laughed a little bit. "I forgot that you're not shy about physical contact. Oh, I know a great place to eat. I bet my friends will be there. Unless they're at the skate park." She pulled her hand back and walked up the Pier towards the Shore Shack.
"So, how do you like living here?" Jacob asked, trying to drum up conversation.
"I like it a lot. This has been the easiest place to move in and get accustomed with. The transition was really smooth, and I've made a lot of friends!" Marie grinned at the thought of her friends.
"That's really good to hear! What's it like living here?"
"You know those dumb teen surf movies? A little bit like that, but more realistic." Jacob laughed at that, his hand brushing against Marie's lightly. Her hand twitched and she decided to put them in her pants pockets. "I like it here a lot. Sometimes it's chaotic, especially with Otto and Twister running around-"
"Otto and Twister? What kind of names are those?"
"Twister is a nickname. And I've heard Otto as a name before. Anyway, it gets crazy with those two because they're both big into sports and Otto is super competitive, but other than that, it's a nice town to live in."
"That's nice to hear. I've thought about moving when I turn 18 in a few months, so that's part of the reason I took this trip. I wanted to scope the area out."
"Oh! Yeah, this would definitely be a nice place to live. I don't know what real estate looks like here, but I can't imagine it's too hateful."
They arrived at the Shack and Marie hopped up onto a bar stool, smiling at Raymundo. "Hey, Ray! This is Jacob. He's a friend I had in Berkley, he's taking a long weekend and visiting the town. Where's the gang?"
"Hey, Marie. Hello, Jacob, it's nice to meet you. The kids are at Madtown, I think. You guys here for dinner?"
"Yup! We'll have two combos, please," Marie said, taking her wallet out of her back pocket.
"No, put that away, I'll pay," Jacob said as he put his hand on her forearm, pushing it down. She smiled a little and put her other hand up in surrender.
"Okay, if that's what you want. Tito makes the best burgers." They engaged in idle chit chat for a while before Jacob propped his elbow on the counter and rested his head on his hand, looking at Marie.
"So, you've been here for how long?"
"Ah, a little over a month now."
"I see. Any budding relationships?"
"I mean, I've got my friends. And my band. So I'd say yeah."
He shook his head. "Not the kind of relationship I'm talking about. Like, a boyfriend. Or a potential boyfriend." Marie's mind went straight to Lars and she sighed inwardly. It obviously wouldn't happen. She shook her head and replied, "Nah. But I've never been one for romance. Moving around makes that a hard thing to grasp when you barely make friends."
"Well. What if I moved here?"
"What?"
"What if I moved here? I'll be here in a few months. We can date, right?"
Marie's mind froze. This was a guy she hardly knew. "I hardly know you. I didn't even live in Berkley for a full year, and we really didn't hang out enough to get to know each other. Where is this coming from?"
"We can get to know each other now. I'll call you every day until I can move. C'mon, Marie. Why shouldn't we date?"
"Marie?" Lars' voice broke into their conversation, making the two teens look back at him. Marie's eyes were wide from Jacob's proposition, and seeing Lars almost made her feel relieved. Almost.
"Lars! Hey! This is Jacob, we were friends in Berkley. Come, have a seat!" She hopped over to another seat, silently pleading that Lars would take the vague hint and occupy it. He looked confused but took the seat anyways, giving Marie an odd look before turning to Jacob.
"Lars Rodriguez. Sorry, did I come in at a bad time?" He taunted, noticing the agitated look on Jacob's face.
"Nope, not at all. We were just talking about Berkley and Ocean Shores and how different they are," Jacob shot back, his tone a little biting. Lars simply rolled his eye at that and glanced at Marie. He noticed that she looked a little bothered and tensed up slightly, feeling protective.
"So, what brings you all the way to Ocean Shores?" Lars inquired, grabbing a few of Marie's fries.
"Just wanted to get away from Berkley and decided to visit some place new. I was really surprised to run into Marie," he smiled at that and Lars scowled a little bit. After that, they finished eating in relative silence with a few strained attempts at conversation.
Lars looked at his watch and turned to Marie, saying, "It's getting late, and I bet Violet and Merv are going to start worrying. I'll walk you home. It was nice meeting you, Jacob." He hopped off the bar stool and nodded to the other man, resisting the urge to put an arm around Marie as they walked away.
"I'll see you around, Jacob," Marie smiled, nodding at him. He smiled back and simply said, "Think about what we talked about. I'll be here until Monday afternoon." She nodded again and walked away with Lars. Once they were a pretty safe distance away, Marie sighed heavily.
"Hey, I'm sorry about my freak out earlier. I overreacted."
"No, you're fine. I knew I was pushing a big red button, I just couldn't stop myself." They walked in silence for a little bit before Lars spoke up again.
"What was that guy's problem? You looked really freaked out when I showed up."
Marie made a face of annoyance. "Yeah, that was weird. He was just being weird. I'm glad you showed up, though. I was getting uncomfortable. He was acting like we'd been great friends for years, even though we only occasionally hung out in Berkley." They reached her door step and she smiled at him. "I know we don't have practice tomorrow, but maybe we can go to Madtown and skate instead." Lars smirked in reply. "Sure, just don't wipe out too much." Marie punched him lightly in the arm and laughed, giving him a fist bump before telling him good night and going inside.
Lars turned to go back home and smiled, excited for the next day.
A/N: What do you guys think of the developing relationship between Lars and Marie? I'm trying to stick to Lars' personality as closely as I can, but he doesn't really have romantic relationships in the show, so my feelers are out. Let me know what you think!