Growing Up Won't Bring Us Down

“Two hours, five minutes, and seventeen seconds,” Marco said softly, watching the seconds hand on the clock slowly make it’s trip around the clock. Danny chuckled softly, patting her hand.

“You need to calm down Mar. It’s not going to be exactly at two they get there.” Marco turned to her boyfriend with wide, shocked eyes.

“They won’t?” The way she asked it, her voice cracked as if she was going to cry. Danny’s eyes grew wide as he looked at her, scared out of his mind.

“T - that’s not what I mean. I - uhm…I mean - ”

“Don’t hurt yourself Danny,” Phoenix chuckled as he walked back into the living room of his home. Lizzie was on his heels, humming as she carried the other two cans of Coke that Phoenix couldn’t hold. Marco anxiously took the red can from Phoenix’s hand, beginning to chug the caffeinated drink. “Marco, Marco! Stop.”

Marco let out an exaggerated sigh as Phoenix pried her fingers from the can and set the half full drink onto the coffee table. She fell into Danny’s side, burying her face into his upper arm. Danny chuckled and patted her head. “It’s going to be fine Marco.”

“But I’m too damn impatient!” Marco shouted, turning her head to glare playfully at Lizzie who had spoken. She then buried her face back into Danny’s arm, but he moved it so he could wrap it around Marco’s shoulders.

“How about we all watch a movie to blow time? By then Jimmy will come get you to go back to your place where everyone is,” Danny suggested, looking on the positive side. That is the main thing that everyone, teens and adults alike, thinks is why Marco and Danny have gotten so close. Danny was the optimistic person while Marco was the mostly pessimistic one.

“That’s a great idea! We can watch Nightmare On Elm Street! We all know you love Freddy,” Lizzie added, grinning widely, as Phoenix disappeared to go get said movie from his room. The twins were more like each other than they cared to admit.

“I do like my sarcastic killer,” Marco murmured, poking her index finger tips together. Danny smiled, kissing her temple as Phoenix walked back in with the mostly black case. Marco pulled her feet onto the couch and leaned into her boyfriend’s side fully. Phoenix pressed play and soon settled onto the other couch with Lizzie.

Only thirty minutes in, Marco drifted off into sleep. She hadn’t slept well the night prior to today and, now that she was extremely comfortable and not left to her own thoughts, she was quick to pass out. No one really noticed, too enticed with the classic horror flick. Right as it ended the doorbell echoed throughout the house. The teens (who were awake) simultaneously groaned. Phoenix’s mom, Marsha, chuckled as she walked down the hallway.

“I got it.” She finally reached the front door and pulled it open to see a tall, lanky man standing in front of her door, sunglasses covering his ocean blue eyes. “Hello Jimmy.”

“Hey Mrs. Simmons,” Jimmy greeted, removing his sunglasses.

“Ugh! How many times do I have to tell you to call me ‘Marsha’, Jimmy? Making me sound old,” Marsha pouted. Jimmy laughed, hooking his glasses onto the collar of his shirt.

“My apologies Marsha. Is Marco ready to go?”

“I actually think she passed out. They’re in the living room.”

“Thank-you.” He stepped in once Marsha stepped aside. He walked into the living room to see Danny trying to wake Marco while Phoenix and Lizzie laughed at his failure. “Don’t hurt yourself Danny.”

“Shockingly I’ve heard that one before,” Danny mocked. Jimmy laughed and knelt down in front of the sleeping girl who was being held up by her shoulders by her boyfriend. Jimmy let out a ‘hmm’ and pulled his phone from his pocket. He scrolled through his ring tones before seeing his chosen tone. He held the speaker to Marco’s ear before pressing ‘play’. The sound of a foghorn erupted from the phone at full blast.

“What the fuck?!” Marco screamed, falling off the couch. Jimmy had quick reflects and managed to dodge out of the way from getting squished by her body.

“It’s time to go Markie.”

“You have a foghorn ringtone?” Phoenix asked with wide eyes.

“Only for situations such as this,” Jimmy explained as Marco pulled herself to her feet.

“You couldn’t have done it nicer,” she muttered.

“Hey, Danny was trying when I got here. He failed.”

“Fair enough,” Macro sighed. She leaned down to peck Danny on the lips before waving goodbye to the couple. “See you guys later.”

“Bye Marco,” everyone chorused, including Marsha. Marco smiled to her politely before Marco and Jimmy walked out of the house. As they climbed into Jimmy’s car, Marco noticed the lack of his girlfriend.

“Where’s Rain?”

“At your place. The girls are getting all excited and putting together a meal and decorations and all that shi - I mean fun stuff.” Marco giggled at Jimmy’s sudden change of words.

“Is Emily coming too? She said she was going to, but was unsure.”

“She had to go to an urgent family matter. She sends her best wishes though,” Jimmy replied as he drove down the street, heading back towards the Seward home.

‘Oh’ was her ingenious reply. With every cross of a street towards the house caused Marco’s stomach to flutter. She was a mixture of nervous and antsy. Soon she wasn’t able to sit still. Instead she shifted left and right in her seat. Jimmy placed a hand on her thigh, causing her to freeze all movement.

“Sorry. Even I can’t sit still and that was annoying me,” Jimmy chuckled as he removed his hand again.

“Sorry,” Marco muttered, rubbing her neck. Soon they pulled in front of the house seeing as how the driveway was already packed. Marco climbed out of the vehicle, her heart beating faster and faster as they got closer to the front door. As she pulled it open she was yanked in by a girly looking arm.

“Shh! They’re almost here!” Ray whispered, grinning widely as she pulled the teen further into the living room. There Marco saw all the girls hovering either behind the couch or next to it, on the side furthest from the front door.

“What are we doing?” Marco asked as she was forced to kneel. Jimmy shut the door and ran over to the kitchen doorway where he disappeared out of view.

“We’re surprising your father,” Rain replied with a smile. With just that Marco was having a mental freakout again. She missed her dad, but now that he was coming home she was oddly nervous. She couldn’t explain it, she just was.

“They’re here!” Kell shouted excitedly from her spot of peeking through the cracks in the blinds.

“Shut up! They’ll hear you!” Stevie hissed, grabbing her arm and yanking her back to beside the couch. Kell let out an ‘eep’ as she fell next to Stevie. Soon it was deadly quiet in the house. The sounds of voices and steps approaching the house was heard. Soon the door began to open.

“It’s really quiet for everyone’s car being here,” a man’s voice remarked.

“Maybe they're out back,” Tayler suggested. Of course she knew what was going on, but if was a ‘duh’ that Johnny couldn’t know. As soon as the door was fully open, one of the guys hit the lights and everyone screamed ‘welcome back’ as they shot up from their hiding places.

“Oh fuck guys,” Johnny laughed, a hand over his heart. Soon everyone shot forward, giving him their ‘welcome backs’ and hugs. Soon it was only Marco left. She had shied to the back on the group, observing her shoes. He stepped forward, standing about a foot away from her. “Marco?”

“Hmm?” She slowly raised her head to meet Johnny’s warm, brown eyes.

“I’m home,” he whispered, holding his arms up on either side of his body. Her eyes pooled with tears, nodding. She launched forward, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly.

“And you’re not leaving me again, are you?” Marco asked quietly.

“Never baby, never.”