Like Nobody Else

"Let me guess—it's hangover central in here?" Rhia smirked as she entered the kitchen.

Marley was nursing a cup of herbal tea, Fallon's head was down on the kitchen counter—resting on her arms, and Zeke was holding a bottle of Advil in his hand—anticipating the six hours to be up so he could take it again.

"Pretty much." Marley spoke hoarsely, attempting to run a hand through her knotted hair. It was noon, and Marley had yet to haul her ass upstairs to take a shower.

After surfing for hours the previous night—not leaving the beach until three in the morning—Marley had been physically exhausted, but as soon as they had arrived back at the house, Zeke insisted on busting out the hard liquor.

Dozens of shots later, Zeke had been passed out on the couch in the living room—the blazer belonging to his suit was nowhere to be found, and his shirt was ripped straight down the middle from when he did an impersonation of the Hulk. Fallon had woken up hugging the toilet while Marley was found by Rhia, sprawled out on the kitchen island with an empty bottle of tequila in her hand.

"I'll be going down to the beach with Sophia soon. I'll be gone all day. There's supposed to be a bonfire tonight, and Soph is introducing me to the friends she has in college." A light blush rose in Rhia's cheeks as Marley shot her a smirk.

"Don't come home too wasted." Marley commented as Zeke passed the bottle of pain killers to Fallon, whose head was up though she was clutching it with agony written all over her face.

"Actually, I'll be staying the night with Sophia." Rhia sighed, letting the ball from her barbell click the back of her teeth; it had become a habit ever since the swelling went down. When she stopped by Gray's yesterday, he had told her that it was healing nicely, and that the process was going faster for her than normal—he advised her not to drink, but explained that it wouldn't really hurt anything.

"That's cool." Marley said just before the house phone began to ring—causing three out of the four people in the room to groan audibly. Rhia laughed, going to answer the phone.

"Hello?" As Rhia listened to the other person on the line, she looked over at Marley—a confused look took over her facial features. "It's for you." She sat the cordless phone down on the counter before leaving the room to go upstairs.

"Uh, hello?" Marley was nervous as to who was calling. If it had been Matt, Rhia could have been tipped off that something was going on between the two of them—not that she didn't want to tell her, she would rather it be on her own terms.

"Oh my god, do you know how long it took me to get this number?" His Australian accent came through the phone, and her headache nearly evaporated as her whole being was absorbed with anger—an unusual emotion for her.

"You don't have the fucking right to call me." Marley seethed, her jaw tense.

"You're still mad about that baby? Come on, that was months ago! Are you really going to throw away all of those years we had together? I made a mistake, and I apologize." Auden Conner's voice came through the phone, making Marley want to bash her head in.

"I was stupid to be with you in the first place. For all I know, you could have been cheating on me all along—oh wait, I guarantee that you were 'cause you can't keep your dick in your pants. If you try to contact me again, I will personally come back to Australia just to beat the living shit out of you." Without another word, Marley slammed the phone down on the hook...and then she did it again...and again. "Stupid piece of shit." She muttered as she turned around, having forgotten for a brief moment that Fallon and Zeke were there.

"He had the nerve to call you? Asshole." Fallon grumbled as Marley shook her head, rubbing her hand over her face.

"Auden has an ulterior motive, y'know," When Marley and Fallon looked at Zeke—both obviously puzzled, he took the time to explain. "He's lost a lot of fans since that bitch, Ashley, came out and told the public everything. She had proof, too. It only happened Friday, though. He knows that if he can win you back, that he can get at least some of his fans back. Besides, he's a shitty surfer when he you two aren't together."

"Okay, this is just too much shit on my plate. I don't care about Auden anymore, and I have no intention of ever getting back with him. Now...I'm going to take a shower, and get ready for the day. I advise you two to do the same so we can go out for lunch." After the step-siblings nodded in agreement, Marley headed upstairs.

An hour later, she was standing at the front door with Fallon—already dressed—while the two waited on Zeke. "I swear he is such a girl." Fallon snorted just before Zeke finally made his appearance.

"So, where do you plan on taking us, Marley?" Zeke smirked as he ran a hand through his shaggy hair.

"Well, since you hate Chinese, I've ruled that out, and since Fallon's allergic to seafood, that's not an option either. You two will just see the place when we get there," Marley said as she led the two out to her Jeep.

"Shotgun!" Zeke screamed childishly, but when he went to run to get into the Jeep, he was instantaneously stopped—all thanks to Fallon tripping him. As she got into the passenger seat, a smile on her lips, Zeke mumbled, "You're such a bitch."

Zeke was forced to cram himself into the backseat—and with all the empty water bottles and surfing magazines stacked up, he hardly had any room.

Sublime's "40oz. To Freedom" was coming out of the speakers, and Zeke was belting out the lyrics as Marley drove to Luke's Sports Bar and Grill.

After being seated by a friendly host named Chad, Marley ordered a Corona—as did Fallon—while Zeke ordered some kind of margarita. "Are you sure you aren't gay?" Fallon asked as the waiter walked off.

"Yes, I like good Aussie pus—" Before he could finish his sentence, he was cut off.

"Marley?" Hearing his voice, she felt her heart race speed up and her palms begin to sweat.

How had I not seen him before? Marley asked herself as she looked over at Matt, a dimpled smile on his face. "Hey, Matt." She greeted, noticing that three guys were behind him.

"Oooh, you never mentioned a hot—fuck!" Fallon reached down to rub her calf where Marley's foot had connected roughly.

"Don't mind either of them. How have you been?" Marley asked, ignoring his friends' wandering eyes.

"Great, what about you?" He responded as he took a few steps closer, so he was standing directly in front of the table.

"Good," Marley grinned, and the eye-lock between the two must have lasted a minute or two, because his friends' cleared their throats.

"Sorry—Marley, these are my friends. Brian, Zacky, and Johnny. Guys, this is Marley." Matt introduced the three, and looked at Marley expectantly.

"Matt and crew, these are my mates—Fallon and Zeke."

"An Australian—what's hotter than that?" Marley heard Brian mumble to Zacky who snickered and nodded his head in agreement.

"We've really got to get going, but I'll call you later—hope you aren't busy tonight." Matt winked before saying goodbye to Fallon and Zeke; he led the way out of the restaurant, each of his friends' saying goodbye as they left.

"Shit—you weren't kidding when you said we have to catch up," Fallon smirked, reaching across the table to playfully shove Marley.


95 Readers, 43 Subscribers, 24 Comments.

You guys are all great, even those who don't comment (: Thanks to everyone for positive feedback on the story, it means a lot! I would have updated again last night, but I got super sick out of nowhere—migraine, fever—a whole bunch of bullshit that made it so I could hardly walk. Anyways! I'm better now (:

BUT AH, man, I hate that I keep delaying the "adorableness" with Matt and Marley. It's just that the way I'm working the chapters it does it—but it WILL BE in the next chapter. I promise :D

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