Man Behind the Mask

Soon after everyone important had a chance to congratulate them, the newly engaged couple left the party; most of the guests followed suit. Vivienne was stuck without a ride. Monica and Alvin left by themselves and the other car her friends came in took Joey with them. “I don’t mind if you crash here tonight…” Marc-Andre told Vivienne.
“Are you sure? I feel like I overstay my welcomes…I slept over at Halloween…”
“Viv, no one minds. And this is only the second party you’ve done that. Why are you worried about it? You’re my friend. I’ll make you help me clean up. Better for me this way,” he joked.
The girl fake pouted. “You just want me for my manual labor and ability to do stereotypical ‘women’s’ work!”
“True story,” Marc-Andre laughed. Vivienne playfully hit him on the arm. “But really, will you help me? This is a lot to do…” She agreed to lend a hand.
While they were cleaning, conversation moved to a different topic. “So who was that girl you shared your New Year’s kiss with?” Vivienne did her best not to sound hurt, but her body language betrayed her.
“Why? You jealous?” Marc-Andre joked with her at first, but then reassured his friend, “She’s no one important. When I first moved to Pittsburgh she was my neighbor, and we’ve stayed friends. Her husband was invited tonight too, but he caught the flu.”
“Ahh…”
“Viv?” She looked at him before he continued. “There’s…hmm,” he struggled with his thoughts but gathered them and said, “I told Jordan to kiss you tonight.”
Vivienne, who was throwing out the last can, missed the garbage bag Marc-Andre was holding. “What?”
“It was my idea. I didn’t want anyone to take advantage of you. You and Eric just broke up, and everyone was drinking. I just wanted you to be safe. I would have spared you from kissing Jordan,” he tried to make a joke so that the situation would be a little less awkward, “but with all that has happened recently, I thought it would make more tension…”
“I’m not sure which is worse: a raging Tangradi monster or kissing Jordan. But its alright. I’m glad to have taken one for the team.”
“Yea,” Marc-Andre trailed off. After that things got silent. The two finished cleaning the majority of the mess. Marc-Andre decided he’d get the rest at another time. “Movie?”
“Flower, its 5 o’clock…”
“I don’t feel like going to bed yet. You can pick what we watch,” he made a puppy face. Even if she didn’t have feelings for him, Vivienne would not have been able to turn that face down. She went to the “bookshelf” of movies and picked out Beetlejuice. “This one? I didn’t realize I had that…”
“Don’t judge. Its great.”
Vivienne realized one area Marc-Andre was going to clean at a later time was his couch. It was covered in crumbs and little spots from where someone spilled alcohol on it. “There’s a TV and DVD player in my room. Plus my bed is a lot comfier than the couch.”
He was right. Marc-Andre had one of those memory foam mattresses. As soon as Vivienne went to climb up onto the bed, she stopped, pressed her hand on it a few times, then dove into it. The girl rolled around on the top of his covers for a minute, messing them all up and cocooning herself in the middle. Marc-Andre just looked on and laughed for a minute. “Comfy?” Vivienne mumbled a reply affirming his question. “Alright. Make room for me now.” She grumbled and sprawled out but stayed in the blankets. “Viv,” he whined, but still she didn’t budge. “That’s it.” In a swift movement, Marc-Andre strattled her. Vivienne peaked her head out of her cocoon and squeaked as Marc-Andre began to violently tickle her.
“No!” she giggled, “Stop it! Marc-Andre!!!” Vivienne thrashed around, but was so tangled up in the blanket that they both careened to the floor. “I can’t get up,” she laughed from on top of him.
“You need to! You’re crushing me,” Marc-Andre pretended to be winded.
Vivienne pouted. “I am not!”
“You’re right. But you should still get up.”
“Push me off. I can’t move.” He did as she commanded. “Can you unravel me?” They laughed and worked at untangling the girl from her mess.
Marc-Andre picked Vivienne up and plopped her on the bed. He got the blanket, laid it out on top of her, then lifted the side and got in as well. “Can we watch this without any incidents?” Vivienne shook her head. “What do you mean ‘no’?”
“I can guarantee something weird will happen while we watch this.” Marc-Andre cocked an eyebrow. “It is a weird movie. Weird things are bound to happen upon viewing it.”
“Beetlejuice, beetle juice, beetle juice. Hmm, doesn’t seem strange yet…” Vivienne shrugged.
Everything was going fine until a little farther from the halfway point. “Uh oh,” Vivienne’s eyes got real big. Marc-Andre looked over to her real fast. “Something is taking over me!” Then she began to dance. As Vivienne experienced her “paranormal possession”, Marc-Andre laughed. “You aren’t going to help me?!”
“I don’t think you can be helped. Except maybe at Western Psych,” he chortled.
“Oh haha. I’m not crazy. I’m possessed.” After the dinner party scene, things went by without incident.
After what seemed like a few minutes of resting her eyes, Vivienne was startled awake by the first 30 seconds of My Chemical Romance’s “Thank You For the Venom”, her ringtone. She suddenly became aware of her surroundings; she was curled up in Marc-Andre’s chest with his arms holding her tight to his body. The voicemail alert went off. Vivienne didn’t want to wake him up, but the music played again. The woman figured it must have been important if they were calling again. She tried to break free, but his goalie muscles held her there. Moments later, Vivienne could feel the vibration from Marc-Andre’s phone, which was in his pocket. He started to stir, so she kept trying wake him up. Marc-Andre let out a big yawn and stretched before reaching in his pocket, one arm still around Vivienne. He didn’t notice until after he read his text.
“Fuck,” he said sleepily. “How long have you been up?”
“I think about five minutes? You are a very heavy sleeper…I tried wiggling out of your arms and waking up but it wasn’t working,” she giggled.
“Sorry. Looks like Monica missed you…” He showed her the text.
Have you seen Viv? I called her twice but I can’t get a hold of her…Its almost noon, and she wants everyone at her loft around one…
“Oh shit! Its noon! I have to get home!” Vivienne sprung up from the bed and started running through his house gathering her things. “Can you take me home? You are coming over today, right?” she yelled to him.
Marc-Andre was in the process of gathering clothes to wear. “Yea. Can I shower at your place? We are still in yesterday’s clothes…”
“Fuck! You’re right! Fuck, fuck, fuck.” As he ran down the steps, Vivienne was already out of the door and halfway to the car.
The two booked it back to the Strip; luckily there was no traffic or police lurking. They got to Vivienne’s apartment fairly fast. Marc-Andre made a beeline for the shower. Vivienne was smart to prepare the meal the day before and only had to throw it in the oven. She also started redding up her place, including turning the TV to the Classic and making it look like she stayed there the night before. As soon as Marc-Andre emerged from the bathroom, they swapped tasks; this left a lot of the cleaning to the goalie, since Vivienne stereotypically took a long time bathing and getting ready.
They were ready just in time; Vivienne was walking down the steps as the doorbell rang. Marc-Andre told her to go in the kitchen and look like she was doing stuff while he got the door. The first to arrive were Kammi and Mike. Vivienne brought some hors d’oeuvres out as everyone else joined for the fun.
The guys were having a fantastic time watching the Classic. Of course, the professionals picked apart every little thing, but Mike was able to comfortably add his two cents into the conversation. Joey tried to be a part of things too, by sitting next to Kris on the loveseat, pushing Catherine into the armrest; the three sat uncomfortably close. Marc-Andre, Vivienne, Alvin with Monica on his lap, and Sara sat on the couch, leaving Kammi on Mike, Sarah, and Tyler to chairs from the table. Jordan, being a gentleman, volunteered to sit on the floor, since there was no room to bring another chair into the space. He rested between Kris’s legs. The entire set up was comical, but it was fitting for the group [with the exception of Catherine, who was not having as much fun as everyone else].