If I Knew

When they were back at her place, Marc took off his suit jacket and tie before pulling Felicia down beside him on the couch. He held her in his lap, careful of her shoulder.

"How is your shoulder?"

"Hurts like a son of a bitch. But I'll manage."

"You're tough," Marc smiled.

"Had to be to deal with you growing up."

"That hurt, Flea," he replied, holding a hand to his heart. "You were no picnic either you know."

She grinned and kissed his cheek. "I like you in this suit. You've got a little style, Staal."

"Can't take any credit for it. It's all Hank's doing."

"I'll thank him next time I'm in the city with you then."

"He will be happy to hear it has not gone unappreciated, I'm sure."

"It is very appreciated," she purred, running a hand down his chest and popping the first two buttons open.

She distracted Marc, placing two feather light kisses to his exposed chest. She smiled to herself at the way he shivered at her touch. She would never get tired of that, she thought to herself. No matter how many times they were together now, it would never get old because it meant he was hers and she would be his. This unexpected partnership between them was everything she always wanted.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling the smell of soap and his cologne. "I have to tell you something," she whispered.

"What?" Marc whispered back.

"I'm ready to move to New York." She looked up slowly at him. His eyes were wide and his features were stunned. She giggled.

"I thought you're reaction would be a lot different." She expected a whoop of joy but in all honesty, that wasn't Marc. And in his defense, she had just caught him completely off guard. She was certain he did not expect to hear her decision so quickly.

"I told you a week; I figured you'd take two," Marc answered.

"And here I needed less than twenty four hours."

Marc was elated at her announcement. On the inside, his heart sped up and he did a mental fist pump. But he was also surprised at how quickly she had decided. He honestly had expected her to take her time. For as similar as he knew his brother and her to be, the one thing he knew Felicia was that Jordan was not was practical. Jordan leapt before he looked but not Felicia. She always weighed out her decisions, even the dumb ones that Jordan still managed to talk her into.

"You're sure?"

"Positive. In another month or two, I'll make it official and retire but for now, I just want to experience this with you."

"I really thought you might stay here," Marc admitted. "And I hated the idea but knew it might be best for you. I don't want you to regret this, or think you've made the wrong decision."

"I only made the wrong decision if you're not in this with me."

"Of course I'm in this. I'm just surprised you've already decided."

"Have you ever known me to be indecisive?"

"No. But I have known you to be careful in your decision making. I've even seen you take a week to decide on a Halloween costume."

"That was because I wanted to win a contest with Jordan. I was letting my creativity work."

"And yet you still went with Jordan's choice."

"Super Mario and Princess Peach were a winning combination. Plus Jared went as Luigi. It couldn't have been more perfect unless you had been our Yoshi."

Growing up, it was one of the very few times that Marc had almost gone along with something Felicia wanted. He couldn't remember what he ended up as that halloween; he only remembered thinking that he would have had more fun as a part of the group instead of outside it.

"When do you want to move?" Marc asked.

"The break?"

"In four weeks?"

"Well you have two weeks off. And I'll be out of this sling by then."

"What are you going to do with this place?"

"Put in on the market. I can contact the realtor I bought from...so long as you're sure you want me to move in with you."

"Of course I do." Marc moved her from his lap and set her beside him on the couch, turning to face her. He took her right hand in his and laced their fingers together.

"I want you to live with me because I love you. Not because you're pregnant or any other cop out excuse but because I don't have any idea how I got so lucky that the girl I was a colossal idiot to fell in love with me too. I want us to move in together because I want us to take that next step. I was going to ask you to live with me this summer in Thunder Bay and then I kind of hoped you'd fall so hopelessly in love with me that I could kidnap you and keep you in the city."

Once the words were out, Marc felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He knew Felicia was his home, wherever that may be. He hoped it’d be New York for a very long time but he didn’t much care so long as it involved her. Three summers ago, before the kiss had ever happened, he had bought the land adjacent to Jordan’s summer cottage and while at the time he didn’t quite understand what pushed him to buy that piece of property over the other two he was looking at, he now believed it was the universe pushing him to Felicia. Living in the summers beside Jordan and Hailey? Marc was positive that would be the main two reasons she would have agreed to live with him that summer. That and the fact that she could decorate the place, something Marc had never bothered to do.

Waking up with him would only be fourth on the list of reasons she would agree to move in with him. He was certain of this.

Felicia smiled as she listened to Marc, leaning in to kiss him as soon as he had finished speaking. “I’m already hopelessly in love with you.”

“Ditto, Flea,” he grinned.

“So can I decorate the cottage? It’s terribly bland and completely devoid of anything meaningful. It’s like you don’t even live there.”

“That’s because I was waiting for the right girl to come into my life and fix it up for me and make it ours.”

“Bet you didn’t think it was going to be me.”

“No, I definitely did not,” he laughed.

“Me either,” she smiled.

“So when you were a little girl, you didn’t spend your days imagining your life with me hoping I’d pay you attention, plotting how to steal a kiss from me?”

Felicia laughed. “I might have spent six months in the seventh grade pining over Eric.”

Marc groaned. “Please tell me that you are not serious right now.”

“Every girl in our grade had a crush on your brother.”

“You had a crush on Eric?!”

“Only because Jordan and I walked in on him making out with some girl and I had never been kissed so I wondered about kissing E.”

“Please tell me that Eric does not know this.”

“Eric does not know. Jordan doesn’t even know because Jordan would’ve definitely told him and not only would Jordan have teased me, but I know you would have been merciless. And because I’m kissing you now, I hope you never tell a soul. “

“Hell no I’m never telling anybody that! Eric would never let me live that down.”

“Since we’re on the subject of your brothers though, you should probably know Jordy and I kissed once.”

“What?!” Marc exploded, his face going red.

He wasn't sure how the admission made him feel but it definitely caught him by complete surprise. Jordan always bragged about the girls he kissed, he had been since he was twelve and started breaking hearts all over Thunder Bay.

His reaction was exactly as Felicia had imagined it would be and she couldn't help but giggle at the look of indignation on Marc's face. "It was when we were in high school and it was one kiss. I shoved your brother to the ground when he tried to slip me the tongue.”

“But my brother kissed you,” Marc whined.

Felicia laughed. “You know you sound just like Jordan when you whine.” He stuck out his bottom lip in a full on pout and she laughed harder. “Yeah, Jordan does that too. And it was barely a kiss, trust me. Jordan will never tell you either; we swore we’d take it to the grave. I don’t think even Hailey knows.”

“We are never talking about this again. Ever.”