( lily ) get serious

[marcus cameron montgomery]

A long day at the office. Honestly, never in Marcus' life had he thought he'd say that sentence to anyone or even in his head. He was a suit guy now. Even as a child, Marcus knew that he wanted to be in the outdoors all the time. But his parents made him go to law school. He didn't really want to become a lawyer but the promises of big money that he'd making of his own, made his pursue it.

Now at twenty five, he was an intern at one of the most prestigious law firms in Miami. His father was able to "hook him up" as they say with the job but that didn't mean Marcus wasn't going to work hard. He knew that after getting the job, everything was going to be up to him. He wasn't going to let his father's influence get in the way.

Once the day was over and he clocked out of the computer at his little cubicle, Marcus stood up and stretched. He had been in that chair intermittently all day but for the past two hours, he hadn't moved. His legs had started to cramp so he was glad it was time to go. Just as his arms reached their peak above his head, his cell phone started to buzz on the desk. He looked down to see that it was a phone call from a friend of his.

That friend wanted to know if Marcus would come over to help them move some furniture. The movers they had hired never showed up and it was already starting to get dark. Marcus agreed telling his friend that he'd need to stop home really quick to change. Marcus left the office building and headed towards his car. After taking off, he decided to turn on the music. It was a bit too loud but it was only around six so quiet hour wasn't for a while.

Marcus arrived at his house on Juniper Lane and quickly ran inside to change into something more outdoors appropriate. He sprayed a new layer of cologne then rushed out the door to his still running car. He drove over to Mockingbird Lane where he friend lived and parked his car opposite of the house. He got out, greeted his friend and they and a couple others started to move the old furniture out and the new furniture in.

www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=61506516

[lily evelynn greene]

Though Lily had a meeting earlier that morning with the construction crew across town dealing with the development of the newest Greene Suites location, that was all she had to do for the day. At first the young woman wasn’t entirely sure what to do with herself. She tried dialing the corporate headquarters to confirm there wasn’t anything sitting on the back-burner that she could take care, but everything was currently taken care of. A day off was a foreign concept as she usually always had some sort of business with either the hotel or setting up charity events. It was hard to relax, but eventually she fell into the swing of it after visiting the spa and receiving a well needed and deserved massage.

The day went by quickly and with nothing else better to do with her evening she decided to return home to her parents house on Mockingbird Lane. Yes, Lily was twenty-four years old still living with her mother, father, and the household help that often came and went. While some people might have been ashamed to admit they still lived at home, Lily had no qualms about doing do nor did she have any desire to reach out, spread her wings, and leave the nest. Perhaps it was the fact that she always had been pampered, but she simply didn’t see the point in living on her own. Rarely was she ever there anyway. Her time was mostly divided between business luncheons and late night entertainment (which also occasionally crossed over into business matters and affairs). She knew she could support herself should she so choose; she just didn’t want to.

While the car was stalled at a red light, Lily took the time to reapply the deep shade of red lipstick that had faded throughout the day. It may have been a pointless action considering that she hadn’t any plans to see anyone that evening, but nonetheless she always made it a point in order to look her best if only because it made herself feel better.

The light changed as she powdered her nose and her lingering to finish the job resulted in the angry drivers behind her honking their horns angrily. Nonchalantly she flipped her hair over her shoulder and lifted her hand showing off her middle finger before speeding off and leaving whoever happened to be behind her to sit another round at the light.

After turning down Mockingbird Lane Lily drastically decreased her speed to avoid any pedestrians or children that happened to be about. She drove less than ten miles per hour down the block, one arm resting lazily over the side of the window that happened to be rolled down so she could feel a nice warm breeze on her face. It wasn’t too far from her destination that she saw a familiar face.

Stopping the car she raised an eyebrow as she watched her friend, Marcus, moving around some furniture. Tilting her head to the side Lily stared at him for a moment, curiously wondering what exactly he was doing and why he hadn’t just hired someone in order to do it for him. The car wasn’t idle for very long before she placed both hands on the wheel and began to honk in an attempt to catch his attention.

“Hey,“ she called out as she put the car in park. Resting her arms leisurely on the door, Lily placed her chin on the back of her hands. “Hard to find good help around here these days, huh?” she asked him somewhat teasingly with an amused smile. “What exactly are you doing? And why?”

[marcus cameron montgomery]

Marcus could feel the soreness of his muscles already setting in when they had moved the last piece of indoor furniture to the front lawn. The sun was setting and fast and they didn't have much for light other than the front porch steps. After a quick five minute resting time, the guys got back into moving the furniture that was in the truck into the house. It was going to take a bit longer than moving the old furniture because the ramp on the truck was dangerous to go down backwards too quickly.

As Marcus was moving a couch with one of his friends on the other side, he heard a car horn. Thinking it wasn't for him, the pair started to moving into the house. A few moments later, Marcus emerged and looked to see a car pulled over. The driver inside was Lilly, a socialite rich girl friend of his. Honestly, Marcus knew so many rich people that a lot of them were mere acquaintances. Lilly and him had been talking for quite some time now and they seemed to get along.

When she started talking to him, her first comment made him chuckle a bit. It was true that help was hard to find, or even when it was easy to find, they bailed last minute. She then asked him what he was doing and why. That part confused Marcus a bit. He knew that Lilly worked for her father's company but she had never really had to work with her hands. It kind of upset him that she'd judge him but he decided to answer her anyways. "Helping friends. Their 'help' decided to not show up and they knew I'd be willing to lend my muscles," he told the blond, putting air quotes around the word help in sarcasm.

[lily evelynn greene]

Upon mentioning his muscles, Lily took that as an invitation to not-so discreetly stare at his physique--something she hadn’t really done before. Most of the time she saw him he wore a suit. Unable to help herself, she sucked in a deep breath of air through her clinched teeth and nodded her head. She hoped that he’d take it as a sign she understood what he was saying. In actuality she assessing him. She could certainly see why someone would want to borrow his muscles. They certainly weren’t bad to look at. Intelligent and in great physical shape? The brief thought that her friend Felicity was crazy for turning down this guy’s advances came to mind.

Not wanting her gaze to linger for longer than it should have, Lily quickly tore her eyes away. “I see,” she told him as she lifted her head. Tilting it to the side she stretched her neck in order to peer around him in an attempt to take a look at his friends. “That’s nice of you,” she commented. If she’d been asked by anyone to do the same thing then she had to admit that she‘d have said no by either making up some sort of excuse or even lying if she had to. Though occasionally she spent time at the gym in order to keep her figure, she wasn’t the type of person to do anything like Marcus was currently doing. That wasn’t her style.

“Well have fun with that,” she said, waving her hand flippantly towards the house and the furniture. It was clear by the tone in her voice that she didn’t think much of the whole thing finding it beneath her and she wasn’t planning to stick around.

Reaching over to the gear shift, she switched it out of park to drive. While she expected the car to go when she hit the gas, it suddenly stopped. The engine rattled before shutting completely off. Lily gave a frustrated sigh as she tried to start the car a couple of times only to get a stalling engine.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked herself before giving a force laugh and opening the car door. With one leg in front of the other, Lily leaned back against the car. Turning her head slightly, she tossed her hair over her shoulder before crossing her arms and leaning back against the car. “After spending 100,000 on a car you’d think it’d run,” she joked with a wry laugh. Patting her baby on the hood, she glanced over at Marcus curiously. “You don’t think you could get her working for me again, do you?”

[marcus cameron montgomery]

Marcus saw that after mentioning his muscles, Lilly started to look. Marcus wasn't dumb and the pair of them were not so far apart that Marcus couldn't Lily's eyes avert to his body. Honestly though, Marcus didn't like girls checking him out. He knew he was in shape but it was like that because of all the help he gave and because of his weekly routine of going to the gym. He didn't do it to "impress the ladies." He did it to keep in shape and stay healthy.

As Lily spoke to Marcus, a friend of his came over and put his hand on Marcus' shoulder. He spoke into Marcus' ear. "Dude, if she's talking to you, you'd better go take her," the other male said as he walked away and made a gesture that suggested sex. Marcus shook his head and mouthed the words "no way" to his friend as Lily finished speaking and told him that it was nice of him to help his friends. "I help out when I can because I want to have friends," he said with a soft almost forced chuckle. He looked around with just his eyes to see his friends moving the furniture without them. When Lily basically gave him a goodbye, Marcus nodded and waved. He turned around and started to help lift an armoire that looked frail.

As Marcus took a few steps, he heard an engine stall and knew right away that it was Lily's car. He heard one of his friends do a cat call whistle and that signaled Marcus that the female had stepped out of her car. He let out a small sigh in response to his friend and finished helping his friends onto the porch with the armoire. He turned around just as Lily commented that the car cost over a hundred grand. Marcus' eyes got big. He'd never spend that much on a car or let his parents buy him a car that was that expensive. Marcus walked over to the car as Lily asked if he could get it working for her. "I can try. I'm not an expert at cars but I can at least take a look to see if it's something I can fix right here," he told her as he stood in front of her now. "Could you pop the hood for me?" he asked as he looked at her then walked around to the front of the car.

After the female had done so, Marcus reached under the hood, found the latch and opened it. The nice about brand new cars was that the hood stayed up on its own. No need for the bar that would sometimes fall out and make the hood land on however was leaning over the engine. The car was still fairly warm from running so touching things were out of the question right then. Marcus just tried to take a look but all he could see was nothing. "Could you try starting your car for me?" he asked as he leaned over to peek around the hood at Lily.

After the car jolted but didn't start, Marcus could see exactly where the problem was. He closed the hood and wiped his hands on his pants before walking over to where Lily now was. "Looks like you need new spark plugs," he told her, realizing she probably had no idea what he was talking about. "I'm going to need to go get some from the auto parts store in downtown so if you want, you can come with me," the male suggested with a small smile.

[lily evelynn greene]

The cat calls didn’t go unnoticed. As Marcus took a look underneath the hood for her she turned her attention towards his friends. Her mouth fell open slightly at their audacity and she gave a look as if to ask, ‘Are you really serious?’ While it hadn’t been the first wolf whistle she’d heard, she’d assumed that Marcus would have kept more respectable company than that. Placing a hand on her hip, she looked at the other guys with an air of superiority and a small smirk. “You boys couldn’t handle me,” she informed them with a laugh.

When he asked her to try starting the car she moved her attention back to him and gave a nod. “Anything I can do to help,” she replied though it was a statement meant only halfheartedly. Then again if the car ended up having to be pushed back to her house at least she was pretty sure she could convince a couple of his friends to do it with a bash of her eyelashes if she needed.

Lily got behind the wheel of her car and tried to give it a start. She looked out the window back at Marcus, hoping that he could figure out what was wrong and that it would be an easy fix. When he closed the hood and headed her way she stared up at him expectantly.

“Well?” she wondered, watching as he wiped his hands on his pants. Lily winced slightly at the filth that had come off of them. “Spark plugs,” she repeated slowly when he mentioned the problem as if she’d know what that was and it meant anything to her. Luckily she didn't have to say anything as he soon realized that she was clueless. She couldn’t help but laugh slightly when it dawned on him.

“Stay here with your strange horn-dog friends or go with you to the auto parts store. Hmm,” she mused while she tapped her finger on her chin and pretended to think about it for a moment. Lily stepped back out of the car again. After glancing back and forth at her car and his friends on the porch, she asked, “Yeah. Not much of a choice there really, but is it going to be okay to leave my car here with them?”

[marcus cameron montgomery]

Marcus watched the blond female but his thoughts could only focus on Felicity. The boy was absolutely smitten by his friend Felicity but the blond hair that flowed over Lily's shoulders reminded him so much of Felicity. He mentally shook his head to clear his thoughts of Felicity to focus on the here and now with Lily.

When Lily asked if her car would be safe staying where it was, Marcus nodded, almost wanting to let out a huff. "It'll be fine. These guys are busy doing their own thing. But I should go check with them if it's okay first if I leave," Marcus told the female and walked away. He went over to the friend that had called him in the first place and explained to him what was going on. "All I gotta say is, you better do her or I will."

[/i] Marcus shoved his friend a bit playfully before walking back over to Lily.

"My car's right there and it won't take more than an hour to get the parts. Most stores have them in stock and I'm pretty quick at changing out spark plugs," he told Lily as he started to walk over to his car. He pulled his keys out, keylessly unlocked the doors than got himself in on the driver's side.

Once inside, he started the engine and waited for Lily to get in. Once she was in and buckled, which was a rule in Marcus' vehicles, he started to pull away from the curb on Mockingbird Lane. He winded his way through some back roads and even some alleys to come out facing downtown. The building on the right was the hardware store. Marcus had been there so much recently that he had known all the back ways to get there.

Shutting off the engine, Marcus got out. He didn't really expect Lily to want to go in so he leaned down into the car with his door open. "You can stay here if you want. I'll only be a few minutes. Or if you want, you can come in. Up to you," Marcus told her as he shut the door to driver's side of his car.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[lily evelynn greene]

There was something about the look in Marcus’ eye. Lily watched him curiously, wondering what he was thinking about with such a daydreaming gaze before she realized that he must have been thinking about Felicity. Biting her lower lip she looked away and nodded her head. While she knew he was crazy about the girl, Lily hadn’t actually mentioned that she knew and she wasn‘t sure if she should bring it up. It wasn’t as if she could offer some kind of sage advice; she wasn’t exactly an expert in relationships herself. Lily wasn’t sure if she’d ever figure out who or what she was looking for, but she wasn’t a stranger to having one night stands with men. Perhaps she was even worse off than Marcus was. At least he knew what he wanted.

Lily waited patently by the car while he went to explain what was happening to his friends. A part of her almost felt bad for dragging him away--the keyword there being almost. Not that she was entitled to Marcus’ help, but she certainly wasn’t going to complain about getting it. She smiled as he made his way back, wanting to ask what they’d said to each other (because it seemed interesting with the way that Marcus had playfully pushed him back), but refraining to do so feeling that it probably wasn’t any of her business.

“Sounds good,” she replied when he mentioned this wouldn’t take long--not that she had anything better to do, really. She couldn’t help but think how it was a relief she managed to luck up with having her car die while Marcus was around instead of on the interstate to some sort of important meeting. Or while trying to sneak out of some guy’s apartment; that would have just been awkward.

She got into the passenger side of the car and sat there for a minute wondering why he wasn’t moving. It took her a moment to realize that he was waiting for her to put on her seat belt. Reaching over she buckled up, but the whole time she couldn’t help but think it was ridiculous. She never buckled her seat belt. She didn’t like the way the strap felt.

They pulled into the auto shop and Marcus got out of the car. At the invitation she unbuckled her belt and opened the door, stepping out after him. “Don’t act surprised,” she told him with a laugh. “In and out, right? Plus I should probably see what these spark things are anyway.”

Lily shut the door and walked ahead. The automatic doors opened for her like royalty and it seemed like as soon as she stepped in the building the guy behind the counter immediately stepped forward to ask if she needed any help. She only replied with a shake of her head and wave of her hand indicating for him to go away. But he was persistent. Lily started at him in disbelief as he kept talking until Marcus came in. Quickly she linked her arm together with Marcus.

“You must get paid on commission,” she told the employee the same charismatic laugh she used during her business luncheons. It was a fake laugh, but no one could really tell. “Honestly we really don’t need any help. Do we, honey?” Leaning over Lily whispered in Marcus’ ear, “Just go with it.”

The worker nodded his head before going back behind the counter and Lily ducked down the nearest aisle out of sight in order to let Marcus go. “Sorry,” she apologized quietly. “You know how it is though. You say you’re not interested and it doesn’t get through. Sometimes you gotta go extreme.”

[marcus cameron montgomery]

As soon as Marcus walked into the store, he saw the worker asking Lily if she needed help. After telling him no, the worker continued to ask if there was anything else he could do for her. To Marcus, it just seemed like the worker wanted to make a good sale to a customer but Lily's next movements told him that she was getting a different impression. She linked arms with him then called Marcus honey. The male was a bit stunned but when she whispered in his ear to go along with it, Marcus just emptily nodded at the worker, saying they were all set.

When the pair, still linked in arms, made it to an aisle that seemed to be empty, Lily let go of his arm and apologized. When she said "you know how it is, they won't get the hint" type stuff, Marcus looked at her with one slightly raised eyebrow. "Just be careful Lily. We're not exactly strangers to this city and holding my arm in public could make my girlfriend really angry," he told her as he turned away and began walking down the aisle. Unfortunately this wasn't the aisle he needed to be in so he continued to walk around the corner, not knowing if Lily was going to follow him.

[lily evelynn greene]

Lily rolled her eyes at Marcus’ response before she scoffed slightly. “Don’t worry, hon. You’re not my type. I just needed a scapegoat is all. If your girlfriend has any concerns you can send her over my way.” Lily wasn’t sure exactly how much of that was true. Under different circumstances maybe she would have actively gone after a guy like Marcus. He was smart, attractive, and even fun to be around on occasion. But Lily was a bit too proud to play second fiddle when she knew there were plenty of guys out there who’d want her without her even having to try. Marcus? He had a crazy girlfriend and a crush on Felicity. Yeah, she might have had an attraction to him, but he had too much baggage to deal with.

As Marcus continued to walk around the corner, Lily wondered if perhaps she should have just stayed back inside the car or even back at the house with his friends, as despicable as she found them. At least things wouldn’t be awkward right now if she had. It wasn’t like she’d started making out with him or anything. She’d done that with scapegoats before. It wasn’t a big deal; it didn’t mean anything.

But she had to work with the law offices of Howard Baxtor & Associates seeing as her company had them on retainer for any legal issues that may arrive and he happened to work there. If she’d offended him in any way then that wasn’t good for business. Normally she kept her personal and business life separate, but somehow she'd managed to blur that line in Marcus' case. With a dejected sigh she followed after him, if only because she didn’t want to be left alone in this place--the parking lot or otherwise.

“Lets just get the sparkles and get out of here,” she told him.