( lily ) get serious

[marcus cameron montgomery]

Marcus began to look up at the signs to find the car parts aisle. There were a lot of aisles with car decorations but it took a few minutes for him to spot the aisle that would hold the spark plug parts that he needed. He already knew the make and model of her car just by looking at the hood ornament and headlights so it shouldn't have been too long before he found the correct part.

As Lily joined him, she called the spark plugs, sparkles. Her arrogance and slight annoyance in her voice sent Marcus over the edge. He didn't actually have a girlfriend but the fact that Lily would use him as a scapegoat in public, out of all people, made Marcus angry. He turned around a bit too quickly and got close to Lily's face. "You need to knock it off Lily. I'm trying to help you and be your friend but never in my life have I ever wanted to be treated like one of your boytoys," he told her through gritted teeth. After all the crap his friends had been giving him about Lily and now her attitude, he couldn't take it anymore.

He took a deep breath and stepped back from Lily. Running a hand through his hair, he looked back up to Lily. "Sorry," he told her then turned around slowly to start looking over the spark plugs. He couldn't find the one for her car.

He muttered an exasperated 'great' under his breath as an associate came around the corner. "Excuse me, do you have spark plugs for a Jaguar XC seventy-five?" he asked and the associate took out a mini computer to start looking up the product. The associate, who's name on the name tag was Tom told Marcus that for that particular car, they'd have to order the spark plugs. Marcus made a half frown and asked when they'd be in. "A few days is the fastest we can get them here,"

[/i] Tom informed him.

Marcus turned to look at Lily. "Looks like you're out of a car for a few days," he told the female and then asked Tom the associate to order them for him. When Tom said that he would, Marcus thanked him and Tom walked away to do so. Marcus knew what it was like to be without a car. He had his truck in the shop a few weeks back and he refused to use any of the fancy high-end cars his parents owned.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[lily evelynn greene]

Lily wasn’t prepared for Marcus to snap at her. She recoiled back when he got close to her face, eyes widening slightly as he continued. Had she really been so wrong here? Lily tried to think what she could have possibly done. Okay. Maybe she’d used him a bit just now, but was that really any reason to get all huffy? She didn’t think so. If he’d needed any kind of help to get someone off his back then she’d have done it. It wasn‘t that big of a deal. Still, after what he’d said, Lily blinked a couple of times, feeling embarrassed. She felt like a complete idiot for even asking for his help. Even though he apologized, it didn’t seem to help any or make her feel better.

She took out her cell phone as she followed behind Marcus, searching on the web for the number of a taxi. Lily stood beside him, continuing to check her phone until she heard the answer from the man behind the counter. “A few days?” she blurted out incredulously. “You’re kidding right?” The guy didn’t look like he was kidding and now she was left without a car. Well without her car. Of course she could rent a car or use a company car, but she’d grown quite attached hers.

Still angry at Marcus for his snap earlier, she turned to him with a glare. “Yeah. I kind of got that from when he said it.” Rolling her eyes slightly she said to the worker, “Okay. If that’s all you can do then go ahead and place the order for them.” The whole situation was frustrating. Pressing dial on the phone she called the first number on her list. “Yeah. I need a tow truck,” she said into the receiver, one hand over her ear so she could hear on the other end. She turned away with her back facing Marcus as she wandered from the front desk, giving the tow company directions on where her car was and where she needed it moved to.

Once she was done with that she stopped and waited for Marcus. “Look,” she sighed. “With what happened in there… I never meant to treat you like a boy toy, Marcus,” she told him seriously. “We have to work together and the last thing I want to do is make that uncomfortable. I’m so used to guys hitting on me I just automatically assumed that’s what he was doing too, but maybe he really was just trying to make a sell. I was out of line, but it won‘t happen again. From now on we’ll keep things strictly professional. Friendship doesn’t really go well with the business world anyway. No offense or anything, but I didn’t get where I am today by making friends. And despite what you think, daddy didn’t give me everything. I do happen to work my ass off. I appreciate the help, but I have the number for a cab here so you don‘t have to stick around anymore.”

“Lovers quarrel?“ the guy they’d been talking to inside asked jokingly. “If you need a ride I can give you one.“ Lily jumped backwards, startled at the sudden arrival. Looking back towards the store she saw that all the lights were now off. Her eyes drifted towards the sign on the door that stated it was ten minutes passed closing. They must have gone in right when the store was supposed to close. “Don’t worry, man. I’ll make sure your girlfriend gets home okay,” he told Marcus.

Unable to help herself, Lily blurted out, “Whose home? Yours?” For a brief moment a smile crossed his face showing that he certainly entertained the idea for a moment before he tried to deny it. Lily had seen it though and she turned towards Marcus feeling slightly vindicated.