As you can imagine, Marian was growing more and more uncomfortable with the situation at hand; and the more uncomfortable she got, the more comfortable he seemed to get with it. Well this was horribly awkward. At least that’s what she thought until she heard a voice and both her and Edward’s attention were drawn to it. Robert stood there and began to speak something about a dirty hotline number that Edward was apparently calling. Her eyebrows raised in shock as she turned her blue gaze back to Edward.

His face turned red from being jerked back from Marian and the comments coming from Robert that, aside from thinking the comments were stupid, he didn’t really know what else to do with himself as he hurried into his father’s office and slammed the door shut.

Marian, still backed up against the wall let out a short sigh of relief, her long lashes closing for a moment as she took in a couple deep breathes and let out another sigh. Her blue eyes flickered back open as she turned them to look up at the sharply dressed man with the messy hair. A small closed mouth smile curled the corners of her full lips upward in a grateful thank you without many words. After a small pause, she spoke. “Well, I’m not the only one who can fight the good fight now.” She said with a soft smile before gesturing towards the direction that Edward went, “Thank you. I owe you one. I’ll see you around.” With that she left him with a gentle smile; maybe he’ll be less of a jerk this time around, he seemed to give off more of a humble feeling. Hopefully she’s not wrong.

------

The day went by well until it hit lunch time. The small buffet was provided Monday and many people were helping themselves to the found. Marian being no different at the time; she was filling a plate full of food before she felt someone slid into her and her body shuttered… Great. “So Marian, about dinner…” 

“I’m sorry Edward but someone already beat you to it.” She said simply with a small shrug before she turned up to see the surprise on his face. Great, now she’d had to keep up the lie. “Oh yeah, I have a date tonight already.”

“With who?” He asked in a questioning tone, sounding almost offended; as if she was supposed to already have plans with him. 

“With…” Taking her plate into one hand she reached behind her, grabbing the nearest hand she could. She didn’t care who she grabbed at this point; she could grab the frumpy brunette from the checkout counter. As she reached behind her, she grabbed a hold of the nearest bicep she found and pulled! Her blue eyes scanned up to see she grabbed a rather shocked looking Robert by her side, her arm linked into his. “Robert Locksley.” She said trying to not sound shocked that he was the one he grabbed. With that she turned to Edward before Robert could speak up. “I have a date with Robert tonight. We haven’t discussed the details but it’s going to happen and it’s tonight. So I’m sorry; it’s going to have to be some other time.” 

With that she looked up at Robert with a bright smile on her face, flashing her pearly white smile. “Shall we go discuss what the night has in store for us?” Her smile faded softly as her eyes begged him to play along… oh please oh please play along!!