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[color=slategray][sub]A [@Smarty0114] & [@Silent Observer] Collab
Featuring: [color=ba314c][b]Katie “Please elaborate.” Callaghan[/b][/color], [color=31ba9f][b]Jamie “Please don’t.” Callaghan[/b][/color], [color=7eff9a][b]Noah “[i]Please do?[/i]” Nichols[/b][/color] & [color=997fdb][b]Marshall “I’d be happy to!” Radley[/b][/color]
Setting: Wednesday morning before school, in Jamie’s car.[/sub][/color]
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[indent][indent]Jamie pulled up to the familiar looking residence of the Radley’s, and turned to give his sister an expectant look. Katie rolled her eyes, and groaned. [color=ba314c][b]“You know, maybe Noah wants to hang out with your boyfriend? Ever thought of that?”[/b][/color] Katie complained as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She hated being in the backseat. She was a shotgun kind of gal, not some backseat floozy.

Jamie mimicked his sister, unknowingly, rolling his eyes at her protest. [color=31ba9f][b]“Katie, it’s a seat, not the end of the world. And he’s not my boyfriend. Yet,”[/b][/color] Jamie said as he texted Marshall a simple, ‘im here,’ before training his eyes on the front door, waiting for the object of his affections to come outside. Katie sidled into the backseat, where her and Noah shared a look, one that clearly said, “My brother is crazy and this is gonna be the most uncomfy car ride.” They had a way of doing that.

The youngest Radley (at least on this side of the country) paced back and forth in front of the living room bay window. The breakfast cereal he’d eaten tasted chalky in his mouth and it really only succeeded in making him want to barf, so he was currently trying to walk that off. Too many sugary alcoholic beverages the day before made for a mighty hangover. If he hadn't been so excited to see the boy he was waiting for, he might have just taken the day off of school entirely.

Marshall was clutching a metal thermos of tea with both hands. It wasn’t his favorite porcelain Starbucks mug, since that was still laying in shattered pieces in the school parking lot, beside his car, which was also... still in the school parking lot. Just as he began to stretch out in a yawn, his phone buzzed with a text from Jamie. That put a big smile on his face as he said goodbye to his mother with a quick kiss on the cheek.

[color=997fdb][i]Whoa.[/i][/color] Marshall didn’t remember that he’d gotten a ride home in that very same car last night, so he was yet again impressed with the sleek vehicle in his driveway. It made so much more of a statement than he would expect of Jamie. It was a little bit bougie. He liked it, it made him want to learn more unknown and unexpected things about Jamie Callaghan. Marsh saw Katie move out of the front seat and into the back, which he took as a sign that he was supposed to take her place. That was a good sign, most likely. 

[color=997fdb][b]“Thank you sooo much for picking me up.”[/b][/color] Marshall said as soon as he slid into the front seat. [color=997fdb][b]“Apparently abandoning my car at school to leave with Trixie was the first of many bad decisions that I made yesterday.”[/b][/color] He rambled with a sigh, but his eyes widened when he realized exactly what he’d just said. And to whom. [color=997fdb][b]“Not that [i]everything[/i] that happened yesterday was a bad decision! That came out wrong. Forgive me, I’m hungover and my words can’t be trusted, apparently.”[/b][/color] Marsh laughed lightly. [color=997fdb][b]“Good morning.”[/b][/color]

Jamie chuckled, and grinned at Marshall, before throwing his car in reverse and pulling out of the parking lot. [color=31ba9f][b]“Good morning to you too,”[/b][/color] Jamie said, glancing over at Marshall for a moment before looking back at the road. In the back seat, Katie mimed a very violent case of projectile vomiting, much to Noah’s amusement.

For a moment, as Jamie’s car sped towards the school, the many inhabitants were silent. Jamie had a lot to say, and none of it he wanted to say in front of his sister. Noah, was silent by nature. Katie though, was just waiting. Finally, after a period of quiet that some may deem awkward, Katie spoke up, leaning forward so that her head poked in between Marshall and Jamie. [color=ba314c][b]“So, Marshall. I’m guessing you gave my brother that hickey?”[/b][/color] Katie asked, throwing all niceties out the window in favor of tormenting her brother a bit.

Jamie’s face immediately went red, as his head spun to glare at Katie. If looks could kill, Katie would be the type of gruesome homicide victim that they talk about on Dateline. Katie, to her credit, didn’t back down. [color=ba314c][b]“I just want to say, that’s some good work. My mother disagrees, but I think there’s something to be said for a good hickey,”[/b][/color] Katie said, as Noah shook his head in the backseat, doing his best to contain his own laughter. Jamie should’ve just let her take the front seat.

A hickey? Marshall pondered that. He certainly [i]hoped[/i] he was the one that gave Jamie a hickey, if he had one, but he couldn’t remember — oh wait, no, he did remember. Marsh leaned forward to try to admire his own work, but Jamie must have covered it up. Jamie was also tomato red at the moment, which was adorable. Marsh smirked a half smile at Jamie and then directed it at his fellow thespian in the back seat. If she wanted to try to embarass her brother, Marshall could turn that back on her. [color=997fdb][b]“I did. And it’s your fault, too.”[/b][/color]

Katie smirked. Marshall played along. She liked it. [color=ba314c][b]“My fault? Please elaborate,”[/b][/color] she said, placing her head in her hands, and grinning over at her brother’s love interest, a picture of innocence to anyone who hadn’t heard her speak. Noah was busy keeping his laughter in, while Jamie was just trying to get to school as fast as he could.

Marshall’s eyes went back to Jamie briefly, then to Noah, and finally to Katie again. [color=997fdb][b]“Well, I’d be happy to, but I don’t want to make Noah too uncomfortable with the details. He seems too nice for that. Buuttt, you interrupted our good time with a phone call. Tsk-tsk. You know that I like to be the star of the show, I had to get the spotlight back somehow.”[/b][/color] Marsh smirked again and then looked at his crush. [color=997fdb][b]“I’m sorry your mother noticed.”[/b][/color] He said genuinely, though even the previous teasing he was doing was genuine, even if it didn’t sound it at face value.

Katie rolled her eyes and fell back into her seat as Jamie pulled into his usual parking spot in the school’s lot. She and Noah grabbed their things, and got out, waving to the older boys in the front. [color=ba314c][b]“Thanks Jay!”[/b][/color] Katie shouted, to which Jamie responded with a middle finger, before turning to Marshall, and letting out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. 

[color=31ba9f][b]“Sorry about her. Katie likes to try and push people’s buttons, if you haven’t noticed. And my mom didn’t really care [i]that[/i] much. I mean, it’s not like she thinks I’m a virgin or anything,”[/b][/color] Jamie said with a nervous chuckle. They were alone again, but this time without the presence of any drugs or alcohol. In other words, Jamie was panicking. [color=31ba9f][b]“So, last night. I had a lot of fun,”[/b][/color] Jamie said, smiling nervously over at Marshall, absentmindedly chewing his lip as he awaited a response.

[color=997fdb][b]“You don’t need to apologize, I know how Katie is, I spend a lot of time with her.”[/b][/color] Marshall reassured him, because for the most part, the drama crew of BHHS was a pretty tight group of people. [color=997fdb][b]“That, and she’s your younger sister. Younger siblings are meant to be a terror, I should know, given that I am one.”[/b][/color] He grinned at that, recalling what a menace he’d been to his older sisters in the past — and with him being her youngest, his mother usually let him get away with it too. 

Marshall’s stomach filled with butterflies at the mention of Jamie’s lack of virginity being so quickly paired with a chuckle and then a mention of last night being fun. [color=997fdb][b]“Yeah, I did too. Clearly…”[/b][/color] The corner of his mouth quirked up as he once again tried to spot the mark he’d left on Jamie. [color=997fdb][b]“We should probably talk about that. Now that I’m… not high. I promise I don’t normally get high, that was… I don’t know what that was, really.”[/b][/color]

Jamie smirked, and, imbued with newfound confidence after Marshall’s words, grabbed one of Marshall’s hands, squeezing it tight. [color=31ba9f][b]“So, I was thinking we could go out Friday night. On a proper date? I mean everyone from school will probably be at Captain Cuddles for the movie, but I figure we could go out to dinner somewhere,”[/b][/color] Jamie said, looking up at Marshall, a hopeful expression on his face. His sudden burst of courage had failed him, and now his stomach was doing flips as he awaited Marshall’s response.

That was unexpected. Marshall was in the mindset that they were just going to talk about the night, but here he was getting asked on a date. A [i]proper[/i] date, as Jamie put it, which was possibly the cutest phrase Marshall had heard anyone utter in his entire life. He even indicated that it wasn’t going to be some silly high school party-esque date, it would just be the two of them going out somewhere special. Marshall beamed a smile at him. [color=997fdb][b]“Of course, I would absolutely love that,”[/b][/color] Marsh squeezed Jamie’s hand back, reassuring him that he was, in fact, very interested. Unwanted, his sister’s words from earlier played back in his mind, causing that pearly white grin to falter. [color=997fdb][b]“Under one condition, though.”[/b][/color] He said in a much more serious tone.

Jamie grinned, his heart soaring as his eyes locked with Marshall’s. [color=31ba9f][b]“Anything,”[/b][/color] Jamie said. Lots of people throw that phrase around, “anything,” but right then, Jamie meant it in the most genuine way he could. He was lost in Marshall Radley, completely and utterly lost. He knew, as the words left his mouth, he’d lasso the moon for that boy, if that was what he asked.. [color=31ba9f][b]“You name it, and it’s done.”[/b][/color]

Marshall blinked wide eyes at him. For whatever reason, Jamie's response caught him off guard. It was so wholesome and affectionate. It made Marsh feel bad about what he had to say next, but at the same time, it had to be said. [color=997fdb][b]“No more kissing other boys in front of me. Especially not your ex.”[/b][/color] His eyes got a little glassy as he recalled the scene that had sent him spiraling yesterday morning. Even with all the positive progress they'd made, that moment still stung, it was still burned in his mind.

Jamie leaned in close to Marshall, and in a deftly timed repeat of his actions last night, placed a hand on either side of his face. [color=31ba9f][b]“You are the only person I want to kiss,”[/b][/color] he said softly, before leaning in to lock lips with his dark haired drama star, another kiss on a list that would hopefully be very, very long. [/indent][/indent]