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This truly is the last thing that Mary expects.
It’s been weeks, almost a month, actually, since she’s heard from Marlene. Weeks since they’ve seen each other, since they’ve spoken, since Mary was able to properly look Marlene in the face without being terrified of what might come afterward.
But she’s laying on her stomach on the floor in her bedroom with a book in front of her, her phone somewhere on the bed or maybe in the living room, but she doesn’t care to grab it. Really, she doesn’t.
Not until she hears it, the ringtone. It rings loud and familiar and Mary feels her breath catching in her throat at the sound because it’s distinct and she can immediately recall Marlene’s laugh the day it was set.
“You should give me my own ringtone,” Marlene mumbles from behind Mary, her arms tightly wrapping around her waist as she presses her nose into the back of her head, kissing her hair. Mary snorts, swatting at Marlene’s arm when she starts to punch at Mary’s stomach. “What? It would be awesome, babe,” she chuckles, and Mary feels her stomach flipping from the sound of the pet name so casually falling off of Marlene’s tongue like honey dripping thickly off of a spoon.
Mary hums, trying her best to loosen Marlene’s grip around her waist, and she succeeds after wiggling for a few seconds. Turning in Marlene’s arms, she leans in and presses a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth, feeling the corners of Marlene’s lips twitching upwards along with the twitching of her own heart when she feels Marlene’s breath on her mouth and oh , she thinks she’s going to lose her fucking mind because how could you ever say no to such a beautiful angel?
“You could set your own ringtone on my phone, Marley,” Mary hums, kissing the corner of her mouth again before taking Marlene’s face in her hands, bumping their noses. “You could set it to whatever you want.”
Marlene giggles and Mary feels her heart stutter.
“Can I do it now?”
Mary sighs, then she nods with a gentle smile. “Whatever you want, baby.”
It’s loud and it’s odd and it’s not something that Mary would listen to on a normal basis which is why her blood runs fucking cold and she freezes, her eyes immediately unfocusing and her legs moving on their own accord, carrying her to the living room to find her phone where it lays on the sofa.
Before the song has a chance to finish, Mary is grabbing the phone and pressing the answer button, holding it up to her ear.
“Marlene? Are you alright?”
There’s silence on the other side for a moment, and then Mary hears Marlene take a breath that causes her to freeze, her jaw clenching because it just sounds off .
“Marlene –“
“I wanted to hear your voice.”
Mary blinks, holding her breath in order to hold back the tears that threaten to spill from her eyes at the sound of Marlene’s voice, the way she’s slurs her words, and god Marlene is fucking drunk and Mary hates that she can tell simply because of her tone of voice because she fucking knows Marlene and she hates it.
“Marlene –“
A shaky breath cuts her off, the words dying in her mouth as soon as they rise to their wake and she feels like she’s going to cry or scream or something .
“Mary, I miss you,” Marlene says. It’s quiet. It’s almost too quiet. In fact, Mary barely even hears it over the sound of her own thoughts, she swears she imagined it but she knows that she didn’t because Marlene keeps fucking talking. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I – I pushed you away. I’m sorry that – that I hurt you, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Mare –“
“Marlene, where are you?” Mary questions worriedly, her voice shaking as she holds her phone between her cheek and her shoulder while rummaging around her living room for her car keys. “Where are you? I’m coming to get you right now, okay? Can you stay there?”
A sob cuts through the phone and Mary feels her heart crumbling, shards of glass digging into her chest as she grabs her car keys. “I just wanna make everything right,” Marlene whispers, and oh Mary thinks she’s going to cry now.
But she doesn’t. She takes a deep breath and she swallows her tears, then asks again, sternly:
“Where are you, Marlene?”
“I’m at that bar – you know, the one Reggie likes so much? I’m there. There’s – it’s not busy and so I – I came here, and –“
“Stay there,” Mary tells her seriously, slipping on her shoes and albeit running out of the door. “I’ll be there in 10 minutes tops, okay?”
“Mary –“
“We will figure this out, Marlene, okay? It’s okay, I’m not angry at you.”
A beat passes, and Mary hears Marlene breathe shakily before murmuring, “I love you, Mary.”
And, yeah, Mary thinks she could fucking cry.
“I love you , Marlene.”