“That’s what I thought.” Marc nodded, not at all surprised by her response. “But if I can earn your trust, and your secrets, I would be honored.” he added sincerely, though perhaps a bit more theatrical than he meant for it to sound.
He glanced back to the tv and was simultaneous relieved and annoyed. “Oh, here she is. The true villain in the entire series and most hated character by everyone.” he pointed out, seeing the familiar glare of pink on the screen “I didn't realize we had been talking so long.”
Ariella hummed in answer, giving him a sweet smile. Perhaps in a other life, where she wasn't who she was, she could see herself with a man like him. The age difference had never bothered her, as she could tell he was a few years older than she. Perhaps she would have come to London on a vacation or for college. Knowing herself, she woukd have gotten herself into trouble and perhaps Marcus would have been the one to be called. They would flirt, hit it off. She would give him her number and he would text her when he got of shift. He would be the calm in her enthusiasm. The one that followed her as she went to clubs and parties and reigned her back when she got out of control. It could have been a nice life. But one that woukd never come to pass in this life.
She hadn't realized she had been staring until she heard him speak again. She cleared her throat, blinking and looking at the movie. Her lips quirked up. "I'd take Voldemort over Umbridge any day."
Marc huffed a soft laugh at her comment, unaware of her stare or the direction of her thoughts, and gave a slight nod. “They’re both evil. I wouldn't mind a chance to take both of them down, one way or another.” he smirked, subconsciously clenching a fist at the idea of punching either one, or both, of them.
Ariella just laughed. "If you're going to get violent over a movie, perhaps I should change it to something else?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him then visibly wince and let out a small noise of pain as the movement had jostled her nose. She let out a groan and thumbed her head back against the bed. Which was also a bad idea. "I hate broken noses," she said, hinting this wasn't the first time.
Marc felt his face flush at being caught and unclenched his hand. “Sorry. There's no need to change it. I'm alright.” he assured. “Though I doubt I'm the only one who would like to deck them.” he challenged, bringing a more casual smirk back to his face.
“I know the feeling.” he nodded with a sympathetic look since he’d had his fair share of injuries from his school days as an athlete and a couple of times in his work as an officer.
Ariella just offered him a small smile. She had been only teasing but she had been surprised at such a string reaction. Though in his defense, Umbridge was a terrible person and deserved all the hate. She touched the side of her nose carefully, wincing further at the sharp pain. "How'd you break your nose?"
“A couple of different times.” he shrugged. “Some from athletic events and some from fights both in work and childhood.” Marc smiled a little, rubbing the side of his nose. “Luckily, it was set right each time but sometimes I think I can see a bit of a bump on the top.” he admitted.
Ariella nodded her head. "The nose is never the same after a break. Hopefully mine will be mostly straight this time. My nose was a little crooked after last." She huffed a small laugh at memory of it. She had drank a little too much and liked to fight when she drunk. Not a very good combination.
“It looks straight to me.” he commented, looking at her face. “How many times do you think you’ve broken it?” Marc asked as he tried not to stare or think of how pretty she looked. “Honestly, I've lost track. Seemed to get broken quite a bit in boxing matches.” he chuckled.
Ariella gave him a lopsided grin, tilting her head to the side. "Let's see," she paused as she thought. "I think this makes the fourth time? For some reason, everyone likes to go for my face. My beautiful face. It's like they're determined to ruin it." One was the bar fight, then the car crash. The other two had been from some trouble she had gotten herself into two separate times.
“Only four? Lucky you.” Marc grinned, teasing. Getting bit in the face was never fun, much less for a broken nose. “Have you been hurt worse than this before? Something tells me you’re quite a fighter.”
Ariella would have laughed if it didn't hurt to do so. "Only four now. Must be some sort of record." She didn't know if four broken noses was a lot but it seemed like it for the average person. Her gaze shifted from his face to the wall at his question. Yes she had. Enough to know she would never let that happen to her again. "A couple times yeah. I've been in worse shape than this."
“I suppose so.” Marc shrugged. Perhaps to a normal person four was quite a lot of times but considering everything he had been involved with, he was almost sure his nose had been broken more times than that. Though he nodded in understanding as Ariella looked away at his question. “You don't have to answer that. It's obviously not something you want to talk about.” he noticed easily.
Ariella rolled her head back his way. "It's alright. I've been jumped a couple if times and it didn't always go my way. I'm mixed up in a lot crazy stuff." Which wasn't wrong. She was mixed up in crazy stuff. Ut nothing he would be able to comprehend.
“How serious?” the policeman couldn't help but ask, narrowing his eyes slightly. Even though he didn't know Ariella very well, the thought of her being attacked didn't sit right with him. “You know, if you want to, you can file charges against whoever they were. If it happened here, I could even help you with that.” he offered.
Ariella pursed her lips. "Bad." She hadn't been so close to death but she had been incapacited for a while. She bounced back quicker than normal due to other medicines but it had still sucked. "Nothing you can help me with. It was a while go anyways. Don't trouble yourself." She appreciated the protective nature but she didn't need it.
Marcus’s brow furrowed at the vague answer. “No. I meant… if they tried to… take advantage of you.” he admitted softly. He wasn't saying that being physically attacked was any better but… He just had to be sure.
"No, They didn't." Ariella reached across, leaning forward until she was able to place her hand on his arm. "It didn't go that far." It was sad thay was something she was thankful for. But the species that had kidnapped and tortured her for a few weeks didn't care about such carnal things. She had been lucky.
Marc sighed, admittedly relieved by her assurance, and nodded at her touch. He hadn't been expecting the soft contact but he wouldn't say it wasn't nice. “I'm… I'm glad for that but I'm sorry you were still hurt so badly.”
Ariella let her hand linger, squeezing his arm gently. She finally retracted and laid back down on the bed. "Don't worry about it, I deserved it for letting myself get caught. I knew better." She shrugged him off. "This is our first date, remember, I think we should stick to lighter topics than this."
Marc shook his head but didn't comment on whether she deserved to get beaten up or not. In his mind, she didn't… very few people did. He chuckled at the president of this being a date being brought up again. “I still don't see this as a date since I am still working but I agree. Lighter topics would be a nice change of pace.” he smiled softly. “Are you feeling better?”
Ariella smiled as she heard his chuckle. Good. She was hoping that would distract him some from the topic at hand. "Well, if you ignore the fact that you're technically working, then this constitutes as a date."She was technically wearing a dress to, it was called a hospital gown. She nodded her head. "I'm okay. Just ready to get out of here."
Marc rolled his eyes, in good humor, at her insistence but dropped that debate quickly especially since he wasn't going to forget he was working anytime tonight. “I don't blame you. Whenever I ended up in here, I’m always eager to leave. It gets boring too quickly.” he replied with his perspective.
Ariella nodded her head. She got restless easily. And as nice as it was to have good food and sleep peacefully, and Harry Potter, she was ready to get on with her life. A broken nose and mild concussion wouldn't stop her from doing what she needed to. "It is. And though I'm enjoying the movies, I don't like being confined."
“Neither do I.” he nodded. “And that’s if you get lucky enough to find something good on or have a good enough mate to bring you something to read.” Marc admitted, remembering all the times he had been nearly bored out of his mind.
