May 2nd, 2086​

By the time Ryan woke up, Marianna was already up and in the shower, and it was almost 9am. As he sat at the edge of the bed, there was a knock on the door. He hesitantly stood, looking through the peephole to see who it was; Rachael. He opened the door, letting her in.

 

She looked over to see if Marianna was still in bed. "Ahh I see miss lazy pants is awake." She held three plates of breakfast foods in her arms. "Mind grabbing one of these?"

 

"Oh I don't mind." He stumbled to grab all three of them from her and place them on the bed.

"So there's one thing you should know about Mary. Don't try to wake her, or she will tear your head off. Also, don't try stealing from her plate. She's been single for pretty much her entire life, which I've apologized for more times than I can count, so she isn't used to the idea of even pretending to be with someone. Also you only have to put the act up when we go out, or you go out in general. Unless you've lived under a rock your entire life, you know regardless of where you live, people are always going to try pointing out anything that doesn't seem natural, so-" She found herself at a lack of words when she turned to see Marianna standing in the bathroom doorway in a towel, petrified, while Ryan stood, mouth agape, also petrified, for what Rachael figured was not the same reason. "Well then, I don't see any problems seeming natural here." She cleared her throat, as Marianna ran back into the bathroom, terrified. "Like I was saying, think of her as an unpredictable bomb. We've lived with her for over 80 years, and we still can't predict whether or not the explosion is going to be positive or negative, so just be ready for that." She patted him on the shoulder. "Not that you'll have to worry, she's complacent for the most part." She smiled, and left the room, after placing a note over Aiden's face.

 

Marianna waited in the bathroom even after she was fully dressed, for Aiden to wake up and Ryan to be distracted by him, to leave the bathroom. She still had a client from the previous week to work on, and needed to have as little distractions as possible. She guesstimated that she had a little under $5,000 after helping her mom pay for the security deposit on the place, and after getting her Jack and Sally tattoos touched up. Speaking of tattoos, she remembered while thinking about what she had to do, that she needed to put her tattoo goo on her legs to keep them fresh looking. When she finally left the bathroom, she grabbed her laptop and sat down on the bed to get to work.As soon as Ryan noticed she was back in the room, he averted his attention from Aiden to what Marianna was doing, and walked over to the bed.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asked politely.

 

She shook her head, patting a pillow next to her for him to sit down. "I'm way behind on this client." She explained, as she waited for her computer to be fully on. "How's your head?"

 

Up until then, Ryan had completely forgotten about his head, and the very mention of it brought his headache back. "I actually completely forgot about it til just now." He winced in pain.

 

Marianna looked over at Aiden. "Hey doofus, which bottle did you give him last night?"

 

Aiden shrugged. "I don't know, they all look the same to me."

 

Marianna sighed, rolling her eyes. "What color was it?"

 

Aiden thought for a minute. "I gave him the blue and white one."

 

"Which blue and white one?? The one with the stripes? Stars? Bacon strips-"

 

"It was the one with the pin-stripes on it."

 

"Oh...then you gave him the hangover reliever, not the concussion reliever."

 

Aiden shrugged, as he opened a bottle of Mt Dew. "They're all the same to me."

 

Marianna sighed again, putting her laptop to the side and getting up from bed. "If you want you can come with, I'm just going to the car to grab you something."

 

"Alright, I'll walk with you to the car," He said with a smile.

 

They walked in silence for the most part until they ran into Corey, who gave Marianna the 'I need to talk to you' look until she ran over to hug him.

 

"Mornin dad," she greeted with a smile. "I'm sure mom told you all about our guest...right?"

 

Corey nodded. "Yep. I was actually heading over to let you guys know we're heading out to our new home at some point today." He leaned in to Marianna. "Also, I know you paid for 90% of the security deposit, so I'm giving you and Ryan more time to get used to each other."

 

"Oki doki dad." She laughed, turning to Ryan.

 

"Oh and can I talk to Ryan for a minute?" Corey asked with his usual mixture of concern and a smile. "There are some things we need to clear up from last night."

 

"Ummm sure."

Corey hinted for Ryan to walk over to him. "We'll be in my room if you need us."

 

Marianna gave an OK signal with her hand, and walked out to the car. As soon as her hand touched the door handle, she felt like something was watching her, but ignored it, and hoped in the car to dig in the back. She dug around until she found a purple bag that felt like it weighed about a thousand pounds, and fiddled around in it until she found the right bottle, which she put in her pocket and got out of the car with. Only when she hopped down and turned around to shut the door, there was a random woman standing behind her, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin."Oui," She muttered. "You gave me a freaking heart attack."

 

The woman did nothing but smile, and try grabbing her, only out of instinct from whenever Aiden tackled her, Marianna squirmed out of the woman's grasp and ran inside, continuing until she got to Corey and Rachael's room. She knocked on the door in the manner that they had practiced they would if any of them were running from something, and Corey immediately answered it, pulling her in. Aiden was already in the room with him, with both Marianna and his bags on the bed. Ryan sat on the bed, with a confused and scared look on his face, but as soon as he saw Marianna his facial expression calmed to more of a neutral look. For a moment, Marianna felt like was going to fall over, but held a firm grasp with her feet to the floor.

 

"So what are we supposed to do??? They know what our car looks like." Marianna panicked, sitting on the bed next to Ryan.

 

Rachael immitated deep breathing at Marianna. "We'll figure something out, honey."

 

At that point, she was almost in tears, but tried deep breathing exorcizes to calm herself down. Ryan tried to calm her by putting a hand on her back, and made it almost impossible for her to breathe. Aiden looked out, and laughed."It's just the bronze and muscle dickles. They'll be leaving in a few hours, and chances are they won't even be going anywhere near the hotel," Aiden explained.

 

Marianna looked up. "How do you know that?"

 

"Because I ran into them when I was getting my junk food fix a few months ago. All I had to do was go into the bathroom and wait. They're complete idiots."

 

"Oh. Okay." She stood. "Until then, you guys mind if I get back to work?" She turned to Ryan, and Rachael nodded, but spoke up.

 

"Sure, honey. You just need to get your own room with Ryan. Now that they know we're here, however dumb they came across to Aiden, we still need to follow protocol. You and Ryan need to at least appear to be married now." She turned to Corey. "Honey? Can you grab the little grey bag from my coat pocket please?"

 

Corey smiled, and rather than doing as she asked him, he tossed her the jacket.

 

"Only you," Rachael joked, rolling her eyes as she pulled a small grey bag out of her jacket pocket, handing it to Ryan. "You need to give that to Mary." She smiled. "She won't ever really be getting married, but I figured I would have her wear my engagement ring for a few months."

 

Ryan opened the bag, and dropped the ring into his hand, then looking up at Marianna. "If this is fake, then-"

 

"All set, dude." Aiden interrupted, pulling another bag out of his pocket, tossing it at Marianna. "You can't pretend to be married without the bands."

 

Marianna looked over at Ryan, actually nervous. "Um...we don't have to make a huge thing out of this, do we?" Out of a nervous habit, she fiddled with a clatter ring she had on her thumb.

 

"Well, no, but you need all the practice you can get now." Rachael explained.

 

Marianna sighed. "Oki doki then..." When Ryan handed her the rings to put on and she slid them on her finger, it almost felt natural to her for some reason. Rather than showing how happy she felt at the moment, she put on a face and asked, "So can I get back to work now?"

 

Rachael nodded. "Yep. As soon as you book another room for you and your new man." She laughed.

Marianna rolled her eyes, and at the same time Aiden rolled his. "Oki doki then." She got up from the bed, grabbed her bag, and, almost as if naturally, grabbed Ryan's hand and led him out. Only moments after they were outside of the room did either of them notice the fact. And at that moment, Marianna dropped his hand and turned red. "Sorry bout that." She trailed off for a moment, at loss for words. "Anyway..."

 

Ryan held his arm out jokingly. "As we were then?" He smiled so assuringly that Marianna started feeling more comfortable, as she looped her arm with his. As they walked, she noticed the same woman who had grabbed her before, sitting in the lobby. Only when she walked over to them, she smiled apologetically when she saw the ring on Marianna's finger.

 

"I'm so sorry about earlier. I hope I didn't do too much harm. I thought you were someone else."

 

For a moment, Marianna wasn't even able to speak, but finally spoke up. "No, you're fine-"

 

Ryan, partially out of act and natural gut instinct pulled Marianna back beside him. "We should probably be heading to get our room now, however we appreciate your apology." He walked her over to the front desk, and began booking their room. Within minutes, they were heading up the stairs, and away from the muscle bound hulk maniac of a woman who was clearly staring them down the entire time they were in the lobby. As soon as they were inside, Marianna gained the nerve to tackle Ryan with what would've been a kiss if she hadn't been so nervous. Rather than being so, she simply hugged him. Feeling awkward but a little too good at the same time with the hug, she let go, and walked over to sit on the bed.

 

Though as she pulled away, she could've sworn Ryan almost kissed her, whether it was her lips, cheek, or nose, it was still close enough of something happening that she sat down on the bed slightly light headed. Neither of them said anything for a bit, until Ryan finally spoke up.

 

"So you're how old and have never had a boyfriend, and your mom is expecting you to pretend to be married to someone? She's an odd ball isn't she."

 

"Yup. You'd think by now she'd act her age, but apparently staying the same age has affected her ability to well...I dunno...accept that she's getting old at all."

 

Ryan shrugged. "Well I can't say I blame them. If you're only as old as you feel, and you don't age, then it only makes sense not to act your age."

 

"Hmmm that does make sense." She smiled, as she reached over the bed to grab the bag with her laptop in it. "Hey you wanna see what I thought you looked like for the longest time?" She looked up from the laptop as she lifted herself back onto the bed.

 

Ryan nodded. "Sure. I'd love to see how sexy of a woman you made me."

 

They both looked at each other for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

 

"Hey, it's not my fault you have such pretty hand writing," Marianna protested, as she turned the laptop on. She patted the bed beside her for him to sit down. "So who was chasing you exactly?"

 

He shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. They were friends of my dad, though. That's all I know."

 

"So...how did you not know them if they were friends of your dad?"

 

"He wasn't home that often, and whenever he was, he was with them, and after my mum left him, she was shot..."

 

"...in the heart. I know. I'm really sorry." She leaned over and hugged him, feeling selfish for forgetting.

"It's okay. I'm just confused why they would want anything to do with me. My dad was rarely ever home, other than my 21st  birthday, when he gave me a journal to write in. The poem you read in it was actually a suicide note. I tried hanging myself after writing it, and apparently it took over 3 years for someone to find it. You. And my mom decided to give me the book I used to write with you for all this time, six months before she was killed."

 

"Hm..." Marianna muttered, trying to think everything over. "I think everything happened for a reason. My parents made us how we are on our, well my, 21st birthday. They decided to wait til I was 21 so they could have it all happen on one night, so Aiden was 22 when it happened for him. They did it for us so we could buy alcohol if we wanted. I know, it's so typical, but it made sense to them." She smiled, as she brought up a folder with saved models in it. "Here. I made a few different ones, in case any of them made more sense than others." She showed him all 6 of the models she made of him. "Oh I can show you how it's done if you want. I still have to finish a project I'm working on."

 

Ryan smiled. "Sure. That'd be great."

 

For the next couple hours, while she became distracted by her work, and explaining everything to Ryan, he was more distracted by the way her hands moved when she talked, how over exaggerated her face got when she talked at times, and how passionate she was about her work. He even blurred over how much she made with it, simply because he didn't care how much she made, as much as how happy it was making her. By the time she was finished with her project, she shut the laptop off, and leaned over the edge of the bed to grab something out of the bag on the floor. Which made him beyond fidgety, because the shorts covered everything up that they needed to, but showed just enough to almost make him lose his nerve. But being the mature, gentelmen-like man he was, he turned his attention to something else the brief moment she was bent over the edge of the bed.

 

When she came back up, she held up a list of stores she needed to go to to buy her clothes. "You don't have to come with me when I go if you don't want. It's just mandatory clothing shopping. I literally only have the clothes on my back to wear." She wiggled back up on the bed next to Ryan, and sat cross-legged next to him, staring at her rings. "So...which type of married couple do you want to be? I've seen a shit ton in my lifetime, but I don't know which would be appropriate to use in this town..." She found herself distracted by Ryan being an inch away from her face.

 

"Before you can know what type of married couple you want to be, you need to know your comfort areas. If this is making you uncomfortable, then being the super public affection type isn't really a go-"

 

Out of nowhere, Marianna lost her nerve, grabbed his face, and planted a kiss on him, that surprisingly he didn't pull away from. When she pulled away, she was beet red, and back to fiddling the clatter ring on her thumb. "Um...uh...you were saying?" She asked, almost under her breath. For a moment, neither of them said anything, out of shock. "I'm sorry about that. That was totally uncalled for."

 

Ryan shook his head. "No, that was...wow...can I say something and not have you get mad at me?"

 

"Sure."

 

"One, you can look at me, you know." He lifted her face up with a finger by her chin. "Two, I think we need to practice that a bit if we're going to make people those who chased me believe we're married. And three, not only was that not expected, but it was-"

 

"The worst kiss you've ever gotten in your life?" She laughed.

 

"Well I was going to say I was pretty sure that was the first time a lovely woman such as yourself has ever grabbed my face and planted a kiss on me."

 

"Yeah...like I said, I'm sorry. I honestly have no idea what was going through my head when I did tha-" She found herself being interrupted by him pulling her in by her face and planting a kiss on her. After the shock of it all was over, they found themselves in a whirlwind of kisses, which were interrupted by a knock at the door. It was Rachael, and Marianna recognized the knock style. "You can come in, mom!"

 

Rachael let herself in a few moments later with a couple bags in her hands. "I brought food," She said with excitement, as she sat down on the bed next to Marianna. She glanced at Ryan, whom was obviously trying not to appear flustered. "Hmm...well I have good news, if you prove yourself with our family, we might make you a new member." She nudged Marianna. "She could use a little more company than just me, her dad, and Aiden. But if I see you screw up once in the next six months, I won't think twice about knocking your ass out and tossing you in a ditch somewhere."

 

Ryan nodded. "Yes mamn."

 

Rachael smiled. "Good to know you have manners. You could show Aiden a thing or two about them.Marianna had taken a moment to think about the mini speech her mom had just given Ryan. "Six months?"

 

"Yeah, six. Your brother did some research, and the people he claimed were complete idiots are doing a six month investigation on us, so we're skipping over to another state. So you two should stay in for the night, meaning stay in your room. We're leaving first thing in the morning to head out to our home. How much money do you have left, honey?"

 

Marianna thought for a moment. "A little over five k. Why?"

 

"We're going to need a little over two grand of that. Your dad was clever and called a friend of his to do him a favor. We won't need another vehicle now, they're doing a nice paint job on it, and changing the license plates on it. The two grand is for them to bring it back here, because they're known for helping out people like us."

"Okay. My money is in the pocket at the bottom of the bag."

 

"Okay. Thank you honey. I know you hate hotels, but I bought you some food for the night." She looked down at the bags, one of them containing two 2 liters of soda, and the other contained some junk food and some microwave food. "Hope that's okay for the night."

 

"It should be fine, mom. Thanks." Marianna hugged Rachael, and there was another knock at the door. Marianna cocked her head at it, as the knock sounded familiar, but she wasn't sure. She got up from the bed, and walked over to look in the peephole. Rachael walked over, concerned, because Marianna had turned completely pale.

 

"What's the matter, honey?" She looked through the peephole. A familiar voice came through the door.

"I know you're in there, Mary. I just want to talk to you, sweetie."

 

Rachael recgonized the voice, and answered the door. "I thought I told you not to follow us." She shut the door in her face, and she knocked again. The voice belonged to one of the few others like them that fell madly in love with Marianna. Her name was Leah Ashton. She may have been a lively 17 year old on the outside, but the truth was she was older than even Rachael, and therefore knew more about survival than they all did. It was the main reason they let her get involved with them in the first place, as well as the fact that Marianna had a phase where she needed a woman in her life, even if it was just for a little while.

 

Little did they know Marianna still had a little part of her heart for Leah-which made the situation beyond uncomfortable for her. When Ryan heard her speak, he recognized her as well, as someone he fell for when he was nineteen years old, when she randomly up and left. Marianna opened the door, and Leah tackled her to the floor, planting kisses all over her face.

 

"Oh I missed you so much, Mary!" She exclaimed.

 

Aiden knocked, and Rachael let him in. As soon as he saw Leah, he rolled his eyes. "Oh, I see the immortal sluttress is back."

 

Without looking away from Marianna, Leah protested, "I'm not a slut! I just listen to my feelings." She traced a finger along Marianna's shirt line. "And mine happen to be right most of the time." She looked up, and noticed Ryan. "I see you've moved on pretty nicely. Oh, what? You look like someone just shot your mum."

 

Ryan sat there, pale as a ghost. "Leah?? I thought you were..."

 

"Yes, and I did go to Italy. It wasn't as much fun as Marianna's family, though. Or Marianna for the matter."

 

She got up, helping Marianna up. "But that's not the only reason I came here." She started pacing around in order to think. "Ah, that's right, Ryan. There was something very important I was supposed to tell you before I left, but that dad of yours got in the way, so I had to go in a hurry. But what was it I was going to tell you?" She paused for a moment. "Ahh that's right. Your mommy and daddy gave you very important books that I want back. Mostly so we can burn them. They're leaving a lovely trail for you and Marianna's family to be hunted down. So leave the journals here or burn them so they can't-"

 

"So you're saying the people who chased me out of the hotel were after my book?"

 

"Not just that. They were using you to track Marianna's family down and use them to their advantage. Dontcha know, immortality is illegal?" She laughed. "Regardless deary, yes, you were being used to hunt them down, and when you found your book again after being sent away, they couldn't afford to lose their precious tracking device. Which is why they want you so badly. But if you get out of here soon, and ditch the books, you should be fine." She thought for a minute. "Actually, I'll take them off your hands, and go as far from here as I possibly can." She glanced over at Rachael. "Where are you heading, love?"

 

Rachael was still taking in everything, and took a moment to respond. "We're heading east to the next state over."

 

"Good. That's far away enough. I'll bring these books in the other direction." She walked over to Marianna, took her hands in hers, and gave her a light kiss next to the lips as a sign of her affection and respect. Being close enough where only Marianna could hear her, she whispered, "I missed you, sweetie. But I know you have someone else in your heart now." She briefly looked over at Ryan. "You both still have something of mine, but I want you to keep those things. They'll keep me close, literally and metaphorically speaking, of course." She winked, and gave Marianna a hug. She spoke up, "Now, where are these books?"

 

 

Ryan pulled his book out of his pocket, and Marianna grabbed her journal out of the bag, both handing them over."Thank you, deary." She smiled. "I should be leaving now, we don't want to waste another minute of them having the ability to know where you are." She sighed, and walked over to Aiden and Rachael, giving both of them a hug, before leaving. Corey was about to knock when she walked out, and had a confused look on his face when he walked in the room.

 

"Was that..."

 

 

"Leah?" Aiden spoke. "Yep. And we need to leave now, apparently."

 

"Good. I was about to say my friend can't hold the car any longer. His map shows more are coming towards his place. I've already checked everyone out of their rooms, so all we need to do is get our shit out of here and be on our way."Marianna sighed, and started packing her things. "Do we have time so I can at least check my bank account and such?"

 

Corey nodded. "You have five minutes."

 

"Don't even need that long." She was already online checking her money. It was up to $1,200. "Sweet," She muttered to herself, closing everything down and shutting the laptop. After putting the laptop back in its case, she packed that and the few other random things she had decided to take out of the bag, and headed out with everyone else. Only when she went to open the door, Ryan was already opening it for her, which caused her to blush a ridiculous amount as she got in the car and he hopped in behind her.

 

"So," Ryan started, as everyone piled into the vehicle. "Where are we headed?"

 

Corey turned back to them. "We're heading to the place you're going to call home for the next six months, give or take."Ryan turned to Marianna, whom was already on her laptop working on her personal project. He went to talk to Aiden, but he was already on his laptop doing what Ryan could see was playing a computer game. So to get Marianna's attention, or at least attempt to, he grabbed a free hand of hers, and held it in his in between them. He got what he wanted nearly instantly-she turned red, but smiled sheepishly at him. After a little while, they stopped for gas and pee breaks.

 

He looked over and Marianna had her laptop put away and was listening to her music, using his shoulder as a pillow. Moments after Aiden shut the car door and headed towards the convenience store, Marianna jerked up, and doubled over. She fumbled around next to her until she found the door handle, where she burst out of the car and ran towards the store. She felt like her stomach was on fire, but also felt nauseous, as she ran to the bathroom and threw up her guts.Only what she saw in the toilet when she was finally finished looked like grey little pellets mixed in purple dye. While she thought over everything she could've eaten that was purple, a knock at the door made her jump. It was Rachael and Ryan.

 

"Are you okay, honey?" Rachael asked sincerely.

 

Marianna stood, and flushed the toilet, rinsing her mouth out with tap water. "I'm fine. Just felt kinda nauseous." She washed her hands, and walked out, where Ryan looked genuinely concerned about her. "I'm fine, Ryan. I'm just gonna get something here." She wandered off to grab a drink and something to eat, and Rachael kept a close eye on her as she paid for everything, looking for anything suspicious. Only to find the only thing different, was Marianna bought more food than normal.

 

When they all got back into the vehicle, for the remainder of the trip, Marianna had Rachael pull over once every half hour, give or take, so she could throw up. The smell of Rachael's stomach ease made her vomit even more, so she didn't bother taking it. Eventually, her stomach calmed down enough where she was able to curl up against Ryan and fall asleep.