Don’t Make Me Choose ⇄ JARLEY F2F
Since running into Jake the other day, Marley’s head was sort of spinning – sort of being the operative words. It wasn’t as though she couldn’t continue her life; she was able to carry on her regular routine of going to class, working at her part-time job, and completing her various homework assignments. But there was occasionally something that played out in the back of her mind whenever she wasn’t keeping herself busy. Their text message thread caused Marley to feel a little bit at a loss – it was as though old feelings and old exchanges were bubbling back up to the surface.
It was a good thing, then, that Marley was able to have her first night in since the end of the semester – summer was just around the corner, which gave Marley more time to work, yes, but it also gave her more time to unwind. Tonight, she had her sushi order delivered to her apartment and a bottle of pinot grigio chilling in the refrigerator. With the rush of her junior year ending, it was nice to be able to simply stretch out on the couch and binge watch How I Met Your Mother.
A knock on the door perplexed her; she already had the food delivered to her apartment and wasn’t expecting any guests. When she opened the door, she was mildly surprised at who she saw on the other side of it.
“Jake, what’s going on?” Marley asked, attempting to sound cool and collected.
Jake smiled slightly at Chloe while he waited for Marley to come to the door. God, he could only hope that she was home because if she wasn’t then he was completely and totally screwed. Tickling her belly, he kissed Chloe softly on the forehead. She looked like she was about to throw one of her tantrums and if that started, Jake knew that there would be absolutely no way that he could convince her to babysit “Just be a good girl for daddy okay? Smile and look adorable like that and you can have ice cream later. I promise.” He told her as he waited for that door to hopefully open.
“Marley, hey!” He exclaimed before he even saw her, shifting Chloe to rest on his other hip. She was clearly still pretty pissed about their previous conversation and he figured she’d have that right. It just meant he needed to try to soften her up without upsetting her even further if he even had a chance. Basically, he was screwed.
“Look, I wouldn’t ask you this if I had any other options but I don’t and if I don’t. Do you think that you could watch Chloe for a few hours? Work called and they need me to come in but I can’t bring Chloe and I don’t have a sitter but if I don’t go, I’ll lose this job and I can’t do that. I can’t do that because I need this job to take care of her. I’ll pay you. There’s a crap ton of food in my fridge and movies and toys and everything to keep her happy. Hell, it’s almost her bedtime so she’ll sleep most of it so please. I don’t have anyone else to ask so please Marley...”