Old Scars (closed)

[DrStein]

Mark let out an audible growl of exertion as he pushed the bar up one more time off his chest. His friend Wayne took the bar and awkwardly helped him to get it back on the pins. "Told you I could do 450," Mark said with a grin as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He sat up and rotated his shoulders to work a little of the tension out of his arms and chest.

"Yeah, I know, I owe you a beer," Wayne answered in defeat. "You realize you're going to kill yourself doing this, right?"

"Maybe." Mark took a sip from his water bottle before grabbing the sanitizer to clean off the bench as Wayne reset the weights. Mark was in the gym 6 days a week, lifting for three of them. Today was Friday, the last before his rest day on Saturday. He had managed to get past his plateau this week and crush all of his personal records. It was one of the things that kept him going.

He walked over to a bench by the indoor track and sat down. "I'm just going to head out," Wayne said. "You okay here?"

Mark nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to do some cardio and then I'll take off." He once again wiped the sweat from his brow, this time raking his hand back through his blond hair until he reached the band on his ponytail. He mentally counted the seconds in his head, wanting to wait 5 minutes to relax his muscles after his final bench press before finally hopping on the treadmill. He felt rather than saw the person coming up to him from the side. He looked up expecting Wayne but was surprised by the sight of the beautiful woman smiling at him instead. He rose up to his full 7' height and smiled back at her politely. "What's up?"

 

[Apollo Wilde]

"Hi there!"

Lily Crawford was short. The type of short that got her good-naturedly teased - the type of short that was noticeable in a crowd, and the type of short only a pair of 5 inch heels could make her seem normal. Despite her lack of physical stature, she had a big personality, and a heart to go with it.

"I'm sorry if this comes off as being forward, but I just wanted to tell you that I adore your hair. It is so pretty!"

Lily had this thing - give at least one person a day one heart-felt compliment. The world was full of mean enough people as it was, and she figured it'd be nice to spread some joy around. Realistically, people didn't often know how good they had it. They had food, a roof over their heads, a job, and, well, a little extra income to even bother to go to the gym. She'd noticed him there a few times before (usually as she was leaving Zumba), and had wanted to say something before, but he always seemed to be with someone else....

Her own hair was cut short in a suitably cute pixie cut, framing her small face and big brown eyes. She wore no make up, and unlike many other gym goers, wore a baggy shirt and biking shorts, making her seem even smaller.

 

[DrStein]

"Well thank you," Mark answered in his rumbling, bass voice. "I like yours too. Pixie cuts are kinda hot I think." He held out of one his large hands in greeting. "I'm Mark, by the way. I think I've seen you around here before." Indeed he had. He just conveniently left out the part that he had first noticed her at the swimming pool and taken a few moments to admire her when she wasn't looking.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

"I'm Lily Crawford," and she took his hand in hers, giving it a firm squeeze. "Yeah, I have to make my Zumba class," she said, blushing a little.

As she let go of his hand, she reached up to rub the back of her neck, where the hair was close cropped and spiky against the touch. "Oh, thank you...it's easier to keep this way with as much time as I spend in the pool."

Rocking a little back and forth, she cleared her throat, looking up towards the ceiling. She didn't really know what else to say to him at this point, and had really meant to give him the compliment and then be on her way, but on closer inspection, he was much better looking than she had originally thought he was from a distance.

Ooof.

"So, Mark, what do you do, if you don't mind my asking?"

 

[DrStein]

Seeing the slight awkwardness to her caused Mark's protective instincts to flare up. He pushed them back down though as a shadow crossed over his heart. Jesus, how many years was it now? Seven? Had it really been that long? And he still couldn't let it go.

He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head quickly at the sound of her voice. "I'm a mechanic," he answered. "Mostly restoring vintage cars and motorcycles, that sort of thing." He had actually built his own motorcycle entirely from spare parts. It was a work of two years' labor but it had been with him faithfully for the last five and showed no sign of quitting on him soon. "Other than that, I mostly hang around in here looking like a leftover super soldier experiment from the Cold War. How about yourself?" He was very soft-spoken, the resonance in his chest doing most of the work to carry his voice over the din of the gym patrons.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

"Really?! Oh my god, that's totally cool!" And her face lit up as if you just told her it was Christmas and she got that puppy she wanted. "I love classic cars. I don't know a thing about them, but I love the way they look."

The idea of him covered in grease in a skimpy gray tank top and second skin jeans flashed through her head, and she had to stop herself from melting a little on the spot. Nice.

"I'm an art teacher for an elementary school. It's not that glamorous at all, but it's a lot of fun. Besides, if I taught high school, they'd think I was one of the students!"

Bringing her hands in front of her, she began to wring them nervously. "So, Max, I hope you don't mind me being too forward, but would you like to grab a bite with me sometime? I mean, I totally understand if you say no, but it's nothing formal and I just thought it might be nice to get to know you better?"

 

[DrStein]

Her enthusiasm was endearing and he couldn't stop himself from smiling. That's when she asked him to join her. A part of his mind screeched to a halt and told him to flee. But another part fought back telling him things would never get better if he kept running. The debate in his head felt like hours, but he only showed a moment's hesitation in the real world. He made his decision. He had to stop running. Besides, this was one outing. They had just met and there was no telling how it would go. But if he declined her offer, it would be just another entry on his list of what-ifs.

"Tell you what..." he started, just barely managing to hide a stutter. He cleared his throat, then mentally kicked himself for that as it just made him look obvious he thought. "I still have to do another 30 minutes on the treadmill before I hit the shower. But after that... there's a diner I like a couple blocks from here. We can go straight from here, have a little dinner."

 

[Apollo Wilde]

Oh.

She hadn't meant today. Her surprise showed on her face for just a moment, before she looked back down at her feet and then back up at him. Spontaneity was the spice of life, right?

"Oh, um, sure! If you'd like." Her work out circuit was done, but it would give her time to change and get her nerves together. Besides, how often did guys actually take her seriously when she expressed interest? "I'll go shower and meet you back out here in 30, sound good?"

 

[DrStein]

"Forty. I need to hit the shower myself." Mark smiled at her and went over to the treadmill. While working out he was able to keep himself focused and piece together his disjointed thoughts. It was only while moving, exerting himself that he could achieve some sort of clarity. He kept telling himself he had good reasons for keeping people away. Hell, he had moved to this town to work for his uncle specifically because he didn't want to show his face in public again in his hometown. Consequently, his uncle was the only one who knew the truth, knew why Mark was here in Ashdale. Not even Wayne knew, the best friend he had in this town and he didn't know.

Mark had spent seven years trying to put as much distance between himself and his mistake as possible. But he couldn't let it go. Lily wasn't the first woman here to show interest in him. But something about her gave him the feeling that it was time to own up to what he had done and start acting like a grown man.

The timer on the treadmill went off and Mark was surprised to see that he had already finished. Shaking his head, he went to the showers and quickly got cleaned up and changed. He didn't bother drying his hair and just pulled it into a ponytail again. He was wearing work boots, tight fitting jeans, and a Suspiria T-shirt. Other than fixing old vehicles, horror was one of Mark's passions. He loved scary movies, horror fiction, horror rock, anything he could get. He even drove out to the big horror conventions in the fall and summer. He even had a photo collage in his home of him with horror icons like Kane Hodder, David Cronenberg, and The Misfits.

He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and emerged from the locker room and looked around for Lily. He rolled his shoulders and rocked on his heels a little to work out the last of the soreness from his workout. He was hard to fit and his clothes clung to him like a second skin.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She was standing at the front of the gym, her fingers tangling in the short tresses of hair against her neck, her bag at her feet beside her.

She was hard to fit as well, but for different reasons. She had on a gray skirt that billowed about her knees, black flip flops, and a Hello Kitty tank top. A little juvenile, sure, but she was a sucker for stupidly cute things. She had taken the extra time to run a comb through her short hair and line her dark eyes with a black pencil, and put on her multi-colored glass earrings. The gray brought out the smooth brown of her skin. Redressed in her normal clothes, everything about her screamed "art teacher" - but in a good way.

Spotting him, she had to stop herself from staring at him. As he walked over to her, she blurted out, "Oh my god, I have got to draw you. Have you ever posed nude? Don't worry, I'll totally pay you, oh, wow, that sounded wrong, I mean, what I meant was that if you haven't it's okay, you can keep your underwear on but you have this total Greco-Roman build thing going that is just to die for!" Reaching forward, she planted her hands firmly on either side of his waist, squeezing gently. "I bet you have an iliac crest to DIE for."

 

[DrStein]

At her forwardness and grabbing him by the waist Mark at first reacted with stunned silence but then burst out laughing. It brought back memories of the summer after graduation. He had needed some extra cash for a convention and answered an ad from a local photography student who wanted an athlete to pose nude for a portfolio she was working on. "I have posed nude once, yeah. Years ago."

He took one of her tiny hands from his waist in his own. His palm and fingers were hard and calloused like he had been carved instead of grown, but his touch was surprisingly gentle. "Come on. We can talk more over at the diner." He led her to the parking lot and over to the only motorcycle in the lot. There were only two words to describe it: heavy metal. It looked like something that should have been on an album cover. It was all black and chrome with red highlights. It had a shape similar to a Harley-Davidson, but obviously customized. The tires were slightly wider than normal and the headlight was framed by chrome vampire teeth. The whole thing was sleek and predatory looking. Airbrushed across one of the tail pipes were the words, "Horror Express." He handed the helmet to Lily with a smile. "I promise I'll drive slow. It's only a couple blocks.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

"Fabulous! So that means you'll pose for me, right?" Slinging her backpack over her shoulder and onto her back, she followed him out. She usually caught the bus or rode her bike -a red Schwinn that could have been a distant relative's to PeeWee Herman's much beloved bike- but today she had caught the bus. No worries there. A part of her sort of blanched at randomly accepting an offer for a ride from a guy she just met, but why not? She had mace in her backpack.

Or, she could just try and throw a rock at him and outrun him. The image of her trying to fight someone so much taller and muscular than her caused her to giggle a little.

At the motorcycle, her giggle turned into a laugh of glee. "Mark, this is absolutely amazing. For serious." Before he could even really help her, she'd darted past him, running her fingers over the cool metal. "I've got to draw you naked on this. It would be so very epic. You have no idea."

As he handed her the helmet, she grinned at him, cradling it between her hands before putting it on. Who knew, right? Most big guys were, well, sort of dumb. But Mark was proving himself to be quite the character - she was really looking forward to getting to know him better.

 

[DrStein]

"That's my baby, the Horror Express," Mark beamed. He straddled the bike and let Lily get on behind him. "Built her myself from spare parts," he said before revving the engine. He liked the idea of teasing her with that information and making her wait until they parked at the diner to learn more. True to his word, he drove slowly and was very mindful of the traffic.

A few blocks down he pulled into the parking lot of a 50's style rail car diner called Joe Mama's. Mark had a fondness of kitschy Americana, so this had become one of his haunts. He let Lily get off the bike first, wondering if she's be surprised at the power the thing had even at slow speeds. He'd spent the better part of two months tuning the engine to make it exactly the way he wanted.

"This is one of my favorite places. They make a great Cuban sandwich. They call it a Cuban Missile Crisis believe it or not."

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She was a little disappointed when the ride ended. She had enjoyed herself, holding on to his waist watching the rest of the world go by. She really had to fight to not let her hands roam over his broad chest. The feel of compact muscle beneath her hands was absolutely...wonderful. She didn't really have the right words for it. It went beyond something as simple as lust and into something that was intangible, something that reminded her why she loved to draw.

Slipping from his grasp, she straightened out her skirt, and followed him. "Clever," she said, taking off the helmet. "Although they'll win brownie points with me if they have something named after the Red Scare."

 

[DrStein]

"That would be the spiciest burger on the menu," Mark said offhandedly. "They serve it on a jalapeno bun with cheese, onion straws, bacon, hot sauce and even more hot peppers. The burger itself has peppers mixed in with the ground beef. I tried it once. Lost all flavor after the fifth bite unless you count 'agony' as a flavor."

A sign by the door told guests to choose any seat and wait for a server. Mark took Lily's hand and guided her to a booth by the window. Every booth had a miniature jukebox on it loaded with 50's pop tunes, rockabilly and early rock and roll. The Andrews Sisters were currently playing over the speakers. Menus were in the condiments rack and Mark pulled out two, handing one to Lily. "You can add syrups to the fountain drinks by the way. Cherry coke is my favorite."

 

[Apollo Wilde]

"Yikes, I think my tongue just fell off thinking about it. I like spicy, but that sounds like a spice napalming. Anything tamer that you'd suggest?" As he handed her the menu, she wished that she hadn't asked. Well of course she could go through the menu, duh. Smooth move, Lily. When he took her hand in his, she had to marvel at his largeness. It really was amazing the differences in people - from shapes and sizes to skin and hair and eye color.

Sitting down, she pulled her skirt down over her knees and folded her legs under her, slipping her feet from her shoes. Placing the menu down in front of her, she pouted a little, going through the selection. Everything looked good, but at this sort of place, the litmus test was the burger. Always.

"Ooo....I think I'm going to get one of these," and she leaned across the table to tap out a particularly delectable looking bacon cheeseburger. "With a huge vanilla milkshake." She flopped back down in her seat with a huge grin. "My eating habits keep me in the gym, trust me. But I've tried to get better about it, honest!"

Lily had one big vice - and that was a massive sweet tooth. Just because she had settled on the shake didn't mean that she was going to skip out on a soda as well. "Have you ever tried putting all of the syrups in at once? It's pretty awesome. Like a snow cone soda."

 

[DrStein]

Mark laughed at her suggestion of mixing all the syrups. "I don't think I could handle that. I have a really keen sense of taste. I only ate the Red Scare burger because I had a bet with my buddy Wayne to see which of us could finish it first. If you finish the whole thing, you get a free dinner and a T-shirt with an illustration of the burger that says, 'mutually assured destruction.' I won, by the way."

Mark cruised through the menu for only a moment before settling on the Hula sandwich, a grilled chicken sandwich with a ring of grilled pineapple on top. They placed their orders and Mark put a quarter into the miniature jukebox to put on some Carl Perkins.

He looked back at Lily and smiled. "So tell me a little more about yourself. You said your an art teacher?" It felt good to spend some time with a beautiful woman for the first time in a long time. He was able to keep that shadow over his heart at bay, if only for a few minutes.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

"Oh, p'shaw, a guy like you? I bet you could handle anything! Like, I bet you could even take a bear down with your hands. Totally get it in a headlock and BODYSLAM it!" she banged on the table lightly to emphasize her point. Any extended amount of time around Lily made it quite clear that she would be fantastic with kids; everything she did or said was with such enthusiasm that it was hard to take her seriously or even believe that she was real sometimes. She had a bit of that Disney Princess air that, combined with her stature, made it a little hard to take her seriously as an adult. "You're going to have to show me that t-shirt," she added.

Leaning back into the cushioned seat, she smiled at him. "I am - I teach art to 3-5th graders. The older they get, it's a little harder to keep them in control. It's hard, too, because the art budget is usually the first one to go, bam!" and she made a cutting motion with her hands. "For a lot of people, they think art's a waste of time. It's really sad - art keeps us human. But it's all about money," and her face darkened a little. "You wouldn't believe how many people think I'm insane for teaching, let alone teaching art! But there's jobs, and then there are careers. I have a career - and every time I see a kid's face when they're proud of themselves...well, there's no amount of money in the world that can equal that."

Blushing a little, she rubbed the back of her neck in what was obviously a nervous habit. "I bet you think I sound corny as all get-out, but that's totally how I feel. I can't even really explain it sometimes. But there it is! I bet you understand, just looking at your bike. So, aside from that, what do you do? What are you in to?"

 

[DrStein]

Mark laughed at her remark about fighting a bear. "You're thinking of Russians. I'm Swedish. We produce Vikings, snow, and kick-ass metal bands. Not necessarily in that order."

He crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward listening to her story. He nodded in sympathy at her mention of how quickly the arts were cut to favor everything else. Mark was an athlete himself, but even in high school he had the foresight to realize that once he graduated, no one would give a damn about the ability to throw a ball really well. He actually preferred to hang out with the artists and the nerds instead of the jocks.

"I'm a horror hound myself. As if you couldn't tell," he said, gesturing to his Suspiria shirt. "Horror is what our culture represses. It gives us a chance to confront our dark sides safely. Anyone who can't see value in that is either ignorant or an asshole." He wondered if she'd be surprised to hear something like that from him. People still tended to assume big muscles meant a weak mind. It was true that Mark was mainly a B-student through school and that was owed in large part to his work ethic. But he wasn't a meathead. And hanging out with the nerd crowd taught him to articulate the appeal he saw in the horror genre. He had a feeling Lily would be especially intrigued to see his bookshelf back at his apartment.

"As for what I do, I moved here four years ago to work at my uncle's garage. I come from a blue collar family. My dad owns a junkyard in Philadelphia, my grandfather was a factory worker, my great-grandmother got off the boat and immediately went to work in a factory for the war effort. She made Rosie the Riveter look like Martha Stewart. You would have liked her. The night her time came, I'd bet my bottom dollar she challenged the reaper to an arm wrestling match."

He leaned back in his seat and sighed out a breath. "I'm getting sidetracked. I do that a lot. Anyway, I specialize in restoring vintage cars. I have one client who's a collector of antique cars. He has me come out once a month to inspect all six of his babies and perform any necessary maintenance. I also do some custom work, but that's not as often.

"In my downtime, I'm either working out, camping, or watching scary movies or reading horror fiction. I try to make the conventions whenever I can." Mark was glad he had straightened up and went ahead with this. Lily was smart, fun, beautiful and it seemed like they had a lot in common. If things went further though he would have to confront some dark places in himself. He wasn't sure yet if he would be able to do it. He had to try though or he'd just keep running and the regret would only continue to eat him alive.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“You wouldn’t happen to be in a band as well?” Her eyes grew hopeful. Wouldn’t that just be the most perfect thing ever? She could totally see him standing on the front of an album, bare to the waist, oiled, tanned, and perfect, wielding a bass like it was an axe. That just made her day.

As he recounted his love of horror films, she leaned across the table, her chin in her palms, completely enraptured by what he had to say. The waiter came and went, leaving their orders, and her gaze still didn’t leave him. She idly popped a fry or two into her mouth as she sat listening. He had a super valid point.

Nodding eagerly, she broke in: “I totally agree. I mean, I’m not just saying that because I think you’re hot,” and she squeaked.

Literally squeaked.

She could not believe that she had just said that. Her face turned a darker shade of brown, and she stammered, “No, I mean, oh, God, it’s not that you’re not hot, I meant that you’re right – if you’ve ever really looked at medieval art, it’s full of the grotesque and ugly and death. There’s a whole movement called Danse macabre. One of my favorite time periods to read about is actually during the Great Mortality, or as it’s know, the Black Death. How it changed society is absolutely fascinating. Seriously! And it totally gets the kids to listen, trust me. The minute you start talking about rotting faces they’re all into it,” she paused, to lightly pluck a particularly succulent looking piece of bacon off of her burger from where it was poking from under the bun.

"But as far as horror movies go, I like the ‘bad’ ones,” and she made quotation marks with her fingers. “Like, people aren’t going to say that Sam Raimi is a master of his craft, but how can you not like the Evil Dead series? Or, seriously, John Carpenter from the 1980s? The Thing? Get OUT.”

Well, it’s not like she spent all of her time fantasizing about Mark – she’d just met the guy. But she knew a nice body when she saw one. A part of her wanted to be pinched so she could wake up, the other just wanted to enjoy this thing that was like out of a dream. It had been a long time since she had really enjoyed herself, or felt like she was talking to another adult. Working with kids had its perks, but it also had some major drawbacks. Most people would assume that working with kids in general would be the flaw, but she found that she had more problems with the adults that surrounded the kids.

“My folks,” she paused to take a long swig from her milkshake, “are back home in North Carolina. I moved here for college and just sort of fell in love.” She would not embarrass herself further by looking at him, and she focused on the milkshake in front of her. Although she was intrigued by the idea of having a horror movie sleep over with him, she’d been forward enough to ask him out here – the rest would be up to him. If he was interested. Which she hoped he was.

 

[DrStein]

Mark covered his attempt to school his face to a neutral expression by scratching his nose. "I sang and played bass in a Type O Negative cover band in high school, but we all went our separate ways after graduation." It wasn't technically a lie. He just neglected to explain why he personally left the band, though "left" would imply he had a choice in the matter. "I should probably pick up the bass again. It's good for the soul."

He smiled at how awkward she seemed at the Freudian slip of a compliment. It had been a long time since a woman had shown real interest in him. He was a good-looking guy, but that help if you weren't particularly approachable. A flush colored his cheeks and he looked down at his meal before looking back at Lily and listened to her story. When she finished, he decided to make what for him was a bold step. "If it's any help... You're pretty smoking hot yourself. How are you single? That just boggles my mind." When was the last time he had paid a woman a compliment like that? It only caused him to flush a little more.

He hid the awkwardness behind a bite of his burger, trying to recover from the slip of composure. The two of them were embarrassing each other, but he couldn't say he didn't like it.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“Oh, I never said I was.” And before she could even finish what she was saying, she burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, I guess I would have totally seemed extra desperate if I said I was right off the bat. I dunno…” She began moving her fries around on her plate in an abstract pattern. “I guess it might be because I’m short, because I teach art, who knows. It could be a lot of stuff. But I try not to dwell on it too much. I mean, really, at the end of the day, you only really need to be good at dating like, once, to find your partner and then that’s it, you know? So I just try and enjoy myself…”

Finishing up her fries, she took a large bite of her burger. Playfully, she rolled her eyes back in mock orgasmic bliss. “This is absolutely fantastic. Thanks for bringing me here, Mark. I think I might have a regular spot now!”

She let the conversation die between them, just enjoying the food and not really wanting to say anything more. She felt like it had gotten awkward enough. And the food was really good….It wouldn’t take too much longer before the both of them were done, and she rubbed her stomach. “I am absolutely stuffed. I’ve got to go to the gym in my sleep to be able to work all of this off.” Slipping from the booth, she stood up and stretched, rubbing an imaginary large stomach. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out her wallet and counted off bills. Yes, occasionally she still carried cash.

“Here, that should cover my half,” and she looked to him. “Set to go?” She had no idea where the evening was going to take them, but she sort of felt she had mayyybbbeee overstayed her welcome. She always had a hard time reading people.

 

[DrStein]

Mark put down the cash for his own meal along with a tip and stood up. He was so huge the very act of standing seemed to occur in slow motion. The world was not designed for tall people or short people as Mark had painfully learned after his first growth spurt at 15 that brought him to 6'2". And now at an even 7' in height he had to be mindful of low-hanging light fixtures, decorations, and other various hazards to his face. Part of the appeal of his motorcycle was that he never had to worry about head or leg room. "Anywhere in particular you'd like to go?" He was really enjoying himself and hoped that there day out didn't have to end yet. He offered her his hand and an inviting smile.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She blinked, looking at him confused. Her mouth dropped open, worked, before she closed it and swallowed.

“You…You’re not tired of me yet?” A nervous smile appeared on her face. “To be honest, Mark, I had no idea what was going to happen after I asked you to dinner. So I have no idea what’s going to happen now.” Part of her wanted to take him to her home, show him how she lived…among other things. The other part of her told her not to rush into it. “So…I guess it’s really up to you.”

Fidgeting a bit, she wiggled her toes against her flip flops. “I….um…” Well, what could she really say? It wasn’t often that she went out on dates, and she had no idea what to say or do now. She had embarrassed herself quite a bit as it was, and now didn’t know what else to do. Besides, it was too soon for her to say that she really liked him – if she did, she wouldn’t sound any older than the students that she taught.

Looking up at him, she bit the corner of her bottom lip. “Well, I guess you could take me home? I took the bus today, so no bike!”

 

[DrStein]

The thought of taking her home naturally caused Mark's frustrated libido to read all sorts of things into that, but he knew from the awkward way she was acting that it probably wasn't her intention to sleep with him yet. She'd made it plenty obvious that she'd thought about it, but she seemed to still be testing the waters. Regardless, he didn't want to be rude.

He nodded and took her hand as they left for the parking lot. "I might need directions. What street do you live on?"