“If something’s broke, I wanna put a bit of shine on it. When something’s gone, I wanna fight to get it back again…”


Marie bolted into the room, dropping her American flag backpack on the floor and leapt onto her bed. She pulled her laptop in front of her and flipped it open, tapping it anxiously until the screen requested her password. She typed frantically, only to have to retype it because of an error. When the background of her desktop finally showed up, she clicked Skype open and looked through her contacts.

“What’s the rush?” Jess mumbled from her desk. Her head was buried in a textbook.

Marie looked at her cell phone and saw it was already two minutes until seven. “I have a date in a couple minutes,”

“This is the third Skype date you’ve had this week. You’re actually taking it seriously,”

“Of course I am. He’s my boyfriend. It’s a relationship,”

“No Marie. You’ve been together for three weeks but you haven’t seen each other in person since then. It’s more like a good dream rather than a relationship.”

Marie looked up as Jess shut her textbook and gathered her things. Everything Jess was saying were things that Marie had already thought about. How the distance really was making it difficult for them to open up to each other on a deep, personal level. It had only been three weeks, and considering it was Marie’s first real relationship, it was two weeks longer than she thought she could go.

“I’m hanging out with some Lambda Chi guys. You can join us when you’re done with your date.” Jess walked out and shut the door behind her.

She probably wouldn’t join them later on tonight. Since Marco had left, she hadn’t done much going out at all. Mostly she felt that she might slip up and do something that would jeopardize the relationship.

Her computer began to ring and Marie instantly clicked the little green button, fixing her hair quickly in the few seconds she had before his house popped up on her screen. He wasn’t in the frame, and she looked at the screen, trying to make small observations about the way he kept his bedroom. But before long, a door opened in the corner of the screen, and Marco came out from the bathroom, only wearing a towel around his waist.

He flopped down on his bed and smiled at the screen. “Hi pretty mama,”

Marie smiled weakly and pulled her computer into her lap as she lay back along her bed.

“Are you okay?” He reached up and touched his hair, scratching his fingers through it.

“Yeah, I’ve just been thinking a lot,” she murmured, flipping all of her hair over one shoulder.

“Uh oh,” Marco joked. But when he didn’t see an amused expression on Marie’s face, he got more serious. “About what,”

She stared at the screen and the way Marco was waiting patiently for her to answer. He wasn’t rushing her to say words, but rather just waiting until she was ready. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. It’s getting pretty hard,”

“Baby, preseason starts in two days. I’ll be in Pittsburgh the night of the twenty-second to the twenty-fifth… we’ll be able to see each other then. Just two more days.”

“I just can’t skip out on my classes Tuesday and Thursday, and then buy a plane ticket to Pittsburgh and back. You must think I’m made of money or something. Hate to tell you, but only my dad is. You’re dating a poor person,”

Marco chuckled and pushed off of his bed. Marie continued staring as he disappeared from the screen. She could only hear the shuffling of drawers before he reappeared carrying a pair of dark jeans. She could see the slight bulge in between his legs from beneath the towel, not because he was hard or turned on, but just because he was so big.

“I’m not going to let you buy your own plane ticket, so that’s covered. As for your classes, I’m sure you have friends that could take notes for you or something.” He paused and licked his lips, lying back down in his bed, “I really want to see you, Marie.”

“It’s not going to work out Marco. I can’t leave Boston right now.”

“So you’re just giving up on this? You don’t even want to try?”

Marie sat up and rubbed her eyes. They were starting to sting as she was holding back most of her emotions. “Of course I want to try, but who are we kidding? We’re never going to get to see each other. Not with me in school and you being a professional athlete.”

“It’s not easy but we can do this. Tons of guys have long distance relationships and they make it work. We at least have to give it a fighting chance,” he rested his head on his fist and pursed his lips. “I wish I could be there for you, holding you, and reassuring you that we could do this, but I can’t right now. I can’t uproot my entire life right now, and I know you can’t either… so until we can find away to be close to each other, I want to try to make this work.”

She nodded and accepted the fact that there weren’t too many options for them if they wanted the relationship to continue. For the next few minutes, they both sat fairly quiet, going about their own business while still being able to see each other on the screen. Midway throughout the reading for her folklore class, Marie glanced at the screen noticing that the scene had changed. Instead of seeing Marco’s bedroom, it looked as though his laptop was propped on the counter of his bathroom, and he was bent over the sink, shaving away the stubble on his neck to look better groomed.

“Marco,” Marie mumbled, staring at his body on the screen. Even the way he shaved seemed sexual, and Marie had to remind herself that he was actually hers.

“Hmm?” He pulled the razor away from his neck and looked at the screen, before he turned back to the mirror and brought the blade back to his skin.

“Where are you going tonight?” Although he wasn’t yet dressed, Marie could tell he wasn’t just grooming up for a night in.

“To a bar with some of the boys. It’s our last night in St. Paul before we have to go to Winnipeg to start the preseason.” He paused and turned on the faucet, rinsing the razor under the stream of water, “what’re you doing tonight?”

“Studying…” she looked back down at her book and then shut it, giving up on the topic she had little interest in.

Marco patted his face dry with a hand towel and then picked up his laptop, carrying it back into his bedroom. “That’s all,” he smirked and then dug through his dresser, looking for some clothes.

“Well that and thinking about what I wish you were here to do to me. You know, it really is a shame, because my fingers don’t do you justice,” she grinned coyly, knowing that would catch his attention.

“Do I need to invest in some toys for you?” Marco tossed his shirt and a pair of briefs onto his bed, and laid down, leaning his head against his fist.

Marie giggled and felt her cheeks get hotter. “I think you might have to,” she nodded at the screen as Marco uncoiled the towel from around his hips. With him all exposed, Marie felt herself get wet, and she chewed on her lip nervously as he began to play with himself.

“Next time I see you, I’ll be sure to have some gifts in tow,” he smirked and curled his hand around the head of his dick as he stroked himself slowly. “I want to watch you touch yourself,” he grinned boyishly, looking more like a child who just asked for something considered taboo.

Marie blushed even harder and shook her head as she stared at the screen. She brought her fingers up to her mouth and chewed on her nails timidly, fearing she had started something she wouldn’t be able to finish. This was all new to her. In the past, guys had always been physically there. She never had to talk dirty and do things to herself to show off for a guy hundreds of miles away.

Marco laughed softly and pushed up from the bed, looking down at his clothes. “Now you’re being all shy? I have seen you naked, you know… Several times.” He slipped on his briefs and stepped into the jeans, working them up his muscular legs, and over the curve of his ass.

“I know… I’ve just never had to touch myself for someone else. That’s not just something I usually put out for people to see,”

He picked up his shirt and slid it over his head, “if I get you toys, are you gonna let me watch you play with them?” He was now fully clothed and Marie dropped her hand back into her lap as she nodded. “Yeah? Good girl,” he smiled and got one from Marie in the process. “I have to get going, but I’ll call you tomorrow. Have a good night,”

“You too. Be safe!”

Marco smiled and nodded, and within a few seconds, the screen had gone blank as he hung up first. She could barely wrap her head around the fact that this was her reality now. That she would actually spend her nights, staying in to study, rather than going out and meeting as many new guys as possible. Marco was changing her more than she ever thought anyone could, and she didn’t know if she should welcome the change or be frightened by it.

But seeing him tonight, and seeing the way he got himself ready for a night out with his teammates was undoubtedly difficult. Instead of being able to be by his side, Marie would be stuck in Boston, while Marco paraded out like a single guy. But she did trust him. Although he would be out with a bunch of young, mostly single guys, there wasn’t a shred of doubt in Marie’s mind that Marco would stay faithful.

---

Marie never thought she’d be in this position, at breakfast with her dad, begging him to do something for her. Mostly, she liked to keep their interaction minimal, because anytime she asked for something it always meant she’d have to repay him in some way. But with the way she was feeling, there wasn’t really any other option; or at least any other option that she actually liked. So she swallowed her pride and called up her dad who was more than willing to take a short vacation from his New York life, and make the trip up to Boston to see her.

“You’re sure this is what you want to do. I’m not going to be able to reverse this if you decide you don’t like it. It’ll be done,” Bill said as he picked at his bacon. Considering everything, Marie felt like her dad was handling it rather well.

“I’m sure. It’s just not working out. I need a change, and I think that’s where I should be. If you’d just talk to him, it’d really help me out. I don’t think I’ll be able to leave unless you speak with him.”

“Marie, you’re putting me in a tough position.”

“I know, but this means a lot to me. And I wouldn’t ask this of you if I wasn’t sure it was what I really wanted.”

Bill pushed his plate away and sucked in a deep breath, staring at his daughter. “I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not making any promises about it.”

Marie forced out a smile, and brought her water up to her mouth, taking a small sip. “Thanks dad. I’m sure he’ll listen to you more than he listened to me. It was like talking to a brick wall,”

“In the effort of making your case sound more convincing, I’ll leave that bit out. I did a lot to get you here, I just can’t believe I’m helping you leave. What’s over there anyway?”

She paused and stared at her dad. She hadn’t really made the reason for this visit super clear, just that she wanted a change. “Not anything in particular, but I think it’d be better for me. I am looking at the big picture here, dad.”

She too had to take a deep breath in. Deep down, Marie hoped her dad would be convincing enough. If he wasn’t, she’d be stuck here, and ultimately unhappy.

Notes

"The Fixer" by Pearl Jam.