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Mars grimaced from the smoke, but was more struck by the information he bled out to her. Maybe there was more than this cold exterior he portrayed, perhaps she could find a way to warm him up. She lived for him each day, now the least she could do was make his life tolerable. He seemed unhappy, which initially made her unhappy, however at ease. She could relate to him, she has her misery welled up inside too. Mars watched after him, deciding whether or not she should follow him. This could be her one and only chance to get to know him and for him to know her. Perhaps, her actually opening up to him would give him more comfort around her.. maybe he'll actually enjoy her presence. She bit her lip, knowing that if she followed him after he gave her many clear signs he didn't want to be around her, he'd definitely be annoyed, but if she let him go, she'd never forgive herself for forfeiting such an opportunity. She swallowed her pride and took the chance, snatching her bag real quick and following after him,keeping a close distance, "Well, actually I am a bit happy now.. I wasn't expecting you to actually answer.. and with such depth too." She giggled and made her way to his side, her sarcastic, antagonizing, childish side starting to show. A side of her she hasn't let out in years. "Anyway.. my favorite color is, like.. well.. I'm not sure.." She tried her hardest to seem unaffected by his denial. "Rainbow I suppose. Reminds me of my favorite stuffed animal actually.. he's a sparkly rainbow dolphin. Oddly enough I called him Silver.. got him years ago." She nudged him playfully, "Guess where I got the name? I'll give you a hint.. a nurse, actually, got it for me nine years ago at the little shop in the hospital. You know, like the little convenience store in the middle of the hospital when you need a quick get well card or something." Mars kept her act up and kept it good. On the inside she wanted to run away, hide in a corner or something.. he was quite the intimidating character. Something kept her at his side though and no matter how many times he pushed her away, she'd return. He was pretty much doomed to deal with her at this point. At this thought, she flashed him a sweet smile, in an attempt to show him she wasn't totally an annoying little brat following him around like a desperate, neglected puppy. Not completely.

She opened her mouth to object, but as soon as she did, he rudely blew the toxins in her face. Mars coughed and as a result her eyes closed. She opened them with plans of going after him, ripping the cigarette out of his mouth and tell him that he was so much more than a 'wandering nobody'. She desperately wanted to tell him that she cared, she didn't want him to go about his day with his only intentions of slowly killing himself. The thought actually saddened her. But he was already gone. He succeeded in escaping her. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment, her bag falling off her shoulder and landing at her feet. Her smile disappeared, seeing as it didn't matter anyway. Why was he so desperate to get rid of her? Of everybody? She had a feeling it wasn't anything personal and against her, it was against the world. She, was the insignificant one here. To any other teenage girl, this encounter would push her away, destroy her ego, turn her into a pitiful ball of insecurities curled up on the park bench. Not Mars. She sighed and looked down at her bag. If she saw where he went, she would've followed him, but he was long gone. Mar slumped to the ground next to her bag, wondering what he was doing, thinking.. but more importantly if she'd ever see him again..

After Nicholas ran off, Mars just sat around the park for a little while longer. She stayed until late afternoon, just people-watching and hoping Nicholas would return. He never did. Disappointed, she slumped off to work at the cheap fast-food restaurant right down the street. She worked the night shift, usually from around 4-8. It was Friday night though, and she and her boss negotiated a full shift on Friday and Saturday nights. She didn't mind though, money is money. So tonight she was stuck behind the counter, wearing the ridiculously yellow uniform from 4 in the afternoon, to midnight. A whole 8 hours with a whopping $7.25 per each dragging hour. She slipped through the doors at around 3:30, nodding to her all-too-happy boss, Janette, who nearly leaped over the counter to greet her, "Mars! Hey! You're a half hour early! Good, good!" Mars forced a smile, "It's only 30 minutes Jan." She let out a single chuckle, "I just need to change into my uniform real quick.." Janette nodded happily and waved towards the restrooms. "Go into the faculty one!" Mars shook her head, "I know, Jan, I know.." She ducked into the 'faculty restroom' and quickly changed into her bright uniform. She glared at herself in the filthy, smudgy mirror. Her light brown hair looked like a mess in the loose braid that laid across her shoulder. The faded yellow visor pressed her bangs against her forehead, her dingy yellow uniform shirt sagged in awkward places and the restaurant's logo popped out in bright neon orange just below her collar bone. She just wore the same jeans she wore before, no one saw above her waist half the time anyway and Janette never said anything about her normal denim. Mars shoved her shirt into her bag and slowly took her place behind the counter, letting her bag sit at her feet safely below the counter.
The night shift was always boring. Who goes out for a greasy hamburger at night? A couple of people surprisingly. Not enough though. Mars wasn't the biggest fan of the rest of the night shift workers, all of them grumpy, tired, and suffering from a mid-life crisis, probably only sticking it with a second part time job to pay their rent. And here she was, a sixteen year old girl just trying to earn some money. They probably mumble to themselves about how she'll just go and blow it on illegal substances like any average teenager would do, she's heard it before. More times than she could count actually. Once when she apparently annoyed the night shift boss by messing up an order or something, he actually snapped at her about 'collecting her paycheck and blowing it on pot'. Of course, Mars stayed... and stayed drug-free. Realistically, her money goes towards things a sixteen year old girl's paycheck really shouldn't go towards. Her mother does pay rent, and her mother does pay the utilities bill, as she doesn't have much of a choice because thankfully the money comes straight out of her bank account-which is slowly dwindling. Money only lasts so long. So Marissa's hard-earned $232 a month goes towards groceries, stored into a savings account, and, if she's lucky, invested into a monthly teddy bear.
She's evolved into a penny-pinching-bargain-hunter in food stores, always buying the store brand cereal, which may be only a few cents cheaper than Kellogg or anything, but she's always conscious. She's lucky if she had a few dollars in her pocket for a stuffed animal. She tries to buy herself one new animal every month. She tries. She's not always successful with it though. With no affection at home, and not many friends at school.. her only companions are in the mass of teddy bears and various animals that line her dresser and lounge in the hammock in the corner of her room above her bed.

For now though, she was stuck spending her Friday night, secretly doing a crossword and tapping the pencil on her bottom lip while she pondered about a seven lettered word ending in 'b'. Nicholas never leaving her mind. She accidentally attempted to write out 'Nicholas' in the boxes, but caught herself and quickly erased it in time to serve a customer.

Mars yawned. She was more bored than tired. Lazily, she marked up the final box of her crossword, now leaving her with nothing to do. It had been close to an hour, maybe two, since she took someone's order.. she'd given keeping track. Mars heard footsteps and quickly fixed her slumped over posture and put on her 'happy-to-serve' face, as her boss tells her. Her tired eyes gave away her fake smile. Then she saw the glimpse of silver hair in the low light of the restaurant, and noticed how his face dropped at the sight of her. That made her face drop as well. He really wanted absolutely nothing to do with her while she lived her whole life for him. Her 'smile' disappeared as soon as she noted his obvious regret. She sighed and brushed a piece of hair away from her eyes. As much as he might be pushing her away, and as much as he absolute despises her.. nothing could stop her. She couldn't stress that enough, "Well." She lost the need to welcome each and every customer with the same, monotonous, "Welcome to Burger Kingdom,". Her night boss was asleep in the back and her co-workers were grouped together at the back of the kitchen, gossiping. Besides, when it came to Nicholas even if it had only been a few hours she actually knew his name, and his unrelenting cruelty, she felt absolutely no need to be polite now. "Guess you came out of hiding." The corner of her mouth slipped up into a small smile, disappearing as quickly as it appeared. Mars leaned over, "So what do you want. I'm sure you're ecstatic to see me, please control your excitement.. but I'm just here to charge you unnecessarily high prices for unnecessarily greasy and fattening quick bites." Once again, she flashed him her infamous 'i'm-doing-this-on-purpose' grin, subconsciously knowing he wouldn't give a damn.

Mars flashed a quick grin, clicking her tongue, "Well if it's death by burger you desire, then death by burger you shall get." She winked and smiled to herself. She finally found the way to get his interest. He was laughing.. even if they were in a battle of sarcasm and crude remarks.. she kind of liked it. "Now which one do you want?" She leaned over onto the counter, resting her elbow on the marble top, propping her chin on her hand and looking up at Nicholas. Mars loved this sense of comfort. She usually locked herself up and forced herself to be a happy sweet girl, afraid that her bitter tongue would offend too many people. She could happily be as rude and sarcastic as she pleases around this boy.

Mars grinned, "Oh gee I don't know.. might I suggest the Triple Bacon with extra cheese, minimum lettuce? That's if you're looking for deadly cholesterol and an almost definite heart attack." She chuckled and tapped her bottom lip, standing up straight, "Or if you're looking for a not-so-dangerous meal, perhaps the, uhm, fish sandwich." She crinkled her nose, "If that's what it is.." She laughed, eyeing Nicholas. She never thought she'd flash a genuine smile.. it's been so long since she has.

Mars noticed his eyes falling on her a couple times. It made her feel all blushy. She smirked, "Mmm, Sounds like someone's craving cholesterol." She winked and rang him up, "Double burger, no cheese'll be $6.54 and that 'nilla shake will cost you another $3.27.. putting you at a total of $9.81." She flashed him another smile as she printed two receipts.. one for him and one for her. Well one for Burger Kingdom. "I get out at midnight. What time is it, I haven't even been keeping track.." She turned from him for a quick second to call for the "chef" .. more like the "grill boy", "Steven.." A young, messy-haired boy peeked from around the corner, "Hm?" She handed him the thin receipt, "Double burger with no cheese and a vanilla shake?" He lazily took the paper, studied it for a second, and then nodded and slumped off to the kitchen to prepare Nicholas's food.