Scraps - Fringe Benefits

“Remind me why we’re here again?” I groaned next to Ollie, my manager, as we made our way into an enormous Barnes and Noble somewhere in the middle of Boston. 

“You know the drill,” Ollie muttered as his eyes scanned the stack of pages in his left hand, while his right rubbed the rough gray stubble along his chin. “Bigger venue, bigger chance to expand your fanbase. And more people means-”

“More money,” I grumbled in time with Ollie, a mocking bob of my head accompanying each word. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Don’t be such a sourpuss,” Ollie said. “Now, you stay here and browse around. I’m gonna talk to some folks.”

“You mean schmooze up to the heads,” I assumed with a cocked brow pointed up at Ollie’s smiling face. 

He was used to my bullshit after three years doing this together. I would like to think I even amused him a little bit with my antics. I sure hope so. Not like I wanna go shopping around for anyone else. Not at his rates… 

“What I do best,” Ollie remarked and grinned a little wider. He folded the papers he was holding in half so he could smack me in the arm with them and then pointed over my shoulder with the sheaf. “I think the fantasy section is over that way if you want to see if they have your stuff.”

I groaned at the mere suggestion of doing something so narcissistic and turned my eyes up to the ceiling in a childish act of ignoring Ollie. He laughed loudly about this and I could hear it for a good thirty seconds as he walked away. The nerve of that guy to even suggest such a thing. Fucking dick…

“Hey,” a voice said to my left, taking me out of my grumbling thoughts about Ollie and his inconsiderate nature. “Aren’t you Marley Denning?”

I looked to the side where the voice had come from to see a smiling woman, petite in stature with legs for days. My brows cocked as I scanned her from the ground up, finding a deeper appreciation with every inch I covered. The dark haired beauty was something to look at, that was for sure. 

Especially with those eyes. Damn, I thought mine were green, but hers are… wow.

I blushed a little when I realized I was being starey and stood up taller in an attempt to collect myself. “Yes, I am,”  I said and cleared my throat, forcing my voice to come out stronger. “Are you a fan?”

“Not really,” she replied with a shake of her head and a quick shrug. 

“Oh,” I muttered and looked down. Why the hell would you think anyone knows you yet? You’ve got like two novels to your name. I reminded myself. You're still a nobody, Denning. 

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t meant to come off so mean,” the raven haired girl laughed and shook her head, as if she thought she were being silly. I looked back up at her face, getting another opportunity to travel the long length of her fine legs with my eyes. “But I’ve heard your work is pretty good. A lot of my customers recommend it.”

“Your customers?” I asked with a frown and scrunched my brows up. I was thoroughly confused with the woman now. 

“Yeah. I own a bookstore downtown,” she said and motioned behind her. “Jack and the Bean Stacks. Ever heard of it?” 

“Can’t say I have,” I said in a low voice, my eyes thoughtful as I observed the way her lips moved. It was a nice distraction from the hustle and bustle around me. The thick crowds that populated these big places always unnerved me. “That’s an interesting name though. Any reason behind it?”

“Well we also make coffee and baked goods,” she told me with a sly smirk and touched my arm. “And I can’t say no to a witty joke, you know?”

“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty far reach on things. You must be an amazing woman,” I remarked with a grin. She has to be attracted to me at the very least, I considered, as my eyes met her hand on me. That could go places.

She shrugged nonchalantly but the smug smile on her face betrayed the notion. I could tell that she was proud of her work even if she wasn’t going to say it out loud. “You should check it out sometime. I might even be able to hook you up with a free cup of coffee or two.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as she leaned in closer to me. “I have connections.” 

My brows raised in a show of piqued interest. Oh, yeah. She's definitely flirting now. “How about tomorrow?” I suggested and slipped my hands into my pocket with a blase shrug.

“Tomorrow?” she asked, her dark brows furrowing in confusion as a finger came up to play with the tips of her short, shaggy bob. 

“I’m supposed to be doing this book signing here tomorrow but…” I looked around the store with a glance over my shoulder. The multitude of people I saw in that quick second sent a shiver down my spine that I wasn’t comfortable with at all. With a nervous laugh I met her eyes again and offered up an uneasy shrug. “Eh.”

“Too many people, huh?” she asked in an accurate guess. 

“Yeah,” I replied with a shy smile and rubbed the back of my neck. “You’ve got a little bookstore though.”

The woman smiled wide, as if she understood exactly where I was going with this. “I do.”

“You do,” I agreed with a nod. “And you also have free coffee for an up and coming young writer who could bring in customers, right?”

She considered me for a moment and then nodded to herself. Obviously, she could see a good deal when it showed its face. “I think that’s something that could be arranged. I might even give you a bagel if I’m feeling generous.”

“Sounds like I’ll need to be super nice then,” I said and threw the girl a sly grin with a waggle of my brows.

“Well since we’re going to do this, I should probably introduce myself properly.” She told me before extending a dainty hand, a playful smile of her own painting her face. “I’m Alice McKay.”

I took it with a firm grip and was surprised to find that hers was just as firm as mine. Alice's skin was as soft as her shake was strong and it delighted me as much as everything else about her had. “Marley Denning,” I replied breathlessly. 

Alice began to giggle at me just as Ollie came strolling back up to join us. He wore his own wide, shit-eating grin and I could tell that it probably meant money. Oh, I’m about to rain on his parade. This is gonna be fun.

“Good news! I-” 

I didn’t allow him to get any more out before I was holding a hand up to interrupt him. “Change of plans,” I said, speaking loudly enough to drown out his voice. “I’m doing the signing at Jack and the Bean Stacks tomorrow instead.”

“But, wait, no,” Ollie sputtered, grasping for some semblance of control over the situation.

“Yup,” I stated simply and nodded without looking at him.

“No!” Ollie groaned and threw his hands up in the air before letting them come crashing down against his thighs again.

“Sounds like there’s a conflict of interest,” Alice muttered as her eyes darted between the two of us.

“Nope,” I replied with a shake of my head and patted Ollie’s back.

“Yes,” Ollie disagreed and shot a glare at me.

“Trust me, It’s fine,” I assured Alice with an easy smile and gave her a thumbs up. “We’ll be there tomorrow at noon. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect,” Alice replied and touched my arm before throwing me a cheeky wink. “I’ll see you then, Marley Denning.”

Yes, you will… I mused as I watched her turn and walk away from me, her long legs strutting in a desirable way that had my eyes following her all the way to the door. Or at least I would have if Ollie wasn’t getting at me again.

“Marley, we’ve talked about this!” Ollie huffed out through gritted teeth. “You can’t just blow off your obligations!”

I shrugged and looked to the side one more time. Damn… Ollie’s distraction had caused me to miss the last moments of Alice before she disappeared out of sight. Probably for the best.

“I didn’t sign any contracts, so I hardly have an obligation to Barnes and Noble,” I told Ollie in a scoffing voice. “Besides, they’re,” I hiked a thumb over my shoulder  “not giving me free coffee all day while I sign books and pretend to act nice. “She is.”

Ollie opened his mouth to argue with me, but nothing came out besides little sounds of nonsense. I watched Ollie expectantly, raising both of my brows as I waited for him to say anything to actually contest me. After about a minute of our standoff, he threw his gaze to the ceiling and groaned in defeat.

I smiled, feeling the sweet victory over my manager finally, and told him, “I’m glad you could see things my way.”

***

AN: And that's why Starbucks started to sell to Barnes and Noble. Canonically, this story actually comes about seven years after that deal was made, but it still makes me laugh to think about. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this glance at a younger Marley, post-Alex and pre-Lilah. And how about that Alice McKay, huh?