( marc is good at being hurtful. he's good at it when he doesn't mean to be and better when he does. the problem, of course, is that he thinks he's told her — the issue is caroline, the issue is tonight, the issue is the fact that lottie can't see there's an issue.

she blurts out a response, somewhere between indignant and hurt and he — doesn't quite acknowledge it.

there are times when marc thinks he's better than he used to be. thinks he's better than the petty, angry, desperate man that'd followed marlene; better than the man that'd sought her out on the steps to her workplace and been kicked in the dick for his effort; better than the man that'd sought out her new toy or whoever and decked him in the face (for what? for the sheer audacity of being with marlene after she'd broken up with him.)

then there are times like this, where he's petty and mean and a part of him — not just him, steven and jake—— remind him that he's still an unlikeable ass. )

I didn't say you were stupid, ( he says, pointedly and, for him, tartly. ) But that doesn't mean you're not being naive.

( he says naive and he means ignorant, and the emphasis, the way he says the word hangs in the air as lottie takes off her heels, leaves them in the most inconvenient place possible, and reaches for her phone.

no doubt to text that fucking woman, he thinks—. )

—Good night, Lottie. I hope your phone is good company.