"You know you're not supposed to be in here," John reprimanded, as Mary looked on on stunned silence. "Didn't you see the signs?"
"I'm just getting some things for Mary," Mary managed to respond after the shock wore off.
"You know Mary?" John frowned. "Is she okay? Where is she? Was she hurt?"
Taken aback at the barrage of questions, Mary replied,"She's my relative, she's just shaken up, she's staying with my mom for now. I came over to grab some of her stuff." John exhaled in relief, and seeing he appeared to accept her explanation, Mary went back to gathering some of her belongings.
"She let you come here on your own?" John asked, obviously concerned.
"She and my mom don't know I came, but I knew she needed some stuff, so I snuck over," Mary replied, thinking fast. "Who're you, anyway?" she finally remembered to ask.
"I'm John, I'm her neighbor." John replied.
"Oh, so you're John," Mary said with a smile. "My name's Marie." Her belongings gathered, Mary headed for the door when her stomach suddenly rumbled loudly. Mary's face reddened with embarrassment. She hadn't eaten for a long while.
"Why don't you come over to my place for a bit?" John chuckled. "There's plenty of food."
"Sure," Mary smiled and followed him out the door. As they entered John's apartment, Max, who was lolling around on the floor, suddenly looked up. Catching a whiff of Mary, Max suddenly scooted off behind the sofa and wouldn't come out.
"Max?!" John called to no avail. "Sorry, he's been like this since yesterday, whatever happened in Mary's apartment must've really spooked him. Anyway, what would you like?"
"Anything's fine," Mary responded, unable to keep herself from smirking a bit at Max's response. Served him right for trying to bully her. John brought out two sodas and left them on the table, then went back to the kitchen to get together some food. Being around him again, Mary couldn't help but still feel attraction for him, and wondered if she would've been able to get this close as herself, and not as Marie. Even if he was interested in Mary, after all the craziness yesterday, how would she explain everything to him?
Suddenly Mary was struck with an insane idea. What if John changed too? She could make up some story about how he changed - she wouldn't have to tell him about the vials - but then he'd have to believe her if she said she was Mary. It would be fun to have someone in on the secret, and it would create a bond between them. Although Mary knew it was a risky choice, her teenage adventurousness encouraged her to do something wild.
Reaching into her bag, Mary quickly located a vial, keeping an eye out to make sure John didn't return. Uncorking the vial, Mary poured a good portion of it into one of the sodas, and set it in front of John's chair. Returning the vial to the box, Mary grinned and sipped her own soda, waiting for the fun to start.