Summer: Day 13

Zach's POV:

"Dude, your girl is crazy!" Tanner yelps, shielding his face as Mackenzie chucks all the throw pillows his way. "God, Mack! Stop!"

She lets out a giggle. "Then give me back my phone!"

"Fine," he cries, putting his arm in the air, her phone in hand. "There, just stop attacking me."

"Don't mess with me then," she grumbles, snatching her phone back. "I was so close to beating my highscore, knucklehead."

I laugh when Tanner looks at me with wide eyes. She must've really scared him. "Don't underestimate her, man. The girl has a temper."

"No shit," he says, rolling his eyes. "She almost killed me."

"At least she's feisty," Corey adds with a smirk. "Bet she's good in bed, huh?"

Thankfully Mackenzie is too engrossed in her game to hear what Corey just said; we all would've been killed by pillows had she listened.

I shove him in the stomach. "Don't talk about her like that."

"She must be different," he replies, glancing over at her sitting with a couple fuzzy blankets around her as she sits hunched over her phone. "Different enough to make you change."

Put up your defensive front, the rock façade. "What's that supposed to mean," I scoff.

"Well, look at you," he says, pointedly. "Since when did you stop drinking and getting laid by random girls, huh? Right—when you met Mack."

I roll my eyes. Sure, he's right. "But I've always known her, Corey. Like, we grew up together."

"So what changed?" He gives me questioning eyebrows, a huge smirk on his face. Sometimes I really want to punch him. "You guys didn't date in junior or senior year, but you changed. She changed too. I don't know what the hell happened, but she's got you deeper than you think."

Way to point out the obvious.

"She brings out the better side of you, she always has." His hands rake through his blonde hair, and there's a certain flicker of emotion in his eyes that's hard to pinpoint. "She went unnoticed by you for so long—" I noticed her, I always did. I just never acknowledged it. "But she was always there. I hated seeing it, but she'd look at you with those dazzling eyes of hers and you didn't care to glance at her. She's always seen your potential despite your jackass ways. She stuck around after all these years and saw past your mistakes—I guess what I'm saying is, don't let her go."

I know, I know.

I let out a small snort. "You sound like you're in love with my girlfriend, buddy. Watch it. And, since when did you start paying attention to love? Last time I checked, you only do the bed work."

"Yeah," he agrees, shrugging his shoulders. "Because not every girl is like Mack. She looks at you like there's no one else in the room. C'mon, everyone would kill to have someone like that."

"So try giving a girl a chance for once," I retort, offering him a grin. "I never did. I closed her out the minute I started feeling something, and trust me, I'm not making that mistake again." I'll let you in for real this time, Mackenzie.

"Damn. You've gone all soft on us, bro," he chuckles, nudging me in the side.

"When a girl cusses you out and calls you out on all your crap, then you tend to have a soft spot for that person," I simply put, focusing my attention on Mackenzie.

You never really know how someone might impact your life. Mackenzie and I are fake right now, but that's the label I put on us to save face from my friends. And even though everything is under that title—"fake"—everything feels so real. The laughs, the jokes, the flirting, the looks, the physicality of it all.

It's like we're both denying something we both know we want.

Shut up, you know you don't like Mackenzie like that.

Mackenzie is just the girl next door. The girl who I've always known. The girl I'll always know. The girl who I once liked, may have even loved, and is now only the girl I care about.

Right?

"Bub?" she says, breaking me from my thoughts.

The guys laugh at her nickname for me. Well good, they can just die a lonely death in a hole.

"Yeah, Kenz?"

"Can we go to the new coffee shop tomorrow?" Her eyes shine as her nose crinkles, the small dimple under her eye showing. "It's like twenty minutes away, but I wanna go so bad—"

"Are you asking me out on a date?" I joke, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She blushes and shakes her head before arguing, "Fine. I'll go by myself, idiot."

"Always so sensitive," I tease, getting up to sit next to her. Taking the phone out of her hands so I have her undivided attention, I say, "Of course I'll take you out."

"See," she smiles. "That wasn't too hard."

"Shh, or I might get too hard," I joke, smirking.

Mackenzie playfully shoves me, biting down on her lower lip while her cheeks turn a rosy pink. My eyes follow her actions and I shake my dirty thoughts away—she needs to stop with the nervous lip biting.

I take my thumb and drag it over her lower lip to free it from between her teeth. "Kenz, you can't do that or my joke won't be a joke anymore."

This comment makes her blush ten times redder. "Okay," she whispers, innocent as ever.

"God, you guys make me feel so single," Tanner complains. "Just go ahead and make babies in front of me while you're at it."

"Shut up," I deadpan, relaxing in my seat as Mackenzie throws half of her blanket around me.

As if the drama gods wanted to give me a blessing and a curse, high heels struck the stairs loudly. Thankfully, the pure sight of Corey's little sister in a skin-tight dress took the attention away from my and Mackenzie's non-existent sex lives.

Little did I know why Britney was wearing a dress.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Corey shouts, standing up from his spot on the couch as he furiously lets his eyes give his sister a once over.

She gives him an innocent smile. "I have a date tonight."

"With who? Another one of those two-faced players?" he demands, getting louder with each word. Still overprotective over his slut of a little sister. Thank god he's never found out about my dealings with her.

"No, in fact," she pauses, flickering her eyes to me before smirking. "He's never had a girlfriend before."

That should've been my hint.

"And he called me five minutes after I gave him my number," she says, again, glancing towards me and Mackenzie. "He's really sweet, you should meet him."

"Cut the crap, sis." Corey crosses his arms as his right foot taps the ground impatiently. "Who is he?"

She shrugs her shoulders just as the doorbell rings. "Oh, that must be him."

"So open the door," Corey deadpans.

And the face of the culprit who was taking my best friend's little sister out to dinner was none other than the douchebag himself. I give him full points for this one.

Drumroll please.

Insert eye roll here.

Kylar Mont-freaking-gomery.

******

Kylar's POV:

I straighten out my white button down with my sweaty palms before ringing the doorbell. I hear a couple voices before the door swings open, revealing a very put together Britney Hamilton.

"Kylar?" her brother Corey asks with an attitude.

"Yes?" I reply. "Good day to you too."

"Don't mind him," Britney says with a small smile. "Ready?"

I nod, glancing behind them where a few other familiar heads sat in the living room. I notice my brother, his friend Tanner, and another brunette girl who has the back of her head to me. "Sure," I lie. I'm far from ready.

"Great!" Britney exclaims, pushing her way through the door.

"Kylar," Corey grumbles with a seriousness to his voice. "Don't get my sister pregnant."

Rolling my eyes, I say, "Wasn't planning on it."

And just then, I thought I saw the outline of Mackenzie's face turn towards the doorway. However, before I could decipher if it was her or not, the door was already closed.

"Do you like Italian food?" I ask Britney, putting on my best brave face.

She nods like a lost puppy. "How'd you know?"

"Wild guess," I say with a forced laugh.

"Well it's my favorite," she replies, linking her arm in mine as we walk to my car.

This is going to be one long night.

******

Mack's POV:

Kylar.

Of all people he was the one taking Britney out to dinner.

He knows how much I hate her, how much she's ruined me. After I walked in on her and Zachariah that night a couple years back, she made it a goal to turn my life into a living hell. And she did. She has that kind of power over people.

She never liked me prior to that incident, so taking Zachariah away from her didn't help my case. Not that I took him away from her—he simply just avoided girls altogether after the bombs I dropped that night. For some reason, I had a bad gut feeling that something wasn't right about this date.

I turn around as Corey slams the door shut. "I can't believe your fucking brother is taking out my kid sister," he says, glaring at Zachariah.

"I don't have anything to do with this," he says, uninterested. "I am on your side with this one, bro."

"Mack?" Corey asks me, "Anything you know about this?"

"Nope," I reply. "Kylar and I aren't on speaking terms right now."

He nods and clenches his jaw. "He won't mess with her heart, right?"

I laugh and shake my head. "Trust me, when Kylar loves someone he won't stop."

Zachariah starts playing with the hair tie on his wrist, the one he stole from me yesterday—more like the one I shot at him.

I place a hand over his fidgeting fingers and smile. "Zach, calm down."

"Okay," he whispers, dropping his hand in mine.

"That better?"

He gives me a faint smile. "Yeah." If only I knew what went inside that brain of yours.

"Besides," I start, giving my attention back to Corey as Zachariah finds comfort in tracing my knuckles. "Kylar doesn't have a lot of experience in the girl department."

"Alright," he says, giving me an approved look. "So what happened to the best friends of the century, huh? Why aren't you guys talking?"

I look over at Zachariah and he lets out a small chuckle. "Little man thinks he's the shit," Zachariah answers.

"My sister gave her his number willingly," Corey shudders, a grimace on his face. "I mean, I know she has boy problems, but she never just gives her number out."

"I know why she asked for his number," Tanner chimes in. "Even I'd go bi for Kylar."

"Of course you would," Zachariah laughs, flipping Tanner off. "That's disgusting."

I shrug and lean into Zach. "Do you think he saw me?"

He brushes a few pieces of hair out of my face. "Nah, you're good. He was too involved with Britney to notice any of us."

******

Kylar's POV:

So news to me: Britney loves talking about herself. Just kidding, I already knew that.

However, she's not as bad as people portray her to be. Behind her pretense, she's not that shallow, nor is she too egocentric. She does like to talk about herself as I said, but then she asks me questions in return. So, tonight hasn't been that big of a failure.

I always thought my real first date would be with Mack. A nice, romantic dinner—or picnic, but a good Italian meal with the high school's 'it' girl isn't too bad of a compromise.

"How's your food?" I ask Britney, smiling across the table at her.

She nods and takes a sip of water before speaking; "It's amazing. How's yours?"

"Chicken fettuccine is my favorite," I say with a laugh. "So in that case, I'm enjoying it."

She smiles, her small dimples showing, and then she reaches across the table to take my hand in hers. "Thank you for tonight, by the way." Then she retracts her hand to dab her mouth with a napkin. "I know I don't have the best reputation, but I had a great time tonight."

"Me too," I say, not knowing if it was the truth or a lie.

"We should go out again sometime?" she continues, batting her eyelashes at me, though not as desperate as she usually is. "There's a new coffee shop opening up tomorrow. Would you wanna go?"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that," I return with an excited voice. Gotta love some coffee. "Sure, how about brunch?"

She gives me a smile, crinkling her nose—the same way Mack does it when she's happy. "Perfect. Pick me up at eleven?"

"Okay."

The waiter came to take our dishes and hand me the bill.

Maybe Britney wasn't that bad. She still had a few good bones left in her body.

Author's Note:

OkAy, WhAt WaS tHaT?

So, what are your thoughts about Kylar and Britney?

Lol please make sure to vote and comment if you enjoyed- just don't come at me with an axe.