Summer: Day 19

Mack's POV:

Lilah crosses her legs on the lawnchair where we're sitting in Corey's backyard, watching the guys play football. "It's so cool how you're a part of their friend group," she comments, a look of want in her eyes. "I don't wanna seem like one of those tagalong girlfriends. I want what you have, girl."

Letting out a small laugh, I say, "When you date one of these three, you become a part of them. The fact that you met us all yesterday and you're already invited to Corey's house for a hangout proves that."

Lilah's face lights up at my words. "Now I know why Monty likes you."

"I thought we already went over this!" I groan, though a small smile finds its way to my lips.

"For starters, you're a very reassuring person." Giving me a thoughtful look, she continues, "A boy like him needs a confidence booster, and you—you're just that for him."

"Don't try to figure us out too much," I warn her with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. "Even I don't know how this is working despite all the missing pieces in our puzzle."

Lilah nods, but there's still a look of question on her features. "What do you mean?"

"Zachariah and I have a lot of history—things that are unethical because of the situation we've put ourselves in—but it's like I can't ever get enough of him." I look over to Zachariah, catching him making the same play he's run a couple times already. "I've spent my whole life waiting for him to come around. I mean, he is my best friend Kylar's older brother, but Kylar doesn't like the idea of me fancying Zach. Kylar thinks I might choose Zach over him when it comes down to it in the end."

"Wow," Lilah says, her eyes sparkling. "Sounds like you two really are a power couple."

I shrug, my heart constricting. "This, sneaking around behind Kylar's back just to get what I've always dreamed about seems bad. But this, having Zach in my life again after everything he's done shows me that we aren't over yet. And maybe, just maybe, this is my future. And because it's Zachariah, I'll do anything to get the closure I need."

"So you would choose Zachariah over Kylar?" she asks.

I shake my head. "No. I don't know. Depends."

"Sitting on the fence means you've already made a decision," Lilah tells me, and little did I know this action showed she'd be the friend I'd need when things get rough.

Tanner comes out of nowhere, collapsing on the grass next to us. "Corey's way too fast to cover him. This is what I get for choosing football players as friends."

"I thought you played football too," I remind him, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm a kicker. You don't need to run over twenty miles an hour to kick a football," he retorts, looking up at Lilah. "Hi, babe. How are you?"

She gives him a blushed smile and laughs. "Perfect, and you?"

"As I said, I think I'm gonna die," he says with a deep exhale, overdramatic.

In the corner of my eye, I notice Corey running the same route Zachariah had been practicing a few times. Without announcing what I'm doing, I get up from my seat and sprint to the spot where I know Corey is going to hook right. Before he goes to catch it, I jump in front of him and intercept the football before tumbling to the ground.

Football is my passion. Not in the way guys see it, but I love it. The game, the test, the analytical side of it all. And the way I could read just about any play made me feel accomplished, because it was one of the things I was good at.

Laughing, I jump up from the grass and toss the football to Corey who stood there with his mouth on the floor. "There's more where that came from," I taunt, brushing myself off.

Unexpectedly, two hands find my waist and pull me to their owner's hard chest. "I've always known you liked football, but the fact you can play," he murmurs in my ear. "Sheesh, who would've thought."

My cheeks instantly redden, my stomach doing somersaults at what he's insinuating. "Do I surprise you?"

"In more ways than you know," Zachariah says, his hands gliding down to my hips.

I turn around in his arms so I can see his face, his eyes shimmering with a look of admiration. I take a screenshot of his features at this moment; I never want to forget the way he is looking at me now. Like I was his girl, like we were real. As if we could have each other in a set of perfect circumstances with nobody eligible to come in between us.

The look that told me he could maybe like me back too.

I get up on tippy toes, placing a few light kisses on his neck. He immediately wraps his arms around me tighter when I bury my head in his chest, but our moment of intimacy is broken when his diaphragm starts to vibrate.

"Corey, you can close your mouth now," Zachariah jests, running a hand along the hemp of my shirt on the small of my back. "I get it, she just intercepted your football, but like, calm the heck down."

I lift my head and turn to Corey, breaking out into a fit of laughter. "Oh my gosh, you should see your face right now!"

Corey looked surprised and dejected, as if I just ruined his manhood. Shoulders slumped, frown detected, and eyebrows furrowed. His fingers wrapped around the laces of the football before throwing it at me unannounced. With my fast reflexes, I reach a hand out and catch it, one-handed.

"What the hell was that?" Zachariah and Corey ask in sync.

I looked at them in confusion. "Uh, I caught the football?"

"With one hand?" Zachariah asks, raising an eyebrow.

"That's just freaky," Corey says with a worried glance between me and Zachariah. "Mack is a football goddess."

"Or I'm just a goddess," I retort with confidence. "Either way, I'm not the normal girl you meet on a daily basis."

And Zachariah lets out a small laugh before muttering, "No you are not."

******

Zach's POV:

I'm laying on the couch watching Rudy with the dumbest smile on my face. Ruffling up my wet hair, I let out a sigh of contentment, whispering to myself, "She knows how to play football."

"And who might this girl be?" my mom asks, leaning over the sofa with a grin. "Her name doesn't happen to start with an M, does it?"

Being under my mother's gaze has me blushing at her question—any other circumstance and I would've laughed or shrugged it off. Not with my mom though, she can see right through me. "Yeah, Mackenzie showed off her football skills today at Corey's house."

"Sure have been spending a lot of time with her recently," she says suggestively. "You two are finally together, I'm assuming?"

What does she mean by finally?

I shake my head with a frustrated sigh. "It's complicated, mom."

"What's complicated about it son?" She looks at me endearingly.

I glance at the clock above the fireplace and let out a breath of relief knowing I have ten minutes before Kylar gets home. Ten minutes to vent to my mom about my feelings of confusion and want.

"With Mackenzie, everything is different," I start, trying to find the correct words. "Things are difficult—I have to work ten times harder to get through to her, to fix what I broke, ten times harder to make her happy."

"And why is that?"

"Because, mom. Kylar comes first in her life and I'm just her dumb second choice." I give her a look of desperation. "And there isn't anything I can do about it, I messed up the right to do that a long time ago."

My mom gives me an amused laugh. "They're just best friends, silly." Really, Ma?

"But he loves her," I say in a strained voice. "He's in love with her."

"And has he told her?" she asks with a pointed look.

"No."

"And do you know if she's in love with him?"

"She isn't, no. She told me so," I admit, looking at the clock again.

"But she cares about you, yes?"

I furrow my eyebrows together and think for a moment. Does she? "I'd like to think she does."

"Well I know she does," Mom comments with confidence.

"But everything Mackenzie and I do has to be behind Ky's back." I rake a hand through my hair in thought. "It's so annoying because I wanna be with her all the time! He—he already saw something that made him walk out and give Kenz the silent treatment for a week. I can't break up their friendship like that, it's too important to her."

"But you're not the only one jeopardizing that, son." She pats my head in a motherly way. "Mack is old enough to make decisions for herself and deal with the consequences. If loving you is her choice, it would be wrong of Kylar to hold her back from what makes her happy," my mother explains. "And from what I can tell, it has always been you and Mack. Sure, Kylar is her friend, but she looks at you like you're her world."

My head spins at the thought. Could she really like me as much as I like her?

"But the thing is, if she can't have both of us, she'll choose him—Ky." I let out a small groan. "He's her childhood, when she's all of mine. I even had the chance to make her mine, but I pushed her away like the idiot I am. I gave Kylar the upperhand."

"All that is past-tense, Monty, honey." Mom gives me a gentle look in the eye. "You like living in the past, you always have. Don't get caught up trying to fix the past when you're trying to save your future."

Mackenzie. My future.

"Yeah, but with Kylar, I think of everything I messed up. How I could've had her had I not been stupid," I mutter.

"Is that why you and your brother don't get along?"

I nod. "Perhaps, partially why."

She squeezes my shoulder reassuringly. "Let her love you, and let yourself love her back. There's no harm in exploring what the heart wants."

"But—"

"No ifs, ands, or buts," she says, excusing the topic. "I love both you and your brother, but I'm rooting for you in this one. I miss the way things used to be between you and Mack, I miss seeing you so happy."

She leaves down the hallway, and as soon as she's gone, Kylar comes strolling through the front door.

"Brother," he addresses me with a curt nod.

I give a nod back, acknowledging him. "How was work?"

"It was fine," he deadpans. "I'm hanging out with Britney tonight."

"You know," I start, internally rolling my eyes at the point he was trying to rub in my face. "You can't really get that mad at me for trying to fix things with Mackenzie when you're off dating the girl she hates."

"Britney is a good distraction," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "Besides, I like her."

"And I like Mackenzie. I always have, always will," I argue, getting up from the couch.

"Says the most disrespectful person to ever talk to her," he retorts. As if he knew what she puts up with at home.

I shake my head in disbelief. "I guess you don't know her then."

"Maybe I don't, considering she hasn't seen all the baggage you carry," he seethes, glaring at me.

"I don't understand why I have to suffer with not having her when you know I regret all my actions—I did that stuff because I cared about her, but I knew I couldn't have her. All because you were standing in the way. I've always cared, you know that." I run a hand through my hair before dropping my hand, playing with the hair tie I took from Mackenzie. "And I know I might sound like a two-faced toad right now, but you knew that I liked her regardless of whether or not I showed it—because you'd never admit your feelings to her. Because you knew that once you did, I could finally get what I've wanted all these years."

"You're so twisted, and you're a hypocrite," he spits, anger fuming in his eyes. "You've never told Mackenzie either—"

"Don't call her that," I warn.

"But it's true," he continues. "You've never told her how you feel."

"But I didn't do it, not because I'm a coward like you, I did it because of what it'd do to you two," I explain, glaring at him hard now. "But frankly, you don't seem to care anymore. So if I start showing my affection to her the way I want to, have fun sitting in the shadows like I've done with you, buddy."

He scoffs. "You wouldn't."

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't," I challenge with a shrug. "But whatever I do, I hope you feel at a loss of power. I'm tired of living within your boundaries."

"But—"

"This is all a game to you, I know. It always has been." I let out a chuckle. "This is one rigged claw-machine, but the only difference is that I'm willing to sacrifice the rest of myself to win the prize everyone wants." I shrug nonchalantly, looking into Kylar's eyes. "And just like a claw-machine, there are other fish in the sea."

"That's not fair," he whispers.

"The game isn't fair."

"Well you're not playing it fairly."

"Welcome to the real world," I announce, clicking my teeth. "Have fun with Britney, just know she's my sloppy seconds."

"You're sickening," he says in disgust, turning around and slamming the front door behind him.

As are you.

Without hesitation, I find Mackenzie's contact in my phone and text her.

Me: Come over, Kenz

Kenz: Is Kylar there?

Me: No, but I'd still want you around even if he was

Kenz: Shut up
Kenz: I'll be there in a second

And she really is here in a quick second, her knock sounding at the door. I practically jump from the couch to the door in one leap. When I open it, I almost melt on the spot. Her eyes—they're the only thing I need to feel reassured.

She doesn't wait for me to open my arms up for her, instead she wraps her own around me. "Hi bub," she says, sweetness laced in her voice. "What're you up to?"

"Watching Rudy. Care to join?" I ask, shuffling my feet backwards with her in my arms, down the hallway.

She nods with a childish look on her face. "My favorite movie of all time, so duh. Can't pass up that offer."

When we get in my bedroom, I turn on the TV and find the spot I was at in the movie. Mackenzie lays herself on the bed, her small body looking incredibly tiny on the massive mattress.

Her hair is lazily sprawled out against the pillow, her legs outstretched along the duvet, her hands in her lap as if she was waiting patiently. She smiles at me, crinkling her nose, and she never breaks her eye contact.

God, she's perfect.

When the movie's on, I jump in bed next to her, making her giggle. "Zachariah!" she yelps.

"Thank you for coming over," I whisper, bringing her to my chest.

She inhales a deep breath, like she's taking me in. All of me. "Don't thank me. I always want to spend time with you, idiot."

"Oh really?"

"Mhm," she mumbles against the fabric of my shirt.

"Can I ask you something?"

She hums.

"Why do you like football so much?" I ask, genuinely curious.

Mackenzie ponders over the question for a few moments. "I guess, if I'm being honest, I started liking it because you liked it so much."

All because of me?

"But once I understood the game, I actually enjoyed watching it. It's like a hobby of mine—and I guess it made me feel close to you, even when we were anything but close."

"Really?" I ask, taken aback at her confession.

"Yeah," she breathes, reaching her hand up to my hair to run her fingers against my scalp just the way I like.

I give her a lopsided grin, but sadness is also mixed in with it. "I'm sorry for everything I put you through."

"We're okay now," she says, determined. "We have a lot to work through still, and we might be broken and damaged more than we should be, but I have you here. I'm in your arms, we're okay."

And I don't think twice about kissing her forehead, muttering, "Please don't give up on me."

Author's Note:

My sleep schedule is so rigged, man. Currently 3:30 as I publish this XD I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! I can't wait to write the next one, it'll be AmAzInG hehe <3

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