by A. K. Evans
I let out a laugh and reasoned, “It’s probably all those weights you lift. You’ve got so much muscle, maybe you were able to do it.”
He smiled at me. “Maybe.”
“How do you feel now?”
“My shoulder feels like shit,” he admitted.
“Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?” I wondered.
Mack reached his left hand over, placed it on top of mine, and squeezed. “You’re already doing it.”
I leaned into him slightly as I shifted my body closer to his. “Did you eat anything?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. But I’m good right now anyway.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind going in to get you something,” I told him.
“I’m sure, Marley. But I’m not really up for a crowd and would love your company if you wouldn’t mind spending the rest of the time here with me,” he informed me.
“You know you don’t have to ask for that,” I returned. “I’ll always be here.”
With that, Mack lifted his good arm up and around my back. When his hand landed on my opposite shoulder, he curled me into his chest.
He’d done that a handful of times with me, and every time he did it, I fell a little more in love with it and with him. It made me feel so wanted and loved by him. And it wasn’t even in a romantic way—not that I would have complained about that if it were—but in a way that was just one friend showing the other how important the friendship was.
Becoming slightly overwhelmed by that feeling, I didn’t know what came over me. I tipped my head back and looked up at Mack. My eyes searched his face as my belly startled to tingle. Our faces were so close to each other, and Mack had a look in his eyes that was different from anything I had ever seen before.
So, believing he was feeling a bit like I was, I took charge. I leaned in closer to him and gently pressed my lips against his. I didn’t exactly know what I was doing—I’d never done this before.
But this was Mack.
He’d never make me feel bad about it.
For those few moments, Mack and I continued to kiss one another. Things didn’t get overly heated; there wasn’t even any tongue involved. Despite that, it was the most magical moment of my life.
When we finally separated, Mack looked down at me and smiled. “What was that for?”
I shrugged and felt the heat hit my cheeks.
Just as I had suspected, Mack didn’t make me feel bad or let it get awkward between us. He simply gave me a squeeze and said, “Thanks for being here with me, Marley. It means a lot.”
“You’re welcome,” I murmured.
For the rest of the night, I sat at the back of the bus with Mack until the rest of the ski club students came back. We talked about everything and nothing, and it was absolutely perfect. We didn’t kiss again, but it didn’t matter. It was still the best night of my life.
Once everyone started filing onto the bus, though, I began shifting away from him so I could go and sit with the girls and let him hang with the guys. Mack grabbed ahold of my wrist and whispered, “Stay with me.”
My eyes searched his face and saw the longing in his expression. I immediately sat back in the seat and stayed by his side the whole way home.
I just hadn’t realized that my decision to do that would be the very reason things started to take a turn.
Two months later
I walked hurriedly down the hall toward my locker, ignoring everyone I passed.
It finally made sense.
For weeks, I noticed something was different, but I didn’t know what it was. I’d walk through the halls or enter a classroom, and I’d notice the change.
The way they looked at me. The way they stared. I even heard the whispers as I walked past.
The first few times it happened, I wondered if I had something wrong with me—like a stain on my clothes or something on my face. But as time went on and it continued, I realized that wasn’t it at all.
And I’d just gotten confirmation about what it was all about today. As it turned out, I was the subject of the rumor mill. I’d just learned that apparently rumors had been spreading like wildfire throughout the school that there was something going on between Mack and me.
There was one small part of me that didn’t care. I mean, it was Mack. I’d have been okay with something going on between Mack and me.
But there wasn’t.
And for whatever reason, the rumors had started to spread not long after the night he got hurt during ski club. Faye had just pulled me aside after our last class today and told me she overheard a few girls talking the bathroom who hadn’t realized she was in there.
Everyone is saying you sucked Mack’s dick on the back of the bus that day after you let him finger you.
That was the rumor.
And aside from the fact that I was completely hurt by hearing it, the news also pissed me off.
Not because it was about Mack or that it was entirely untrue.
It mostly pissed me off because people were looking at me like I had done something that more than half of them hadn’t already done.
As much as I would have thought that I’d want to know what was being said about me, I could not confirm that it was absolutely better not knowing.
Now I knew why the guys in school were looking at me funny and the girls were sneering at me.
Did Mack know what was being said?
I was about to find out.
Because after I grabbed what I needed from my locker, I walked outside to meet him at his car like I always did. He drove me to and from school every single day since we lived on the same street.
A few minutes later, Mack and his car were in my sights.
“Hey,” he said as I approached.
Tears immediately filled my eyes, and I saw him grow concerned.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
I ignored his question and walked around to the opposite side of the car. When I got in, he did the same. I could feel his gaze on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.
“Marley, what’s going on?”
“Have you heard?” I asked.
“Heard what?” he returned.
As one tear rolled down my cheek, I forced myself to look at him. “Have you heard what everyone is saying about me?”
He tipped his head to the side as he reached out a hand and wiped away my tear with the pad of his thumb. “I knew people were saying things. People have come up and asked me about it,” he shared.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“Because whenever someone came up and asked me anything, I set them straight,” he replied. “Marley, don’t let them get you down. You and I know the truth. Isn’t that all that matters?”
He had a point. I really wasn’t the kind of girl who necessarily cared what other people thought of me. But for some stupid reason, this really hurt.
“I don’t understand where they’re getting this from,” I murmured.
“Does it matter?” he countered. “This is high school. It’s what stupid teenagers do.”
“My reputation is ruined,” I told him.
There was a long pause before he offered gently, “I still think the same of you as I always have.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just that these rumors help your social status and make me look like a slut,” I noted.
“You’re not, and I’m not interested in improving my social status. Especially not at your expense,” he insisted.
“People are saying that I was going to have sex with you but that we saw everyone coming back to the bus and that you had to stop me, Mack,” I informed him.
Disappointment and frustration washed over him. “I’m sorry. I wish I could fix this.”
I shook my head. “There’s nothing you can do about it. I’m just hurt and frustrated and ready for this school year to be over.”
“There’s only one more after this,” he reminded me.
�
�I can’t wait,” I replied. “Will you take me home?”
Mack smiled at me and nodded. “Of course.”
With that, Mack took me home, and I did my best to forget about what I’d learned. There were only a few more weeks of school left this year. Maybe everyone would forget that they wanted to gossip about me over the summer so that I could come back and enjoy my senior year.
I never realized just how wrong I was to think that would happen. Because things went from bad to worse.
Six months later
This was it.
Today was the day.
I’d held out long enough, and I wasn’t going to wait anymore.
I was in my senior year. I couldn’t say that things had necessarily improved on the gossip front. People were still talking about me. The only thing that got better was my reaction to it. There was nothing I could do to change it.
Mack and I were friends. Best friends. If people were going to make things up about us, nothing he or I said would ever change that.
And the truth was, at least they weren’t going around saying that I was sleeping with or providing sexual favors to half the school. It was only ever Mack.
Luckily, I’d gotten to a point where I no longer cared what everyone was saying. The only people who mattered to me were my closest friends. They’d stuck by me, and they all knew that what was being said was a load of crap.
Mack had been incredible about the whole thing. The way he looked after me warmed my heart, and it made me fall harder and harder for him.
That was something I no longer wanted to ignore. He meant so much to me, and I was worried that if I didn’t take a step toward doing something about it, I might lose my chance.
He’d never made a move on me after our kiss on the back of the bus. There was a small part of me that was worried that he didn’t like it, but there was a bigger part of me that knew that wasn’t the case.
What happened between us didn’t change anything about the relationship Mack and I had. We were just as close as ever. Maybe he wouldn’t want anything more than our friendship, but I had this overwhelming urge to try.
It was Friday night, and the varsity football game had ended just a little while ago. We won.
Mack, Ben, and Easton all played, but the rest of us went to show our support. Afterward, Ryder was having a party at his parents’ house. He’d done that on occasion, and his parents didn’t mind having so many kids over. They liked knowing that whatever happened was happening under their roof where they could supervise. They didn’t intrude on the fun, but they did expect that everyone be respectful of their home. For the most part, everyone was.
The girls and I had all just arrived at Ryder’s house, along with a slew of other kids from school. Mack hadn’t arrived yet. Neither had Ben nor Easton, but that wasn’t uncommon. It usually took them a little longer to get here after the game. For a while, I’d simply hung out with Beth, Faye, and Dakota.
These days, I didn’t really trust anyone else. So, when it came to going to something like this, I always stuck to the people I knew would have my back.
For the first hour or so of the party, I’d been immersed in conversation with my friends. At one point in the middle of that, the guys had shown up. We all said hello, but they were pulled off in different directions, some playing pool and others being caught up in some video game tournament. Of course, that was in the midst of the other people there who were either having conversations of their own, like Beth, Faye, Dakota, and I were, or they were hooking up with each other.
But then, in the middle of Beth talking about her latest boy crush, I saw Kelsey walk over to Mack, lean down so her cleavage was right in his face, and whisper something to him. He assessed her a moment before he leaned over to Ryder and said something. Ryder replied, and then Mack got up, took Kelsey by the wrist, and led her upstairs.
My heart shattered in my chest, and I wanted to burst into tears.
I needed to get out of there but didn’t want to make a scene.
So, I said, “Hey, I’m going to use the bathroom real quick. I’m not feeling so well.”
“What’s wrong?” Dakota asked.
I shrugged and placed my hand on my abdomen. “My stomach doesn’t feel good.”
“Okay. If you want to go home afterward, I can take you.”
I nodded and walked away.
My feet carried me up the stairs that led from the basement, the same stairs that Mack had just walked up with Kelsey. I opened the door at the top of the stairs as quietly as I could and peeked out. There was nobody in the kitchen, so I slipped out from behind the door and walked around in the direction of the bathroom.
This seemed crazy.
Deep down, I knew what was happening.
But this was supposed to be my day. My chance to go after the man I had fallen in love with. I needed to see with my own eyes what was happening, or I wouldn’t be able to move on.
Kelsey just didn’t seem like Mack’s type. Then again, it wasn’t like he’d gone after me, so maybe I was just making assumptions about what Mack’s type was.
I didn’t see anyone around and was about to just head into the bathroom for a minute to come up with a plan when I heard hushed voices coming from near the stairs that led to the second floor of the house.
“What do you want me to do, handsome?” Kelsey said.
Handsome? Why was she calling him that?
“Listen to me,” Mack started. “Marley has no clue where the rumors started. She’s completely oblivious to that. I promise it’ll stay that way, Kelsey. I just need you to put one more thing out there for me.”
“Of course, Mack. You know I’ll do anything for you,” she said.
I couldn’t stick around to listen to more. I quickly walked back around the corner and slipped into the bathroom.
Tears were falling down my face before I even realized I was crying. My best friend. The guy I had fallen in love with.
Not once throughout all of this had I ever thought that Mack was the one behind the rumors. Why would he ever do this to me?
He was the one I truly believed—even beyond Beth, Faye, Dakota, Easton, Ben, and Ryder—that would always have my back.
That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Not only did he not have my back and defend me from such vicious lies, but he was also the one who was spreading them.
I never wanted to speak to him again.
Never.
So, I sat there in the bathroom of Ryder’s parents’ house and cried. After a while, I sent Dakota a text and asked her if she’d meet me upstairs to take me home.
I didn’t tell her what happened.
I never would.
Because if I had put so much trust and faith in Mack and he turned out to be like this, I didn’t know if I could trust that anyone else wouldn’t turn their back on me.
Worst of all was that learning the truth about Mack forced me to make some tough decisions. And I hated that losing him as a friend turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Eleven
Mack
Three days later
Things were going to get better.
Finally.
Though it was well after when things should have improved, I still felt immense relief about it. Because once things settled down and went back to normal, I could do what I’d been hoping to do for a long time. Right now, I just couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to Marley.
She deserved better. She deserved to not have any doubt about me, and I worried that if I acted on my feelings for her now, she might question whether or not they were genuine. I didn’t want to risk that being the case, so I had to be patient.
I had just pulled up in front of her house to pick her up for school. She was typically outside by now, but today she wasn’t. I thought it was strange since there hadn’t been a single day this school year when Marley wasn’t ready when I arrived.
Over the years, I’d noticed that improvement. Marley went from never bei
ng ready when I arrived at her place on a school day to waiting for me every morning when I showed up. I hadn’t minded it at all when I used to have to wait for her, but I had to admit how much it improved my day when I pulled up and saw her beautiful face smiling at me every morning now.
Not seeing that this morning certainly put a damper on my mood.
Given that I didn’t want to start blasting the horn at this hour of the morning and the fact that I just thought it would have been rude in general, I decided to park the car and go up to the door.
A moment later, Marley’s mom was at the door.
“Oh, hi, Mack,” she greeted me. “Didn’t Marley call you?”
I shook my head. “No. Is everything okay?”
A sympathetic look washed over her face. “I’m so sorry. Marley isn’t feeling well today, so she’s going to stay home from school. I didn’t realize she hadn’t called you to let you know.”
“That’s okay. Is she alright?” I asked, upset to learn that she didn’t feel well.
Her mom nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Her stomach has been bothering her all weekend, and while she insists that she’s a little better this morning, she’s still not feeling one hundred percent. I’m glad you caught me before I left for work, though, because she’s gone right back to bed.”
I recalled Beth and Faye telling me on Friday that Dakota took Marley home early from the party at Ryder’s house because she wasn’t feeling well. I felt bad and wished I would have known because I would have taken her. But I hadn’t known she felt this bad. Suddenly, I was questioning just how much she could have meant to me if I knew that on Friday and hadn’t reached out all weekend to check on her.
“Yeah, me too. If you want, I can pick up any work for Marley at school today,” I offered. “I can bring it by when I get home this afternoon.”
“That would be great, Mack. Thank you.”
“It’s absolutely no problem at all,” I assured her.
