Two Broken Souls

chapter eighteen

"What are we even doing?" I asked Mackenzie.

School has just ended, and we are hiding out in Mackenzie's Cadillac, waiting for something.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into all of this." She doesn't have to say it out loud, but I know what she is referring to.

I waved her off. "It's no big deal." We have so many more issues to deal with than that.

Suddenly Mackenzie bolted up, and put the car into gear, and stepped on the gas. "There he is!" she shouted excitedly.

I looked around, wondering who she was talking about. Half of the senior class was exiting school right now. She drove the wrong way out of the senior parking lot, and when we reached a dead end she continued right over the grass without a second thought.

"Holy Crap!" I exclaimed, clutching onto the front seat as Mackenzie made a sharp turn to the right.

Within seconds, the girls are two cars behind Aaron's. "At least you're not being obvious." I sarcastically remarked.

"Oh, Aaron will never notice," she said obliquely. "He never notices anything when he's driving."

"This is so wrong," I muttered.

"Why can't you just ask him?" Aren't the two of them still dating or whatever is happening in that relationship?

"Because he won't tell me," she replied, focused on trying to catch up to Aaron.

Why didn't I get out of the car sooner? Not that she doesn't enjoy Mackenzie's company, but she really didn't have it in her agenda to follow a fellow classmate.

That's one of her biggest problems. She can't say no to anyone. Not to Mackenzie, not to Harry, or even to Jared. Besides, a little part of me is dying to know where Aaron is sneaking off to after school. He's always been a little uptight, so maybe he will lead them to something interesting.

"I'll bet he has a new girlfriend," Mackenzie said. "And I'll bet she's older. Like Mrs. Ruthford. She's probably somebody's mother. That's why he's being so sneaky." She laughed, clutching her steering wheel.

"Maybe he's studying." I countered.

Mackenzie gave me a look. "Come on. You know Aaron is banking on a baseball scholarship this year. We used to have this plan: We were going to move to Chicago. Aaron would own his own comic book store and I was going to be a stay at home mother who knits."

"How lovely." I said.

There is no way in hell Mackenzie would have been happy living with Aaron in Chicago raising a family. She is meant for so much more. She and I aren't close, but even she could tell that Mackenzie would hate becoming a housewife.

"I was going to have my own business too," Mackenzie added.

Aaron drove past the mall and continued down Main Street. At one of the five lights in town, his car makes a left and heads towards the river.

"I knew it!" Mackenzie exclaimed. "He has a secret lover." she said, like this was a big case she just solved.

"In the woods?" I scoffed. "There's nothing down there but trees and empty fields."

The road leads straight to the river, but instead of continuing on the dirt track, Aaron made another sharp turn under the highway.

"He's heading for East Rivers," Mackenzie shouted, stating the obvious."What's in East Rivers?" Mackenzie asked out loud.

"A doctor's office." I lightly joked, referring to their time together a couple of weeks ago.

"Mia, this is serious." Mackenzie said in disbelief, which causes her to nearly drive off the road. When they recover seconds later, Mackenzie said, "You wouldn't understand."