Ears I Never Had (BWWM)

Chapter 9: In-n-In

Late October 2016 | Los Angeles, CA

"Mackenzie, great job today! You're really a great addition to our staff. Good luck with your exam!", my boss Jessica said as I clocked off for my Thursday afternoon shift. I thanked her, smiled deeply on the inside and told her I'd see her on Saturday.

Life in college was in full swing for me despite having awkwardness present everywhere. I mean awkwardness in the form of Breslin. After that incident in Spark's bathroom, it's pretty much cordial weirdness. I still like him; when I speak, he still looks at me like he's memorizing every word I'm saying. I see him in two courses, at staff meetings, and of course with the crew. He still walks to my car silently everyday after our last class, but then again we're all parked in the same lot.

Thanks to Breslin, I have been a team member at the UCLA Bruin Student Store for about a month. We sold everything from student gear to textbooks to supplies to electronics. It's a great position that works well around my schedule, UCLA gear was my uniform, and my co-workers like, Taylor and Bambi, from my Creative Writing class, work there as well.

School is going great, but that was already guaranteed. Statistics is kicking my ass, but the rest of my courses are going great, especially Professor Cole's class. It really is the highlight of my day, it's better than those therapy sessions with Ms. Clark. My Mom was on my head about adding another course, I said no and it was hell. She lectured me for 45 minutes via FaceTime about priorities. I'm a priority Mom not my workload! I ended up adding a 1-unit yoga class. She still has control. Yet, I am getting closer and closer to breaking some rules.

My social life is even thriving. Being that I happened to fall into the hands of UCLA status, I was becoming a well-known face around campus being that I ran with the President and his "Cabinet" aka the rest of us. Surprisingly, the things I was teased for back home, like my natural hair and sense of style, was actually complimented out here. A lot of guys tried to talk at me, both too bold and too nice. I still had eyes for B. Girls constantly asked tips and locations on where I got my clothes. Ty and Ant said I should start a YouTube channel being that everyone was already following me on Snapchat and Instagram.

Speaking of those two, they getting closer and closer to being married as Sparkle would say. That even added more weirdness around Breslin and I because everyone was kind of coupled up except us. I even had a couple of girls ask me were we dating and I was actually disheartened when I say no. I wasn't lonely but still...

For the first time in a long time, everything was ok. I felt safe, secure, and like I had support. I should have moved to California when I was 15, and I'd probably still have my Dad....

I was on my way to the library to meet up with Sparkle to study for our exam when I was checking my Snapchat notifications and noticed I had a couple from her.

Sparks: (Video) Hey girl, so dumbass here sprained his ankle at practice not even playing mufucking basketball, doing the fucking Running Man and I'm over here at UCLA Medical with him because he needs somebody to drive him home (Dom in the background cussing) I gotta cancel on our study sess and just pray to God I pass with a B or better or you cut off for a month Dom I swear to Go-

The snap cut off as I was going up the library stairs. I couldn't help but laugh, but at the same time I was bummed because I really wanted to be prepared for tomorrow, but guess I'll just go try and do my best at home. Yeah, I'm kind of hungry and I could study and catch up on Empire.

I stopped walking up the stairs and went to my Instagram to scroll as I walked when I bumped into a hard body. I collided and stumbled back before I looked up to see my favorite pair of eyes. "You really need to look up when you're walking," he said as he seemed to stop in front of me. Just us....and well 30,000 other Bruin students.