Summer: Day 28
Mack's POV:
My head feels like it's going to combust as I wake up to the sound of pots and pans, as well as the familiar scent of coffee and pancakes. Only, this time I'm not the one cooking them and I'm sick off a hangover.
Crap. Last night.
Double crap.
Groggily, I hook my legs over the side of my bed and force myself up. Somehow I find my way into the kitchen in one piece, smiling lazily at the sight before me. Zachariah is moving frantically around the kitchen trying not to burn the pancakes on the stove. What did I do to have God create such a beautiful man for me?
I sit down on the barstool until he notices my presence. "Oh, hey," he says, looking a little flustered when he sees me hold in a laugh.
"Hey bub," I say smugly, raising an eyebrow. "Nice apron, you definitely got all the cake."
"I made us breakfast," he chirps, a dimple in his smile as he ignores my tantalizing comment. "How are you feeling?"
"Got a pounding headache and weak limbs," I reply, stretching. "I'd say I'm not too bad."
Zachariah chuckles, putting a stack of pancakes on a plate for me. "I tried," he says, scratching his head. "I followed the directions on the box and stuff, but you never know." He then pours us cups of coffee and settles down in the barstool next to me, placing a couple tablets of Tylenol on the counter.
"Thank you," I murmur, placing a kiss on his cheek.
He stills at my actions and turns his head towards me, his hands fidgeting with the hair tie that I now know the meaning of. "Who's Deacon?"
Right. I mentioned him last night. "My boss at work," I explain, stuffing my mouth with a bite of pancakes so I don't have to reply any time soon.
"And he thinks you're pretty? What kinda creep says that on your first day?" he asks, baffled. "You would think he had a little more human decency than to hit on someone as young as you—"
"You're twenty," I shrug. "He's twenty-two."
"And you're eighteen, Kenz. I don't care if the guy is eighteen or thirty, I don't like when guys flirt with you—not unless that guy is me," he says, clenching his jaw so it's taut. "Not that I wanna be possessive or anything because I don't own you, but it took us a long time to get where we are. So you know, I'd really freaking appreciate it if life was fair for once and let us enjoy each other."
I shake my head at his rant and stare into his blue irises with the emotion only he can make me feel. "Nothing can ever change how I feel about you."
He sucks in a breath of air and visibly relaxes. "Really?"
I nod, licking my lips. "You have every first, Zachariah. I wouldn't change that for the world."
"I really fucking like you, Mackenzie. I want us to work," he whispers, searching my eyes as he usually does. "Please, let us work." And though he was talking to me, I couldn't help but think he was talking to life itself. It was as if he was asking for the stars to align and let us be—to let us work.
It takes me a minute to process everything he wants, in the long run. And for that, I need an answer to my questions. "Then why did you shut me out back then?" I ask, almost incoherent. "Nevermind—you don't have to answer that."
Zachariah grabs one of my hands and places it over his heart. Thump thump, thump thump. "See," he whispers, his heartbeat quickening with every passing second. "Because this is what you do to me, and fuck I was scared as hell about what could happen if I let myself feel it too deeply."
"And now, am I too close again?" I ask, moving my hand underneath his shirt to place it on top of his bare chest, where his heart is.
He gulps and shakes his head. "Never. I learned something about us, and it made me realize that..." His sentence trails off into a blank whisper.
"What?" I press.
"That I think I pushed you away secretly hoping you'd pull me closer."
I give him a goofy smile, dropping my head. "Once in a lifetime," I say, playing with my hands. "You only ever feel this once in a lifetime."
"But you make me feel it over and over again," he admits, tilting my chin to him.
And this feeling that we're mutually talking about, I finally realize what it is.
Love. Something we yet to verbally admit to each other.
"I'm not perfect," he states, a plead in his voice. "And I know I'll never be. But you make me feel alright with who I am, and even though I promised myself four years ago that I wouldn't feel this, I can't help it anymore. You're a freaking miracle, Mackenzie. And I'm damn lucky I even met you."
"Stop talking before I cry," I warn him, distracting myself by taking a sip of coffee.
"But I'll be here when you cry, and laugh, and yell, and lie, and say things you don't mean," he promises. "I want all that with you, Mackenzie. I want it all."
"I'm serious," I say, my eyes getting glossy. "I really am gonna cry."
That doesn't stop him. "The good and the bad, baby. I'm promising it now so you know I'll stay this time. We might fight, hell we might fight a lot considering all the drama we've already put ourselves in, but we'll get through it. I have faith in us."
I pull my lower lip in between my teeth with a sad smile. "I don't want the summer to be over."
"Just because the summer ends doesn't mean we have to." Zachariah takes a sip of his own coffee to think. "We have sixteen days, let's make the most of it."
I pout. "Why so soon?"
"I have football training camp to attend, to get ready for the season," he explains.
"I don't even wanna think about you leaving right now," I refuse, shaking my head. "I'm gonna cry like a baby again."
"You cried last time I went away?"
"Yeah," I laugh, blowing a few loose strands of my brown hair out of my face. "It wasn't a pretty sight and Kylar thought I was being overdramatic, etcetera etcetera."
"That's cute," he mutters, cutting into his pancakes.
I do the same and drown them in maple syrup. When I take a bite, I let out a moan of satisfaction and my eyes go wide. "Oh my gosh, these are amazing! What did you put in them?"
"Drugs," he says suggestively, shrugging his shoulders.
I hit him in the chest. "No, like, these are so good."
"Made with love," he murmurs, popping a fork-full into his mouth.
"Or it was just a lucky chance that you happened to make better pancakes than me," I argue, not wanting to hear that word. Love.
He can't love me, not like how I love him.
Can he?
Freaking hell I don't know.
******
Zach's POV:
Mackenzie and I are tangled in fuzzy blankets on the couch watching one of her silly romcom movies when my phone starts to ring. I pull it out and groan, telling her to pause the movie.
Keeping her body close to mine for emotional support, my arm instinctively wraps tighter around her torso. "What do you want?" I snap, shutting my eyes.
"I need you to come to LA for a meeting," he deadpans over the phone.
I roll my eyes. Like hell he does. "Dad, I can come to LA when I go back to school." Mackenzie tenses under my arms when she hears the word 'dad.'
"No, this meeting is urgent," he argues.
"Well I would've liked a two weeks notice," I share, rubbing Mackenzie's arm with my fingertips. "I have to mentally prepare myself if I have to see you."
"Well you can mentally prepare yourself on the plane ride here," he mocks.
I laugh. "I need longer than that."
He doesn't sound amused, and instead scoffs. "Your plane is leaving this afternoon—"
"Nope," I interject, standing my ground. "I can be on a flight tonight and that's the end of discussion. I have plans today."
"Well you can kiss your plans goodbye," he demands.
"Then you can kiss your meeting goodbye," I threaten.
He inhales sharply. "Fine, your flight will be scheduled for tonight."
"Bye," I say and end the call with a scoff. "Such an asshole."
Mackenzie shifts in my arms so she's on top of me. "What was that about?" she whispers, looking up at me with those evergreen eyes of hers.
"My dad called me for a last minute meeting," I grumble, cupping her face with my hands. "I gotta leave tonight."
"How long will you be gone?" she asks, puckering her lips into a pout.
My eyes are drawn to them, and I lean forward to peck her lips. "Hopefully, only for a day."
She leans forward to kiss me again and says, "Having you gone for a day is better than you leaving for a year."
I pull her as close to me as possible, our bodies flush against each other. "I really don't wanna go."
"Why?"
"Because I won't be able to kiss you like this for a whole twenty-four hours."
She smiles and pulls at my lower lip so that her tongue can find its way into my mouth. It coaxes mine and tells me things even words can't explain. Things we both know yet don't admit.
And that's when I knew that now that I've felt her, I think that I've felt it too deep to ever be able to recover from.
Flipping us around so she's underneath me now, I trail my hands down her body to grip her small waist. She moans and whispers my name against my lips, something that turns me on every time. In response, I slowly grind against her and she wraps her legs around me to hold me there, making it an achingly pleasurable position to be in.
Her hands move underneath my shirt as she feels the skin of my back, causing goosebumps to freckle my skin. Oh fuckers, the things she does to me.
I really don't want to go.
My dad can go die in a hole.
That sounds very pleasant actually.
I find myself smirking at the idea.
Mackenzie pulls away and bites her lower lip, looking up at me through her lashes. "What?" she asks innocently.
"Just plotting my dad's death," I say, bending back down to connect our mouths.
She wiggles around with a small laugh. "While we're kissing? Oh my god, Zachariah, that's highly inappropriate."
My smirk only grows as my hand traces down her stomach all the way until it reaches in between her thighs. She gasps as I bend down to whisper in a challenging tone, "Oh, we can get even more dirty if you wanted to."
Her small hand wraps around my wrist and pulls my hand away as she looks up at me with a flushed and innocent smile. "Someday," she promises, holding eye contact.
And so I smile back and repeat, "Someday," with so much hope that 'someday' comes soon.
Author's Note:
shizzle pops.
I apologize for the short chapters recently, I don't know why I can't write :P
Anyways, my head is feeling a tad bit better <3 Thank you all for your love and support! Can't believe TCFC has almost reached 4k reads in such a short amount of time, it's crazyyyy :) Let's see how many views we can hit before the month ends!
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