"Mackenzie?" I hear a voice say. "Mack, it's okay, it's me, Conrad." He says. Then I move out from under the dock with my head above the water. Conrad sees me. "Hey, are you okay?" He asks.
I shake my head no. "N-no." I say, on the verge of tears.
Conrad puts his arms down and helps me out of the water. He sees me soaked and shaking. "Are you cold?" He asks. "No, stupid question. Of course you are. I have some of my spare clothes in the car that you can change into." He says. "Come on." He says. He helps me to the car and he grabs the clothes and holds them for me. "I promise not to look." He says. He closes his eyes and I get naked again and put on his hoodie and a pair of his shorts. My bra and underwear are soaked so I just go without them.
"Conrad, you can open your eyes now." I say. He opens his eyes and he takes my wet clothes and throws them into the back of the car. We both get in the car and he starts driving.
"Taylor refused to get in the car with each of us so she said as long as she has clothes she can walk home. Then she said Jelly for life or something." Conrad says.
I shiver but Conrad notices and he cranks up the heat a little more. "Thanks for getting me, Con." I say.
"Of course, Mack. But you do owe me an explanation. Of the whole night." Conrad says. He pulls over.
I sigh. "So we were on the boat, playing put a finger down and Taylor said, 'put a finger down if you've ever kissed Jeremiah Fisher.' And Belly put her finger down and everyone needed an explanation. Then Nicole got suspicious of me and you and then I-I just didn't know what to do." I say. "I said I didn't know but then Nicole had a clue of something and she said, 'put a finger down if you've ever cut yourself, on purpose.' And I'm no liar so I put a finger down and Nicole just started being a bitch like she usually is." I say. "Do you wanna hear what she said?" I ask.
Conrad nods. "Yeah." He says.
"She said, 'I don't believe anything is happening between you and Conrad because why would he want a mentally unstable girl with ugly cuts on her wrists?' She said that my wrists are uglier than my face.'" I say. "Is she right?" I ask. "And you have to be completely honest with me." I say. Conrad opens the glove compartment in front of me. "Con, what are you doing?" I ask.
He pulls out a sharpie and then he carefully grabs both of my wrists and pulls the sleeves up on his baggy hoodie that he gave me. He starts drawing stars around my scars. He draws a lot of them and then looks me in the eyes. "I think your scars are beautiful." He says. "And don't let anyone tell you different. They are the part of you that should shine everywhere. Everyone should see how beautiful they are." Conrad says.
I look him in the eyes and I kiss him. He drops the sharpie and he grabs my face and kisses me back. We pull away for air. "They're beautiful like you." Conrad says. He kisses me this time and I kiss him back. Then we pull away. "You don't know how long I've wanted to do that to you." Conrad says.
"And you don't know how long I've wanted you to do that to me." I say. We look each other in the eyes and smile. Then Conrad starts driving again and he puts his hand on my thigh. I play with his hair as he drives.
"So, what's your answer?" Conrad asks.
"Answer to what?" I ask.
"Can I be your escort to the deb ball?" Conrad asks.
I kiss him on the cheek. "Yes." I say. Conrad smiles at me.
When we get home, I go get a shower and then I put on some pajamas. I lay in my bed but can't fall asleep. I know what I need. Conrad.
I walk into his room and he's already asleep. I crawl in bed next to him and I fall asleep.