"I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations"
[Riptide - Vance Joy]
Mack walked out onto the bleachers and instantly found Jo, who waved enthusiastically with a big smile on her face. Mack sat down next to her and pulled out her lunch and looked around. She quickly spotted Kai sat with a group of the football boys, including Ben. Kai has quickly become popular due to his cocky and outgoing personality and his sarcastic humour. Kai said something that Mack couldn't hear and all the boys erupted into a manly fit of laughter, throwing their heads back and clutching their sides. Her sight shifted slightly to the left where Mack saw a group of the popular girls, who sat with resting bitch faces braiding each other's hair and applying more makeup. They were probably gossiping about the boys to their right or Mack and her mystery new best friend. All of a sudden the girls burst into a wicked laughter and all glanced over at Jo and Mack in-turn. Mack scoffed and rolled her eyes, not believing she used to be a part of that group.
It had been two weeks since Kai had driven Mack home from the diner and since then her and Jo had only grown closer, sitting with each other at lunch and hanging out after school when Mack wasn't with Ben. Mack's attention was turned back to Jo when she asked:
"Hey, I was wondering if you'd want to come to mine for a sleepover this Friday?" Jo said before taking a bite of her sandwich, looking at Mack kindly. Mack's expression perked up, the thought of not having to spend time with Ben.
"That would be great, what time should I head over?" Mack said excitedly. Jo waved her off and finished her mouthful.
"Oh don't worry about that, I'll have Kai take you home from school. Although I'll have to meet you back home because I have to go pick up my little brother and sister from school." Mack nodded and frowned.
"I don't want to be any trouble." She replied. Jo shoo her head.
"Not at all, Kai will be happy to take you and I'll be less than an hour. I'll have Kai make you a snack when you get in or something." Mack nodded slowly before thanking Jo and taking a bite of her banana she had been peeling.
As Mack and Jo chatted Jo patted her on the shoulder before pointing in front of them at the group of boys.
"Look!" She spoke as Ben waved Mack over. Mack blushed and Jo winked at her before pushing her out of her seat and towards the boys. As Mack walked down she noticed the popular girls glaring her down over their sunglasses. She rolled her eyes and kept walking.
She reached Ben and he grabbed her hand, pulling Mack down to sit next to him. He kissed her cheek and rested his arm over her shoulders, bottle of water in the other hand.
"Hey babe."
"Hey." Mack spoke back, trying to hide her fear. She caught Kai's eye and he winked at her, but Ben luckily didn't notice.
"We need you to help settle a bet." Ben began. Mack slowly nodded, urging him to continue. "I bet Parker over their that girls prefer being on the bottom rather than the top. I'm right, right?" He said, pulling her closer into him as he talked.
"I, um-" Mack started but Kai interrupted.
"Speak the truth, Kenz." Kai said with a smirk, knowing she'd probably just agree with Ben.
"W-What did you guys bet? Why do I need to decide?" She asked nervously. Ben and Kai chuckled.
"Because, if Parker over here wins," Ben said pointing towards a grinning Kai, "he gets to kiss you, and if I win he pays me 50 bucks." Ben said with a smile.
"So, who won babe?" He prompted further.
"W-well I can't speak for everyone, but most I know prefer to b-be on t-top." Mack stuttered out and Ben was instantly shot a triumphant smirk by Kai.
"Damn it!" Ben said and took his arm from around Mack's shoulders. Kai stood up and pulled Mack to her feet.
He slammed his lips to hers, wrapping an arm around her waist and cupping her cheek in his hand. His lips were soft and warm and Mack was shocked to find herself kissing back. She held onto his shoulders for support and Kai pulled away almost too soon. Damn, she thought, now I hate you even more. She hated the fact that she liked it, wanted more, craved another.
Kai smirked at Mack before stepping away, leaving her dizzy and confused.
"I-I should get going." Mack almost whispered before scurrying away.
"You do that, sweetheart!" Kai called after her, the sound of the boys all laughing following her. She earned the jealous looks of the popular girls, all wishing they could have been there.
~•=~•=~•=~•=~•=~•=~•=~•=~•=~•=~
Friday rolled around and Mack was sat quietly in first period, doodling in her sketchbook. She looked up as Kai walked in, laughing at something his friend just said. He shot something back and his friend feigned offence before they both sat down, Kai in his usual seat next to Mack. He crossed his ankles with straight legs and picked up his pen, fiddling with it. His friend threw a paper plane at him and it landed on Kai's desk. He picked it up and threw it towards the teacher, who turned around with a scowl as it hit him in the back of the head.
Chalk in hand he glared at Kai, pausing his writing on the board. Kai put his hands up in surrender and held back laughter, a smirk on his face. His friend was in fits of laughter, clutching his side and hitting the table with his closed fist. The teacher rolled his eyes and went back to writing, used to the popular boys' shit.
Mack rolled her eyes too, turning her focus back to the half-finished drawing of Jo in her book.
"Hey, what's got you so down?" Kai said sarcastically to Mack. She huffed.
"Oh just that I have to sit in a car with you later. Alone." She said snappily.
"Ooooh, Kenz is angry todayyyy." He mocked, poking her cheek. She slapped his hand away and he laughed leaning in to her. "You know I like pretty little things with sharp tongues." He whispered in her ear, earning a scolding look and a smack on the arm from Mack. He pulled away muttering, "O-kay."
Mack reluctantly climbed into the jeep as a grinning Kai opened the door for her. He walked round to his side and climbed in, pulling his seat belt on and looking at Mack.
"Put your seatbelt on, we don't want to to get hurt now do we?" Kai said with a fake pout and Mack rolled her eyes and put her seatbelt on slowly.
"Ugh, whatever Parker." She said with attitude. Kai whistled.
"Parker?" Kai asked while laughing and Mack shook her head.
"What would you rather me call you? Dick? Asshat? I've got options." Mack stated dryly.
"You've got an attitude today, princess." He chuckled before putting the keys in the ignition and starting the car.
"Don't. Call. Me. That." Mack said through gritted teeth, trying to keep focus as Kai rested his elbow on her seat next to her head. It made sense when he looked over his shoulder, reversing out of the space with ease. Kai's flexed bicep right next to Mack made her bite her lip before she shook the thought from herself, she hated him - why did he seem attractive to her?
Kai suppressed a smile at how Mack had bitten her lip and kept driving, glancing at her every once in a while with a goofy grin. After a while Mack got fed up and snapped.
"Will you stop that! I can't think with you grinning at me like that!" Mack said loudly, throwing her hands up annoyed. Kai chuckled.
"Struggling to think about how mind blowing our kiss was? We can do it again if that would help." He smirked at Mack and she hit his arm. Kai laughed at her and Mack stared him down for a moment before bursting into laughter too, throwing her head back again the head rest.
"She laughs." Kai remarked and Mack shook her head.
"This does not mean I like you." Mack said sing-songy while waving her finger at Kai.
As they pulled into the Parker drive way Kai stopped the car and unbuckled himself, climbing out the car and walking around to Mack's side. He opened her door and smiled at her, snickering as she rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag.
"I can open my own doors, Parker."
The sound of Kai laughing followed Mack as she walked up to the door of the Parker house and opened the door, knowing it'd be open from the few times she'd hung out with Jo after school before. She walked through to the kitchen and dumped her bag on a chair, Kai following close behind and throwing his books onto the kitchen counter.
"Would you like a drink? A snack?" Kai asked before reaching up to a cupboard and grabbing a couple glasses.
"Sure, just some water please." Mack said, suddenly nervous. Kai nodded and filled the glass with water, pouring orange juice into the other presumably for himself. He slid the water to Mack and she picked up the glass, downing it in one.
"You should do shots, I'm sure you'd be great at it." Kai remarked, seeing how fast the girl chugged the liquid. Mack rolled her eyes and Kai winked, taking a sip of his juice.
"Jo should be back around four, so what do you wanna do?" Kai said with a suggestive smirk.
"Not talk to you, that's for sure." Mack deadpanned, pulling out a chair and putting her sketchbook in front of herself. Mack heard shuffling and assumed Kai was making something to eat. After a few minutes her suspicions were confirmed when she heard the toast pop out of the toaster and saw Kai lathering a slice with jam out the corner of her eye.
Kai's hand rested on the table next to Mack as he peered over her shoulder, holing his toast in his free hand. He took a bite before asking,
"So what's with the sketches? You never seem to be doing anything else." He said with a full mouth, watching Mack intently as she kept drawing. Mack sighed before answering.
"My family isn't exactly rich, my sister had to skip college and the only way I can go is if I get an art scholarship."
"Oh." Kai said before lifting his hand from the table and pointing to the page. "Is that Jo?" He asked before taking another bite.
"Yeah, I thought I'd give it to her for her birthday." Mack said over the noise of Kai's obnoxious chewing.
"It's amazing. I could honestly mistake it for a photograph." Kai walked over the the sink and brushed off his hands on a tea-towel after taking the last bite of his toast and downing the last of his juice. Mack stood up and picked up her glass from before, filling it up again from the sink. As she turned around and leant again the counter Kai reached past her, leaning his body into hers slightly.
Mack's breath hitched at their closeness and caught herself staring at his lips, then his eyes, then his lips again. After a second he pulled back with something in his hand and a sly smirk on his face. After realising the effect he had on her, Kai put down the object - which turned out to be a pager - and leant on his hand in the same position as before.
Mack swallowed thickly and tried to avoid Kai's eyes, knowing if she looked into them she'd most likely break. Kai's lips brushed her ear.
"Do I make you nervous, Kenz?" He whispered, the smirk on his lips obvious through his tone. She gulped and nodded slowly, bringing her eyes to meet Kai's. He placed a few soft kisses on her neck before pulling away and walking back slowly with an amused expression before holding up his hands and walking out the door.
The sound of laughter entering the house snapped Mack out of her confused and dazed trance.
"Mack!" Jo called before sending Liv and Luke on their way.
"I'm in here." Mack called back just before Jo walked into the kitchen.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"How was Kai? I hope he wasn't too bad." Jo said sympathetically.
"K-kai? H-he was fine." Mack said quickly and put on a smile. Jo nodded and they headed upstairs to Jo's room.
A few hours pass and Jo sat in her bay window cross-legged with a cute pillow in her lap whilst Mack later on her front on Jo's bed with a pillow under her stomach and propped up on her elbows.
"So have you and Ben..? Y'know.." Jo prompted with a smirk and a raised brow and Mack's eyes widened. She picked up a near-by pillow and threw it at Jo, who held her hands up to cover her face and caught the flying object. Both girls erupted into fits of laughter and Jo continued. "What?!" She exclaimed through the giggles and Mack buried her face in her hands before looking back up at Jo.
"Yes." She said before biting her lip and blushing, looking away.
"What! How was it? Was he good?" Jo bombarded her with questions through the laughter and Mack went bright red, nodding shyly and Jo's eyes widened.
"Holy shit! When?"
"A few weeks ago?"
"Have you-"
"Not since then, no." Mack said abruptly, shocked at this side of Jo.
Suddenly a loud knock sounded on Jo's door before it burst open immediately after. Kai stood there with a disappointed pout and Jo rolled her eyes.
"What were you expecting? A pillow fight in our underwear?" Jo said sarcastically and Mack shook her head whilst holding back her inevitable laughter. Kai put a hand on his chest to fake offence before saying:
"Actually, yes. Yes I was, Josette." He grinned at her and Jo threw the pillow at him that Mack had thrown at her earlier.
"You're such a perv Malachai, get out!" Jo shouted with a giggle and Mack instantly burst into laughter. The twins both turned to face her and Kai raised a brow, waiting for an explanation as to what was so funny.
"Malachai? Josette?" She said through laughter, kicking her feet as tears of joy escaped her. She wiped them away and Kai lobbed the pillow at her.
"Hey! It's not like we named ourselves!" Kai laughed.
"You can't say anything, Malachai. Josette is no where near as bad." Jo stuck out her tongue at him and Kai gave her the finger before backing out the room but leaving Jo's door open.
"Shut the door!" Jo yelled.
"Do it yourselves assholes!" Mack could hear being shouted back from the stairs. The girls kept laughing and Mack dragged herself off the bed, heading over to the door to close it. As she reached out to shut the door Kai jumped out and screamed:
"BOO!" Making Mack jump three feet in the air and scream bloody murder. Kai clutched his side and leant forward as he laughed, starting to cry from the laughter. "I got you so good!" He exclaimed before wandering off to his room.
"Dick!" Mack called after him as she shut the door, turning to Jo who was still giggling girlishly.