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Chapter Twenty-Four
MACKENZIE
After I cornered Fallon in the bookstore a few days ago, I was sure she thought I was pathetic for trying to get her to talk to me. Maybe I was, but we needed to talk about things. It was driving me insane that she was avoiding me, and I was determined to put a stop to it.
After work, I stopped by Brewed Awakening to catch up with Rylee. She had a few customers in line when I walked in, but she still smiled and waved. “Hey, Kenzie! I’m just finishing up here, so give me ten minutes, okay?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be over here,” I replied, nodding to a table by the window.
She finished her shift and came up to me with two coffees in hand. “I’m so glad to be off,” she said, handing me a cup before slouching into the chair across from me. “So, what’s going on with you? How did that drink work out for you?”
I scrunched up my nose. “That shit was nasty, but effective. Thanks again. And please thank Lana for our talk.”
Her smile grew at the mention of her wife. “She told me you talked to her about Fallon. She didn’t say what you two talked about, though.”
I groaned. “Yeah, well, she sort of forced me to, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
She frowned. “Okay, I’ll drop it, but you know I’m here for you, sweetie. Anyway, how’s work going?”
I grinned. “I know, Ry. I love you. I’m still adjusting to the new responsibilities, but I love it. What about you? How are you?”
She smiled. “I’m good. You’re one of the lucky ones who has a job she doesn’t totally hate. Don’t get me wrong, I love bartending, and my photography business is doing pretty well, but working here... I don’t know. It’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life, you know?” She shrugged.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Your photography will take off, trust me. You are amazing! And you really know how to make a drink.” I smirked, taking a sip of my coffee.
“I hope so, and thanks.” She smiled and started to stir her own coffee. “Oh, your girl came in the other day,” she added.
I frowned. My what? “Who?”
“I’m sorry. Fallon, your friend. I guess she wasn’t expecting to see me?” She laughed. “She looked a little confused when she came in. She knows I work here, so I don’t know what that was about.” I probably could’ve taken a wild guess as to what it was about, but I kept that to myself.
I raised my eyebrows, trying to mask any emotion at the sound of Fallon’s name. “Oh, really? Interesting. What did you two talk about?”
I hadn’t told any of my friends what happened. They would’ve hounded me for details, and try to make it a bigger deal than it was.
“I just told her I thought you two looked good together, and that you looked really happy.”
My eyes widened, and I struggled to keep myself from spitting coffee all over the table. “What?!” I groaned. “Really, Ry? Why would you say that?! We are just friends. Now she’s going to think?—”
“Chill, Kenzie.” She laughed. “It was the truth. I haven’t seen you that happy in a really long time, and it was nice to see. Contrary to what you might think, you deserve to be happy, babe.”
“I didn’t look any different, Rylee. No wonder she’s been avoiding me, she probably thinks I like her or something.” I threw my head onto the table.
Playfully kicking me under the table, she laughed, seemingly amused by my turmoil. I was glad one of us could find humor in the situation. “First of all, drama queen, you do like her. You couldn’t take your eyes off her the entire night. Second of all, she doesn’t think anything, relax.”
I rolled my eyes, feeling absolutely mortified. “What did she say?”
She frowned. “She just kind of ran out of here without saying much. It was really weird. Did something happen between the two of you?”
I looked at my cup, suddenly finding it very interesting. “Uh, no.” I shook my head. “Nothing happened. Maybe she was late for work or something?”
Thankfully, if she didn’t buy the lie, she didn’t call me out on it. “Maybe. Well, I wish I could stay, but I need to head out—I picked up a shift at the bar tonight.”
When I left the coffee shop, I texted Fallon to see if she was home:
Me: Sunshine. Are you home?
Sunshine: No, working.
Me: When are you off?
Sunshine: Late probably.
Me: Okay, well let me know when you’re off. We need to catch up.
Sunshine: Idk yet.
She had a way with words these days. There was no denying she was avoiding me—but not for long. I had all the time in the world, and she’d have to come home eventually.
When I got home, I decided we were going to talk about what happened, and it was going to happen today. I sat down against her door and waited.
I hadn’t been sitting there long when she finally came home. As soon as she saw me, I stood up and leaned against her door.
Even in the most basic black scrubs, she still managed to be the most radiant presence in any room. I could’ve stayed frozen in that moment, our eyes locked, until the end of my days… I really needed to pull it together.
She halted briefly in the middle of the hall, before hesitantly walking toward me. “Mackenzie, what are you doing?” she warned. Even when she was irritated, she was so damn sexy.
“I was in the neighborhood.” I smirked. “Can we talk?”
She glared. “I’ve had a long day, can we talk later, Mackenzie?”
“Sure.” I smiled and stepped aside.
I probably looked pathetic, following her around and begging for a spare second of her time. I felt pathetic, but I didn’t know what else to do.
“Thank you.” She went to shut her door, but I put my foot in the way, blocking it from closing.
She opened the door and glared at me when I didn’t move. “It’s later, Fallon. We can either go somewhere and talk, or I can come in, but we are talking about this,” I said firmly.
“Excuse me?” She scoffed. “Kenzie, I just got home. I don’t have time for this.”
“You’ve been avoiding me for a week. Like it or not, we’re talking about what happened. The longer we wait, the weirder it’s going to get.” I crossed my arms, keeping my foot in place to block the door.
She sighed. “It’s already weird, but fine. You want to talk? Go ahead, talk.”
“Can we go somewhere a little more private? Maybe the roof, where it all started?” I winked.
She shut her eyes before opening them again. “We don’t have to do this, Mackenzie. We can just pretend it didn’t happen, okay?”
I offered her my hand, softening my tone as I cleared the humor from my voice, asking her instead of demanding. “The rooftop, Sunshine. Please?”
She hesitated before accepting my hand, and I led us up to the roof.
I made sure to prop the door open this time, and we sat in the lawn chairs that were facing each other.
Something about the way she was sitting didn’t feel right. She looked just as uncomfortable as she had that first night on my couch, twirling a piece of hair between her fingers, bouncing her legs, and never letting her eyes land on anything in particular. It felt like for every step forward we took, we fell three steps back.
“Hello, Fallon. How was your day?” I started casually.
“My day was absolutely wonderful. Were you going to say something important, or can I go now?” She glared.
I sighed. It was worth a shot. “Right. So, the other night was amazing.” That got her attention, and she shot her head up to meet my eyes.
“But…” I continued, “we both know it was a mistake. We weren’t thinking clearly.”
A look of ease washed over her face. “Yeah, we definitely weren’t thinking clearly. Mistakes happen, and I’d really like to move on from this,” she said, exhaling a breath of relief.
I smiled despite the gnawing feeling in my stomach. Hearing her call that night a “mistake” didn’t sit right with me. “Definitely. We had a good thing going, and I’d hate to lose a friendship over a misunderstanding.”
“I completely agree. We had a rough start at the beginning, but we get along pretty well now, and it’s best to stay friends. A momentary lapse in judgment doesn’t have to change that, right?” She sat up, easing her way into a more relaxed state.
“Right. So, do we agree then? It was a one-time thing, and we’ll stay friends?” I reached out my hand to shake hers, unsure why I was being so awkward with her.
She laughed and slapped it away. “Agreed.”
It was nice to sit and talk with her on the roof. We stayed there for a while, watching the stars before saying our goodbyes.
As amazing as that night was, it couldn’t happen again, and I was glad we agreed to stay friends, even if I didn’t feel particularly happy about it in the moment. I was sure I would tomorrow.
Table of Contents
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- Page 3
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- Page 9
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- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24 (Reading here)
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
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- Page 51