Page 35 of Tell Me Not To Kiss You (Sapphic In Seattle #1)

Chapter Thirty-Five

MACKENZIE

I made things right with Fallon, so I thought it was time to apologize to Drea. What happened at the bookstore was… I needed to apologize.

Fallon left my apartment early the next morning, so I didn’t get a chance to tell her where I was going. I planned on telling her later that night during dinner.

When I walked into the bookstore, Drea looked up and was smiling, so that seemed to be a good sign.

“Welcome to—” The shock on Drea’s face quickly changed to one of anger as her eyes grew wide and then narrowed.

“Get out!” She threw a pointed finger toward the door. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a good sign.

“Drea, let me explain…” I said with my hands up.

“Get the fuck out!” she said.

I looked around the store to see wide eyes fixed on me. I threw them an apologetic smile.

Drea just glared at me, silently demanding me out.

Of course, I didn’t listen and walked closer to the counter. She quickly came out from behind it and rushed toward me. I stood my ground, but inside, I was terrified.

“I said get out, Mackenzie! You are not welcome here!” She shouted even though she was only a few feet in front of me.

At that point, the store emptied out, except for one woman with her nose stuck in a book, like she was in another world. She was lucky. Drea was yelling at me, and I started to become uneasy.

“I’m not leaving until you let me explain, Drea,” I interrupted.

She glared at me, and didn’t say anything.

“I came to apologize about the book signing. We didn’t mean for that to happen, and it wasn’t Fallon’s fault. I’m the one who started it.”

“I’m not talking about the book signing. We’ve moved past that, and we are never talking about that day again! I know about your little outburst at Reid’s ! Fallon is my family, Mackenzie! What were you thinking? You have the world’s biggest lady balls to show your face in my store after that!”

“I tripped.” I shrugged. “Why does everyone keep making a big deal about that? She forgave me—why can’t you?”

“I don’t give a shit if she forgave you or not! And what about your ‘baby girl’? I suppose you’re going to tell me she tripped and landed on the sink? You clearly had no issue disrespecting her date while you fucked her in the restroom—on top of saying that to Cara?! What is wrong with you? Neither of them deserved that!”

“She told you what happened?” I winced. I was so embarrassed. I regretted everything about that night—well, everything involving Cara, anyway.

I sighed. “Look, it was really shitty of me, okay? I apologized, and we talked it out. Well, she yelled, and then we talked. I didn’t mean any of it, and she knows that. Things just got out of hand that night. I’m really sorry, Drea.”

She glared at me. “Of course, she told me—all of it. She called me in tears, Mackenzie! She may like you, but I sure as hell don’t. My best friend calls me crying, and you think I’m just going to let that slide? You’re lucky I promised her I wouldn’t strangle the shit out of you! Honestly, Mackenzie, what the hell were you thinking?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking! Maybe I was thinking about how it made me physically sick to see her out with someone else, to watch her kiss someone else. Maybe I was thinking that I’m so damn crazy about her it makes my head spin. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking at all—I can never think when I look at her! I guess I tried to push her away, only to realize I’m the one who can’t stay away, the one who doesn’t want to stay away! Or maybe I was thinking that I’m so insanely in lo—” I stopped, the weight of the truth hitting me like a freight train. I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.

I wasn’t in love with Fallon...who was I kidding? Of course I was. My world didn’t make sense if she wasn’t in it. God, I sounded pathetic.

She smirked. “How does it feel to tell the truth, Mackenzie? The whole fucking world knows how you two feel about each other, but for some reason, you can’t admit it.”

“Listen, I’m scared, but I’m trying. I got jealous seeing her with Cara, and I was more angry with myself for the way I reacted. I’ve been hurt before, and I’m so damn scared. I can’t go through it again, but I can’t seem to stay away from her.”

“We all have fucked-up pasts, Fallon included. Her ex really altered her in a negative way, and she’s finally coming back from that hurt. And I really hate to admit it, but I think part of that is because of you, despite what happened at Reid’s . I’ve never seen her look at someone the way she looks at you. The way she talks about you makes it easy to see what her feelings are.”

I didn’t know a lot about her ex-girlfriend, just that she cheated on her and basically forced her to leave her old life behind. I didn’t know the woman, but I hoped for her sake that we never ran into one another.

“Look, Kenzie, I can see you really care for her. I see it in the way you look at her, how you light up when you talk about her, and I can see it in how you risked your life to come here. I still can’t forgive you for what you did, not yet, but please promise me you won’t hurt her. If you hurt her again, I can assure you, you will regret it. She is my family, and I can’t stand seeing her upset.”

“You have nothing to worry about, trust me. The last thing I want to do is hurt her, Drea. She means more to me than I can admit.”

“Good.” She smiled slightly.

“Well, I’d better go, but I’ll see you around, Drea. And again, I’m really sorry about everything—the signing and?—”

“We are not talking about that, remember? But, yes, see you around.”

I waited until Fallon came over for dinner that night to tell her about my talk with Drea. I wanted to have the conversation in person.

“So, I had an interesting day today,” I said

“Oh yeah?” Fallon replied. She had made a delicious stir fry with a salad for our dinner.

I nodded. “Yeah. I went on a nice little walk and went into a cute little queer bookstore.”

She froze. “Really?” she asked, not making eye contact.

“Yup, I sure did. I wanted to apologize to my beautiful girlfriend’s best friend for the book signing incident, and she had some interesting things to say.”

Fallon looked up slowly. “Um…”

“You told her what happened at Reid’s ? Fallon, seriously?”

“She’s my best friend, and I was upset—for a good reason, might I remind you. Look, I’m sorry. I told her we worked it out.”

“I know, you did have a good reason, but I’m not so sure she believed you.”

“Why wouldn’t she?” She frowned.

“Because she yelled at me, babe! She’s scary!”

She laughed. “Yeah, she really is, but she means well. I’m sorry.”

She caressed my face and I smiled, folding my hands over hers. That one touch could’ve made anything better.

“I’m not, I definitely deserved it.”

She kissed my cheeks, and when she went to pull away, I grabbed her face and kissed her sweetly. “All better?” she whispered.

“Definitely,” I answered and kissed her nose.

“So, is she still mad?” She winced. “I really did tell her everything was okay.”

I laughed. “After she tried to kick me out, we talked, and I think I might be allowed back there. But to be safe, I’m going to maybe give up reading for a while. She also told me you called her crying? Harper said the same thing when you left the bar.”

She looked down at her plate. “Oh, um… yeah, kind of?”

I grabbed her chin, tilting it up to me, and kissed her so she could feel the truth in my words. “I am so sorry I made you feel any kind of sadness. Those beautiful eyes weren’t made to shed a single tear.”

She cleared her throat. “So, what else did she say?”

“Well, she asked what the hell is wrong with me, which seems to be a popular question among both of our friend groups.” I laughed.

“I’m sitting on the edge of my seat. What did you tell her?”

“I told her that I’m so damn crazy about this woman, and how I got jealous because I want to be the only one who can touch her or kiss her.” I leaned in to kiss her and show her exactly how crazy I was about her.