Page 8

Chapter Eight

MACKENZIE

Cheers to the fucking weekend! The past week had gone by in a blur. After the penguin incident at work, everything stayed in its place. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about things outside of work.

That’s why alcohol was invented—to forget about the bad parts of life—at least for a few hours. Tonight, I was meeting Harper and her husband, Grant, to do just that.

We were meeting at Queer Quarters , one of my favorite bars. I might have been a little biased, since my best friend, Rylee, was one of the bartenders. She worked there some nights and spent her days as a barista at Brewed Awakening . On top of that, she ran her own photography business, Lens and Light Photography .

“Hey, Kenzie!” Rylee shouted from across the bar.

The bar was pretty packed, as it usually was on a Friday night, but she still made time to acknowledge everyone she knew.

“Hey!” I shouted as I slid onto an empty barstool. Rylee was finishing up with a customer when she spotted me.

When she came over, she poured a tequila shot and slid it toward me. “On the house, hun,” she said with a grin.

“Thanks, Ry. I really needed this.” I smiled and knocked it back. “Jesus, I’ll never get used to the burn!” I all but gagged at the taste of liquid needles sliding down my throat.

She shook her head. “Hey, uhh… I saw you talking to Fallon at the coffee shop the other morning. I didn’t get a chance to ask because you left, but do you know her?” She was pouring a whiskey shot for another customer.

I groaned. “Oh, yeah, she’s my new neighbor. We don’t get along, but how do you know her?” I paused. “Wait, don’t answer that. We were at a coffee shop where you work, of course you know her. You’re the friendliest person I know.” I rolled my eyes at myself, embarrassed.

She laughed as she walked over to my side of the bar and refilled my empty shot glass. “She comes in almost every morning and orders the same iced coffee. I always give her a little extra espresso. She is the sweetest. How do you not get along with her?”

I scoffed. “To you, maybe. But according to her—several times, to be exact—I’m a bitch.” I shook my head and took the shot Rylee had poured.

I needed everyone to stop bringing her up. I’d done a great job ignoring her all week after the coffee incident.

“I mean…” she said, and I glared. “Kidding. Well, sometimes you can be a little harsh, but what happened?”

I sighed. “The first night we met, I guess I was kind of being a bitch, but I was tipsy, okay? Anyway, it’s been a little rocky ever since.”

“Hey, sis!” Thankfully, Harper came up and threw her arms around me, interrupting the tense conversation I didn’t want to be having. “Hey, Ryl.”

Rylee looked at me like she knew I had just gotten lucky. She could be as stubborn as Harper when it came to getting information out of someone.

“Hey, Harper. Hey, Grant!” Rylee greeted them with the same warm expression she always wore.

Grant grinned widely. “Hey, Rylee, nice to see you. Hey, little sister,” he said, giving me a tight hug.

“Okay, okay. Jesus, I can’t breathe, Grant.”

Harper smacked his arm. “Honey, I think she knows you missed her. Let her go, please.”

He laughed and finally let go. They took the stools next to me and ordered drinks while we talked and laughed for a while.

I had to force down tears a few times. I sat there smiling, but behind that smile was an overwhelming sadness that threatened to consume me.

I was grateful for how my life was going and for all the people in it, but I was especially grateful for Harper. After our mom died, she was all I had. She kept me standing when all I wanted to do was crumble into the earth.

There were days when I didn’t want to leave my bed, but I always made sure to talk to Harper—even if it was about something as mundane as what we were having for dinner. I needed to know she was still there.

I honestly don’t know where I would’ve ended up if she had decided to side with our parents that night.

By the time I left my sister and Grant at the bar, it was a little after ten. I loved seeing my family, but I was tired and ready to go home.

Literally running into Fallon had set the whole week off. I was already running late and in a shitty mood that morning, and I may have snapped.

Okay, I did snap. It was just that every single time I saw Fallon, I didn’t know what it was about her—the awkward walks down the hall, the elevator rides. You could’ve cut the tension with a knife.

The past few weeks had been a nightmare. I’d seen her almost every day, whether I was taking out the trash or coming home. I honestly tried to ignore her. And some days I succeeded. But some days I couldn’t help it. I made jokes when I was uncomfortable, and standing in awkward silences made me uncomfortable—not to mention she looked so damn cute when she was mad.

But then I’d get mad too, like when she ran me down. I was already in a horrible mood, and I flew off the handle. I felt bad for insulting her again—that time, I really was being an asshole.

Okay, maybe the other times I was too. I wanted to apologize again a few other times, but I stopped myself each time. She didn’t want my apology; she made that perfectly clear, and I couldn’t exactly blame her.

I was grateful when I came home and didn’t run into her. I wanted one day without seeing her or bickering with her—one day without all these thoughts of her running through my mind.

I got on the elevator and let out a breath of relief when I saw it was empty. Just before the doors could close, a hand slipped through, stopping them and making them slide open again.

A voice came through on the other end, asking me to hold the elevator, and as the doors fully opened, I tensed.

Fallon.

Neither of us spoke, but her stunned expression spoke volumes, and it said the same thing as mine: Shit.

The doors shut, and I turned to face her. I was having a nice night and wanted it to end that way. I kept thinking about what Harper said, and I knew I was going to regret saying anything, but I just…

I cleared my throat. “Uh, hi.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised when she didn’t answer, so I waited a few seconds before calling her again.

“Fallon?”

She didn’t respond or even look in my direction.

“Hello? Fallon?” I waved my hand, as if I thought she couldn’t see me.

When she still didn’t answer, I sighed. “You can’t ignore me forever. As much as I’m sure you’d love to, we see each other too much, and I’m very hard to ignore.”

She scoffed. “Sure I can, and yes, we do. Way too much.”

I laughed. “Oh, come on. You know you love running into me. I bet it brightens up your day.”

She turned to me and scowled. “Oh, please, Mackenzie.”

For some reason, I really liked the way she said my name, even though I shouldn’t have. “Oh, so she’s a beggar?”

She rolled her eyes and turned away. “Look, I’m sorry, I’m just trying to lighten the mood,” I said.

But of course, she stood staring at her phone as if I had never said anything at all.

“Okay, fine.” I threw my hands in the air and let it go.

We rode the rest of the way in silence. We were almost to our floor when?—

“Oh, shit,” she said, holding on to the railing as the elevator lights flickered and it came to a screeching halt.

“Well, isn’t this perfect?” I muttered as I walked over to the phone. It rang a few times, and I spoke with the person on the other end when they finally answered. “Hi, yes, my name is Mackenzie. We’re stuck in the elevator on the fourth floor. Okay, thank you.” I hung up and turned back to Fallon.

“He said someone should be up shortly—about thirty minutes at the most.”

“Great,” she replied dryly.

Of all the people to be stuck on an elevator with, it just had to be the most beautiful, infuriating woman. Just. My. Luck.

We sat there in silence for a good ten minutes. Fallon sat in one corner, and I sat in the other. We both had our knees pressed to our chests, and our hands wrapped around our legs. She had her head in her lap, I had mine tilted back against the wall with my eyes closed.

The only sounds in the elevator were our breathing and the thoughts cycling through my head. The silence was killing me.

I was about to say something when Fallon spoke first. “This has been the worst week ever!” She threw her head back against the wall, closing her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” I wasn’t only talking about the elevator.

She turned her head toward me and scoffed. “Oh yeah, I’m sure you are. This is your fault, anyway.”

I frowned. “How exactly is it my fault? Yeah, I totally broke the elevator on purpose just so I could be stuck in here with you.”

“I wasn’t talking about the elevator, smart-ass! I was talking about my shitty life this whole week.”

I chuckled. “So you’re an ass woman, noted. But please, enlighten me—how is your shitty life my fault?”

“Because it was just fine until I met you!” she snapped. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I’ve been looking forward to moving here since I was a kid. I finally got the courage after a really bad breakup, and all I wanted was to celebrate with people I care about, but no, that was just too much to ask for.”

She stood up at this point, fully prepared to let me have it, and I was going to let her give it to me?—

“Then, after only a few weeks of moving in, some pretty, angry loner?—”

“You think I’m pretty?” I asked, grinning widely.

She rolled her eyes and continued. “Who doesn’t even know me, decided to ruin it and insult me. You use every chance you get to insult me.”

I raised an eyebrow at her, but she didn’t stop.

“On top of that, you make it impossibly tense every time I leave the house. I try my best to avoid you or ignore you, but we always end up bickering. And for what, Mackenzie? What is the point? Why does my presence piss you off so much? Either attempt to be nice, or at least civil, or fuck off, because, frankly, I’m over it!”

I stood up and walked over to her. She was in the middle of the elevator, and I stopped a few feet away.

“Have you been holding that in a while?” I asked. Her only response was a scowl, so I kept going. “Is it my turn now? Or do you want to keep running that pretty little mouth?”

She raised her eyebrows in what looked like a challenge.

“Good. First, you have some nerve. In case you forgot, I tried to apologize. We both drank too much, and neither of us handled it well. Things got out of hand, and I tried to make things right, but you wouldn’t even hear me out.” I took a deep breath before continuing, as she stood there without a word.

“Second, we live across the hall from each other, Fallon—or did you forget? Too busy getting plastered and running people down in the hallway? As much as I would love nothing more than to avoid you, it’s just not possible. Your ‘presence’ pisses me off because, as much as I want to ignore you, I can’t. Even when you’re not around.”

Her brows knit in confusion, but I kept going, not elaborating on that last part.

At this point, I was talking just a little bit louder, and her face was turning red, but the words were spilling out. It was like a waterfall, and I couldn’t stop it. All the anger and frustration that had built up—I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t know who I was more angry with.

Was I angry at her for yelling at me? For coming into my life and messing up my peace? For taking over my thoughts and making me crazy? For being so beautiful it physically hurt? For having a voice that made my insides knot every time I heard it? For having a sassy-ass mouth I wanted to taste? For being so infuriating?

Or was I more angry at myself for acting out of drunken anger and insulting her? For being in a pissy mood and lashing out at her, even after she apologized? For being a total bitch? Or for having all of these thoughts and not being able to do a damn thing about them, even if I wanted to?

I stepped a little closer so that we were connected toe to toe. “As far as being nice, you don’t deserve my nice . Frankly, sweetie, you don’t deserve an ounce of my anything. I’m not the reason for your shitty life—that’s all on you. Maybe if you got your head out of your own ass, your friends wouldn’t need to drink just to be around you. Maybe, if you partied a little less and actually did something useful, your life would be a little better.” Shit. The words came out before I could stop them.

Fallon’s eyes turned hazy and tears swelled up behind them.

I opened my mouth, about to apologize, but closed it. It was too late to take it back, and I doubted she’d want to hear anything else from me.

She was silent for a long while, and I could see in the way her jaw ticked that I hit a nerve.

“Fallon, I?—”

“I hope you feel better about yourself, Mackenzie. Screw you.” It was barely above a whisper, but the impact of her words reverberated against the elevator walls like a scream.

I didn’t feel better, and honestly, I had no idea why I said any of it. She just infuriated me, and it wasn’t only the music. I didn’t care about the party. That night, I was tired and irritated because I just wanted peace, but after that?

I didn’t want to have any feelings or thoughts about her. I didn’t want to find any part of her sexy, especially not those freckles—or the way her eyes got darker when she was angry. What was it about those damn freckles that made all my thoughts disappear?

I blame it on the elevator. Being trapped in tight spaces can mess with your brain. Not to mention, she kept going off on me. My fight-or-flight senses kicked in, and in that moment, I chose to fight.

I was really trying to fight this feeling, hoping if I kept my distance, it would make things easier, but it seemed to be making things worse.

I didn’t want to make her cry, though. That wasn’t part of the plan. I just didn’t want to get too close or too friendly. I could never get too close to anyone again—not after the last time.

But it was inevitable. All the tension built up over these past few weeks—I guess neither of us could take it, and it took being trapped in a tight space to let it all come crashing out.

Still, aside from the anger, I felt heat swimming within me, and I couldn’t tell if it was the closed space or the fact that I was stuck with this woman I’d really upset. I also felt a little bad. Okay, really bad. I definitely shouldn’t have said any of that. I didn’t know why I even cared. Maybe I should’ve apologized, but I knew she wouldn’t want to hear it.

She silently looked at me for a moment. Her arms seemed to flex at her side, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she was thinking about slapping me.

There was something in her eyes that I couldn’t quite figure out. Did she have more to say? Was she actually going to slap me? Would I deserve it? It was taking everything I had not to grab her and kiss her— Where did that thought come from?

I just royally pissed her off. Kissing was not on her to-do list, and it shouldn’t have been on mine either. It wasn’t on mine, and I needed to get the hell out of that elevator.

Fallon and I weren’t meant to be anything more than neighbors, that much was made clear.

Still, I wished I knew what she was thinking, or even what I was thinking. All I knew was that I fucked up, and for some reason, I didn’t feel good about it.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if debating what to say, and a single tear slid down her cheek before she turned away and walked toward her corner of the elevator. She sat back down, knees drawn to her chest, and angled herself toward the elevator walls. She turned to stare at them, not moving again.

I stood there for a few minutes, about to return to my corner, when the phone rang. I picked it up after the third ring and let out a long sigh before answering. “Hello?” I said. “Oh, okay, and how long will that take? Thank you.”

I went to sit in my corner, laying my head back against the wall. “Well, they said it’ll be another forty-five minutes to an hour. Something about getting a part they don’t have here. I don’t know.”

She didn’t even turn when she responded. “Great.” It came out soft and sad.

We sat in silence for what felt like days.

Finally, I managed to find my voice and cleared my throat. I couldn’t stand the silence anymore, and the guilt gnawed at me. “Fallon?” I said, but she didn’t look at me.

“Fallon?” Nothing.

I sighed. “Okay, I know you probably won’t believe me, and you have every right not to, but I’m really sorry. It’s just…” I wasn’t sure anything I said could’ve made it better.

She slowly turned to face me, her voice barely a whisper. “You’re right, I don’t believe you.” Then, without another word, she turned back around.

“It was a dick move and I shouldn’t have said any of that.”

She looked over to me and shifted a little, a small smile playing on her lips. I wanted to rip the doors open and run out of there. That smile was more dangerous than anything else I could’ve imagined.

“Yeah, it was a dick move, and no, you shouldn’t have, but you did. You might think you do, but you don’t know me at all.”

“I know, and I know I can’t take it back, but I really am sorry.”

We looked at each other for a few minutes. I opened my mouth to speak when the elevator doors opened.

“Listen, Fallon?—”

“Oh, thank God!” Fallon jumped up and ran out the door. I stayed back for a second, giving her time to get home. I didn’t have it in me to have another minute of awkward silence.