“I’m not angry aboutme.” I pulled on my hair, hating how my words wouldn’t form the sentences I needed to communicate this. All these thoughts and emotions all tangled together, and it sucked. “This is hard to say, and I don’t know the words. Just… Mackenzie, I think you’re great. If we weren’t who we were, with our senior seasons on our shoulders, with Lo between us, I would want tobe with you,but we know we can’t. We are in the same league. You are … anyone would be lucky to be with you. That’s why this summer is so awesome—is because ofyou.”
I crouched down, heart racing, desperately needing her to understand how important she was to me. She’d helped me get over Jessica. She made me laugh and find joy, got me to talk about feelings more than surface level. She waseverything.
“Hey.”
A soft voice appeared next to me, like she kneeled by me.
“I have an idea.”
“What?” I snapped, regretting it. She was right there, freckles and scrunched nose and patient eyes. “Sorry. I’m… what’s your idea?”
“I say we go to the store and get more colors. I want to be a rainbow. Want to come with me?”
“Why are you being nice to me right now? I’m a jackass.”
“Because I lied earlier.” She smirked, her eyes getting that mischief sparkle again, like she enjoyed razzing me.
“About what?” I stood, wanting to learn the reason behind her smirk. “Are you a little liar, Mallinson?”
She nodded, biting her lip to prevent herself from smiling. “The crush never went away. I still very much have a huge crush on you.”
The physical affect her words had on me was intense. My whole stomach flipped over, like I went down a hill too fast in a car, and my heart slammed against my ribcage over and over.She likes me. She likes me. She likes me.
My mouth dried up, and my palms sweated. My chest ached, like she removed a part of my soul with those words. All because she said she had a crush on me. She stared at me, her brows furrowing with the long silence, but she had to know those words rocked me.
She saw me be vulnerable. She saw me talk about things that made me weak. I shared parts of myself with her that I hadn’t with anyone else, and shestill had a crush on medespite the bad.
“Hey, if it isn’t clear, my crush has nothing to do with the fact you can throw a football a decent distance. American football isn’t as cool as European soccer, but it’s fine, I guess.”
My lip twitched, and I had to change the subject, or I was gonna propose to her. I believed her when she said she didn’t care about football, and fuck, if that wasn’t the hottest thing ever. “Okay, let’s make a rainbow.”
“No other comment?”
“Other than that, I fucking have a huge ass crush on you too?” I pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. “Yeah, you made my day, Mack. Now let’s get more colors because I’m not doing booger green.”
“But Lo—”
“No booger green. That’s where I draw the line. Now, let’s get this weird UFO hat off your head and buy more. My treat.”
“Settle down, or I’ll fall for you more with this sweet-talking.”
“That’s the plan.”
I had it bad for Mack. There was no other way about it. I had no idea what the fuck I was gonna do at the end of summer because one thing was certain—I was addicted to this girl.
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Mack
Tattoos were never my dream. I loved seeing ink on other people, but the thought of a needle touching my skin made me shiver. The loud buzz, the smell of cleaner… the pain. I gulped. The parlor’s walls were covered with photos of ink, and loud rap music blared from the speakers. This was it. The damned list.
“What are we getting, ladies?” Callum put his arm around me and Lo, his fresh cologne a welcome scent compared to the cleaner. He ran a hand down my arm, squeezing. “You nervous, Mack?”
“She hates needles.” Lo smirked. “This list is about getting outside of her comfort zone and to live a little.”
“I’m living. I’m uncomfortable.”
