Mackenzie

Hannah basically drags me inside the baseball house and then disappears into a crowd. I glance around, looking for Dane, but don't see him. Not knowing where to go, I make my way into the kitchen where Noah is grabbing beers from the pantry and sticking them into the fridge. He gets a big smile on his face when he sees me, and immediately ropes me into a conversation about Professor Harris and all the shit he pulls.

My conversation with Noah is shockingly enjoyable, and he introduces me to several baseball players as they walk past. The only ones I remember are Grant and Kingsley, because both of them stop to actually shake my hand. Grant gives me elevator eyes, which makes me mildly uncomfortable, and Noah shoves him away.

Noah and I have been talking for what seems like quite a long time when I see Edwin across the room. He's just walked into my line of site, and he immediately makes eye contact with me. I look down alarmed, because Edwin is the last fucking person I want to see right now.

Hannah, suddenly reappearing and being the best roommate ever, makes a beeline for him, but I know that she'll have only so much luck before he inevitably makes his way over here.

Noah clearly picks up on my facial expression, because he glances over his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"My ex." I hiss.

"That guy?" Noah eyes Edwin. "Mack, you can do better."

"That's what Dane said." I agree frantically.

"I'll help you if you agree that you can do better."

"Yes! I can do better!" I say quickly. "Obviously I know that. I broke up with him!"

"In you go." Noah opens the pantry for me.

"The pantry?" I say frantically.

"Hope you're not claustrophobic." He ushers me inside and shuts the door. I'm not claustrophobic, but I'm not exactly fond of being in a small pantry either. It's kind of stuffy. I hear Noah lean against the door.

"Where is Mackenzie?" Edwin's demanding voice cuts through the door.

"I don't know anyone by that name." Noah says smoothly.

"I saw you talking to her!" Edwin says.

"Nope."

"Well where does this door lead? Did she go somewhere?"

"This is our pantry." Noah says patiently. "I don't think someone is hiding in there."

"Let me look."

"Nope." Noah laughs. "I'm not giving into your crazy desires to look in our pantry. It's not very exciting. Mostly chips and protein powder and and beer." He's not wrong, that is the majority of what I'm looking at.

"What's going on here?" I hear Dane say. I blush. Of course he had to join in on this.

"I'm looking for my girlfriend." Edwin says. I have half a mind to open the door and yell that I am not his girlfriend.

"Ex." I hear Noah and Hannah say simultaneously.

"She doesn't want to see you, Edwin." Hannah says calmly.

"She's ignoring my texts!" Edwin sounds indignant.

"Yes, because she doesn't want to talk to you either." Hannah agrees.

"I know she's in there."

"She's not." Noah says calmly.

"We wouldn't hide Mackenzie in a pantry." Hannah laughs. I'm pretty sure that this qualifies as gaslighting, but I can't bring myself to care.

"You should probably go." Dane tells him.

"Fine." I hear Edwin sigh.

"Fuck." Dane says. "Amy's here."

"In you go." Noah opens the pantry and before I can leave, he shoves Dane in with me. I'm forced to step back and now it's the two of us standing in the fairly cramped space. The door shuts behind us.

"Hey." Dane whispers. "Want a beer?"

"Sure." I murmur back and take the beer that is shoved into my hands. "I thought Amy was your girlfriend. Why are you avoiding her?" My voice is barely above a whisper.

"She's my ex-girlfriend." Dane mutters. "And I'm avoiding her because she's a psycho and fucked my roommate." I'm shocked, but am quickly distracted by Amy arriving.

"Where's Dane?" She asks Noah.

"He's not here right now. Can I take a message?" Noah replies.

"I just saw him. Where is he?"

"Not here." Noah repeats. Hannah laughs.

"What are you laughing at, bitch?" I reach for the handle, ready to tell off Amy for calling my roommate a bitch. Dane grabs my hand and pulls it back. When I look at him, he shakes his head.

"You seem sort of desperate." Hannah says, clearly unfazed at being called a bitch. "Is everything okay with you?"

"Get out of my way. I know he went through that door." Amy snaps.

"That's the pantry, sweetheart." Hannah tells her. "No one is in there."

"Someone is in there!" Edwin has returned. "Are they hiding someone from you too?"

"Ew." Amy says. "Don't talk to me." I almost feel bad for Edwin, but I can't help the laughter that's trying to come out when she says this to him. Amy sounds truly disgusted, as if talking to Edwin is beneath her. Dane also looks like he's stifling a laugh and the two of us have to look away from each other to avoid laughing out loud.

"My girlfriend is in there." Edwin tells her, clearly not heading her warning.

"Well my boyfriend is in there."

"Ex." Hannah and Noah say together again. I wonder how long it will take them to get together, clearly they are on the same wavelength.

"Also, no one is in there." Noah says. "Hiding someone in the pantry would be pretty stupid."

"Plus, Mack is claustrophobic." Hannah lies straight through her teeth. Dane looks at me questioningly, and I roll my eyes and shake my head.

"She's lying." I mouth. Dane nods seriously. I'm struck by how close we are in this small pantry, and the really dumb part of me wants to grab Dane and kiss him. Another part of me thinks that Dane wouldn't want me if I did, and that's embarrassing. Still another part is worried that I'll be a bad kisser after not practicing for so long. And the final part feels like maybe Dane and I are becoming friends and I don't really want to ruin that.

"You're a lying asshole." Amy sneers.

"At least I'm not a cheating bitch." Noah's reply is immediate.

"I'm gonna go wait outside his room. He can't avoid me forever." Amy tells Noah. I bet Dane is really thankful that his door has a lock right now. Judging from his face, he's a mixture of relieved and concerned that now he can't get back into his room until Amy gives up.

"Sounds kind of stalker-y." Hannah tells her.

"Fuck off." We can hear the sound of Amy's heels on the floor as she walks off.

"Tell Mackenzie I want to talk to her." Edwin says.

"I won't." Hannah replies. "She doesn't want to talk to you."

"But--" Edwin begins.

"Let it go, bro." Noah sounds annoyed. "The girl broke up with you. For good reason, apparently."

"You're an asshole." Edwin tells Noah.

"So I hear." And I can tell that Noah is smiling. "Bye now."

Dane and I wait a couple of long moments, both of us drinking our beer. Finally, the door opens and Noah and Hannah peer in. "You two look cozy." Hannah says.

"Are we safe?" I ask instead of gracing her with a response to her statement.

"Yep." Noah looks between us. "But I think it might be best if you escape before either of your exes find you. They seem very persistent."

"Agreed." Dane says. "Come on, Mack."

"Thanks for the cover." I tell Noah and Hannah. They both nod and then look at each other and smile.

"Good luck." Hannah tells me. "Call me if you need me."

"Yeah." Dane reaches back and grabs my forearm and pulls me through the kitchen. His touch is shockingly warm.

"Dane!" Amy's voice cuts through the noise in the kitchen.

"Fuck. Step it up, Mack!" He yanks me through the kitchen and out the side door, where his car is sitting. He unlocks it and let's go of me. I stare at him for a moment, wondering if he's really going to just try to outrun his ex-girlfriend. "Are you coming? Or do you want me to leave you here for Edwin?"

"I'm coming." I dash around the car and hop in. Before I can buckle my seatbelt, Dane starts pulling out of the driveway. Once we're on the street, Dane seems to visibly relax. "Are you good to drive?"

"Yeah. That was my first beer." Dane looks at the can that I'm holding and at his beer can that's in the center console. "We need to get rid of those." He pulls over and I throw them into someone else's trash can, mentally apologizing as I do so.

"Where are we going?" I ask, realizing that Dane is clearly driving with a purpose in mind.

"Your place."

We live only four blocks apart, so it's not like it's a long drive. When we get there, I see Edwin's car parked in front of our house. I can't tell if he's in it or not. "That's Edwin's car." I tell Dane.

"Better duck." Dane laughs as I slouch as far as I can in my seat. We speed past Edwin's car, and I peer out the window enough to see that he's just sitting in his front seat. "Well, it's good to know that both of our exes are stalkers."

I can't help but laugh. The baseball party started early since they have to get up in the morning for practice, so it's only a little after 9.

"Want to get food?" Dane asks. The man is literally always hungry it seems like.

"Sure."

Dane drives us to a pizza place and we get a two-person booth. It's pretty crowded since it's a Friday night. I let Dane order a pizza, promising to only eat a slice of it.

"When did you break up with Edwin?" Dane asks me point blank.

"That day you asked me to tutor you." I say, blushing.

"What happened? You seemed defensive about him in the library when we met."

"He's just--" I motion my hand around, trying to find a polite way to say something about Edwin while also ending this conversation as fast as possible.

"Boring?" Dane suggests. I glare at him, even though he's spot on. I wish he didn't see through me so easily. "Am I wrong?"

"No." I mutter. "And what about you? Amy cheated on you?"

"Yeah. With Grant, my roommate. Repeatedly. I ended it before I even met you."

"But she pulled you out of the newspaper office like you were her boyfriend."

"She's like that." Dane mumbles.

"Hot though." I can't help myself. Amy is smoking hot and I'm a little bit jealous.

"Not hot enough to make up for being psycho." Dane tells me. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm a little relieved to hear him say this.

I end up eating three slices of pizza and when Dane pulls up to the house, Edwin is gone. We sit in the car for a moment and Dane is quiet. He seems uncomfortable. "Are you okay?"

"I'm glad Edwin gave up. But Amy is really psycho enough to sit outside of my door all night." He tells me.

"You can sleep in our living room. Or on my floor, I guess. I have a blow-up mattress."