The Line Drive

nine

Dane

Mackenzie is sitting outside of the library waiting for me. She's bent over some papers, scribbling away. I stop for a moment, just watching her. I've never seen someone look so focused. No one on the baseball team is ever focused on anything outside of baseball, and whenever we do get around to homework it's always together. 

I take a deep breath, wondering for the first time if this is actually a good idea. I find Mackenzie oddly cute, even though I wouldn't normally consider her my type. I hope that I'm able to stay focused, because I do actually want to learn from her. I mentally promise myself that I will just see her as a tutor, and possibly a friend. As if she can feel me watching her, she looks up and gives me a wave, shoving the papers back into her backpack.

"Hey, savior." I walk up to her. "I got the goods." I hold up the sandwich bags. 

She blushes, but gives me a small smile. "Thank God. I'm hungry." 

We find a spot in the library and I hand Mackenzie her sandwich. "I got three kinds of chips. Didn't know what you liked." I spread them out for her, and she plucks out the BBQ, leaving sea salt and vinegar and plain for me. BBQ are also my favorite, but I don't make a comment. 

"Ready to get started?"

"Straight to business." I tease her. She gives me a withering look. 

"You asked for my help." She reminds me. She's not wrong. I pull out my computer, and we get started. 

Mackenzie ends up having to explain to me a lot of concepts that I hadn't actually understood in the first three weeks of class. We're partially through my assignment when I glance at the clock and realize it's 8:30. I like to go to bed on the earlier side during the week since we have to get up early to lift for baseball. However, Mackenzie is really helpful and I don't want to give up time with her. 

Honestly, her explanations of things make so much more sense than my comp sci teacher's explanations. I wish Mackenzie was a TA for comp sci. 

"We can meet again tomorrow?" Mackenzie suggests, seeming to realize the time. "I think you're fairly close." Saying you seems pretty generous to me. She's walked me through almost the entire assignment. 

"Yeah. I only have one class tomorrow, and then practice at 2."

"I'm free after 11. If you want to meet before your practice."

"That would be great." I close my computer and watch as she packs up her things as well. "Are you heading home too?"

"Gotta get up early to go to the gym." 

"Tragically, Noah and I won't be there to cheer you on tomorrow." 

"I'm not upset about it." 

I give her a mock gasp. "I'm offended. You didn't like our support?"

"It felt more like a competition, if I'm being honest." She smiles. We start out of the library and end up walking together because we park in the same parking lot. 

Mackenzie actually seems interested in me and my classes, which is a welcome change instead of constantly talking about baseball. She's easy to talk to, and she asks me questions about comp sci and my biology classes. 

She seems surprised when I walk her to her car. It's dark and the parking lot is poorly lit. I honestly don't feel very comfortable with her being in it by herself. "Scared I'm going to get murdered?" She laughs.

"It would just be really fast to have to replace my tutor." I tell her as she hops in her car. 

"I am really good at tutoring." She gives me a look that I can't quite decipher, but then smiles again. "Goodnight, Dane. Drive safe."

"Goodnight, Mackenzie." 

"You can call me Mack." With that she shuts her door. 

When I get home, Noah and Kingsley are sitting at our kitchen bar. There are papers strewn across the bar as they work on homework together. They glance up at me as I walk in. I can tell I'm going to be interrogated as soon as Noah takes a breath. 

"How was your first tutoring session?" Noah asks. 

"Good." 

"You're getting tutored?" Kingsley asks. "In what?"

"Comp sci." I tell him.

"By who?" Kingsley again.

"Mackenzie Brooks." Noah tells him. Kingsley shakes his head, clearly not knowing who this is. "Cute. Junior. Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. Probably smarter than all of us put together." Noah says. 

"Sounds like you have a crush on her." Kingsley tells him.

"I don't." Noah says. "I just think she's smart." I don't miss the meaning of his words though. He thinks that I have a crush on her. I've known her for less than a week. Developing a crush on her would be inconvenient at best. At worst, it would distract me from baseball and jeopardize my future career.

"You gonna hit that?" Kingsley asks me.

"No. And she's off limits to the whole house. The whole baseball team, for that matter." I tell him. I don't need them fucking with Mackenzie. I don't think that the baseball guys are exactly the best in stable relationships in general. Mackenzie seems like she's too nice to be dating any of us. And she's definitely too nice for the one-night stands that most of the baseball team would offer her.

"Does that mean she's off limits to you too?" Noah asks me, a sly smile on his face.

"Yes." I say firmly. I can tell that Noah does not believe me in the slightest. "I just want her help to not fail." 

With that, I walk out of the kitchen.