The Line Drive

twenty-one

Mackenzie

We get tacos for dinner. Somehow, we come to a silent agreement to not talk about school, and so dinner is filled with interesting anecdotes about Dane's team mates, mostly Noah. He tells me about all the stuff they did freshman year, and I find that I'm glad that I didn't live in their dorm. 

Apparently, Noah and Dane left pumpkins in the stairwell of their dorm for a month after Halloween and the pumpkins rotted and they couldn't get the smell out for the rest of the year. This story makes me laugh, which seems to please Dane. 

I tell him about how I met my current roommates, and then when he asks, I tell him how I chose my college and major. 

Dinner passes surprisingly quickly and I'm sad when we finish eating and walk back to the car. I know that I'm just Dane's tutor, but as we walk back to my car in the sunset, I find myself wishing that I had dated Dane instead of Edwin. It certainly would have been more interesting. It was nice to talk to someone who seemed to have an interest in me, and who made me laugh. 

I drive Dane home and luckily our car ride isn't ruined by his father calling again. Instead, it's quiet, and I can feel exhaustion setting into my bones. I'd spent nearly ten hours at school finishing up the newspaper layout and my eyes hurt. 

When he steps out of the car he says goodnight with a smile and promises to meet me at the library the next day. Every interaction that I have with Dane makes me feel closer to him. 

At home, Kate and Lea are laying on the couch making out. Hannah is sitting at the table with a deck of cards and when she sees me her face lights up. "Mack!" 

"Hey." I reply, trying not to fall asleep on my feet. 

"Are you up for a round of Euchre?" 

"One round." I stare at Hannah, who nods seriously. I know that she's going to try to convince me to at least play a second round. 

"Hey, lovebirds!" Hannah snaps her fingers a couple of times. Kate finally looks up at us. 

"What?"

"You said you'd play!" Hannah reminds her. 

"We will!" Lea says brightly and slides out from under Kate to join us at the table. Kate looks annoyed, but Lea looks happy as ever and sits herself down next to Hannah. Kate sits next to me, looking more than a little flustered. 

We make it through a couple of hands and then Lea gets a call so she steps outside. Kate has clearly been dreading this moment because I see her tense up as soon as Lea walks out of the room.

"So--" Hannah draws the word out to an unnecessary length. Kate blushes. "Lea is fun." 

"Yeah." Kate agrees, rather meekly I have to admit. 

"Very forward." Hannah observes.

"Yep."

"A lot of making out on our couch." 

"It's not my fault that you don't have anyone to make out with on the couch." Kate says defensively.

"Things are just moving really quickly." Hannah says. "Compared to the speed that Mack is taking it with Dane, which is the speed of a snail moving through molasses." 

"Dane and I aren't going anywhere." I chime in. "I'm tutoring him."

"Please keep telling people that. No one believes you." Hannah tells me. "You literally agreed to tutor him without knowing anything about him."

"I knew he was a baseball player." I say defensively.

"A cute baseball player." Hannah winks at me. I roll my eyes, ready for her to go back to giving Kate a hard time. "But Kate. I'm serious, don't you think you're moving really fast? We don't even know Lea and she's been over here every night for the past week."

"She came to movie night. You got to meet her then." Kate tells Hannah. "We're still getting to know each other. I don't get what the problem is." 

"The problem is that she's constantly here. Sometimes when none of us are here." Hannah mutters. "And she's so goddamn giggly. I can't focus in the fucking house anymore."

"I like her giggles." Kate is definitely on the defensive now, and it seems like she's getting pissed. I feel like maybe I've missed something with constantly being at school working on newspaper and homework. 

"I just don't trust her." Hannah says to Kate. I know Kate well enough to know that Kate is definitely offended at this point. 

"What's she going to do? Steal stuff?" 

"I don't know. But you gave her a fucking key and now I come home to someone I barely know in our house all the time." Now we're to the real issue. I hadn't known that Lea had been given a key, and I have to admit, it makes me uncomfortable too.

"You're being unreasonable." Kate huffs and then stalks out of the room. 

Hannah looks at me and sighs. "That went a lot better in my head." She admits to me.

"Lea has a key?" I ask.

"Yeah, Kate gave it to her on Monday." 

"Monday?" My voice is incredulous. "But-- Kate only introduced her to you and Penny on Sunday."

"I know." Hannah shoves her hair back from her face. "It's just really fast for some rando to have a key to our house."

"Yeah." I agree, knowing that saying that single word of agreement is probably going to come back to bite me in the ass. 

"I'm gonna go talk to my parents to see if there's a good way to handle this." Hannah tells me and then she leaves me sitting alone at our dining room table. 

I'm very confused by this situation that's happening in our house. I like Lea but I have to admit that it is weird that she has a key to our house. The most valuable thing I own is my laptop, and it's on my person basically at all times, so I'm not concerned about her stealing anything, but I'm not sure I really like the idea of a woman I barely know hanging out in our house without any of us either. 

My phone buzzes and I glance at it. It's Edwin. Again.

Mackenzie, I'm thinking of you again. I still want to talk.

His condescending voice when he'd discovered that I was drunk last weekend enters my mind and I immediately delete the notification. 

Deciding that I've had plenty of this weird evening, I leave the kitchen so that I can get ready for bed in the peace of my own room. 

My phone buzzes again, and because I can't help myself, I look at it. This time, it's Dane.

I owe you breakfast. What do you want tomorrow? 

My head is starting to really hurt, so I text Dane back my breakfast order and then I turn off my phone, lock my door, turn off my lights, and collapse into my bed where I don't have to think or do anything about the drama that is apparently coming to make its nest in my life.