The Line Drive

twenty-nine

Mackenzie

I thoroughly enjoy breakfast with Henry and Jadyn on Saturday. Apparently deciding that I'm cool enough to hang out with the following day, Henry invites me to mini-golf on Sunday. Noah bails on mini-golf, so it's just me, Dane, Henry, and Jadyn. I can't help but feel like it's a double date. I try to push the thought out of my head, but it seems to want to stay there, rent-free.

We're halfway through the course and Jadyn is kicking all of our asses. Henry looks pissed, Dane looks amused. I'm somewhere in between those two emotions, annoyed but enjoying myself.

"You're cheating!" Henry tells Jadyn.

"Babe, I'm just good at mini-golf."

"Cheater." Henry declares. 

"You're a sore loser." Dane tells Henry.

"You're supposed to be on my side." Henry whirls on Dane to snap at him. Dane holds up his hands. 

"Sorry, bro." Dane turns away and I can see that he's smiling. He winks at me as he putts and hits Henry's ball further away from the hole. I can see Henry's face turning red. 

"Dane!" 

Jadyn reaches out to give Dane a fist bump. 

"You two are colluding!" Henry declares. "You suck."

"Did you learn that insult in middle school?" Dane asks. 

"Fuck you." Henry mutters.

"That's a bad word." Dane chuckles and I smile as I putt and make it in. I've finally hit par on this hole. 

"How come you aren't picking on Mackenzie?" Henry asks.

"Because Mackenzie is my tutor and if she gets mad she can withhold her help, which I desperately need." Dane tells him. I blush. 

"Humph." 

We continue through the course, and the bickering continues. I'm honestly not sure that Henry is going to keep his offer to take us out for dinner, but he does. Noah rejoins us for dinner. 

We get pizza, and I find that I really enjoy watching all the boys interact. When we finish, Henry and Jadyn both hug me goodbye. I'm oddly touched by this gesture. 

In the car, Dane is quiet. "You alright?" I ask. We're almost back to my house and the whole car ride has been silent. Dane's not even playing the radio. 

"Yeah, just thinking. Sorry." He glances over and gives me a small smile. "What did you think of Henry and Jadyn?"

"I liked them." I tell him honestly. 

"Good. I hope they weren't too much."

"Definitely not." 

We pull up in front of my house and I unbuckle my seatbelt. The dumb part of me is fired up and is feeling close to Dane and I want to lean in and kiss him, but I don't. 

"Goodnight, Mackenzie." He unlocks the doors.

"Goodnight, Dane." He leans forward slightly and I can feel my heart beat quicken ever so slightly. Is he going to kiss me? 

But he doesn't. Instead he gives me an awkward hug across the center console. I give him a one-armed hug back. 

"Thanks for doing this for me."

"You're welcome." 

And then I get out of the car as quick as possible, because I can't believe that I though Dane fucking Sawyer was going to kiss me. He's hot and a baseball player and clearly not interested in me. I'm his tutor and he just wanted a non-baseball friend to meet his brother. I was convenient. 

I repeat these thoughts to myself as I walk up to the house. 

It turns out that my house has turned into a shitshow since I'd left at lunchtime. Penny is still absent but Hannah and Kate are in the kitchen and they are upset.  

"What the fuck is your problem, Kate? You can't fucking talk to me about your god damn problems? We can't just talk about this like adults?" This is the first sentence I hear when I walk in.

"I don't know why you're yelling." Kate says defensively.

"Because you've been ignoring me." Hannah snaps.

I shut the door as quietly as possible and just stand there, listening. 

"Yeah, because you're a dick." Kate tells her. Oh boy. "All I wanted was to give my girlfriend a fucking key."

"She's your girlfriend now? You've known her for like two fucking weeks."

"Yes. And I love her. And I want to be with her."

"Are you some dopey lovesick teenager, Kate? This is not you. Be rational."

"Be rational? I'm in love, Hannah! Why can't you understand that?"

"I understand you have strong feelings. I just wish that it hadn't involved giving a stranger a key to our house."

"She's not a stranger!"

"She's a stranger to me, Kate! That's the problem. I don't know her and now I can come home at anytime and she could be here. It doesn't feel like my house anymore!"

"You're being dramatic." Kate says.

"Really? That's what you're going to say to that?"

"Arguing with you is pointless. You're going to be upset no matter what."

"I wouldn't be upset if you would just take the key back from her." Hannah's voice is rising in pitch. I know that I probably should step in, but I don't want to. 

"That's not an option." Kate's voice is clipped, and then I hear her walk away and slam her door. Hannah let's out a loud sigh and I hear her turn on the faucet. I tiptoe through to my room and shut the door quietly behind me, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in my own house.