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“Thanks, Marcus. Well, this is Mack, in case you didn’t get that far.” I don’t introduce him as my best friend’s brother like I would have in the past. Part of me doesn’t want to see him that way anymore.
“Nice to meet you, Mack.” He reaches to shake his hand. Mack does the same, as realization hits him Dean must be the guy who wrecked me.
“Yeah, you too.”
“You look much happier than the last time I saw you, Maci. I’m really glad. I’ll see you around?”
I nod, leaning into another hug before he walks off with his bourbon.
By the time the bars closed last night, we were all far too drunk off love and tequila shots to organize the sleeping situation and a bunch of Ubers going to different places. The four of us ended up going back to mine and Avery’s apartment since it’s closer than Miller’s. The second we walked in the door, Avery and Miller stumbled into her room, with their lips and eyes locked on each other the entire way.
“Gross,” Mack had commented with a laugh. He slept on the couch, even though I offered to let him share my bed so he could be more comfortable. He did come into my room after I brushed my teeth and was climbing under the sheets. He pulled my purple comforter over my shoulders and whispered something about having a great day with me, kissing me softly on the forehead before heading out to the couch. It was sweet. I had a great day with him too.
The sun shining through my window woke me. Not long after, Avery came into my room, flopping herself onto my bed hard enough I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep if I tried. Now we are whispering random comments to each other as we lie under my blankets, scrolling social media, waiting for the guys to wake. I’m half listening to whatever she’s rambling about, and half paying attention to my Instagram feed as I scroll aimlessly. My thumb freezes on the screen when I see a picture of Dean holding a surfboard on the beach, and my heart instantly does that weird thing that happens when you take a big drop on a roller coaster. I haven’t thought about him much this weekend, so it was more of a gut punch than I expected. As I’m clicking on his name to unfollow him for my own sanity, Avery notices the look on my face.
“What’s up?”
“I’m freaking out a little. Tell me everything that’s wrong with your brother because he seems too great.” I’m dead serious, but she laughs.
“I told you he’s great, but you didn’t believe me. That shouldn’t be a problem, Mace.”
“I know. I’m just worried I guess. I don’t want to hurt him somehow because I’m still hurting from Dean. And I’m worried because there’s no way dating my best friend’s brother could be as magical as it sounds. It’s normal and comfortable to be around Mack. It’s too good to be true–it has to be.”
She grabs my shoulders, shaking me far too violently for how much I drank last night. “Take a breath. Mack is a good guy, and he’s not Dean. It’s not fair for you to place the same worries on him when he hasn’t done anything to deserve it…yet.” She laughs, trying to lighten the mood before she continues. “You deserve something good, but you’re only going to get it if you give everything a chance to work out, okay?”
“Okay, okay.” Right then there’s a knock before Miller’s face appears in the doorway.
The four of us are squished onto the couch, there’s a soccer game on TV, and Miller ordered us a pizza. Mack’s flight leaves tonight, so we don’t have a lot of time left together.
I walk to the kitchen to get plates and napkins so we are ready when the pizza arrives. When I come back to the couch, Avery and Miller are in their own little world chatting about the wedding and the house. Mack looks up from his phone when I sit next to him again. “Soooo, were you serious about wanting to come out in a few weeks?”
“If you are.”
“Your birthday is November 9th, right?”
How does he know that? “Yes.”
“Okay good…” he clicks on his phone screen before looking back at me. “Because I got you a flight.”
“You didn’t have to do that, I could have gotten it.” I bite into my lip, holding back a smile.
“It’s not a big deal, I’m the one who invited you anyway. Plus, I owe you for buying me lunch yesterday.” He shoots me a wink.
I grin at him and lean into his shoulder as he wraps his arm around me. I definitely want to give this a chance.
I pull up in front of the passenger drop off area and walk around to where Mack steps out of my car. Before I can say anything, he pulls me into a hug, his sweet cinnamon scent warm and comforting. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it, Mace?” he whispers in my ear.
“Hmmm?”
“Whatever scenario you had worked up in your head from all the pressure Avery put on this weekend.” He pulls back slightly with a grin on his face.
I bite the edge of my lip, breaking our eye contact. So many possible responses run through my head before I decide on, “I suppose it could have been worse.”
He squeezes me tight again before turning to walk away. “See you in two weeks!”
I wait until he’s through the automatic glass doors before getting back into my car. It hadn't occurred to me until that moment we haven’t kissed. I mean, I want to–I really want to–but it doesn’t feel the way it did when I was around Troy or Dean. I haven’t doubted his interest in exploring this at all, and I don’t feel like there’s a rush. Patience is foreign to me, but I’m excited to see what happens next with us. It’s easy to be around him, and I’m comfortable with how things have progressed these past two days. Like Avery said, I just need to relax, enjoy it and let it play out how it’s supposed to happen.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
