6. Macie

Chapter six

Macie

T he first hive on my arm formed as Gianna pulled out of my driveway. The second one formed as we entered Brayden's house. The third one formed when my friends from the volleyball team, who were happy and shocked to see me, tackled me in a hug, one after the other. The fourth one formed when Brayden brought out a case of beer and a few bottles of wine. Eventually, a whole family of hives consumed my arms as my friends drank.

In January, a party with my group of friends involved hanging out in Gianna's basement, eating pizza and cookie dough, watching a movie and dishing on who we found attractive at school. Now, a party meant no parents, boys from school I had never spent time with, and a whole lot more alcohol. Like a hundred percent more. I had no idea that half of my friends ever wanted to drink, but now they were all there with red solo cups in hand.

A few minutes in, Gianna gave me a cup full of wine and encouraged me to hang out with a big group in the living room. I leaned a shoulder against the wall, being a part of the group but definitely on the outskirts. Gianna sat at the coffee table in the mix, drinking, laughing, and being a much bigger personality than I remembered.

The drink warmed in my grip as I listened to the multiple conversations, but I couldn't care less about who recently hooked up with whom or who currently had beef with one another. Then they began playing drinking games I wanted no part of—especially Never Have I Ever. I couldn't even speak my one emotion or challenge for the week in therapy. I sure as hell didn't want anything to do with, "Never have I ever thrown a punch."

I had, in February, and I didn't want to think about it.

The group roared as Gianna drank, and she told the story with flare. The one about how she punched Chris Newman in eighth grade after he grabbed her butt in the lunch line. I had been there when it happened, held her when she cried. So weird how she laughed about it now.

There was this abnormal undercurrent of anger within me I didn't quite understand. Gianna's cheeks were a blustery red and her eyes glassy. I had never seen Gianna drunk before. In fact, I had never seen her drink period, and it made me very crabby.

Did I have some moral issue and think drinking was the end of civilization? No. Not at all. But there was this strange, unexpected disappointment. Why did everything after February have to change? Why couldn't something in my life stay the same?

"You actually showed," came a smooth deep voice from behind me, and every cell within me sparked to life with nervous and excited energy. Relic.

I turned and my breath caught with how gorgeous he was: blond hair that had a messy sexy style to it, muscled arms that peeked out from the sleeves of his T-shirt, and a face that rivaled any runway model's. What caused a quake in my body was how unexpectedly close he stood to me, leaving just enough space that if I wanted, I could take a step back for respectable. Just enough space that if I wanted, I could lean in and kiss him.

"You didn't think I would show?" I asked.

He gave me an adorable, crooked grin. "No."

Now it was my turn to talk again, but a wedge of panic inserted itself into my sternum. I didn't know how to respond. Flirtatious banter wasn't my thing. To be honest, boys weren't ever on my radar. I had things to do, a life to build, but now with Relic in front of me, I felt oddly…curious. How exactly did one come off as fun and flirty and sexy and like they wanted to be kissed?

Silence. Silence had gone on for too long between us. Relic had that comfortable look about him, like he could stand there all day in the silence while I felt like my skin was buckling from my bones. I needed to say something witty, something that would make him want to be around me, but I had nothing. Like every day since February, I had no words worth saying.

Screw. Me.

Loud laughter behind me—Gianna's in fact, and the room felt suddenly small. Like so small everyone else was breathing in all the air and there wasn't any left for me. So small that everyone's body heat was combining into an inferno, causing sweat to break out along my armpits and hairline. So small, that my head felt heavy, my eyesight blurred, and my stomach churned.

If I didn't get out of here, I was going to puke.

"I…um…" Needed to get out of here. "I need air."

I rushed forward, my arm hitting Relic's shoulder because I was a Dumpster fire. I tried to weave through the rest of the crowd to get to the back door, but it honestly was a lot more pushing than gracefully navigating.

There were people in the hallway, people in the kitchen. Here a duck, there a duck, everywhere a duck-duck…

I finally reached the back door, opened it, and I gasped in the fresh air like I had been stuck underwater for four minutes straight. Fighting the little dots in my vision that warned me passing out might still happen, I sat on the stairs of the wooden deck and contemplated how the hell I got here. I was officially not fit for public consumption and should become a nun locked in a room for the rest of my life.

"Mind if I join you?" Relic asked behind me, and I sighed. Apparently round one of me making a spectacle of myself wasn't enough for him.

I waved my hand around. "By all means."

Relic sat on the wooden steps two feet from me. Not super close, but closer than I would have imagined anyone would have wanted to sit after that weird reaction inside. He rested his arms on his thighs and watched the flames licking up to the sky in the unattended fire pit. Because yeah, unattended fire was safe. I scanned the backyard, and we were alone. As alone as anyone ever was in suburbia. There had to be a million cameras all pointing in our direction and probably at least three nosy neighbors so upset at a teen house party that they were stalking at their windows, hiding behind curtains.

"You okay?" Relic asked.

"Yep." Nope.

"That's a nasty looking welt."

I glanced at the sleeves of my white crocheted summer sweater, which I must have pushed up during my rabid fleeing of the house, and sure enough, there were my hives on full display. I could push my sleeves back down, but what would be the point? Plus, the June night was so muggy that breathing in was the same as inhaling water.

"You need an antihistamine for those welts?" Relic continued. "An EpiPen? An ER run?"

Feeling embarrassed about my entire life, a rush of anger jolted up from my toes and made me snap. "Are you enjoying making fun of me?"

"No," he said slowly. "Honestly concerned. We're alone out here—well, sort of. That eighty-year-old woman looking at us through her backdoor is a nice chaperone."

Relic overly waved at her and called out, "Hello! Nice evening, isn't it?"

The woman scowled and stalked away from her door. I giggled and my reaction surprised me. Relic studied my face, and his blue eyes softened. "That smile right there? I like it."

Shocked, I touched my face. I hadn't smiled in so long I forgot what it felt like.

"As I was saying, we're relatively alone out here, and I'm forming a game plan for what to do if you stop breathing. Shocking as it might be to you, I haven't gone to medical school. Though, if needed, I will attempt CPR. I can't promise it'll be right or that I'll save you, but I will attempt it."

My derisive short laugh made his lips twitch. "You'll attempt to save me?"

"I'll do the whole push thing and sing ‘Staying Alive.'"

"It sounds like you're the expert then. I don't know why you're complaining."

"I'll let you in on a secret." Relic leaned toward me, closer than I had allowed most anyone in months, and the vibrations of his deep voice caressed my skin, creating a sensation that I relished. "I didn't pay very good attention during health class."

"Sounds like that was a bad choice on your part." I matched his whispered tone as if his secret was safe with me and met his playful gaze as he pulled back.

"I'm all about bad choices." His glittering blue eyes focused on my lips like he was considering some very good bad choices with me. A fantastic hot tingling danced in my blood. Was this the lust so many people had described?

Eventually, he tore his gaze from my lips and refocused on my arms. "You didn't answer about the welts."

Ah, who would want to kiss a girl with welts? I cursed the angry hives on my arm highlighted by the flickering flames. What was I going to do? Deny them? "My body is rejecting human interaction."

"Yeah. It's overrated."

Very.

The roar of laughter from inside the house caught our attention and, through the large back kitchen window, I watched as Gianna stumbled into someone, cackled, and then fell onto the breakfast table. Drinks spilled onto the floor. She laughed harder. I winced.

"Did you come with Gianna?" Relic asked.

"Yup." Lucky me. "She was my ride."

"Looks like you got a free upgrade to designated driver."

That was definitely not happening. "I don't drive." A better choice of words was "refused." I hadn't driven since February, but Relic didn't need to know that. This twist in events meant I'd have to call my parents, which would lead to Dad going nuclear, and then the point of this entire night would be a waste. Well, almost a waste. Bantering with Relic was the most normal I'd felt in months. For a few seconds, I felt like…the old me? No, but close enough.

"Not driving sounds problematic," Relic replied.

Yep, it definitely did.

"I'll be back." Relic entered the house, walked past Gianna who had staggered to her feet, and a sly smile emerged as he returned, leaving the backdoor wide open. Warm and fuzzies sprouted within me with his mischievous smile. It was the type of smile that meant belonging, like I was part of a fun secret, and I wanted in on that fun. I wanted in on anything that would not make me feel like me for five seconds.

"What did you do?" I asked.

Relic raised his fisted hand, and as he opened his fingers, Gianna's keys dangled from his pinkie. My eyes widened in shock, and then he said, "Head's up."

I barely had enough time to react as he tossed the keys to me and I fumbled them, bouncing them around to make sure I didn't drop them.

"Good catch." Relic returned to sitting next to me, then gave me this nonchalant and sexy expression like he didn't have a care. I envied him.

"Why did you take her keys?"

"I've seen Gianna at parties before, and she's not a good judge of her own level of inebriation. She can't drunkenly fight you on who should drive home if she doesn't have her keys. Door's open in case you don't feel comfortable with me out here and you didn't want to hurt my feelings by telling me to leave."

I sat there paralyzed, stunned, and confused.

"You're letting in a draft, Mazie Hutchinson. I'm assuming choosing out or in would be the proper decision."

"That's not my name."

"Is Macie Hutchins the name you want?" he countered.

The question startled me, made my brain jump off the well-established track it had been on. I had always been Macie Hutchins. "You don't name yourself."

He gave a light shrug. "Maybe I did."

Huh, interesting.

Other than that we went to school and had therapy together, I knew nothing about Relic Aslanov, so the safe thing would be to go back in. But then I whipped my head around when there came a crash of glass breaking from inside followed by Gianna's loud laughter. Brayden drunkenly fell to the floor. Gianna stood over him and laughed as his body shook with chuckles. The welts itched. If I was making a bad decision and it turned out Relic was a psychotic kidnapper, we'd no doubt be recorded on someone's doorbell camera as he stuffed me in a trunk so the cops would have someplace to start their search.

The cackling in the house grew as another crash happened, so I stood, closed the door, and rejoined Relic on the stairs. "How did you snag Gianna's keys? They were in her pocket, and you barely went by her."

"Don't be impressed. A hippo in a rampage could have run her over and taken her keys, and she wouldn't have noticed. Gianna can't handle alcohol. Be prepared for her to pass out soon."

"Did you miss where I said I can't drive?"

"Still better for you than her to have those keys."

True.

I stared at him, he stared at me with a soft expression, and my heart fluttered. Circling Gianna's keys in my hands, I focused on the fire. "Thank you for taking her keys."

"You're welcome. Consider it my gift for the ride the other day."

"Do you party often?" How many girls did he invite to parties and make out with?

"I come to them when I'm in the mood, but overall, they aren't my thing."

"So why are you here?"

"I'm attempting to be seventeen. How good of a job am I doing?" He gave me a lopsided twitch of a grin as if he were letting me into a private joke only meant for me.

I had absolutely no idea what his statement meant, but I liked how he smiled. "It looks like you're doing as good as me, and in case you're wondering, I think that's a failing grade."

"Damn," he said. "That's going to seriously hurt the GPA boost I'd been hoping for."

My lips lifted higher than I had felt them go since February, and the stretch felt weird on my face. "Right?"

"Why are you here, Miss My Body Rejects Human Interaction?" Relic gestured to the hives on my arm I had been unconsciously scratching. I forced my hand to my side.

My short-lived smile faded, and his eyebrows knitted together as though that bothered him.

"I…think…" I drew out my answer because the truth wouldn't make sense, and any lie I could come up with would be completely unbelievable, "I'm trying to make my parents happy."

"That's fucked-up, but I weirdly understand." After a few seconds of staring at the fire, he eventually said, "I came because I hoped you'd be here."

I swear to God an entire flock of doves hatched in my chest. "Ariel told me you invite girls to parties to kiss them."

"I do," he answered unequivocally and without an ounce of shame or remorse. "And I invited you and you came. So far, the night's going well, wouldn't you say?"

The way he stared at me made me feel like he was thinking of kissing me, touching me, caressing me in ways that would make my heart explode. My mouth dried out, my cheeks turned what had to be bright red, and I glanced away.

I was so nervous, so excited, so terrified at the idea of my first kiss, at the idea of Relic wanting to kiss me, that my entire body hummed. So, what did I do? Changed the conversation, of course. "If parties aren't you're thing, what is?"

"Raindrops on kittens and brown paper packages tied up in roses."

"That's not how the song goes."

"My version does, plus it made you smile again."

We went silent, looking out toward the fire, and I was oddly okay with the quiet. The overcast sky betrayed no moonlight or stars, but I took comfort in the familiar sounds of the crickets chirping. Before February, I was never scared of the dark, but now the night felt like a looming shadow ready to reach out and grab me. I shivered, thinking of a shadowy hand moving in my direction, and I swiftly switched gears. "Thank you for taking the heat off of me in therapy."

"I didn't do anything."

He did, and from how he shifted his body weight, he knew it. Like shining a light on his good deed made him feel awkward. But he needed to know that was a massive deal for me. With Zuri pining me down, I had been three seconds from full-on vomiting. Puking would have made a scene, it would have been awful, and then I would have never found the courage to walk back into that school ever again.

"I can't talk about it." It was stupid to think he didn't know who I was and what I'd been through. Everyone in our school did because one of my friends, I had no idea who, told a person, and that person told a person and then...everyone knew. I hated the idea of returning to class in the fall and dealing with all the fallout, but it had to be done. Truth was, I needed to regain a grip on myself before school began, otherwise my life would be one big nightmare.

Relic lazily swung his gaze back to mine, and he studied me for a few seconds longer than I expected. "You can't talk about what happened to you, you mean?"

A punch in the gut as I breathed out the pain. I nodded, incapable of saying, "Yes," like a normal person. I scratched at the hives as they threatened to swallow my entire arm. Sweat formed along my hairline, and then, because I didn't think I could handle any type of rejection, I played it off. "Point is, thank you for distracting Zuri, and you don't need to say anything. I know I'm weird."

"You're not weird. You're honest. There's a big difference."

The conversation needed to switch, or I was going to implode. "Why did you call me Mazie Hutchison if you know my name is Macie Hutchins?"

"Because there's something broke within me that likes irritating people. I have to admit, you've kept me on my toes. You never move in the direction I think you're going to go. Shift right when I think you're going left."

"Bolting from crowded rooms, piles of welts on my arms, paralyzed in conversation. I can totally see the draw. People are doing their online dating profiles all wrong."

Relic gave a deep chuckle that felt like a hug for my soul. "See, that right there. You're still not doing a thing I expect. Don't change, Mazie Hutchinson. Unique is a gift."

I blinked. "Are you always so honest?"

"I'm not honest. I'm a survivalist. Those are two different traits. But here, tonight, I have no reason to lie. I like hanging with you."

I've liked hanging out with him, too, and I wished I had his courage to say it aloud.

"Want to know why I'm in therapy?" Relic hedged.

Um…yes. I was wildly curious why everyone was there, especially him, but it was this unwritten rule that we should never ask. "Only if you want to tell."

"It's part of my plea deal. I stole five dollars out of an unlocked car."

The entire world spun. "Why?"

"Why did I take the plea deal? It was a hell of lot better than juvie. I hear the food there is horrible."

"No, why did you steal?"

"Because I needed to," he stated simply. "It's my job to take care of my family."

As fast as the world twirled, it came to a stunning stop, and I rocked with the impact. In therapy, Relic said his car stopped working and he couldn't afford a ride home. My stomach dipped as the mere foot between us felt as large as a canyon. Yes, I had problems, but they weren't nearly the same type as Relic's issues.

"I shouldn't have pushed for more," I said in a rush. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I'd ask questions, too."

But that was the difference between us. I gave an opening into February, and he didn't pry, while I ransacked his revelation. I respected Relic and hated myself. "You didn't have to tell me."

"I did, because it's something you need to consider before taking me up on my offer to drive you and your drunk friend home."

That would be the moment Gianna opened the door and stumbled onto the deck. In a slow spin, Gianna tilted one way, then the next, like a top in its final rotation. Relic sprinted forward to catch her as she passed out.