6. Mackie
MACKIE
I make it through the front door, up the stairs, and onto my bed in maybe eleven seconds. My dad says something from the kitchen that I don’t hear because I’m already face-down on my pillow with my phone out, and by the time I roll over Kara’s FaceTime is ringing.
“How was mini—”
“We got kicked out.”
She lowers the spoon that was halfway to her mouth. “What?”
“He threw my ball over a fence. Into a parking lot. An employee escorted us out.”
“Hold on.” She sets whatever she’s eating down and pulls her phone closer to her face. “Zach. Quiet, polite, sits-on-the-bench Zach. Threw your ball. Over a fence.”
“I kicked his into the water first.”
“Of course you did. And then what?”
“And then we made out in his car.”
“Okay, well, yeah, obviously—”
“And he came in his pants.”
The silence that follows is so long I check to make sure the call didn’t drop.
“MACKIE.”
“I KNOW.”
“HE CAME IN HIS PANTS? THIS WAS A FIRST DATE. MACKIE. A FIRST—”
“Hold on, hold on, hold on—” I’m already off the bed and moving because she’s screaming and my dad is downstairs and I’m not willing to risk him hearing any of this. I lock myself in the bathroom, turn the shower on full blast and sit on the floor with my back against the tub. “Okay. Go.”
“I have so many questions I don’t know where to start.”
“Start anywhere.”
“What did it look like?”
“I DON’T KNOW, IT WAS IN HIS PANTS!”
“But could you feel it?”
“Kara. Yes. I could feel it.” My face is so hot I press my forehead against the cool tile of the tub. “I was sitting on it.”
“Oh my GOD.”
“I was on his lap and we were just—I don’t know, moving, and then it happened. For both of us. Like at basically the same time.”
“Wait.” Her face fills the entire screen. “You also—”
“Yes.”
“From just—”
“YES.”
“With your clothes on?”
“Every single item of clothing, Kara. Fully dressed.”
She falls backward onto her bed and I can only see her ceiling fan for a second before she comes back.
“You know when you used to read pieces of your mom’s romance novels out loud to me and the guy would just like, lose control, and we thought that was fake?
Like we thought that was something authors made up because no actual human man has ever—”
“Well it’s not fake. It happened. He made a sound and I felt him—” I wave my hand even though she can’t see the gesture properly. “You know. Through the jeans. Through MY jeans.”
“Is that normal? Like medically? Should we google it?”
“We are NOT googling it.”
“I’m googling it.” She’s already looking at something off-screen. “Okay so apparently it’s more common than people think, especially with like, friction and—”
“Kara. Please stop researching my date’s orgasm.”
“I’m doing this for science.” She’s scrolling. “Okay it says it can be a sign of heightened sensitivity or arousal and—Mackie. He LIKES you. Like, his body literally could not handle being near you. That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to either of us. He couldn’t look at me for like thirty seconds.”
“That’s because he’s a boy and they’re all weird about it. Was he freaking out?”
“A little. He kept saying he usually has more control. And then I asked if he was a virgin and he almost died.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “I can’t BELIEVE you asked him that! It’s so rude.” She’s gasping. “Is he?”
“No. He said he’s just never had that happen with anyone before.
” I pull my knees up and rest my chin on them.
The shower’s fogging up the mirror and my hair is starting to curl in the steam.
“Kara, he’s so—he’s not like anyone. He counted the windmill.
Like actually crouching down and trying to figure out the timing of the blade.
And then I cheated and he didn’t get mad, he got competitive. ”
“I love him.”
“You haven’t met him.”
“I love him based on the available evidence.” She props herself up on her elbow. “So what happens now? Are you seeing him again?”
“He leaves for a road trip tomorrow. They’ll be gone for four days.”
“Ugh. Do you think he’s going to text you while he’s gone?”
“Kara, he’s texted me three times since I got in the car to drive home. I haven’t even been away from him for an hour.”
“Well, yeah. You gave the man the greatest parking lot experience of his life.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Wait, wait, wait—one more question.”
“What?”
“Him. Through the jeans. Could you tell if he was like—” She holds her hands apart at varying distances. “Big, bigger, biggest?”
“GOODBYE KARA.”
“THIS IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION, MACKINNON.”
I hang up on her laughing and sit on the bathroom floor for another minute listening to the shower run. My phone buzzes in my hand.
Zach
I had a really good time tonight
Me
me too :)
Zach
even the getting kicked out part
I turn off the shower, open the bathroom door, and almost walk directly into my dad.
“Why is the shower running if you’re not in it?” he asks.
“I was testing the water temperature.”
“For twenty minutes?”
He gives me the look—the Jack Anderson look, the one that says I know you’re full of shit but I’m choosing not to pursue this—before walking away. I go to my room and close the door and lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling and think about tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that.
My phone buzzes again.
Kara
I’m still thinking about the jeans thing
like physically HOW
I put my phone face-down and go to sleep smiling.