The Untitled Piper Watson Project

Secrets & Lies

Piper's POV~ 

"So what are you doing tonight?" Jen asked me as she got ready to leave. "Well, Mack's having dinner with his parents tonight, but he said he'd come over when he was done." "Sounds good." Said Jen. "Bye." And I was alone again. I hadn't spoken to Mack all day since that morning when he said he had "things" to do. I continued to sit at my computer when the house phone rang. My heart quickened when I saw the caller ID read "Boston Psychiatric Facility". I answered the phone, not knowing what to expect."Hello?" "Hi, I'm looking for a Ms. Piper Watson?" I cleared my throat. "Yes, that's me. How may I help you?" "My name's Julie, I work for Boston Psychiatric. Are you acquainted with a Mackenzie Gibbons?" Oh, no. Something's happened. What did he do? Oh my god. "Yes, I am." I replied calmly. "What about him?" "We received a renewed registration from him this afternoon which involves him checking back into our facility. Are you aware of this registration?" My jaw dropped. He did what now? "Um, no. I was not aware of that. But, what does this have to do with me?" "Well," said Julie. "I know he's a little young, but he's written a will which clearly states that you have rights to everything that he owns." "Wait, he wrote a will?"

"Yes." Julie said. "It's not necessarily regarding his passing away, but all mentally...disturbed patients are allowed to write a will prior to their registration so that their loved ones can get most of the legal involvement out of the way." This was all too much. "Um...can you send me the registration papers?" "Yes, ma'am, I'll fax them to you right away." I wanted to cry. "Okay, thanks." I hung up and held my head in my hands. I ignored the sounds of the printer printing out the papers just to give myself time to process what just happened. He's going back. He lied to me. He kept this from me. He's leaving. He barely tried functioning in the real world for a rough seven months and now he's running away again. This is going to be one hell of a conversation when he gets here. 

***

It was almost 5 when I heard the door open and Mack walk in. "Hey, babe." he said coming into the kitchen. I slammed my glass down on the island. This was my third glass of wine. He came over to give me a kiss but I pushed him away. "I don't want a first kiss with you!" I yelled angrily. "Not now, when things have clearly changed between us." Mack stared at me in confusion. "Piper, are you drunk?" "Fuck yeah I'm drunk!" I exclaimed without shame. "At least I'm not a fucking liar like you." Mack grabbed my empty wine glass and bottle of wine and put them away. "It's not even 5 yet." "But it's 5 somewhere!" I said triumphantly. Mack sighed. "Why are you mad at me?" "How was dinner with your parents, Mack?" I asked while grasping the papers and shoving them in his face to show him. "Did they decide to send you back to Boston or was that your brilliant idea?" Mack said nothing, avoiding my eyes with a guilty look on his face. "Huh?" I said, throwing the papers at him. "Was it?" "Yes!" he finally answered me. "It was my idea!" I stared at him in disbelief. "But why?" He moved closer to me hesitantly and reached out his hand to touch my face, waiting to see if I would push him away. When I didn't, he caressed my cheek and tucked a red strand of hair behind my ear. 

"Because I don't want to hurt you." he whispered. I took his arm and held his hand in mine. "So don't." I whispered back. Then we were both leaning in...

And we kissed and there were epic fireworks. We weren't cock-blocked by the phone like we were on our first date. Even though it had barely been a month, I felt like I knew him. I wanted to know more about him. Not just about how messed up his life had been, but how good it used to be. What his life was like before he had met me and he was being locked up like an animal. And I also wanted to know why he was sending himself back there when he had me, and he was fine. "I don't want to leave you." he said once we had pulled away. "But I have to." I turned away. "Then why are you, goddammit?" I demanded in frustration. "You're here and you're fine and now that I've met you I can't imagine my life without you. Mackenzie, just tell me why!" "Because I don't want to do to you what I did to Amber!" he said, raising his voice slightly which scared me a bit. "Yeah, I loved her too but we fought and things got out of hand; I might not be able to control myself this time!" I stared at him. "You love me?" He nodded slowly. "Yes, I do love you and I can't let this go on, you need to get over me and I need to go back to Boston." "No you don't!" I argued. "It's been a month, but we aren't in high school. Don't tell me that doesn't mean anything to you. If you love me, don't just...disappear." 

For several seconds we both didn't speak. Then Mack came over to me from across the kitchen and closed the space between us by kissing me again. I couldn't do this. I couldn't imagine my life without him now. My parents didn't even get to know him. Not even Jen got to know him like I know him. And his parents never got to know me. I wanted more kissing and more dates with ravioli and more bath bombs and more bottles of wine and more Twizzlers and more time.....I just wanted more. Eventually after what had felt like years, Mack pulled away. "I need to leave tomorrow." he said with his eyes still closed from the kiss. "And when I'm gone I want you to forget me. And forget my past and forget the time we've spent together because you'll only hurt more." "Why did you do it?" I asked. "Why did you leave me everything in your will?" He pulled me into a hug and embraced me tightly. "Because I'm yours." he explained. "I'm all yours, and everything I have belongs to you." I grabbed him by the shoulders to look at his face. "You lied to me." I said. "You lied and kept things from me. Secrets that I should have known. I could have prepared myself for this." Mack shook his head. "No, you couldn't have. You can take all the time you need but when the shit hits the fan, it's going to hurt. I can't promise you it won't." 

I had nothing left to say. I looked at the floor. "Maybe you should go." I mumbled. Mack gave me a small meaningful kiss on the cheek before slowly making his way out of the house. "I love you, Piper." he called. "Please, just don't forget that." Then he was gone. Then I started crying. "What the fuck?" I sobbed while wiping away my tears. "You're a heartless cunt, Mackenzie Gibbons and I fell for you and now I'm getting the bruises." I sniffed, and collapsed on the floor. "What the fuck!" I repeated. I needed music. I played the first song on YouTube that could describe how I felt. I lied down on the tile and just listened as Zayn Malik's voice poured out of my computer.

Don't look around cause love is blind

And darling right now I can't see you

I'm feeling proud so without a doubt

I can feel you

Cause we are who we are when no one's watching

And right from the start, you know I got you

Yeah you know I got you

I won't mind

Even though I know you'll never be mine

I won't mind

Even though I know you'll never be mine

But he was mine. And now he's not.