Crashed

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Luna, Annie, Mackenzie, and Azalee were sitting on their bus playing a haphazard game of Monopoly which was complicated by the fact that their bus driver seemed to be determined to hit every bump on the way to Madison Square Garden in New York City. Mackenzie scoffed loudly as they hit yet another bump and her money scattered all over the floor. Luna threw her head back and laughed.

“Shut up, Luna!” Mackenzie demanded. Luna grinned at her widely. Annie chuckled.

“So, Luna,” she asked, rolling the dice and then moving her racecar to the appropriate spot, “Heard you had a doctor’s appointment last week.” Luna blushed and looked at her lap.

“Oh!” Azalee cried, “Did you find out?” She had been waiting for this moment since the minute she found out that Luna was having a child. Luna sighed and nodded.

“Yes,” she told them, “We’re having a boy!” The other girls cooed, cheered, congratulated her and laughed.

“What kind of names have you picked out?” Mackenzie asked. Luna shrugged.

“Myth Kaien is the only one that we’ve really liked so far,” she told them.

“That’s beautiful,” Azalee told her. She found herself wishing that she could be doing the planning that Luna and Luke were doing. And then she considered Chris and wondered what it would be like to have a baby with him. She wondered what the baby would look like, if it would look more like him than her or vice versa. She silently started to think of names. And then she remembered that Chris was still married and that he would probably end up going back to his wife like Mike had. She sighed and realized that she would probably never get the chance for a child with him.

“Speaking of guys,” Annie said and Azalee realized that she had missed half of the conversation they were now having. Annie looked over at Mackenzie.

“What’s going on with you and Josh?” she asked. Azalee looked at her friend. She’d been wondering what had happened with the random conversation that Mackenzie and Josh had had a few days before outside of Azalee’s hotel room. Mackenzie sighed and buried her face in her arms.

“Oh my God,” she grumbled. The rest of the girls laughed and started pulling on her arms, urging her to tell them what it was that was going on. Mackenzie moaned.

“He kissed me!” she screamed.

“What?!” Azalee shouted and shoved on her friend, forcing her to give her the details of this odd encounter. Mackenzie clamped her eyes shut and buried her face into her arms again.

“I don’t even know how it happened,” she told them and the rest of them giggled. It wasn’t as if it wasn’t obvious that Josh had feelings for Mackenzie. Everyone knew it except Mackenzie.

“He pulled me outside of Azalee’s room and started like…confessing all of his deepest feelings to me or something,” Mackenzie said, not sure how to explain it, “And I didn’t say anything. I guess he thought that meant that I felt the same or something because he leaned down and tried to kiss me!”

“What did you do?!” Annie yelled, gripping her friend’s arm. Mackenzie sighed.

“I told him that I wasn’t interested,” she said, “Because I don’t want a relationship right now.” Azalee made an awful face.

“BUT WHY?” she yelled. Mackenzie looked at her, taken aback.

“W-what do you mea--?” she was cut off.

“HE’S REALLY CUTE, MACKENZIE! AND HE’S NICE!” Azalee screamed. Mackenzie glared at her.

“I don’t want a boyfriend,” she told her, eyeing her. Azalee laughed.

“Says the girl that went straight from Nixon to S--,” Mackenzie slapped a hand over Azalee’s mouth. She laughed.

“Okay, I get your point,” she grinned, “I just really…Josh isn’t my type.” Azalee rolled her eyes.

“All right, well,” she said, “You’re probably going to regret that one.” Annie chuckled and ripped open a magazine, obviously fed up with trying to play the Monopoly game with the crazy bus driver. She sighed dramatically.

“Did you guys see this picture of Jared Weeks from Saving Abel?” she asked. Mackenzie leaned over and peeked over Annie’s shoulder.

“Ugh,” she muttered, “Now HE’S my type.” Azalee laughed and shook her head.

~*~

Azalee and Mackenzie pushed through the doors of the backstage of Madison Square Garden to do the sound check for the last show of their tour, before getting a day off to tour New York. They’re show would take place the next evening.  They immediately detoured for the restroom because Azalee had been complaining about needing to pee since they’d reached New York City. Mackenzie leaned against the sink to fix her hair while Azalee locked herself in a stall to use the restroom. There was silence for a little while except both of their breathing.

“Kenz?” Azalee said suddenly. Mackenzie looked at her stall door.

“Yeah?” she asked. Azalee paused for a moment.

“Have you had your period yet?” she asked. Mackenzie raised her brow.

“Yeah,” she said skeptically, “Why?” Azalee sighed.

“No reason,” she said. She was quiet again for a little while.

“I wonder if they have any strawberries on the catering table,” she mumbled and then opened the stall door after flushing the toilet. Mackenzie looked at her oddly as she washed her hands.

“I thought you didn’t like strawberries,” she said questioningly.  Azalee shrugged and grabbed a handful of paper towel.

“It just sounds good right now,” she said. Mackenzie shrugged and then walked out of the bathroom with Azalee trailing after her.