her first everything

chapter six

the weekend they stayed at mackenzie's house, they didn't do anything other than homework and watch some movies with madeline. on monday mackenzie avoided nixon. she was really, too afraid to admit that maybe she did like him, even if it was just a little bit.

"hey." he said while catching up to her in the hallway. she saw him but was hoping he didn't see her. she sighed and turned to him, forcing a smile.

"hi." she said while avoiding his eyes.

"i was thinking we could go get some lunch, and we could continue our studies." he flashed a smile.

"well me and eryn were going t-"

"he can come too, i don't mind." she sighed and just accepted her defeat.

"yeah okay, just dm me where we're meeting." she turned away before he had a chance to say anything else.
~~~
when lunch time rolled around she met him at his car, she decided to not bring eryn as it would probably just be more awkward.

"do you have a place in mind?" he said while he began driving.

"oh, uhm.. maybe panera bread." he hummed in acknowledgment. soon enough they arrived and he helped her out of the car. the two ordered before finding a quiet table tucked in a corner.

"so, what else do we have to do?" mackenzie asked, sitting her backpack on the booth besides her.

"a lot, but.. we can start wherever." she pulled out her binder and pulled out the flash cards for the next assignments and handed them to him.

"do you have flash cards like this for every unit?" she glanced up and nodded.

"yeah... helps me remember stuff to write it down, so i might as well make flash cards at the same time to study with later." he smiled.

"pretty smart." she laughed softly and took a bite from her sandwich. it was quiet for a few minutes before he broke the silence.

"so, what else do you do? other than being a nerd." mackenzie scoffed softly and looked up to meet his eyes.

"well, i have a little sister.. who takes up most of my time." nixon smiled at this.

"i have a little sister too.. well half sister, but we have custody of her." mackenzie hummed.

"how old is she?" she took a drink from her tea.

"just turned seven last month." mackenzie perked up a little bit.

"my sister just turned six." he returned the smile.

"maybe we could take them on a play date." she glanced away from him.

"yeah, maybe.. madeline could use a friend her age." this time the silence between them wasn't as awkward and thick, just simply existing with each other.

"i only have unit six left." he said while sliding her back the flash cards.

"okay, uhmm." she muttered while wiping her fingers on the napkin. he smiled while watching her flip through her impressively organized binder. he blushed at how pretty she was. he never really focused on her, but she was a nice girl, also very pretty.

"we've got to head back soon." she said after handing him one of the note sheets.

"that's okay, maybe we could do this again sometime.. it's not as bad as i thought it would be." she smiled mockingly.

"you mean i'm not as bad as you thought i'd be." he shrugged.

"maybe a little bit of both." she shook her head in disbelief and took another bite from her sandwich. after fifteen minutes they packed up and went back to nixons car.

"you aren't so bad, despite what people say." he looked over to her briefly.

"what does that mean?" he asked, resting his free hand on his thigh.

"well... you seem like you'd be just like your friends.. but really it seems like you're in the wrong friend group." he shrugged.

"i think they are fine." they pulled into the parking lot of the school and he helped her out once again.

"well, this was fun.. and thanks for lunch." she said while beginning to walking away.

"hey! hey, wait." he called after her, tucking his fingers under the strap of her backpack. she smiled nervously while spinning around to face him.

"could i maybe get your number.. maybe we could plan another study date.. or a play date for the girls." she hesitated before nodding, taking the phone he was handing her.

"okay." she smiled while handing it back, turning to walk away. immediately her eyes scanned the campus for eryn, eventually finding him by their next class.

"where'd you disappear to?" he asked while following her into the class room.

"i was helping nixon study." she said simply while sitting down.

"you weren't in the library." he said back, resting his head in his hands.

"yeah, he wanted to get lunch so we went to panera bread." the red head smirked.

"so you guys made progress?" she nodded.

"yeah, we're actually almost done with all of his assignments." she smiled. eryn smiled back at the girl then pulled out his computer. it was nice seeing her hang out with someone that wasn't him, even if it was just to help him with his grades.

mackenzie was still pretty confused with herself. did she actually like nixon? or did she like the feeling of a new possible friendship. she really never remembered having a crush on anyone in school, she really only remembered having a crush on celebrity's. and half the time it was because of how good they were at acting, or singing, or whatever they did. more admiring them than having a crush on them.