Misery Company

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Mac didn’t like how nervous she became as time rolled by and soon Dean would be home. She had walked out the door a few times but couldn’t leave the apartment, she had promised she’d be there and for some stupid reason it mattered. She didn’t owe him, if anything he owed her but Mac couldn’t bring herself to flake on the meeting. Although it’d serve him right to think she’d run away from their arrangement after almost kissing her that morning. She had to lay down the ground rules and make sure something like that never happened again or else she would have to leave and Megan would end up paying the ultimate price.

After cleaning up the kitchen and pacing the entire apartment Mac sat down on the couch and waited the remaining few minutes until Dean was home. Hoping not to appear like the nervous mess she was she turned on the TV and tried to look casual, as if he was the very last thing on her mind.

Ten minutes into an old sitcom rerun Dean stepped out of the entry hallway. When Mac couldn’t bring herself to look at him she reverted back to an old successful technique; shut down and spit it out. “What happened earlier can never happen again because then I will leave and we don’t have to keep talking about the past either, it’s over and right now all that matters is helping Megan and staying with you is the way to do that.”

A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed before he answered. “You’re right Megan is what is important.”

“Good then we agree.” Mac stared at the TV and wished she was in another time and place. “Anything else?”

Dean set his keys down and walked over to the living room. “My dad called the school to find out how I was doing academically, he does that sometimes, and he found out from the Coach about the wedding.”

“How did the Coach know?”

“We’re close and I invited him to add to the real factor you and me are going for. Long story short my parents know and they’ll be here.”

Mac gave up and faced her soon to be husband because something seemed wrong, she was waiting for the bad news he was trying to break smoothly. “And?” she knew they didn’t get along but Dean’s sour expression held more behind it.

Dean chuckled flatly. “They want to plan the wedding and my mom will be here tomorrow.”  

“What?” Mac jumped from the sofa, this couldn’t be happening. Putting on a show for Megan was stressful and she was a kid, for his parents it’d be twice as hard and a good chance they’d fail. Plus if they were planning the wedding it would be big and fancy and everything Mackenzie didn’t want. “The wedding is in a week, how can they--?”

“Get a full wedding done in a short amount of time? My mom has connections.”

“Of course. What’s a full wedding?”

“Saying vows in front of a priest, a reception with decorations, pictures and people.” He shrugged.

Mac had the urge to throw up again, it was never far. “Do they know who you are marrying?” she couldn’t picture his parents happy with this decision.

“They were surprised.” He shrugged his shoulders again, not wanting to say anything more.

“Yeah I bet.” Mac knew she wasn’t a favorite in the Chandler household, which made their situation even more ironic. Mac and Dean were the last people who should be getting married as far as everyone, themselves included, were concerned. “In a week it’ll be all over so your mom can’t throw too much at us.” She tried to look on the bright side because anything else was enough to send her to the loony bin.

“Right.”

It grew awkward as the conversation ran its course and now the big elephant in the room moved forward. “Alright then I’ll get back to this.” She waved a hand at the TV then sat back down on the couch and stared at the program she couldn’t focus on.

“Have you eaten?” Dean asked as he stepped into the kitchen.

“Um,” she quickly gave it some thought and wondered how bad could it be to have lunch with the guy she was marrying? “No.” she once again left the couch, this time turning off the TV before joining him in the kitchen.

Dean busied himself by grabbing supplies out of the refrigerator for sandwiches. “Megan wanted to know why I didn’t kiss you goodbye.”

That wasn’t the conversation Mac wanted to have and it wasn’t helping to pass time, it actually felt like time was slowing down. “What did you tell her?”

“That you were feeling sick.”

“Good ok.” Did he feel as awkward as she did? Probably not, he was acting as if it was just another day, another lunch period to pass, another foolish girl he managed to turn into a mess. Mac mentally sighed, high school was over! So why was this so hard? And only getting harder.

“What do I tell her tomorrow?” Dean asked, for the first time looking up from his task to see her reaction.

Mackenzie tried to read his expression, was he waiting for her to freak out? She’d never give him the satisfaction. That morning she had lost her cool but she’d be careful about that from now on. Even though they were getting married Dean still wasn’t someone she could trust. “Tomorrow you kiss me.”

His eyes grew a little wide before he caught himself and put his nonchalant mask back in place. “Ok then.” He grabbed a knife and started to cut open sandwich rolls.

Mac nodded and quickly drummed up a different subject. “Your mom, what time will she be here tomorrow? Morning, afternoon?” she wanted to know how much time she had before the hell started.

“I’m picking her up from the airport on my lunch break and I’ll bring her here from there.”

“What about your classes?” the question flew out of her mouth before she had a chance to remind herself she didn’t care, it was dangerous to show concern for Dean Chandler.

“I already spoke to my professor to get the rest of the day off without any trouble.” Dean answered simply without pressing about her sudden concern.

He handed her the sandwich then bit down into his. Without much more conversation they shared lunch before he left back to school. Even with all the curve balls of his parents coming into town talking to Dean went better then Mac had expected. If they could get past those awkward phases then the marriage wouldn’t be too bad, she tried to reason.