Perfect Little Lies

6. Bees

One thing is for certain – Veronica didn't like Mac's girlfriend.

Monday lunchtime at school, the four of us were eating lunch together like usual, when Mac approached the table. This time, he squeezed between Veronica and I, announcing his presence by picking a piece of chicken from her salad rather than a hello.

Being closer to Mac than ever before, I noticed he smelled pleasantly like peppermint. His curly hair had fallen into his eyes. The way he pushed it out of his eyes, running his hand through his hair, seemed like he did it all the time. He needed a haircut. 

"Good afternoon, Vincent," Veronica greeted him, aggressively shifting further away from him. "How lovely to see you."

"I have news that's going to blow your tiny minds," Mac announced, ignoring his sister's words completely. He clearly expected more of a reaction than he got but continued anyway. I hadn't seen Mac since he donated his pizza to me on Friday night. Honestly, I was still a little embarrassed. "My art is going to be in an exhibition at the museum. You can officially call me genius."

Suddenly Veronica was interested, turning her full attention to her brother. For the first time this lunchtime, she seemed interested enough to put down her phone. She beamed, reaching up to ruffle his hair. "That's great, Macaroni. My baby bwother is so tawented," she cooed in a baby voice.

Although Mac's expression suggested he disapproved, he seemed to enjoy the head scratch. "You're four minutes older and think you're so much wiser."

"Talk to me in four minutes. You'll understand when you're my age," Veronica teased. "When is the exhibition? Can I come?"

"I can bring two people." From the way Mac said this, even I could read between the lines and work out what he meant. Veronica wasn't one of those people.

She didn't appear to understand this from his tone. "Yeah, me and mom," she said, like it was obvious.

Uncomfortable under the watchful eyes of the other girls, Mac spoke quietly to Veronica. I could still hear what he said from my position beside her. "Actually, I was thinking of bringing mom and Lexie. Sorry, sis. I'll take lots of pictures for you. Lexie is really into art, too. It's not really your thing. You probably wouldn't enjoy it."

Veronica was a girl of pride. Most of the time, she refused to let her true emotions show. This was one of those moments. I knew she must have felt a little betrayed, or at least offended, yet she followed Mac's words with a smile and bumped shoulders with him.

"Well done, Mac. When is it?" Summer asked, deliberately pushing the conversation forward. She had asked Mac, but she was watching Veronica carefully as he replied.

"December," Mac replied. "It's a kick up the butt, for sure. I need to actually finish a painting before it goes in there."

"My mom is- was an artist," I said, scrambling over my words when I realised I almost slipped up.

Mac definitely heard it, but he probably thought it was because she died recently. He looked at me. "What kind of an artist?"

"Sculpting."

"Oh, god. What a talented lady. I tried it before. It's so difficult. Do you have anything she made?" he questioned, watching me intently as he spoke.

There was something about holding Mac's complete attention that was overwhelming. The girls were already discussing something else, so he was the only one listening, and he listened intensely. I don't know how it's possible to listen intensely, but Mac did it.

When you speak to some people, it feels like they're only half listening. Like they already know what they want to say next, and they're just waiting for you to finish so they can speak. I felt like Mac genuinely cared as I talked about how my mom went to art college after she had me, and had a career change. He listened intently and completely, soaking up every detail.