noted → calum hood | #Wattys2015

twenty six

Their hands swing in a swift motion as they walk. "I can't believe we've been together for four months already." Mackenzie smiles.

Calum returns her smile, but doesn't reply. The sight's a familiar one, around him. It was a small shopping outlet that just so happened to house the restaurant where Calum talked to Melanie for the first time.

Walking by it brought back unnecessary memories; ones of which he was sure Melanie had suppressed. "You alright?" Mackenzie inquires. "You seem down all of a sudden."

Calum shakes his head. "No, just tired, is all."

Mackenzie doesn't push the issue. She trusts what her boyfriend's reasoning is. Her philosophy was a simple one: if you don't have trust and honesty in a relationship, then you shouldn't have that relationship. Were there times where she thought Calum was lying to her? Of course! Still, that pestering conscious told her that it was fine to believe him, because that's the way she had conditioned herself to feel.

She wasn't oblivious, just naive.

The two sit on a bench just outside the restaurant. The summer weather is finally taking shape, which Calum did not care for. The heat made his highlighted hair stick to his forehead, and made his legs feel sweaty inside of his jeans. He could've gone without the season, had it been up to him.

"Can I say something?" Sighs Mackenzie. She squeezes Calum's hand and has her eyes fixated on the cement sidewalk beneath her feet. She takes his silence as the all-clear to continue talking. "When I'm with you, I feel like the happiest girl in the world. My heart flutters and my stomach is filled with butterflies; you make me nervous, but in a good way," she inhales and exhales deeply, and almost swears she can feel the humidity of the air tap the bottom of her lungs. "And I really don't know if I'm being too forward right now, but I really don't care. I just, I don't know. But I do know that I love you, and..." Mackenzie finds herself at a loss for words. "I don't know, I just do."

She never looks at Calum, not even once. To be fair, Cal doesn't look at her either, not even when the three special words fall from her mouth. "Oh," he's slightly taken aback. "Okay."

Mackenzie finally looks at the boy by her right, letting go of his hand. "'Okay'?" She's confused, to say the least. The poor girl has just poured her heart out to this boy and all he can say is 'okay'? "You're supposed to say it back." Mackenzie's voice cracks near the end.

"I won't say something that holds a hallow meaning, Mackenzie." He's expressionless, with a voice that can only be described as monotone.

Mackenzie's heart sinks down to her gut. He hasn't called her by her first name in months. It's always been 'Mack', never anything else. Not to even mention that the words that hold such a dense meaning to her feelings for Calum don't reciprocate. "Wow, now I feel dumb," She sighs and rubs her arm. "Am I saying it too soon? I know it's only been official for several months but if we're being honest here, this has been going on for at least six-"

"It's not that, okay?"

The puzzle pieces start piecing together and it appears that Mackenzie has just found her reason. "Calum..." she shakes her head. "Is it Melanie?"

He wants to say no. Oh, God, does he want to tell her that Melanie could not possibly be the reason he doesn't love her back.

He can't though, he doesn't want to lie. Not as if he's had any issue with doing so before.

"Mackenzie..."

She groans. "It is, isn't it?" Calum doesn't speak. "You told me you were over her."

"I know, but-"

"But, nothing." Mackenzie glares at Calum, who has finally taken an interest in looking at her as she speaks. "You lied to me, Cal." She stands up and grabs her small purse, ready to walk away from the situation.

"Mack-"

She turns around swiftly to face the Kiwi."Are there any other lies you'd care to tell me?"

Calum sighs, and shakes his head. In a whisper, he simply states: "No."

Mackenzie rubs the temples of her head to soothe the migraine the boy is giving her. "I'm leaving."

"What?" Calum abrubtly stands. "Why?"

"If I cannot trust you, and you cannot be honest with me, then what's the point?"

"So, what? You're just going to say you love me and then break up with me not even five minutes later?"

Mackenzie closes her eyes and sighs. "I need to put myself first, Calum," she pulls her phone out of her pocket to read the time. "And do everyone a favor? Next time you date someone, be it Melanie, another girl, or heck, a guy if you want, just don't screw them over? You did it to me and Melanie, there's no reason to continue doing so."

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an: did this chapter change your guys' opinions on mackenzie??? or at least give you a better insight on her???

she went like softcore alexis on him dang

but hey now cal's single!! what do you think he's gonna do? how about how everyone will react?

tysm for reading