“It’s right there.” She nodded toward an old red Mustang before dropping the keys into Mac’s open hand.

  “That’s your ride? You’re even more of a badass than I thought you were,” Mac said with a grin, and Rocky tried to smile but couldn’t.

  I watched as Mac placed her in the passenger seat and buckled her in. He looked like he’d done this before, taken care of someone who couldn’t take care of themself. We both raced toward the driver’s side even though Mac had the keys.

  “I’ll drive,” he said before pulling up the seat so I could get in back.

  “Do you even know how?” I asked because I knew that he didn’t have a car here but I didn’t know why.

  He smirked. “Do I know how to drive? Yeah, babe, I have my license and everything,” he teased before helping me into the backseat. He waited for me to put my seat belt on before he even turned the engine over.

  Billie Eilish blared through the speakers, and Mac instantly turned the volume down to almost nothing.

  Rocky was in a world of her own, her tears still falling with abandon whether or not she wanted them to. I wanted to talk to her, ask her if she was okay, but I decided to wait until we got her into her apartment. I sensed that she needed to feel like she was in a safe place, not on the road or out in the open. It took us no time at all to get to our complex, and by then, Rocky could walk on her own without me or Mac assisting her, although Mac refused to leave her side, just in case.

  “I’m sorry, you guys.” Rocky blinked rapidly a few times, looking like she was embarrassed or ashamed by her reaction.

  “Don’t apologize,” Mac said reassuringly.

  “Yeah. I’m just glad we were there. Are you okay?” I asked as I opened the main building’s door, and we trekked down the long hallway toward both of our apartments.

  She nodded before changing her mind and shaking her head instead. “Not really,” she started to explain as she opened her front door and held it open for us to follow.

  Her apartment was the exact same floor plan as mine, but she barely had anything in it. Nothing decorated her walls with the exception of a pair of elaborate and large cast iron candelabras, which were absolutely stunning, framing the patio doors. They looked like something stolen straight out of a real-life castle, and now, all I wanted was to see them lit.

  Rocky blew out a long breath as she walked into her kitchen and filled a glass with water from a pitcher in her fridge. Mac and I watched her down the entire thing before she looked at us, her eyes still glassy and swollen.

  “I was in a shooting,” she said.

  I felt my heart drop. I couldn’t even imagine how terrifying something like that must have been even though I’d thought about it before. You couldn’t live in this day and age without having it at least cross your mind once or twice.

  The tears started falling from her eyes again, but I wasn’t even sure she noticed.

  “I was a senior in high school. My brother came home from college for the weekend because he wanted me to go to some Halloween haunt thing with him at the local amusement park. You know what I’m talking about?”

  She focused on me as I said, “Yeah. Like at Knott’s Berry Farm out here?”

  “Exactly.” She sniffed and wiped at her face with the back of her hand. “We both love scary movies and stuff,” she said with a slight laugh. “Anyway, we were in line for a ride when the shooting started. At first, you don’t have any idea what the sound is because your brain is so focused on the fact that it’s something that doesn’t belong, and it doesn’t process what it might actually be.”

  The sound of her voice was enough to make me break down in tears myself, just from listening to her.

  “I remember that shooting,” Mac said, sounding as heartbroken as I was.

  “You start making excuses to explain what you’re hearing. Like maybe it was a ride or a special effect or fireworks or something. You never once think it’s a gun. At least, I didn’t. But then everyone started running toward us. I mean, swarms of people like you can’t even imagine, all running the same direction, screaming that there was a shooter.” She refilled her glass and took a small sip. “My brother grabbed my hand, looked me in the eyes, and told me to run. I’d never heard that tone in his voice before. There was all this smoke from the smoke machines, and it was, like, pitch-black. I mean, none of the normal lights were on because it was a Horror Night thing, but they never turned them on. Not even while someone was shooting. They kept us in the dark to fend for ourselves as we tried not to die.”

  I gripped the side of the counter for balance, knowing that Rocky was reliving this moment in excruciating detail as she explained it to us, and I hoped like hell her brother hadn’t been killed.

  “We ran, hearing the pops behind us, around us, everywhere. The girl next to me fell, and to this day, I have no idea if she tripped on something or if she got shot because I couldn’t fucking see anything, you know? My brother said we couldn’t stop until we got outside. No matter what. He never let go of my hand. Not even when we were both so coated in sweat that we shouldn’t have been able to grip anything, let alone each other.”

  More tears fell, and she wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve and started sucking in small breaths. “So, that’s why I got so scared today. I thought there was another shooter. And I haven’t been this triggered in a long time.”

  “Is your brother okay?” I asked, remembering all about that shooting and how unbelievable it was that it’d happened at an amusement park. It emphasized the fact that absolutely nowhere was safe anymore. Not when someone had it in their mind that they wanted to kill people. All it took was a gun and some ammunition.

  “Yeah. I mean, he has flashbacks, and we both get triggered by loud noises and crowds. The biggest change for him though was that he used to like to hunt, and now, he hates it. He can’t be around people shooting, or he freaks out. See, I’ve always hated guns, but now, I’m scared of them too.”

  “I can’t even imagine going through that,” Mac said as he swallowed hard, looking and sounding completely emotional by Rocky’s account of events. “I don’t think I’d ever leave my house again.”

  I assumed Mac was exaggerating, but I thought Rocky appreciated the fact that he was trying to make her feel more normal.

  “It was really hard at first, being around people I didn’t know. Like, all of a sudden, I didn’t trust anyone anymore. We pass by hundreds of strangers in a day, and before that, I never once thought that one of them might pull out a gun and try to shoot me. But after, it’s all I think about.”

  My mind reeled. Rocky was saying things that I’d never really dived deep into before. And she was right. We wandered through life, passing people on the streets, on campus, in a bar, at a restaurant, and we never once thought that anything bad was going to happen because of one of them. We had this innate trust for strangers because we trusted ourselves.

  “It makes sense,” I said, hoping she felt understood. “There is a level of trust we have while doing everyday things. We trust that no one will try to murder us while we’re doing them. And that was broken for you.”

  “Definitely. I mean, if you haven’t been through something like that, you can’t even begin to understand what it’s really like. I thought I was going to die. And there’s nothing that prepares you for that level of fear or for all the feelings that come after it starts to sink in.”

  “I’m really sorry you went through that. I can’t believe you were there.” I wiped at my eyes because my own tears had started to fall just as Rocky seemed to be pulling herself together.

  “That’s why I joined the sorority,” Rocky said with a half-grin.

  Mac perked up. “Wait. You were in a sorority?” he asked with the cutest expression on his face.

  “Don’t get too excited, buddy. It wasn’t my idea. My mom had pushed for it. She said that if I was going to move down here and go away to school after everything that happened, she wanted to make sure I had friends,” Rocky explained with a twisted laugh. “Clearly, she didn’t know how sororities work.”

  “They aren’t always the nicest of girls,” I said even though I’d considered rushing one once or twice over the years. It was the females like Hayley who had stopped me. I never wanted to be associated with that kind of mean girl-esque crowd.

  “Understatement of the year.” Rocky guffawed. “I mean, depending on which one. They aren’t all bad.”

  “I don’t mean to cut this short—and I’d stay here all day with you if I could, Rocky—but I have to get back to school. Coach will kick my ass if I miss any classes, and he’ll make me run until I puke later.”

  “I can drive you guys back to campus,” Rocky offered, but Mac and I both said, “No,” at the same time.

  “No, really, it’s okay.” I rounded the corner into the kitchen and gave her a hug, whether she wanted one or not. I didn’t think she hugged me back, but I didn’t care. “Rest. Call your brother. Do whatever you need to do. I’ll come check on you later, all right?”

  “Does that mean she’s getting fresh cookies?” Mac asked.

  Rocky’s eyes lit up. “Cookies?” She looked marginally happier than she had a moment ago.

  “Sunny makes the best cookies you’ve ever tasted. Better hope she brings some when she comes to check on you. Matter of fact, I’d be unwell for, like, weeks if I were you,” he said with a grin, and I walked back toward him and swatted his shoulder. “Why are you always hitting me?” He pouted.

  I didn’t answer him. “I’ll see you later, Rocky. You’ll be okay if we go?”

  “Yeah. I’m all right. Thanks, you guys. Seriously. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there. But now, I want cookies, Sunny, so I’ll just be sitting here”—she clasped her hands together under her chin—“waiting like a sad puppy for a treat.”

  “You won’t be sorry.” Mac sauntered over to her, pulled her into a hug, and planted a kiss on her cheek. “I feel protective over you now,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh jeez. Here we go. Take him away.” She gave Mac a shove in my direction. “Please. Bye, Baseball Boy. Pretend we never met.”

  “Not a chance,” he said, and I laughed as I had to practically force him out of her front door.

  “I’ll ignore you in public,” she yelled.

  I quickly closed the door behind us, so Mac couldn’t turn around and head back inside to argue with her.

  “Come on. I need to stop at my place real quick.”

  Clearing the Air

  Mac

  I looked at Sunny and asked, “She wouldn’t really do that, would she?” referring to Rocky ignoring me in public. I wasn’t sure my ego could take the hit.

  “You’re so sensitive,” she said, which wasn’t really an answer.

  “You know this about me already,” I whined as we reached her front door, and she unlocked it. When did I turn into such a pussy?

  “I still can’t believe Rocky was in that shooting,” she said, clearly changing the subject as she tossed her keys on the kitchen table and walked into the kitchen. She started pulling out things like flour and sugar from the cupboard and talking to herself. “I can’t imagine how scary that must have been,” she added but kept her focus on counting and measuring the ingredients she had started lining up. She started making a list for whatever was missing from her recipe, but mostly, she was trying to avoid talking to me.

  “Me neither,” I agreed before silently willing her to stop whatever it was that she was doing and pay attention to me. Forget beating around the bush, I wanted to get right to the heart of the matter and clear the air, which, I had to admit, was very unlike me.

  “Sunny,” I said her name, and she dropped what was in her hand. “Can we please talk about what you think you saw earlier? With Hayley?”

  Sunny’s body flinched. It was subtle, but I noticed.

  “I don’t know what I saw.” She tried to sound nonchalant and unaffected, but she was upset.

  “You saw two people talking. Well, you saw Satan talking and me trying to get her to shut the hell up and leave me alone,” I said, hoping she believed me.

  She swallowed noticeably, her eyes avoiding mine, and I hated whenever she did that. It was one of her tells, and that was how I knew she was more upset than she was letting on.

  “What are you thinking? Just tell me, so I can fix it.”

  “I’m mad at you,” she said instantly, and I swallowed hard, feeling a little uncomfortable with the direct outburst.

  “I know. I’m sorry I didn’t call you last night.” I wasn’t sure exactly what to tell her about that. Did she really need to know how big of a basket case I was and that I had been wallowing in self-pity all night before forcing myself to fall asleep with the help of some melatonin?

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I, um ...” I hesitated, my mind spinning. “I had a talk with Coach yesterday that upset me, and I was in a bad headspace for the rest of the day,” I answered honestly and held my breath, waiting for her response. Maybe she would realize I wasn’t worth all this trouble and cut her losses.

  “Mac.” Sunny walked from the kitchen and toward where I stood. “It’s okay if you have a bad day. But just give me a heads-up. It’s not that hard to send me a text, saying you just need to be alone or whatever.” She sounded frustrated. “Just freaking communicate with me. I can’t take the silent treatment.”

  “It goes against my nature,” I spat out before realizing what I’d even said. It was the truth though even if I’d truly never put the pieces together before now. “I’m just used to keeping everything to myself.”

  Sunny closed the distance between us and wrapped me in her arms. She held me tight, hugging me, and I had to force my hand to stay on her lower back and not drop to her ass.

  As she pulled away, her face looked pained. “I want you to tell me the hard stuff. That’s what I’m here for.”

  “You’re going to have to remind me of that. Probably pretty often.” I tried to lighten the mood, but the smile she gave me didn’t reach her eyes.

  “I’m mad about that text you sent me too.” Her eyes pulled together, and I’d almost forgotten all about that.

  I pulled my baseball hat off and scratched at my head. “I freaked out when I heard you were with her. Or near her. I don’t trust Hayley, and I have no idea what she’s capable of when it comes to other girls,” I explained, hoping I didn’t sound like a liar. “She’s poison, and I didn’t want her to get in your head.”

  “I read the text differently. I read it like you were telling me to get away from her because I was the bad guy or something,” she said, and I hadn’t even realized that she could interpret my message any other way than I’d meant it.

  That Hayley was evil.

  I shook my head. “No. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that Hayley’s horrible, and just knowing she was near you after what happened the night before ...” I stumbled all over my thoughts. “I don’t know, Sunny. She’s just bad.”

  “I think between the text and then not hearing from you at all,” she started before continuing, “and then seeing you with her this morning ... I don’t know. My mind went places I didn’t want it to go.” It made so much sense, all the things she was saying. But Sunny had taken my silence wrong, I thought, because she said, “I don’t want to be your second choice,” and it nearly broke my damn heart.

  “You’re not,” I emphasized, hoping she believed me.

  “If you’re not completely over her, I need you to tell me. I can handle it. But I can’t handle being second place to her. Or any other girl. I want all of you, Mac. Not just the parts left over.”

  Her words were hard for me to accept, but as insecure as I could be about some stuff, Sunny apparently was too. Obviously, I hadn’t made myself very clear.

  “I am over her. And you’re not my second choice. You’re my only choice, Sunny. I only want to be with you,” I said.

  “Just to be clear,” she started, and I had to stop myself from laughing. This girl was going to kill me. “You’re not into Hayley? At all?”

  Why were girls always asking the same questions in different ways?

  “Not even if my life depended on it,” I answered without taking a breath. “Literally.”

  “Okay. Sorry. It’s just that she said you were still in love with her and had been chasing her for the last three years,” Sunny added, and I started grounding my teeth together as my anger raged.

  “What? Sunny, she’s a fucking liar. See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

  I walked to the patio doors, opened them, and stepped outside. I needed some fucking air. Sunny was at my side within seconds, her long silver strands blowing in the breeze.

  “She lies. She’s pissed because I don’t want her back. This morning, what you saw? That was me telling her to stay the hell away from me. She’d transferred into my class.”

  “She what? Transferred in?”

  I gave a frustrated wave as I leaned against the privacy railing. “I don’t know if she knew I was in the class or not. But when she saw me, she sat next to me.”

  Sunny snarled, “And what did you do?”

  “I moved.”

  She laughed. “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Yeah. I believe that you don’t want to be with her.”

  “Thank God,” I said because I might have completely lost my cool if she had said something to the contrary. “Do you believe that I want you?” I asked.

  Her cheeks instantly started to color. It was fucking adorable, the way that my words affected her.

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe, huh?” I reached for her and tugged her body against mine. “You’re mine, Sunny Jamison,” I said with a smirk before claiming her.

  Those fucking lips would be the death of me. I reveled in the taste of her tongue and how it moved inside my mouth. I wanted to press pause on the clock and have my way with her, savoring every inch of her perfect, little, petite body, but I knew Coach would have my ass if I skipped class already.