The Story Of Us

two

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M A C K E N Z I E

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He gave me a death stare from across the table and I quickly stared at my lap. I couldn't do this, I couldn't be in the same room as him, this could end horribly.

"Hi Mackenzie." His hand extended out to reach mine, I shyly took it, and nodded at him. We have to be professional.

"Nice to see you again Mackenzie." His dad said, taking my hand.

"Hi Mackenzie." Meredith nodded at me and took my hand.

I knew all of them, they knew me. Act professional.

We ordered food and talked about the arrangements that Michelle and the Orlandos had made.

"We were thinking that you two could do a duet with each other and you're going to need to hype it up on social media. This means you guys hanging out a lot, posting photos on instagram, commenting on each others posts etc." Dale said, smiling at me. I nodded along, sneaking glances at Johnny, wondering what was going through his mind.

"So are you two up for it?" Michelle said, looking at both of us.

I stared at Johnny. I'm not sure if I could do this. The last time we talked things ended really badly, and it hasn't improved since. I still talk to Lauren, Meredith and Dale, but I try to avoid Johnny as much as possible.

"I don't mind trying it out." he said, shrugging.

I nodded, not wanting to say anything as Michelle pulled out some papers discussing with the parents. I sat there, watching, refusing to look at Johnny. We're going to have to spend time with each other now, it's decided.

"When is our first songwriting session." He asked. His voice had gotten deeper, I didn't realise before.

"We haven't sorted it out yet. But you two need to take a photo for instagram and hopefully post it tonight." Michelle said, taking the paperwork from the Orlandos.

"Mackenzie, do you want to come round for the rest of the day, maybe? Hang out with Johnny, meet Lauren again."

I looked at my mom, "Yeah Kenz, you haven't seen Lauren in months!" she said with a big smile on her face. "We can all go, it'll be a change of scenery."

Meredith smiled, standing up, "Well I guess we'll see you guys soon."

We exchanged our goodbyes and watched them walk out of the shop, I sighed sliding down on my chair. "Mom, I don't want to be around him."

"Honey, it's not that bad, you weren't even official." I rolled my eyes at this statement.

"I didn't know you knew the Orlandos." Michelle said with a confused look on her face. "And Meredith didn't tell me she knew you either..."

"Maybe it just slipped her mind." I say, standing up. "Mom, I want to change my outfit, can we go home?" She nodded, picking up her stuff, we said goodbye to Michelle and I texted Maddie telling her we were going to the Orlandos. She was confused at first but agreed to meet us there.

When I got home I quickly got changed into a cute but comfortable outfit, a red sweatshirt and a pair of black leggings, before slipping on my vans and waiting for my mom to be ready. The drive to the Orlando's wasn't quiet but we didn't talk much. I was on Instagram responding to fans DMs to put me at ease. I was excited to see Lauren again, but that was basically it.

—

Lauren was the first to open up the door and she tackled me in a hug, pulling me to the ground. We were laughing our heads off as we stood up, squealing.

"I haven't seen you in ages!" She screamed, hugging me again.

"you have no idea how much I missed you Lauren." I whisper.

"Same here Kenz." We walk into the living room, after catching up super quickly at the door, to find an assortment of snacks and food have been laid out. Maddie was already sitting on the couch, talking to Johnny. "Kinda went full out when I heard you were coming today." Lauren said laughing. Johnny turned around and looked at me, his green eyes cutting into my soul and I nervously looked away. Not today bitch.

I sat in between Lauren and Maddie, not wanting to be anywhere close to Johnny as he switched on the Netflix on the tv, flicking through all the options.

"What movie are we going for today?" He asked.

"Let's do the random generator thingy." Maddie said, snatching the remote off him. He huffed in annoyance but didn't fight with her about it. "Ok what category?"

"Comedy!"

"Horror!"

"Romance!"

"Ew no not romance." Johnny said, rolling his eyes.

"It's better than horror." Lauren huffed, taking a handful of popcorn.

"Ok comedy it is." Maddie said. She closed her eyes and played around with the buttons on the remote until she felt like she had messed around enough. The film she landed on was 'Just Go With It' and everyone settled down and watched the movie, eating snacks and giving opinions on what was happening.

—

I didn't realise I had fallen asleep but I felt someone carefully wake me up.

"Mackenzie, you're drooling over me again."

I jumped up realising who it was that spoke. "I'm sorry I thought you were Lauren."

"She went to go get her phone a few minutes ago. You should go to home, you must be exhausted."

I nodded and walked out of the room before pausing at the doorframe.

"Mackenzie?" he sounded tired and upset.

"Yes?"

He just stared at me, starstruck for a few seconds before sighing and nodding his head. "Don't go home yet, stay for a bit, Lauren's coming back down to take the photo for us."

"Oh ok." I stood awkwardly at the doorframe, avoiding eye contact with him as he stood up and took my hand, leading me outside. I felt butterflies and we quickly took a few photos and picked the best ones.

"Kenzie come on! We're going home!" Maddie yelled from inside.

I hugged Lauren and promised her that I would be back soon and ignored Johnny, but I couldn't stop thinking about him the whole way home.

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welp that was TrAsHy
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