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Skipping school Mackie sits on the hood of his car at McLaren Point staring out at everything, his hand aches and his heart is breaking, his own family basically turned their backs on him. Nothing's been the same since he came out to them, and now he knows their true colors so it made sense to leave, but where's he going to go?

Hearing his phone in the car he jumps off the hood opening the door to get it, staring at the unknown number Mackie answers "hello?"

"Hey" the unfamiliar voice replies, "um is this Mackenzie Denver?" The female voice asks

"Yeah who's this?"

"My name's Maeve, the nurse told me you brought me to the hospital last night."

"Oh right, everything ok?" Mackie hears her tired voices and can tell she's not fully all right

"Not really I need to be released and I don't really have anyone to do that with, so the nurse gave me your info and-"

"Do you need me to come get you?"

"Yeah kinda..."

"Ok" Mackie climbs in, "I'll be right there." leaving Mackie drives to the hospital heading to the ER where he dropped her off. Walking in he sees the same girl sitting in a wheelchair waiting, but since she doesn't know who he is or what he looks like, she doesn't bother to look at him. Going over to her Mackie doesn't get too close, "hi" she looks up

"Mackenzie?" She asks

"Yeah," Mackie nods.

She chuckles not expecting him to look like he does, "who are you?"

"I... it's a long story."

"Hey nice of you to come back," her nurse walks up to them remembering Mackie. "All right just need you guys to sign her out and she's all yours."

"Sure" he takes the clipboard signing his name on the line, handing it to Maeve in the wheelchair she signs then hands it back to the nurse. "Are we all set?" Mackie asks

"Yes you're free to go, just push her out the door and leave the chair right there."

Taking her out Mackie helps her out the chair and they walk to his car where he opens the door for her, making sure she's in he shuts it then gets in on his side. As he's driving the car is quiet, they are 2 complete strangers crossing paths in the weirdest way possible. "You're nice" she comments "I don't remember a nice guy from last night."

"You didn't meet me last night"

"Then who are you? And why did you take me to the hospital?"

"Um around two AM this morning my brother called me to your house and tried to force me to have sex with you," he explains causing Maeve to drop her head in her palms. "But I didn't, nothing happened... with me at least."

"Which one of them was your brother?" She turns to him

"Harley," he answers

"Harley? None of the guys from last night were named Harley."

"What happened to you?"

Taking a deep breath "I meet these guys at a club, we all went back to my place and they promised they'd get me coke if I slept with them. So one thing led to another and now here we are,"

"My brother is probably the one that delivered your coke, he said that after the guys were done they just told him it was his turn with you and left him there."

"So he called you?" Mackie nods "that's strange."

"Stranger than what you were up to?" Mackie asks causing Maeve to look away disgusted with herself. "I could really use some coffee and breakfast, how about you?"

"Yeah I could eat," he takes them somewhere and they sit down. Mackie watches her eat, taking everything about her in, her brown curly hair, how skinny she is, and the dark circles under her eyes. "You're staring" she says with a mouth full.

"Sorry" Mackie looks done at his cup of coffee, "can I ask you something?" He looks back up at her and she nods "why did you sleep with those guys for coke?"

She smiles "isn't it obvious? drugs are amazing" she continues to eat. "My turn, what happened to your hand?" She points to his bruised knuckles

"Kind of beat the shit out of my brother for locking me in a room with you,"

"Why would he even do that?"

"He wanted to make me straight again,"

Maeve gasps "that's so fucked up, what'd you do?"

"After hitting him I took you and left."

"Wow."

"Yeah and after I left you at the hospital I went home and he was there so I attacked him again, he lied to our parents and said I attacked him for no reason. When I told the truth about what he did they wouldn't believe me so I left."

"What do you mean you left?"

"I packed my shit and left, now I'm homeless." They sit across each other talking

"Do you have any money?"

Mackie nods "yeah,"

"Then move in with me."

"What?" Mackie asks surprised at the offer

"I have an empty room and even though we don't really know each other, you took me to the hospital instead of raping me so that's a plus in my book. As long as you promise to never bring your brother around me then I'm for it if you are."

"Trust me he's not coming anywhere I am anymore."

"Then say yes" Mackie stares at her and she grins,

"Sure" he agrees.

After eating they drive heading back to Maeve's house "do you have a boyfriend?" Mackie looks over at her, "you are gay right?" He nods "so do you?"

"Yeah, Ben but he's at school right now."

"School? Are you in school too?" Mackie nods "how old are you?"

"17 , you?"

"22, I'm in school too... technically failing out of school, but school none the less." Getting back to the house Mackie follows Maeve inside, he sees cocaine lines on the coffee table, and open bottles everywhere. "Come on I'll show you the room" they walk together, "I like it here, the neighborhood's pretty quiet I don't have many friends so it gets quiet in here too." Walking past her room she looks in and sees the chair, "what the hell happened?" She stops

"Oh sorry about that I hit it against the door trying to open it," Mackie explains.

"That was my favorite chair, so you owe me."

"Fair enough."

Walking down the hall Maeve opens the last door "it locks, has a great view of... the backyard" she chuckles, "um there's a bathroom in my room so this one" she points to the door across the bedroom, "is all yours."

"It's nice" Mackie walks around looking,

"Glad you like it, rent's on the third of every month, but the landlord likes me so he lets me be late sometimes. You're welcome to everything as long as your cool,"

"You mean about your drugs and alcohol?"

She smiles "exactly. This is gonna be great I've always wanted a gbf"

"What's a gbf?"

"Gay best friend, duh! I don't really know any gay people so this is gonna be fun, you can give me tips on like-"

Mackie stops her, "I don't know if you can tell but I'm not that kind of-"

"I could tell, the jacket and attitude are dead giveaways. I was teasing" she heads for the door, "anyways I'm gonna crash for a few hours then clean up, I'm glad you're here."

"Thanks" she walks out shutting the door.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Jeremy asks as Ben is leaving the building after school

"I don't know," he answers keeping his head straight.

"Trouble in paradise already?"

"Get away from me Jeremy" Ben has been worried all day, Mackie hasn't called him once and when he tried during lunch the phone went straight to voicemail.

Getting home Ben sits at his desk doing homework, he is trying his best not to think about the fact that his boyfriend had an unconscious girl in the back seat of his car at 3 am. Ben wonders if he'll have to deal with stuff like this all the time being with Mackie.

After a little while passes his phone finally rings, picking it up he reads Mackie's name on the screen and quickly answers. "Hi" Ben greets

"Hey" Mackie replies, "how was your day?"

"That doesn't matter, what happened? Where's the girl?"

"So much happened today Ben I can't say them all over the phone, are you home? Think you can come out with me for a little bit?"

"My parents don't get home from work until later so I'm all alone if you want to come over"

"Ok I'll be by in an hour," they hang up and Ben goes back to doing homework while he waits.

Finishing everything he walks to the kitchen looking for a snack, as he looks in the fridge the doorbell goes off. Getting to the door he opens it to Mackie, "hi" Mackie comes in hugging him.

Taking Ben a second he quickly gets over being upset with Mackie and hugs him back, "long day?" Ben asks seeing how tired he looks

Mackie nods walking in and shutting the door. "So much happened today"

"Come on" Ben takes his hand pulling him to his room. Shutting the door they sit on Ben's bed, "tell me everything."

Taking a breath "so after I left the hospital I went home this morning and Harley was there, shit escalated so quickly. I was hitting him and my mom was holding me back. He lied to my parents and said that I attacked him, and the whole thing with him locking me in a room with the girl was a lie, that I made it up."

"Oh my god," Ben runs his hand up and down Mackie's back.

"They didn't believe me, after weeks of ignoring me they just believed Harley of all people."

"Maybe they didn't believe him either, maybe they just needed more information" Ben tries to reason with the situation.

"Well it's too late for that because I left."

"You left?" Ben asks confused

"Yeah I packed and moved out, I couldn't do it anymore I can't be in a house where Harley is allowed in whenever he wants just to get away with whatever."

"I understand Mackie," Ben runs his fingers behind Mackie's head massaging it. Calming Mackie down he turns to Ben who's looking at him, "you come first no matter what, so if this is what you need to do for you then I'll support you."

"Thank you," Mackie leans in kissing him then pulling away.

"But where are you going to live now?"

"Oh, I forgot that part, um so the girl I dropped of at the hospital called me back because she needed someone to pick her up. I went and got her, we got breakfast, and I told her everything. Her name's Maeve and she offered me a room at her house."

"Really?" Mackie nods, "is that smart? I mean you don't even know her."

"Yeah but I know her enough, and it's a nice just place kinda far though."

"How far?"

"About 40 minutes but I can just wake up earlier so it's not a problem,"

"Should I worry, Mackie? Because I do when it comes to you,"

"I'm gonna be fine, don't worry."

"Ok, I trust you."

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