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Ben sits next to Mackie and neither has said a word to each other, Mackie is still laying on his back looking at the night sky while Ben awkwardly looks around at the emptiness in front of him. Both want to say things but not really sure where to start,

"Did she leave you here?" Mackie asks

"Yep"

"Need a ride?"

There is zero eye contact between them, "no I can walk"

"It's late Ben"

"I said I can walk" he snaps.

"Whatever" Mackie goes back to being quiet.

Holding his legs against his chest Ben rests his head on his knees, "sorry" he sighs "and I'm sorry I spazzed on you last weekend."

"Don't apologize you were right,"

"What are you doing with Harley, Mackie?"

Laying on his back Mackie continues to stare at the sky, "before I moved out any money I made working for my mom or with Harley I saved, for the first few months I was set but now between rent, insurance for my bike and car and basically living alone I needed the extra cash."

"Why can't you ask your mom for a raise? Harley hurts you, he always will"

"Not if I don't care. Before when he'd hurt me it was because I gave the shit he did value, if I don't care what he does then it's fine. I'm just doing it for the money it's not like before anymore."

"Since I saw you with him I've been worried, I think what if he gets caught and you're there? What if he gets deep into some shady shit and you end up hurt again?"

Mackie looks at Ben's back and smiles, "I've been talking to him since the party two months ago, have you been worried since then?"

"Yes," Ben answers honestly, "why was he even there that night?"

"Said he heard talk about East Shore people coming to look for me at the party and since he had no way of contacting me, he had to take matters into his own hands."

"None of that sounds shady to you?"

"I don't know man I didn't ask questions, I just know if he wasn't there shit would've been so much worst for me." You'd think Mackie would know his brother enough by now to know it was all a setup, but he is choosing to ignore it all. "I'm talking to my dad again so I can't complain"

"That's the whole purpose of rocket though, you literally have to complain."

"Ok" he sits up next to Ben, "I hated seeing you with Jeremy on Saturday, it sucked so much for me. I legit never want you talking to that guy" Mackie says causing Ben to relive what happened after they saw each other. "But I know you're your own person and you can do whatever you want, but it just reminded me of everything he did to you."

Ben feels himself about to be honest and he knows that would piss Mackie off even more and he'd probably never talk to Ben again. "I have a confession to make"

"Ok," they sit next to each other actually talking for the first time in weeks and Ben isn't sure he wants to ruin it.

"I took ecstasy at Jeremy's party," he confesses.

"Really?" Mackie smiles, "how was that?"

"Fucking awful" he laughs, "I mean I don't remember much but from what I do, it was just me chugging drinks because I was so thirsty, and they were making it so much worse."

"Who knew mixing drugs with alcohol wouldn't help,"

"Wish you were there to stop me," Ben knows all the bad decisions they've been making without each other wouldn't have happened if they were still together.

"I'm sorry I wasn't,"

For the first time since they've been talking Ben turns meeting Mackie's eyes, "me too." Taking a deep breath to calm himself down Ben looks away "I don't know what I was thinking."

"What do you mean?"

"There's no way in hell I can walk home" he chuckles and Mackie joins in, "can I please get a ride?"

"Of course... you want to go now?"

"No" he turns to Mackie, "but I should, right?"

"Right" Mackie agrees but notices how Ben is looking at him, "or..." Mackie reaches out pulling Ben's face close to his, wrapping his lips around Ben's they slowly start to kiss.

Laying Mackie down Ben climbs on top of him and they continue to kiss each other, not caring that they are in public Ben takes his jacket off making himself comfortable for Mackie. Both boys knew nothing could ever feel as good as this so there was no need to fight it, they're touching each other and Ben is grinding on Mackie. "We should have sex on this rock," Ben says as Mackie kisses his neck

"Are you joking? We're about to fuck all over this rock," they both laugh and Ben drops on top of Mackie. "Oh no did I just ruin rocket?"

"Yes, you did" Ben climbs off putting his jacket back on.

"I missed you," Mackie sits up moving close to Ben

Ben leans his head on Mackie's wanting to say the same, but instead, he says "we can't get back together Mackie." Sighing Mackie stands up getting off the rock "I just mean that I don't want what just happened to confuse us," Ben follows him off the rock.

"Ben for fuck's sake we kissed! I wasn't expecting anything, and who said I want to get back together with you? Every time I've seen you all you've done was shit on me."

"Then we're on the same page?"

"Yep," Mackie walks away "get in the car I'm taking you home."

The car ride is quiet and awkward, Ben and Mackie avoid eye contact as they're both thinking only about the other. Slowing down as he pulls up to Ben's house, Mackie comes to a complete stop "I'm sorry" Ben stares at his lap.

"If you honestly never want to see me again Ben I need you to tell me right now, because yeah it's been a while but nothing about how I feel about you changed. But who I am scares you and I never wanted that, so tell me what you want."

Taking a moment to think Ben turns to Mackie, "I don't know" Ben doesn't want to get back together with Mackie because of the guilt he feels for sleeping with Jeremy just a week ago. His feelings for Mackie are still very much there, but Ben knows he isn't ready to just forget everything that's happened and get back together with him. "I can't give you what you want right now,"

"Got it" Mackie replies cold. Getting out of the car Ben shuts the door and without waiting for Ben to go inside, Mackie drives away.

Mackie spends the next few days getting lost in work to not obsess over what happened with Ben, Mackie acts natural as if nothing is wrong but he knows something isn't right. He was being honest with Ben, he misses him a lot but the rejection hurt, and it doesn't make sense to Mackie that a kiss felt so right and yet Ben just dismissed him.

"Hey, brother" Mackie is greeted by Harley, "you ready to go?"

"Yeah" opening the trunk of his car Harley puts a duffle in there then shuts it. As they're getting in Mackie says, "this is gonna be fast right I'm tired as fuck."

"Mack stop bitching ok you're about to make 500 just for driving, I'm the one doing everything your ass just sits in the car." Mackie drives.

Sitting in his car outside a weird abandoned building, Mackie takes his phone out calling Ben. Even though he decided giving Ben his space was best, Mackie still calls because he realized how hard it'd be for him to live without hearing Ben's voice. "Hey sorry I missed you but just text me unless you're my grandparents then in that case I'll call you back soon!"

Getting ready to leave a message Mackie clears his throat waiting for the beep, "I know you've been ignoring my calls, Ben, and I guess that's completely fine I'm being annoying as fuck, I know. Um, I guess maybe I'll stop calling or I should just text you since I'm not a grandparent." He takes a second for the joke then continues, "anyway I'll figure out how to stop calling... bye" he sends the message then drops his phone.

Waiting for awhile Mackie starts to get antsy, he knows Harley's drops never take more than 20 minutes. A lot about coming here felt wrong, it was a far drive to a town a lot of people avoid, and something about the building having no visible windows makes Mackie feel uneasy.

Getting out of the car Mackie texts Harley, 'hurry up I have work early tomorrow!' he sends the text.

Another 10 minutes pass without a reply, Mackie stares at the building ready to go in and see what's taking so long. As he walks towards the building Mackie is caught of guard by the sound of a gun going off, shocked he takes off running. "HARLEY!!!" He yells rushing in the building.

Not making it far inside Mackie gets the wind knocked out of him, causing him to fall face down. His vision is impaired as he tries to get back up but finds it very difficult as he gets kicked in the stomach repeatedly.

"Get the fuck away from my brother before I fucking kill you!" Harley holds the gun out at the guy beating Mackie, the guy backs up. "Mack stand up!" He barks as Mackie is on the floor coughing up blood, "get up now we have to go!"

Trying his best Mackie gets up, he and Harley runs getting in the car.

"What the fuck happened?" Mackie asks driving as fast as he can trying not to look back

"They set me up."

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