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Pacing back and forth outside of his mom's office, Ben thinks about what he's going to say, he knows Mackie needs help and he knows his mom is the only one who can help him. So, all he has to do is suck it up and go in there. Taking a deep breath he opens the door "hi honey," he greets his mom sitting behind her desk.

"Hey" he acts nonchalant dropping on the couch in her home office, "I need to talk to you" he looks to her.

"Is this about the car again? Because your father and I talked about it and-"

"Mom" he tries to cut in,

But she continues "we just don't think it's the right time to get you one yet."

"No mom it's not about that," he stands walking to her desk sitting down in one of the chairs facing her. "It's about you helping Mackie"

"Ben"

"Just listen please, he doesn't deserve what's happening to him, mom. They're saying that if his brother doesn't come back he'll get all the blame meaning five years for something he didn't do."

"Mackenzie is a criminal, Ben-"

"And you help criminals for a living!" He retorts

"Not ones connected to my family! He puts you in danger just by being around you, what if you somehow were around when that happened? What if he told you before he committed his crime and now you're liable by association? Bad people like him and his brother don't care about anyone else, Ben."

"That's not true" Ben shakes his head, "Mackie cares about me, mom he always protects me, and I hate that he's in all this trouble and I can't help him."

"From what Ben? What could Mackenzie Denver have possibly protected you from?"

Ben really needs her to believe him and the only way to do that was to come clean about a lot. "I was the one who exposed Jenny Field," he avoids eye contact as he confesses.

"Who?" She looks at him confused

"That letter that came home from school months ago about a girl's pictures being sent around... I was the one who first sent them out to the entire school."

Gasping she stares at her son not believing it, "why would you possibly do something like that, Benjamin?"

"Because I'm the bad person!" He frowns as the tears build up "you think it's Mackie but it's me, Jeremy cheated on me with Jenny the whole time we were together and that pissed me off so I sent those pictures. I felt nothing mom" his voice cracks, "but Mackie saved me, I was going to get expelled and probably arrested but Mackie sent out a picture of himself. Everyone was talking about that so they left Jenny Field's nudes alone." He looks down ashamed of himself but continues talking, "I've done a lot of bad stuff before I met Mackie but I'm not the same person, you have to realize that I've changed."

Reaching in a drawer next to her, Ben's mom takes out his phone placing it in front of him, "call him"

"I can't he broke up with me."

"Why?"

"Because I offered to help, he said that he doesn't want me to be a part of it because he wants to protect me, but I know he just doesn't want me to see him like this, but I had to ask anyway. Mom even if you don't take him as a client maybe you can call his parents and give them some advice, he can't go down for his brother's crime it's not fair."

Sitting on his bed with the house phone Mackie calls Harley again, but like all the other times he's been doing it, it goes straight to voicemail. "Harley man I'm not sure you're even getting these anymore but I need you, bro. You gotta come back and deal with this I can't go away again man that'll kill mom. Just come back H I'm not mad or anything."

As he's outside working on his bike and his brother's play on the lawn, Mackie turns and sees Ben's mom getting out of her car. Wiping his hands Mackie watches her come closer, "Mrs. Henderson?"

"Hi Mackenzie" she stops in front of him, "are your parents home? I wanted to have a word with you all."

"Yeah they're inside" he walks to the door, "guys stay on the lawn," he says to his little brothers before opening the door allowing Ben's mom in. "Hey ma?!" He calls out

"In the kitchen!" She answers and they walk in

Awkward and nervous Mackie gets to his mom, "um Ben's mom is here and asked to talk to us."

"Oh" she stops what she's doing, "nice to meet you" she walks close shaking Ben's mom's hand. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, of course, I'm just here because I think I might be of some help to you, Mackenzie" she turns to him. "I am a partner at my own law firm, and I've looked at your case, I can help if you decide to drop your current lawyer and go with me."

Mackie and his mom turn to each other finding the proposition unexpected, "why do you want to help us?" Mackie's mom asks.

"As parents, we do a lot to protect our kids, and my first instinct to keep Ben away from Mackenzie after I learned about what's been going on with your family was unfair. My son seems to be your son's biggest advocate, so that has to mean something, right?" She smiles

"Ken?" His mom looks at him, "what do you think?" Both women look at Mackie waiting for an answer,

"Do you really think you can help me?"

She nods "you won't have to pay for your brother's mistakes, and I know the best case scenario your lawyer promised was no more than a year in prison, but I can do you one better. I can get you no time at all"

"Can you really?" His mom gasps and she nods, "oh my god that's amazing! I'm going to call Elias right now and fire him," she rushes out excited.

Alone with Mackie, Ben's mom turns to him "Ben's always had an issue about putting his trust in others, I mean since he was a kid it'd take a lot out of him to even make a friend. I never made that a bad quality for him but I think because of that, as he grew up it kind of swayed his judgment. They're questionable sometimes, but I think he knows the choices he made in trusting you weren't questionable."

"I don't understand-"

"He told me everything you've done for him in his attempt to beg me to represent you,"

"Oh"

"I have honestly never seen him care about anything this much before so that's why I'm here. He's expecting me to pick him up from school actually, but I bet it'll be nice for him to come out and see you instead."

Nodding Mackie takes the gesture "thank you," he walks out of the kitchen. Grabbing his jacket Mackie gets in his car. Driving to school he stands next to his car waiting as the bell rings and people start to pour out of the doors. When Ben walks out with his friends Mackie sees him first, staring at the way he looks missing everything about the boy, Mackie patiently waits to be spotted.

Looking over at the street to look for his mom's car, Ben is stunned when he sees the comet with the love of his life standing in front of it instead. He stares at Mackie confused but taken by how good he looks in the afternoon sunlight. Mackie waves and Ben smiles, telling his friends he's leaving, Ben walks towards Mackie. "What are you doing here?" He stops in front of the boy

"Just wanted to see if you'd be up for getting something to eat,"

Ben nods "I'd like that."

Faintly smiling Mackie takes his bag, walking to the passenger side Mackie opens the door for him then shuts it once he's in. Putting Ben's bag in the back seat he climbs the driver side and pulls away. The quiet ride makes Ben nervous but there isn't much to be nervous about they're already broken up, but for some reason to him, it feels like Mackie was about to break up with him all over again. Deciding its best to not say anything and wait for Mackie to talk Ben stays quiet until they get to the diner.

"Things never go right for us here," Mackie comments sitting across from Ben.

Scoffing Ben replies, "things never go right for us anywhere."

"How have you been?" Their demeanors are casual, with Mackie leaned back in his seat and both hands rest on his lap, while Ben's arms rest on the table and he's sort of leaned forward.

"Fine" he lies, "the end of the year dance is in two weeks so of course Ali already has us planning."

"Going alone?"

"No" he shakes his head, "I'm going with Ali and Brooke" he smiles knowing he tricked Mackie into thinking he had a date. "We decided to skip the whole date part and just go with each other"

"That's nice,"

"Yeah, they've been stepping it up lately, being supportive and shit."

"Good."

The waitress walks up "hey Mack,"

"Hey" he looks up at her

"How's the family? We've all seen what's been happening on the news kinda"

"Good, we're good."

"That's good. All right here are some-"

"We won't need those" he stops her from handing them menus, "we'll take two bacon cheeseburgers with fries, no pickles on his" he points to Ben. "strawberry lemonade for him and a root beer for me, thanks."

"All right coming right up," she writes it all down then walks away.

Ben smiles at the fact that he just ordered for him but decides not to mention it, "so why did you come today?"

"You, I wanted to see you" the air is calm between them but Ben wishes it wasn't, he misses Mackie but wants to respect his decision. "And to thank you,"

"For what?"

"Your mom is at my house right now, helping."

"Oh," Ben's heart is relieved but he looks down breaking eye contact to not see Mackie's reaction.

"Yeah, she said that you told her everything,"

Ben nods "I had to for her to trust me."

"I wish you hadn't though"

"Why?"

"Because, Ben, her helping us now puts you in it," Mackie shakes his head, "and I didn't want that."

"Yeah, I know you broke up with me,"

"There is a real possibility that I'll go to jail Ben, and what are you going to do wait for me? Visit me every chance you get? I don't want that for either of us."

"You're not going anywhere, Mackie" he smiles truly believing that.

"You don't know that,"

"Yes, I do!" He leans forward trying his hardest to make Mackie understand, "my mom is good and if she says she can do this I don't doubt her."

"I've had lawyers promise me things before, Ben."

"None of them were my mother" Ben can see that Mackie is worried, "it's ok to be scared, I'm scared too but I've seen her do it."

They eat in silence but Ben barely touched his food, he can tell Mackie is still worried and isn't sure of what to say. After paying for their food Mackie drives Ben home, standing with him outside the car when they get to Ben's house, Mackie and Ben turn to each other. "Since my mom's at your house and my dad's at work I have the house all to myself, if you wanted to come in."

"I want to, badly" he replies making Ben smile and he's ready to walk towards the door but Mackie grabs his hand, "but shits confusing right now Ben, and I don't want to give you any hope."

Ben pulls his hand away "god you always have to be this guy! Stop trying to control everything Mackie, stop trying to protect me when you're the one who needs protecting. Be angry! Your own brother is screwing you over, react to that for fuck's sake!" Ben yells but Mackie says nothing, shaking his head in disbelief "why did I think sex would help?" He sighs walking away.

Going inside his house disappointed, Ben drops his things and as he's removing his jacket he hears a knock on the door. Rolling his eyes because he knows who it is, Ben reaches for the doorknob opening the door, "you're right" Mackie says before Ben could get anything out. Stepping in Mackie pulls Ben to him planting his lips on the boy's lips.

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