Never Regret

The next morning, the three DecayDance bands set off in our buses for the next venue, which was in Seattle, Washington. This was an 8 hour drive, so there was a break after 4 hours for food. But I had decided to stay on the bus while Taylor got me food. And Logan was on strict orders not to let anyone come onto our bus unless it was our band.

Why am I doing this? Because I don’t want to talk to or see Michael. The kiss last night was the biggest mistake of my lifeeven if it was the most incredible kiss I’ve ever had. I can’t let another guy in – I’ll only end up hurt again. And besides, I’m on this tour to play my music and earn money for Jasmine, not to flit about in a stupid fantasy fling that would never last. I’m only doing the smart thing. Michael will get the hint in a little while and then he’ll get over it. Simple.

Then my sidekick started ringing. Again.

Michael

This was the 20th time he’d rung me today, if not more. I just don’t want to talk to him. Cutting him off cold turkey is the only way to do this. I waited until my cellphone had stopped ringing to pick it up.

1 new voicemail.

I sighed, but listened to it. He hadn’t left a voicemail yet.

“Hey, Kenzie, are you okay? You haven’t answered any of my calls this morning. Did I upset you or something? I hope this isn’t because of...what happened last night. Uh, call me back when you get this,”

I chewed my bottom lip, but deleted the message, ignoring the lump in my throat. This was the right thing to do. It had to be.

*

[Michael Guy Chislett]

“Uh, call me back when you get this,”

I ended the call, sighing as I shoved my cellphone back in my pocket. I’m not stupid, I know Mackenzie’s ignoring me. I just wish I didn’t know why. When we kissed last night, I felt like I was in heaven. I would never be able to kiss another woman without comparing them to Mackenzie, and I didn’t want to. I just wanted her. But when she ran away from me...it felt like something was torn from my chest and shredded into a hundred little pieces. Why won’t she talk to me?!

“Hey, Chizzy! Are you up yet, man?”

I poked my head out of my bunk to see Adam skipping towards me, food in hand. I hadn’t left the bus when we stopped for a break, knowing that Mackenzie wouldn’t have left her bus either.

“Hey,” I said with a weak smile.

“Jeez, what’s eating you?” Adam frowned.

“Mack still not answering your calls?” Mike asked sympathetically.

I groaned as William and Andy walked over as well. Thanks, Mike.

“No, she isn’t,” I grumbled.

“She wasn’t off her bus just now. Taylor was getting her food,” William commented.

“I knew she wouldn’t,” I muttered.

“What’s going on?” Andy asked curiously.

I chewed my bottom, rolling onto my back and looking at the ceiling of my bunk. I had only told Mike that Mackenzie wasn’t answering my calls, but not why. No-one knew what happened out in the smoking area.

“Mackenzie and I kissed last night,” I finally said.

I didn’t need to look at my bandmates to know their jaws were dropped.

“Well more like intensely made-out. It was...mind-blowing. Incredible. Perfect. And she initiated it,” I added.

“Fuck,” Adam chuckled.

“Exactly,” I muttered.

“Chizzy, she’s probably just confused,” William said softly.

“About what? She said she wanted me to kiss her – that kinda shows what was going on in her mind,” I retorted.

“What if she’s scared?” William countered.

“Scared of what?” Andy frowned.

William scanned his friends’ faces, a small amused smile slipping onto his lips.

“What if Mack’s scared of her feelings? The Never Regret boys said she’s only focussed on her kid and her job for the last 5 years, right? Well, what if Chizzy has broken past her wall and she didn’t realise it until tonight?” William explained.

“And she’s scared about what the unfamiliar feelings mean so she’s slamming the wall back up!” Mike gasped.

I groaned, running my hands over my face. If what they say is true, then I’m in more shit than I realised.

“How many times have you tried calling her?” Adam asked.

“26 times,” I admitted.

They laughed, making me frown. This isn’t funny!

“Give her time to cool off, Chiz. Mack just needs time to figure out what her feelings mean to her. Wait until we get to Seattle to talk to her face to face,” Mike suggested.

I sighed, but nodded. He made a good point.

“Alright,” I mumbled.

“Great! Now get out of bed and come eat junk food while we watch Butcher kick Bill’s ass on Mario Kart again,” Adam grinned.

“Hey!” William protested.

I just chuckled. Maybe a distraction would be good.

*

“Honey, we’re hooooome!” Taylor sang.

I stayed lying in my bunk, knowing they’d just come to me. And I was right. Taylor, Reece, Logan and JC all filed into the bunk area, facing me.

“What’s the real reason you didn’t come to lunch? I know you don’t have a hangover,” Logan asked seriously.

“Didn’t want to,” I shrugged.

“Does this have anything to with why Chizzy didn’t come off the TAI bus either?” Reece mused.

“Were you having phone sex?” Taylor teased.

“I’m not fucking talking to him, okay?” I spat.

That stopped her taunting.

“Why? What happened?” Taylor asked, confused.

“Nothing to do with you,” I retorted.

“If you’re ignoring him because of the kiss, you shouldn’t be,” JC said softly.

Taylor, Reece and Logan fell silent, all three of them staring at me in shock. I narrowed my eyes at JC.

“Has Michael been blabbing?” I growled.

“No, I was out in the smoking area and you two obviously didn’t see me. I don’t know why you’re acting like this, Mack. You’re the one that initiated it and then asked him to kiss you when he pulled away,” JC pointed out.

I groaned and buried my face in my pillow. This was embarrassing.

“You and Chizzy made-out?” Taylor gasped, grinning.

I just flipped her off, not moving away from the pillow.

“It was pretty intense, I’ll give you that,” JC smirked.

“Fuck, Mack,” Reece chuckled.

“This isn’t fucking funny! Getting close to someone again was a big fucking mistake and now I’m going to have to cut him out so he doesn’t get any fucking stupid ideas,” I said sharply, turning my face.

All four of them immediately frowned.

“You can’t do that to him,” JC said seriously.

“It’s not fair, especially if you were the one that started the kiss,” Taylor added.

“I can do whatever the fuck I like. Now do me a favour and piss off,” I snapped.

I drew my curtain across my bunk, leaving them speechless with dropped jaws.

*

[JC Morel]

Logan beckoned us from the bunks, and we all went into the lounge area.

“I think Mack likes Chizzy,” Logan whispered.

“How did you figure that out? She seems pretty angry if you ask me,” Reece said quietly.

“No, she’s in denial. If you had seen how she was last night with him...she hasn’t been like that with anyone before. Not even with Joseph when we saw them at Tommy’s parties. I think she realised just how much she liked him when they kissed, and now she’s scared,” I said softly.

“And she spends more time with Chizzy than anyone else outside this band,” Taylor pointed out.

“So what do we do?” Reece sighed.

“We get Mack to confess,” Logan said simply.

“But how? You know as well as I do she won’t admit anything. She’s too bloody proud and stubborn,” Taylor grumbled.

I chewed my bottom lip, an idea coming to mind. I knew it could make Mack even angrier than right now, but we would find out her true feelings without a doubt.

“Okay, I have a plan,” I smiled.