Moses chose to ignore Mack’s little show and headed to the kitchen to grab a couple of beers for our dates.
Feeling anxious, I took the time to use the bathroom.
That was when things literally went down the toilet.
I’d stupidly flushed a tampon, resulting in the toilet clogging. It came right back up along with a deluge of water that gathered at the top of the bowl. With no plunger in sight, I truly didn’t know what to do. The thought of sticking my hand in the toilet skeeved me out beyond belief. Yet, there was no way I could have just left it there and gone out. One of the guys would have seen it. I knew that one of them would be using the bathroom before we left for the night, especially since they’d been drinking. Worse, if they didn’t, then Mack would be the one to see my floating tampon after we left.
After I’d been hiding in the bathroom for upwards of a half-hour, there was a light knock on the door.
“Frankie, what the hell? Are you okay?”
Shit. It was Mack.
“No.”
“What’s wrong? You sound weird.”
“Do we have a plunger somewhere that you could hand to me?”
He laughed. “What did you get yourself into, Frankie Jane?”
“Just…do we have one or not?”
“Moses is a germaphobe. He took the plunger a while back and said he was going to replace it but never did.”
“Well, I need one.”
“We don’t have one.”
“Can you go get one for me?”
A few seconds passed before he said, “I’ll be right back.”
Mack disappeared for about five minutes before returning.
“Are you decent?”
“You can’t come in here!”
He repeated, “Are you decent?”
“Yes, but—”
The door opened.
Mack was sporting rubber, dishwashing gloves and carrying a bucket.
“What are you doing?”
“Unclogging the mess you made.”
“You can’t.”
“Watch me. How bad could it be anyway?” He had to eat his words when he looked down at my bloody tampon that had now expanded in the water. “Oh.”
I cringed. “Yeah.”
“Apparently, you’re not supposed to flush those.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” I snapped.
“I’d ask you why you’re cranky, but obviously it’s that time of the month.”
Despite my mortification, I couldn’t help but laugh a little. Mack grinned and winked at me, causing my heart to flutter. How this guy could have me swooning at a time like this was pretty unbelievable.
Mack geared himself up. “Alright, here goes.”
Without delay, he reached into the toilet to extract the tampon. After dumping it into the trash, he then proceeded to squirt copious amounts of shampoo into the toilet bowl. Then, he headed over to the sink where he filled the large bucket. After pouring the scalding water down the bowl, he was able to get things moving again. He finished it off with a successful flush.
“How did you learn how to do that?”
“It’s Mackenzie magic.” He winked then said, “Actually, Google. Looked up remedies for unclogging a toilet without a plunger.”
“Thank you for coming to my rescue. That was beyond your duty as a friend.”
“You’re lucky I like you, Frankie Jane. I think that was proof I’d do just about anything for you.”
His words gave me serious butterflies. He always made me feel like he would do anything for me.
“Thank you.”
“You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think subconsciously you’re just trying to avoid going out with him.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because no one stays locked up in a bathroom because of a floating tampon.” He took his gloves off and discarded them in the trash. “Why don’t you just tell them you’re sick or something? Stay home.”
“That would be rude at this point.”
“And disappearing into the bathroom isn’t?”
I changed the subject off of me. “What was with the boy band act? You’re such an attention whore.”
“Only when it comes to your attention.”
My heart started to beat faster. I was a lost cause.
“Well, next time you’re tantruming for my attention, try not to be so insulting to other people.”
“You’re right. It was immature.”
“You did make me laugh, though.”
“That’s because you have the same sense of humor I do. And neither of us is that nice, which is why we get along so well.”
“Maybe.”
Our eyes locked, and the tension in the air was transparent. His hair was messed up from the hat he’d been wearing, but in a way, that made him look even more handsome. I wanted so badly to run my fingers through that hair, to tug on it, pull him into my mouth and just suck on his lips. If he only knew that just thinking about that was making me wet.