Every time Tatum repeated the word nothing, Mackenzie felt the aching in her chest get worse. What the hell was happening to her? Why would she care if the girl went and dated that ass Sam Ruiz? Girl's having boyfriends never stopped her before, hell, she had never cared about anyone else's relationship situation. It had always been about getting the girl out of her pants and in bed, and Mackenzie knew how to do that. This, however, was completely new territory. She was pretty sure that she wanted to get the redhead in bed, there was no doubt about that. There was something else though, something that was never present in her wants before. She actually wanted to hang out with the redhead, she wanted to do all that sappy shit that she always ragged on Hunter for doing with Michi. She wanted to hold her hand, wanted to fall asleep with the redhead safely held in her arms, it made her slightly nauseous to even think about. Since when had Tatum gotten such a hold over her life?

The girl yanking her wrist from her hand brought her back to reality, and she found herself getting angry with the redhead. She didn't know if they were right for each other, she didn't really care if they weren't. She just knew that she enjoyed having Tatum around and was starting to get really irritated that the other girl was rejecting her. Then she really looked at Tatum, and saw the panic on her face. She saw the tears that were about to fall and the broken sadness in the girl's eyes. She couldn't bring herself to blow up at the girl any longer, it was like all the anger that she had been storing up was draining out of her and she was left standing there feeling exhausted.

The little sob that was barely audible was what caused the blonde to move, the girl in front of her was too broken. It wasn't even about liking her anymore, it wasn't about winning her over, it was just the fact that Mackenzie couldn't stand how sad the girl in front of her looked. She had never seen anything as heartbreaking, and she took a few steps forward to wrap the girl in a hug. It didn't matter that Tatum had told her stay away, no one should have to feel that sad. "H-hey, don't cry," She said quietly, as she stepped closer to the redhead. "It'll be okay, alright? Just don't cry."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

It was hard, but Tatum kept trying to keep it together, her fist still stuffed against her lips to keep herself quiet. Why was she doing this? She never should have kissed the older girl, and she definitely shouldn't have kept standing there like she was. But she couldn't tear herself away, even as she had tried to. Mack had pulled her back and now she felt stuck.

Stuck in the moment, and stuck realizing how untrue the blonde girl's words really were. "I-It'll never be o-okay, not as long as I-I'm.. I'm like this!" the redhead spat quickly, the blonde clearly having hit a nerve for her. It was easy to say everything would be okay, to calm down, to not cry. But things wouldn't be okay, and she had every reason to cry about it. She wanted to sob about it, but she couldn't.

When the blonde game toward her, Tatum stumbled back a little, trying to get away before the blonde to pull her into a hug. If the older girl embraced her, Tatum was positive she wouldn't be able to get away, wouldn't want to get away. If Mack hugged her, she was going to lose it for sure, and things were just going to start pouring out. She couldn't let herself go that way.

"G-Go!" the redhead protested in a panicky tone, throwing her hands out blindly to ward the older girl away from her, and gasping as she felt her previously clenched fist hitting the blonde girl squarely. She immediately felt terrible, but her eyes went wide, and she began to back up again, still backing away from her.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Mackenzie hadn't thought that Tatum would actually hit her, it came as much as a shock to the blonde as it did to the other girl. She had thought at worst, Tatum would tell her to fuck off or maybe try to shove her away. One moment Mackenzie was stepping cautiously towards the redhead, trying to calm her down, and the next thing Mack knew she was seeing stars. Bringing a hand instinctively up to her face, she had to shake her head a few times to get her vision to re-focus. Eventually, her left eye became less blurry, but the right eye was another story.

The blonde could already tell that the eye was swelling shut, and if she hadn't been a mess of conflicting emotions, she would have complimented the girl on her killer right hook. Today wasn't any normal day however, and combined with everything else that had happened today, the blonde girl just couldn't find it in herself to keep up her usual facade. Instead she was angry, and hurt, and she couldn't hide it any longer. This was what she got for trying to be nice to people, this was exactly why she never bothered getting close to anyone.

"You know what? Fine," She said calmly, straightening up and dropping her hand away from her injured eye. It hadn't shut completely, but she couldn't see much out of it, what she saw was blurry at best. It was going to bruise badly, if it hadn't already begun to change color. She could probably fix it easily, but right now she didn't particularly feel like heeling it. She wished she felt as calm and indifferent as she sounded, but inside she could feel her anger rearing it's ugly head. She had to get out of here before she said something she would regret.

"Go enjoy your little boy toy. I really couldn't fucking care less." She said, backing away, her arms raised in defeat. She let out an exasperated laugh, "I don't even fucking know why I bothered coming today. Apple pickin' is for nerds, I've got better things to do on a Saturday." With that she whipped out her wand and disapperated with a loud "crack".

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

When Tatum saw the other girl's eye swelling up, she felt instantly worse. Then there was the momentary flicker of anger she had seen on the blonde's face before she began to address her with sudden calmness. The redhead fought for her voice, telling herself to keep it together and not cry again and to just apologize, but Mack was backing away from her in the other direction before she could react.

It was exactly what she had asked for, but she fought the urge to reach out and pull her back in again. Before she had the chance to confuse either of them any further though, the older girl had disappeared entirely, the crack seeming like it was resonating through the trees for a few seconds. Tatum stood there stunned, staring at where the blonde had just been standing, before having to push her fist back up to her mouth to stop the sobs again.

She really didn't feel like being here anymore, but she was sure that Sera would give her hell if she left without saying anything. Mack could get away with it, she couldn't. Sera would surely give her hell anyway when the older girl told her sister when what happened. But it had been an accident, or at least the hitting her part had. When Julian had absently suggested violence earlier in the week, Tatum had never expected to actually use it.

Turning to look back toward the farm and, presumably, where everyone else was still milling about, Tatum sighed heavily before returning to the tree that Mack had jumped out of earlier. Sniffling, she climbed the branches slowly, not afraid to fall but still unsure of her movements. She had never really been the type of kid to climb trees, or jump fences. She went up half as far as Mack had gone, sitting on a solid branch there and leaning against the trunk of the tree. She would just stay up there until it was time to go, she'd wait until Sera called her, and then she'd go and face whatever she had to do. Until then, she would just sit up there and cry, her hands pressed over her face.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)