A/N: *ahem* This is my ONE HUNDRETH Story! YAY! This is the last PHM Challenge prompt! I have fun with this one! I hope you guys do too!

Placing the Blame

By angellwings

He blamed it on the ducks. Normally Kevin wouldn't blame anything on ducks. They were cute and feathery and very good swimmers…although they did occasionally tend to chase him and try to bite him on the rear. But they only did that because they got so excited when he brought them bread. That was understandable. Who didn't get excited about a good meal?

But this was their fault! If he hadn't been at the park feeding them yesterday he wouldn't be in the state he was in right now. Kevin peeked around the row of lockers that he knew housed Macy's locker. He hadn't seen her yet. Which was good. He had no idea what to say or do. When he was sure Macy wasn't around he walked around the corner and tried to walk quickly past the wall of lockers.

"Hey, Kevin!"

Kevin froze and held back a whimper. That was Macy. He turned slowly.

"Hi, Macy."

"How were the ducks after we left you yesterday?" She asked brightly.

"They were good," He said as he cleared his throat. "How was your…date?"

"It was…nice, I guess," Macy said with a shrug. Kevin's eyebrows shot upward. She didn't sound too enthralled with what's-his-face.

She had seemed happy when he saw her with him yesterday. They had been walking in the park where Kevin was feeding the ducks. He had spotted her walking awfully close to some spikey haired blonde guy. Macy had spotted him and pulled her date over to chat. They had been introduced and they all hung out for a few minutes before the date had ushered Macy away. Kevin had been crushed at first. He'd finished feeding the ducks and trudged home with is head full of confusing and depressing thoughts.

Joe and Nick had stared at him all night long as if they were itching to ask him what was wrong. He had ignored them. He had spent the night thinking of the hundreds of opportunities he'd missed with Macy. He should have asked her out a long time ago, and now she was probably going to live happily ever after with spikey haired guy.

Except this morning's circumstances looked completely different than yesterday's, and Kevin felt a slight thrill at that.

"Nice?" Kevin asked hesitantly.

"He was…quiet. I had to practically pry any conversation we had out of him. It was weird. I mean maybe he was nervous, but still…is it that difficult to talk to me?" Macy asked as she opened her locker.

"No, not since you stopped accidentally hitting me with sports equipment and fainting that is," Kevin smirked.

Macy chuckled and blushed, "Don't jinx me. I haven't done any of that stuff in a while and I don't want to change that."

"Right, I wouldn't want to jinx you either. I like that we can talk now," Kevin said with a smile.

"Me too," Macy said with a bright smile before expression became cloudy and frustrated. "See? This isn't hard right? Why couldn't Kyle and I talk the way you and I do?"

Kevin's eyes widened. He had his own thoughts on that, but he wondered if now was the right time to share those thoughts with Macy. He was tempted to just not respond, but Macy was looking at him expectantly like she wanted an answer.

"Maybe you guys just don't have as much to talk about?" Kevin asked.

"But he's on the baseball team. We could have talked baseball at the very least. I mean you and I have had half hour long conversations about lemurs before so I think Kyle and I could have handled a conversation about baseball, don't you?" She asked him curiously. He couldn't help but think that Macy should be talking to Stella about this. It was putting him in awkward situations.

"Yes, but some guys just find it difficult to talk to girls, Mace. I don't really know why, but they just do. Sometimes even guys who have no problem talking to girls can get tongue tied too," Kevin told her.

"Really? Have you ever gotten tongue tied while talking to me?" Macy asked.

He immediately thought of hesitancy to answer her earlier two questions, "Yes."

"Why?"

He swallowed thickly, "Well, sometimes…I just can't focus or think straight when I talk to you. My mind wanders."

She looked slightly offended but it passed quickly. Kevin wanted to tell her that his mind wandered to a place where he could tell Macy what he really felt about her or to a place where Kevin could tell her that her eyes were really the most beautiful wide eyes he'd ever seen, but he didn't think now was the time.

Macy sighed, "Guys are weird."

Kevin gave her a small smile, "We're well aware of that or at least I am."

Macy chuckled at him, "Well I wasn't really talking about you, Kev. You're the one normal guy I know. I mean why can't the guys that like me ever talk with me the way you do? Or take my competitive spirit in stride like you do? Whether you know it or not you're the exception to every other guy I've ever met. I mean how many other guys can I talk about manatees and pudding with? Not many I promise you."

He wanted to ask if Macy ever thought there was a specific reason for that. Kevin knew there was. He and Macy were well suited for each other. They were both quirky in their own way and enjoyed the little things that other people often overlooked. Plus, they were both happy with themselves just the way they were. They would never change just to make some one else happy.

"So…are you going to see Kyle again?" Kevin asked.

"Probably not, I just don't know what we would do if he can't talk to me. Staring contests are fun and all but they're really not appropriate for dates," Macy told him honestly. She seemed genuinely disappointed, and Kevin wanted to cheer her up.

"Do you want to come feed the ducks with me today?" He asked.

Her eyes widened and she smiled brightly, "I would love to go and feed the ducks with you today!"

"Great! You can ride with me to the park after school," He said brightly.

"Meet you in the atrium?" Macy asked. Kevin nodded. "Perfect, well I guess I'd better go to class. I'll see you at lunch, Kev!"

"Bye Macy!" Kevin called after her retreating form.

Today was looking much brighter than yesterday. Macy wasn't into spikey haired guy! And she was going to feed the ducks with him later! Maybe today he could blame the ducks for something good!