Chapter Seven: Food Isn't Always a Source of Evil

John blinked awake as he inhaled Mackenzie's scent. She smelt like the ocean, which was understandable. He lifted his head slightly to peer over at the clock on the bedside stand. It was eleven-he had slept for a good four and half hours. He looked down at Mackenzie's sleeping face. Her face was peaceful and her breaths even. He saw the area between her eyebrows begin to crinkle and he knew she was about to wake up as well.

He looked down to see their fingers still interlaced. He wished there were something he could do or say to convince her that she was desirable. He wished he could tell her how much spending time with her meant to him. He wished that he could just stay like this forever. He wished for so many things, but above all else he wished he could make her his.

Mac made a soft, whimpering moan as she took in a deep breath. John smiled and lowered his head, laying his cheek against hers, he whispered, "Wake up, Mackenzie."

Mackenzie let out a breath and half whispered, half whined, "No."

"C'mon, your stomach's been growling in your sleep," he lied, playfully.

Mac finally opened her eyes and gave a lazy smile, "That was probably your stomach you were hearing."

"No, I'm pretty sure it was yours," John took his hand from hers and placed it on her stomach. "Let's test it."

Mackenzie was too embarrassed and blushing far too much to protest, but after a couple moments she was able to oblige her curiosity, "Test it how?"

John pulled her a little closer as he propped himself up on his elbow and smiled down at her, "Like this." With those two little words, the tickling began.

Mackenzie kicked and pushed and begged for mercy, but all of these proved futile. John's tickle torture was insistent and merciless as he pinned her to the bed and forced giggle after giggle from his victim. "Do you really want me to stop, Mac?" he smiled innocently as he continued to tickle her sides.

"Y-yes. P-please. S-stop. I gasp can't take it any-gahaha-more!"

"Hmm…well," he paused as he took her wrists and pinned them up above her head, "I don't know." He looked down at her with mischievous eyes as he lifted her shirt to reveal the spandex of her bathing suit.

"John…what are you doing," Mackenzie asked, not liking the look in his eyes.

"Who me? Nothing," he smirked before lowering his head to her stomach and growling against it. "See? Did you hear that? You're starving. We should eat."

Mackenzie sighed, "Fine. Whatever will make you stop torturing me," she surrendered.

"That's what I thought," he smiled before blowing on her stomach and making one of those huge fart noises. He then laughed and let go of her wrists and rolled over on his side, Mackenzie smacking him in the gut as he did so. "Ouch. You got a good bitch-slap on you. Ever thought of being a diva?"

Mac laughed, "Yah right. You have to be sexy to be a diva."

John rolled over and faced her, giving a lecherous grin, "You are sexy."

"John, flab isn't sexy. It's…gross," Mac rolled her eyes.

"So. I'm gross."

Mackenzie laughed, "That's true. How did you even get accepted into the WWE with your nasty ass?"

John's jaw dropped, "That's wrong!" His expression made Mackenzie laugh. She then stuck out her tongue. He leaned closer and pressed his forehead against hers, "Don't start what you can't finish," he challenged. She tried to move away and get a hand free so she could slap him again, but he held her in place, "I don't think so, baby." His words made Mackenzie blush, but John was too close up to notice it. He just smiled and continued to talk, "So…what do you want to eat?"

Mac cleared her throat and let her muscles relax as she closed her eyes. She felt so good being this close to him-it was almost intoxicating. She closed her eyes and sighed, "We could probably get some Chinese delivered, but there's my diet to consider-"

"You're on a break today. Besides, it's okay to cheat at least once or twice a month." John shrugged, "You get to call."

"Why is it my job to call?"

"Because you're closer, and because I've gotta pee," John said as he hopped up and headed for the bathroom.

Mackenzie rolled her eyes as she sat up and retrieved the phonebook she had dropped earlier in her tired stupor. She flipped to the yellow pages and browsed for Chinese restaurants. When she found one that advertised a twenty-four hour delivery she picked up the phone and dialed the number. As it rang, she called to John, "What do you want?"

"I don't care. Just order me whatever you're having."

Mac shrugged, "Okay." As soon as she said the word, a man with a thick accent answered the phone. He asked her for her order, and Mac delivered, "I need to orders of sweet and sour chicken, white rice, and one regular order of crab Rangoon. This is for delivery." After giving the man the specifics of where to deliver it to and getting the total, she hung up the phone and headed for the bathroom. She knocked on the door, "John? You've been peeing for thirty minutes! It's my turn! You're lucky I didn't piss my pants while you were tickling me earlier."

She heard a chuckle from behind the door, "Alright. I'm getting out." He opened the door, "I had to take a shower and get some of that sand off." Mackenzie just stood there blinking at the sight before her. John was standing in her hotel room, hair dripping, muscles glistening, smiling, and covered in nothing but a towel. Oh how his body was Godly.

It was so much unlike her own. Before she fell asleep she had been wondering if maybe there was some part in John that thought she was attractive, but looking at him…Mackenzie couldn't understand how he could ever want someone like her. It seemed that every time she accidentally said something negative aloud about herself, John would sweep in with a compliment. Gazing at his perfection, Mackenzie knew that it had to be out of kindness that he said such nice things to her. What other reason could he have? Maybe after she lost all this weight…No! Mackenzie had vowed to do this for herself. She couldn't let herself to change just because she wanted to impress someone perfect like John-

"Mac?"

His voice brought her back to reality, "Huh?" She could feel her face getting red, so she looked away, "Um…Just waiting on you-you're the one blocking the way of the toilet." She hoped that her recovery was sufficient. She didn't know how long she had been standing there gawking at him, but she felt like such a fool regardless of whether or not he had noticed.

John shrugged, "Oops." He stepped aside, "Your highness," he bowed as she rolled her eyes and walked past him, closing the door behind her. John let out a sigh. She had zoned out on him. He wondered what she had been thinking about. He didn't like the way her face had fallen so quickly. She was blushing the whole time though, and John had to admit-it was cute. He thought about the day they had shared, and in doing so, he realized that she had been doing a lot of blushing throughout the day.

He smiled when he heard the shower come on. He turned away from the bathroom and walked toward the door, shorts in hand. He walked out onto the sidewalk and shook the sand off. When he came back in, he noticed the covers on the bed were practically covered in sand. It was a good thing there were two beds in her room, or Mackenzie's shower would be in vain. After stretching, John dropped his towel and pulled on his swim trunks.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door. It was their dinner, but John didn't have his wallet, so he walked over to the bathroom. "Mac? The food's here. I"d pay, but I don't have my wallet. It's back at my hotel…"

After receiving no response, John smiled politely at the delivery guy. Closing his eyes, he opened the door and went in, "Mac?"

Mackenzie jumped in the shower, "John?" She peeked out from behind the shower curtain to see him standing there, "Get out!"

"Mac, my eyes are shut, okay? The delivery guy's here."

"Oh, shit. Uh…there's some money in the drawer of the bedside stand. Just get it out of there."

"Alright. I'll pay you back for mine-"

"No, you won't. We both make a pretty good sized check. Although yours is a bit more than mine, I'm still quite capable of paying for both of our dinners any day of the week. So go and pay the guy."

John sighed, "Alright."

Shortly after the oriental delivery boy left, John heard the shower shut off. Mackenzie's voice immediately followed, "John?"

"Yeah?"

"Um…could you close your eyes or something-err-maybe step outside for a minute while I get some clothes? I didn't grab any clothes on the way in here…I guess I'm not used to having company over at odd hours of the night," she let out a nervous laugh.

"I guess I could do that, but I'm telling you right now it isn't fair."

"What do you mean it isn't fair?"

"You got to see me in a towel-"

"John! Just the get the fuck out for like, two seconds, okay?"

He chuckled, "Alright, alright. I'm going, I'm going."

When Mac heard the door shut behind him, she let out a sigh. 'Perv,' she thought to herself. 'Not that he was serious about it.' Mac's thoughts remained fixated as she stumbled around the room looking for some comfortable sleeping clothes. It was really hard to pick out pajamas when all you usually wore were a pair of panties and a XXL t-shirt to bed.

John stood outside, fighting the urge to run in there and catch a peek. He wouldn't mind being called peeping Tom-or well-peeping John if he could appease his curiosity even a tiny bit. Seeing Mackenzie run around in her bathing suit all day had done little to help his resolve. He shook his head. He had honestly meant every word about seeing Mac in nothing but a towel. It was only fair, but he knew she'd say no, so he had said it as a joke. His thoughts were interrupted when Mac poked her head out of the door to tell him she was decent.

2 hours later

John yawned and stretched as he and Mackenzie watched the credits roll. They had started watching HBO when they saw that the Fast and the Furious was playing. John looked over at the time. "Damn, it's already one-thirty. I'd better go, huh?"

Mackenzie looked over from where she sat, Indian style, on the right side of the sand-free bed, "It is late." It didn't necessarily mean he had to leave though, but she wasn't about to say that. He was probably tired of her company anyway. They had just spent the entire day together.

John mimicked her attitude, "Yeah…" he let out a tired breath before getting to his feet and looking around for his shoes.

"They're in the bathroom," Mackenzie reminded, reading his mind.

"Oh yeah," he yawned. As he went to retrieve them, Mackenzie got to her feet as well and headed over to the door to unlock it and show him out. It was something she did out of habit. Her mother had always led any house guests they ever had over to the door. It was like a gesture of bidding the guest farewell. Mackenzie supposed that some of her mother's hospitality habits had rubbed off on her as she grew up.

John emerged from the bathroom, shoes on, but not tied. 'Lazy…'

"Anxious for me to leave, are we?" he teased.

Mackenzie's brow furrowed, "Huh?" she looked around confused and thought about it, "Oh--no. Showing a guest to the door is an old-fashioned custom I picked up from my mother, I suppose. I'm not hinting at anything, I swear." Mackenzie smiled through the irony of the contrast between his previous statement and her previous thoughts.

"I know, I'm just messing with you," he lingered against the sink with a small smirk on his face. "But you know…where I come from, we walk the guest to the door."

Mac rolled her eyes, then gave him the 'I'm going to kill you' look, "Just get your ass over here so I can see you out, okay?"

"Alright," he snickered before pushing off the sink and fluidly moving toward the door. He stopped when he was a little less that a foot in front of her. He bent forward and placed a light kiss on her forehead. His voice was honey sweet and whisper soft, "G'night. I'll see you tomorrow."

Mackenzie nervously nodded her head. Her words came out shaky and hushed, "Uh-huh. See you tomorrow." She smiled sheepishly before opening the door and watching him walk through it.

When the door was shut, both simultaneously leaned against their side of it and let out a sigh, allowing their thoughts to consume them as they each slumped forward in reflection. John hadn't wanted to leave, and Mac hadn't wanted to let him. However, this was the way of things. There were hearts and promises on the line, and neither of them knew how to work around it. Neither of them wanted to risk admitting their feelings. Between Mac's insecurities and John's determination, there was just no getting past it, 'Unless I broke,' they both thought in unison from their side of the door.

'Not tonight,' and with similar thoughts, they both pushed off the door. Mac headed over to turn down her sheets and flip off her lamp as John went to his car and headed to his hotel.

Well, what did you think? I know it was kind of boring, but work with me here people. I kind of left it in a weird spot, you know? So I had to hurry up and write another chapter before I watched Smackdown! At least you got two chapters in the span of three days. How cool is that? Especially lately, lol.

-Pammi

Please drop a review on your way out. I do so enjoy them!