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THEY WERE 17 when Mac and Junior broke up for the first time.

Mac had kissed Sam Detrotto, Junior had been competing against him for everything since freshman year of high school. That year, Sam had beaten Junior out for Captain of their football team which Junior had brushed off as favoritism. It was just another tally for Sam in their four-year rivalry. She had marched up to Sam during a mandatory practice and frenched him, right in front of Junior and the other 30+ football players, not to mention the cheerleaders. Mac thought Junior had been talking to his ex again, an issue they faced in the early days of their relationship and she wanted him to hurt just as bad as she did. It took them four months and a lot of crying to get over that one.

They have their ups and their downs just as every couple that has been together as long as they have. More downs than ups recently.

There was one fight in particular that they've never recovered from. Of course, they got back together, that's what's expected of them, but it hasn't been the same. They were just used to each other being around.

It started out stupid, like all of their fights begin. Junior was mad because she had gone through his phone, it had her face ID in it so it wasn't exactly locked, and he told her that she has no boundaries. She threw back that he was all take and no give, the most selfish person she had ever meant. It wasn't a big deal, he had insisted when they were younger that she could go through his phone, after all, she was hesitant to date him based on his reputation in the first place and they wanted to maintain full disclosure in their relationship. She was looking based on her own insecurities rather than evidence of his cheating, but she was intent to find his 'other woman'. After that every little flaw was thrown in their face, she made a demeaning comment about him never getting her off, and he called her every name in the book. She was frustrated to the point of tears and he had made a small indent in the wall above the toilet. A door to their room was hanging slightly out of place after being slammed several times.

Their arguing has always been messy.

He was walking towards her- just to intimidate her, nothing more- but he must have tripped over the carpet or something because the next thing he knew, she was on the floor.

Mackenzie fell on top of the broken shards of a plate she threw.

It was as if a bucket of ice-cold water was thrown over Junior's head. Before Mackenzie could even register that her forearm was bleeding Junior was picking her up by the armpits and pushing her towards the couch, rambling long-winded excuses about the uneven floor between every apology. He laid her down and ran into the kitchen to get a rag and began cleaning all the little scratches on her and ignoring the ones on his own hands and arms from haphazardly reaching for her.

She was in shock, didn't utter a single word.

Junior had no idea what to think. He felt all of the anger from earlier fade away while he kneeled next to the couch. He swallowed hard several times, every time his eyes flickered over to the long gash on her left arm, and the heat rising in his face. He pushed his head into her lap and thrust her hands into his hair. Then, he began to sob. His chest heaved and his body was shuddering and tense. He was scared of himself, of what he had done.

In the end, Junior took Mackenzie to the hospital to get three stitches and she stayed at her brother's for a week before she came back home to their shared apartment.

But it wasn't the same.