Adelyn lifted her head from Justin’s shoulder and looked up into his eyes. “I know I’ve said this before, Justin, but you really confuse me.”
He tightened his hold on her waist, and moved closer until she gave in and put her head back on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, it’s just that I keep getting two different signals from you. Do you like me or not?” She hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but it was too late now.
“Are you kidding me?” This time it was Justin who moved a little away from her. “I really like you, Adelyn.”
“Then why do you keep putting up this wall between us? Why do you-”
She was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder, and when she turned around to see who was budging into their conversation, she saw Lucy, the cop who was annoying them earlier.
Lucy smiled sweetly at them. “Hey, Brady. Mind if I cut in?”
Adelyn frowned. “Actually, I-”
“Good!” She practically shoved Adelyn away from Justin, and then put her arms around his neck. “I don’t know why some people get so upset about this kind of thing,” she said softly to Justin as she watched Adelyn give her a dirty look.
Adelyn walked away from Justin and Lucy and went back to the picnic table. It was getting dark now, and the park lights suddenly came on. She looked up at them for a moment, and then sat down on the empty bench. Jill and Emily, who were sitting with Lucy earlier, were now standing by the punch bowl, whispering to each other and staring right at Justin and Lucy.
Adelyn had just picked up the last potato chip that remained on her plate when Pertel sat in the seat across from her and ruined her concentration. She dropped the chip. “Don’t do that! When a person is sitting by herself, you’re supposed to announce yourself. You scared me half to death!”
Pertel took a bite of his hamburger and chewed. “Sorry. Thought you saw me,” he mumbled. “Anyway, how’s the picnic going? I was down at the station answering phones for a while, but then Dutch took over for me.” He popped a chip into his mouth. “I never pass up free food.”
Adelyn looked down at his overflowing plate. “I can see that,” she observed.
He seemed oblivious to her comment as he stuck his fork into the potato salad. “The band looks like they’re doing pretty good. How come you’re not out there dancing?”
“I’m not that much of a dancer,” she said in a bored voice as she stared out at Justin and Lucy.
After putting a forkful of potato salad into his mouth, Pertel followed her gaze out to the couples dancing. “What are you staring at?” he asked.
Adelyn looked back at her plate and poked it with her fork. “Nothing,” she sighed.
“Oh, man,” Pertel said, a grin washing over his face. “You brought Mr. Cool here, didn’t you? And he’s not dancing with you!” He looked back out at the dancers. “Which one is he?”
“Never mind!” she told him with a frown. “I was dancing with Justin, but a very rude woman cut in.”
The smile stayed on Pertel’s face. “And who would that be?”
Adelyn got up. “I’m going to get more punch,” she said, dodging his question. Unfortunately, she forgot that Emily and Jill were already occupying the space in front of the punch bowl. She went around to the other side of the table and took hold of the punch ladle without them seeing her.
“Go,” Adelyn heard Emily whispering to Jill. “Before Brady realizes you’re gone.”
Jill looked back at the table where Pertel sat stuffing a hamburger in his face. “Where is she? She was just there a second ago, I swear.”
Adelyn set down her cup and cleared her throat. When the two cops looked back at her in shock, she gave them a smile. “Looking for someone?”
Justin glanced at the scene over by the punch bowl and swallowed hard. When was Adelyn going to come and save him? Was he ever going to get away from this girl?
“I don’t know what you see in Brady,” Lucy was saying. “She’s got the world’s worst hair and her eyes are so… so light.”
Justin wanted to roll his eyes at her, but since she was looking right at him, he refrained from doing so.
“You could get someone much prettier,” Lucy went on.
Like you? Justin felt compelled to say. The woman had dirty blond hair and the biggest nose he’d ever seen on a girl. Instead, he cleared his throat and looked back over at Adelyn. Oh, thank God, she was walking toward him… with Lucy’s two friends at her heals.
She walked right up to Lucy and tapped her hard on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”
Lucy turned up her nose. “You’re not excused, Brady. If you couldn’t tell, Justin and I were dancing.”
Adelyn wrapped her fingers around Justin’s arm and pulled it away from Lucy. “Justin,” she said through clenched teeth. “I thought you wanted to go.”
“I do,” he spoke up, pulling away from Lucy.
“But wait,” Lucy protested when they took a few steps away. “Aren’t you going to stay for the raffle?” She glanced down at her watch. “It’s only in five minutes.”
Justin sighed. He had almost forgotten about that.
“Well, we might as well stay,” Adelyn said softly to him. “You did buy all those tickets after all…”
Justin sat next to Adelyn on the grass as they looked over at the stage. The chief of detectives stood there with a grin on his face and a microphone in his hand.
“Hello, Minneapolis!” he said in a loud, booming voice, then chuckled. “Just kidding. Anyway, it’s time to draw the winners for the raffle!”
A round of applause went up, and some of the male officers shouted encouragements at their chief.
“No need for complements,” the chief said. “Let’s get this on a roll!" After another round of applause, another officer brought him the first bucket. He read the label. “This first one is for…” Someone came out holding up a shirt that said, ‘Minneapolis PD’ on it. “This lovely sweatshirt!” the chief finished.
Justin crossed his fingers that his name wasn’t drawn. He wished he had looked where he was putting his tickets, but the truth was, he was so nervous at the time that he had just stuffed them into whatever buckets were the closest.
The chief reached his hand in the bucket and pulled out a name. He squinted to read the name. “This goes to our very own… Officer Blake Pertel!”
The crowd looked around for Pertel to stand up in the commotion, but he didn’t.
“Pertel? You out there?” He paused, only to receive no answer. “Well, then, buddy, you know the rules! You’ve gotta be here to claim your prize!” He reached his hand back into the bucket and pulled out another ticket. “The new winner of this great sweatshirt is… Justin Timberlake! Where are you, Justin?”
Adelyn elbowed Justin in the ribs. “Go up there! You won!”
He looked back at her with pleading eyes. “Please, Adelyn, you don’t know what this is doing to me!”
She ignored him, standing up and pulling him to his feet. He barely had a chance to protest before she gave him a big push in the general direction of the stage.
The chief saw him moving toward the stage. “There he is! Come up here, Justin and claim your prize!”
The crowd clapped their hands together as Justin stepped up the four steps to the makeshift stage.
“Congratulations!” the chief told him, before looking out at the crowd.
Justin nodded his head, took the shirt from him and then turned around to walk back down the steps.
“Well,” he heard the chief’s voice over the microphone. “Aren’t you going to put it on?”
Justin stopped dead in his tracks. He looked out at Adelyn for help, but she only gave him the thumbs up sign. He was trapped. Slowly, he turned around. Was this guy nuts?
“Go on, put the shirt on…”
This was Adelyn’s boss? Justin couldn’t believe that the whole thing was actually happening, as he slipped the shirt over his head and put his arms through the sleeves.
“There we go!” the chief boomed, and the crowd went up in another round of applause.
Justin finally stepped down the stairs. How embarrassing.
Chapter 11
Paying the Consequences
Justin {Fiction}
My Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
Email Me