Justin pulled up his pants and zipped them as he gazed over at Adelyn who was wrapped in the sheets on her bed. "That was not fair," he told her. "Don't ever seduce a guy like that again." He paused. "Do you have experience with this sort of thing?"
She glared at him from the bed. "Don't ever ask a girl that. It's rude and insulting."
He looked around for his shirt, but couldn't find it. "How's that?"
"I'm not a man, Justin. I do have virtues."
"If that's what you want to call it," he chuckled, only to get whacked on the head by a pillow. "Watch it!"
"You watch it. Quit making everything into a joke."
He sat down next to her and pressed his lips to her cheek. "Sorry," he mumbled against her cheek. "I didn't mean all that. I just enjoy teasing you."
She put her arms around him. "I can tell," she told in him a sigh. "Now, please find the rest of your clothes and leave the room so I can get dressed. You're coming shopping with me."
"For what?" he asked, staying right where he was.
"Remember? Ink for my printer?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Now, go!"
"But, Adelyn," Justin pouted. "I've already-"
"Just find your shirt and go. I'll be out in a minute." She kissed him once more and then pushed him off the bed. After a moment of looking through the blankets on the floor, he finally found his shirt and held it up proudly.
"I'll be waiting for you in the living room," he announced as he slipped his arms into the sleeves. "Hurry up."
"I will," she promised, smiling after him.
"I'm sorry," Adelyn said once they parked in the lot at the computer store. She turned off the engine, and when they got out, she walked alongside him toward the store. "I know I should have just let you break up with me so you could get on with your life, but..."
He put his arms around her waist and kissed her gently. "I didn't want to," he admitted. "You know that I don't want this to end, but you're too good for me. It would be wrong for us to continue on when I know how things will end. Adelyn, you don't want to be with me."
"How do you know unless you tell me?" she asked as they walked through the automatic doors.
"I can't tell you," he said. "And that's exactly why we can't be together. I love you too much to let this go on."
She sighed, leading him to the printer section by the arm. "You don't make any sense. I don't understand why you can't just forget about it... well, whatever it is. We could move somewhere else and start over. Would that work?"
Justin picked up an ink cartridge, but then squeezed his eyes shut. No matter where he went, Colby would find him. He was good at running and hiding, but outrunning Colby would be damn near impossible. "I can't get away, Adelyn. It wouldn't work."
She took the cartridge from him and set it back down on the shelf. "From what, Justin? Get away from what?"
"We've been over this," he reminded her. "And there's nothing left to say." He turned toward her and looked her in the eyes. "From the day I was born I knew that I'd never get everything I wanted in life. This world is so unfair, Miss Adelyn, but I just have to face that fact, and move on. To me, it's obvious that this wasn't meant to happen."
Adelyn wrapped her fingers around his collar and pulled him down to her level. "Maybe it's obvious that it's meant to happen and you're only confused. Have you ever thought of that?"
He gulped, a worried look coming over his face. "Did you find the right ink yet?"
This time, she didn't say anything about his subject changing. All she did was slowly let go of his shirt as she turned back to the shelves and picked up a package. "Yeah. Let's go."
"I don't know what I did," a teenage worker said to his boss and Justin and Adelyn began to walk by the computer section. Justin watched as the manager typed a few things in, but the machine wasn't responding. He stopped.
"Excuse me, sir, I think I know what your problem is," he said, approaching the pair.
Adelyn turned around and stared at him as he stepped up to the computer and punched in a few things.
"This message here means that the programs weren't set up properly." Justin explained. If you want to get past these, you're going to have to restart the computer and put in the correct password."
"Password?" the worker asked. "These things have passwords?"
"They should..." Justin said slowly, glancing up at the manager. "Unless that was set up improperly as well."
The manager rubbed the side of his head as he stared at the computer screen. "Thank you, sir. I think there's a password in here somewhere. The next thing is to find out who knows that password!" he chuckled.
"Actually, for this brand and model, there's a specific access code to enter in, and then you can get to the password," Justin told them. "If you want to restart the computer now, I can show you."
Adelyn stared at him in shock. Wasn't he a writer?
After Justin had helped them with the computer, Adelyn grabbed his arm and pulled him to the cash registers. "Since when do English majors and columnists from the Star Tribune learn about passwords to computers?" she asked him.
Justin slowed down when they arrived at register number four. "I minored in computer science," he lied in a calm voice. Actually, his minor had been creative writing. Colby was the one who had taught him everything he knew about computers.
"Oh," she said before moving up in line and handing the ink cartridge to the cashier. "You just seem to know an awful lot about computers."
"I do," Justin replied truthfully as Adelyn reached into her purse for her wallet.
Right outside Adelyn's apartment door, Justin placed his fingers lightly against her cheek and moved in to plant a soft kiss on her lips.
"This isn't the end," she told him in a whisper, against his lips. "You won't be able to stay away."
Justin opened his eyes for a moment and then squeezed them shut as he encircled her waist in his arms and pulled her body close to his. "I don't want you to hate me," he whispered back.
She opened her eyes and sadly watched his tormented face. "I don't hate you, Justin."
"You will," he promised. "Trust me... this is only for the best."
When he went to move away from her, she grabbed his arms and held him in place. "Don't do this. You can't just walk away from me!"
He wiped her tears with his thumb, and gave her one more kiss. "You don't understand, Adelyn. There's nothing else I can do." Slowly, he pulled away from her and walked toward the elevator. Once inside, he pressed the button that would take him to the lobby, and deliberately avoided eye contact with her.
She stared at him angrily, more tears streaming down her cheeks. "Aren't you even going to say good-bye?!" she yelled at him.
Finally, his eyes met hers... but before he could even open his mouth to say anything, the elevator doors closed and he was left alone in the dull yellow light, the Pachelbel Canon serenading him from the speakers above his head.
Chapter 15
Paying the Consequences
Justin {Fiction}
My Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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