Justin stared out at the houses as they passed by in Adelyn’s squad car. It annoyed him that she wouldn’t tell him where they were going. He didn’t like to be this out of control. For all he knew, they could show up at…
Down the block, a big white banner was hanging from trees over the street. He squinted to read it, and was finally able to see it when they got closer. It read, “Minneapolis PD’s Annual Picnic”.
Justin clutched the door handle and pulled. It was locked! He fumbled for the button, but stopped when he noticed Adelyn was looking at him.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“You didn’t tell me we were coming to your company picnic,” he told her. “I guess I’m…”
“What?” She pulled into a parking space toward the end of the lot. All the others were filled up already.
“I’m just not hungry.”
“There’s a band, raffles, games… you’ll have a good time, I promise.”
“Adelyn, I think this might be a good time to tell you that I’m a very shy person and I go into these weird panic attacks when I’m around too many people.” He paused. “I swear.”
She turned off the engine and got out of the car, leaving him inside. Justin sat there, watching as she walked around the car and opened his door. “This is crazy,” he said, when she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to his feet. “I wasn’t kidding when I said there were too many people here. I’m really not a people person.”
“You’re forgetting that we just met not too long ago,” she said as she dragged him to the festivities. “And if I remember correctly, you’re the one who asked ME out. So don’t you dare claim that you’re shy!”
Justin sighed as they approached a table with ice cream tubs on top of it and signs for different items. This was obviously the raffle. A police officer looked up at him.
“Hi, Brady,” he said, keeping his eyes glued on Justin. “This your new boyfriend?”
“Healey, this is my FRIEND, Justin.” Adelyn put her hand on Justin’s arm. “Justin, this is the nosey cop who has an office next to mine.”
“That’s me,” Healey grinned at them. “Would you two like to buy some raffle tickets? You’d be supporting the department.”
Justin kept stone-faced. Now he would be supporting the department that was trying to put him away. This couldn’t get any better.
Healey looked up at him questioningly and Adelyn squeezed his arm.
“Sure,” Justin said, reaching around for his billfold. “How much are tickets?”
As the walked away from the raffle table with a handful of ticket stubs in Justin’s pockets, Adelyn grabbed his hand. “Can you pretend to be a little happy to be here? Please? If it’s only for me, Justin…”
He squeezed her hand. “I guess… but Adelyn…”
She looked up at him. “Yeah?”
“I’m confused about something,” he went on, “All of your cop friends seem to think that I’m your boyfriend and-”
“They just like to tease me,” she said quickly. “Especially the guys.”
“Well, it’s just that I can see why they think what they do.”
She stopped right where she was, and he turned to face her. “What are you talking about?” she wondered.
“It’s the way you’re acting,” he pointed out. “Like now… you do realize that you’re holding my hand.”
She looked down at their intertwined fingers, and then dropped his hand. “I’m really sorry,” she told him. “It’s just that…”
He grabbed her hand back and leaned in closer. “That what?”
Adelyn looked up at him, blinking. “I like you,” she finished. “I know you said you didn’t want a relationship right now, but I like you… and I can’t stop liking you, Justin.”
For a moment, a small smile flashed over his face, but before she even realized it was there, it disappeared, and he backed away.
“I can’t do this,” he mumbled, letting go of her hand. “This isn’t right.”
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. “What?” she asked, “What about this isn’t right?”
“Adelyn, people are looking at us,” Justin pointed out as he gazed over her shoulder nervously. “I don’t want to cause a scene…”
“Who cares!? Just answer me!” She pulled him even closer. “Remember, you promised that from now on you wouldn’t change the subject when I asked you important questions. Don’t you remember?”
He nodded, just as the band started talking into microphones, introducing themselves. Justin looked toward them, but Adelyn grabbed his chin and forced him to look back at her.
“Justin, you promised.”
“I know… it’s just that this is really hard to explain.”
The band struck a chord and started to play some old cover from the eighties. Adelyn pulled Justin to the dance area that was actually a big patch of grass in front of the stage, and pressed close to him. “Dance with me,” she said.
Half reluctantly, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close as they swayed to the music. Never in his life had he ever imagined he’d be dancing at a police picnic.
Never in his life had he imagined he’d be dancing with the girl of his dreams.
Justin and Adelyn sat down to eat cheeseburgers, hot dogs and potato chips at one of the picnic tables by the dance area. Three female officers sat across from them. They were all staring at Justin while they put potato chips in their mouths. He looked up at them and tried to smile, but it wasn’t really working, so he looked back down at his plate.
“I’m Lucy,” the first one said. “This is Jill, and that’s Emily.”
Justin glanced up quickly. “Hi.”
Lucy looked across the table at Adelyn. “He’s cute, Brady. Where did you pick him up?”
Justin almost choked on his fruit punch. What was this… single cops night? He watched Adelyn while she picked up her glass of punch and sipped at it.
“And more importantly,” Emily spoke up. “Does he have any brothers?”
“Three brothers?” Jill added hopefully.
Justin quickly got up from the bench. “I’m going to get some more punch,” he announced, picking up his glass.
Adelyn noticed that his glass was practically full, so she got up and followed him to the punch. “I’m sorry about them,” she said when he picked up the ladle and dripped a few drops into his cup. “We’ll go sit somewhere else.”
He set his cup on the table and turned around to face her. “Adelyn, I told you I’m not very good with people… and I feel out of place here. Can we please leave?” he said, just as the band started playing a slow song.
She took his hands and pulled him toward the dance area. “One more dance and we’ll go. I promise.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. “Thanks for being such a good sport,” she told him. “I know you didn’t want to be here.”
Justin swallowed. Why had he been such a good sport? “I’d do anything for you,” he heard someone say… but then realized that the words had left his own lips.
Chapter 10
Paying the Consequences
Justin {Fiction}
My Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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