"Justin, please make it quick" are the first words to leave her lips as she claims the seat across from him.
He frowns only slightly. "Goodnight to you, too, I guess. It'll be quick. Just please don't interrupt me. Listen to what I have to say. That's all I ask."
Nodding her head, she urges him on.
He breathes out, taking a sip of his water before he starts. "I was in a tough place. Felt overwhelmed. Didn't want that shit around you." Pausing, he analyses her for a moment. She looked positively ready to flee and prepped to talk to anyone but him. "I thought breaking it off like that was the best way to do it. I mean, now I know I fucked up, but I wasn't really thinking shit through, you know? I was just working through a whole lot of emotions. A lot was on my plate."
Shaking her head, she seems almost disbelieving. "I get that, Justin, I do . . . but, as my friend, you should know I wouldn't hold shit like that against you. I would've given you space if you'd just talked to me."
"If you remember that day correctly, I wasn't really interested in doing a lot of talking." He clears his throat. "I've been wondering . . . what . . . what did you have to tell me?"
"My dad called after you left." She doesn't hesitate. She had, in the last few days, exhausted any anger she could muster towards her father. She was defeated.
"Fuck. Adira, I'm so sorry."
She stares at him for a second. "Yeah, I bet you are."
"C'mon. Don't be like that. That grudge thing you do. I mean, don't you see where I'm coming from?" He sounds exhausted, like he's spent tossing and turning to find the right words to say. "I was preparing to go to my fucking lawyers that day to figure out my divorce from a woman who cheated on me with my best-fucking-friend. She's having a baby with him, for Christ's sake! That should've been our baby, and I loved her . . . I love her."
His last words are a mere whisper she chooses too ignore. It was a truth she knew but a truth that hurt no less no matter how many times it crossed her mind. "And you think that's enough to explain why you treated me like a piece of trash, Justin?" She crosses her arms defiantly. "You're the one who started this! Do you get that? You're the one who kissed me! You put yourself in this position. I was ready to let it all go."
"I'm selfish, Adira."
"Obviously."
"What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing. I want us to get out of here."
His eyes snaps up to meet hers. "What?"
"Yeah."
He looks around shakily. "This is going to end really bad for us."
"It's going to be the last time. One last time."
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