Mr. Book Store

CHAPTER 38

MCKINLEY P.O.V

"Do you have to go?" I asked Luke. The last thing I wanted was for him to move to California. I wanted him to stay here with me even as selfish as it seemed.

"Yes, now stop asking me about it. I'm leaving." I wasn't sure why he had to be so mean to me about it.

"Why are you being so mean to me?" I asked in a low voice, playing with my fingers.

"Because for some god damn reason you can't get it through your thick skull that I'm leaving. I'm leaving and there's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing here for me anymore!" He shouted as he shoved some shirts into a box before standing up.

"Do I not mean anything to you?" I questioned.

"No. You don't." He confirmed. It broke my heart into a million pieces. He had never been so cruel. "Just pack your shit and get out." I swallowed hard trying not to cry. Luke didn't love me. I quietly packed the stuff that I had taken forever to get packed. I made a few trips from the apartment to my car. I had no idea what to say to him. I knew that this was our break-up. This was the last conversation we would be having before he left next week.

I sat outside the apartment for a while, just sitting in my car. I didn't feel like driving. I literally had no one to go to.

I drove to my new apartment that was empty. I thankfully kept my bed from my old place so at least I had somewhere to sleep. I left everything in the car as I went inside and laid on the bed. I laid looking at the ceiling for what seemed like forever. I picked up my phone, the background a picture of Luke. I sighed before going to change it.

"Life sucks." I mumbled. It was dark outside but I needed food. I eventually got out of the bed and went to find some food somewhere around. I eventually found a Moe's and went in to get a quesadilla. I walked back to the apartment. I ate and then decided that I might as well set up my room with what I had. I made the bed and hung up a few things on the walls. It was starting to look like someone lived here.

'We need to talk.' Luke texted me.

'I want nothing to do with you.' I answered. I was so upset with him. He basically admitted to me that he didn't love me and that there was nothing there anymore.

'I don't want to leave with the last thing I ever said to you was that I didn't have feelings for you. Please just come to the bar we always go to.' He wrote back. I rolled my eyes.

'Fine.' I said going to get my shoes on and driving to the bar that was now too far of a walk. I waited at a booth in the back with a water. I didn't want to see him. He slid into the booth, not looking at me.

"I'm not sure what to say." He admitted.

"You don't have to say anything." I answered. "I get it." I wished that I had gotten it months ago. I would never regret what I had with Luke but I had never been hurt like this in my entire life. I played with the straw that was in my drink. "I always knew that you would someday break my heart." I commented truthfully.

"This is just something I have to do." He answered. I nodded. He stood and I looked up at him just in time for him to kiss my forehead.

That night was very lonely and cold.

The next day I had finally gotten out of bed and showered. I headed to the furniture store looking for a kitchen table, a couch, a coffee table, and a t.v stand. I picked out a few things before going to pay. The things would be delivered within the next few days.

After buying furniture I decided to head to the food store. I couldn't just eat out every night. I would eventually run into Luke. Who wanted literally nothing to do with me.

I knew that I would most likely never see him again and it would be nice to be with him for the last few minutes that he was in the city.

*LUKE P.O.V*

I was drinking myself to death. I had no idea how much alcohol I had drank all I knew was that my apartment smelled like vomit from how much I've thrown up. It killed me knowing that I was the reason for her pain.

"Jesus, Luke what the hell happened?" Ashton asked covering his nose with his shirt. "It smells terrible in here."

"I broke up with McKinley." I mumbled laying on the living room floor with a bottle of whiskey in my hand.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Well for starters, I won't be living anywhere near her. I also told her that I didn't care about her so there's that."

"Why did you tell her that?" I shrugged. I took another chug of whiskey before Ashton took it from me. "Dude you need to shower." Even with Ashton's help I could barely stand.

*FEW DAYS LATER*

'Come over?' I texted McKinley. It was my very last day in the city and the only person I wanted to spend it with was her.

'Why?' She asked.

'I want to see you. I leave tomorrow.' I commented. 'Just please.' I sighed hoping that she would come over.

'Okay.' She responded. I stood at the front door waiting for her to knock and quickly swung the door open. "Hi." She said moving her hair out of her face and looked at me. I moved to the side to let her in. The place was empty, all that was left was a bag that I would be taking with me on the plane. She stepped into the apartment and leaned against the wall. "It's so stupid of me but I really want to make love to you one last time." She commented.

"We should." I answered looking at her. "It might kill us in two days but for now it's all we have." I stepped closer to her. I held her hips as I kissed her and moved my hands under her shirt to rest them on her stomach. "You're so beautiful." I whispered kissing her lightly. What could I possibly say to her to make her feel better about this situation?

"Don't talk." She whispered. I was a little upset by that because she usually loved when I talked while we were having sex. She was hurting, I knew she was but this was hard on me too. She wasn't the only one who was losing something. I was losing her and my family. I was leaving everything that I ever knew behind because of my job.

I held her against the door trying to get us both naked while I did. I got my pants down just far enough to be able to be exposed. I thrust into her but kept it slow and loving. I kissed her neck, her chest, her boobs, anything I could get my lips near.

"I love you." I whispered as she slide down my body and sat on the floor breathing after reaching her orgasm. "I didn't mean it when I said that I had no feelings for you. You're the greatest thing that ever happened to me." I commented leaning against the door with her.

"I know. You were just trying to make this whole process a little easier." She commented playing with my hair that was damp laying against the forehead. "I so badly wanted this to work out for us." She said with a hint of innocence in her voice. "I so would have given up anything for you, you know."

"I know. I would do anything to make you happy but this, this is going to make me so happy and it's going to be an amazing once in a lifetime chance. I can't throw this away." I sighed. I was right when I said that there was nothing here for me anymore but I didn't mean her. She was more than enough to make me stay but with this new job I'm going to be making a lot more money.

"Promise me one thing." She said as she got her clothes on.

"Anything." I commented watching her gather her things and I knew that this was going to be the last time I saw her.

"If you find yourself in a situation where you're not happy, come back to me." Before I could respond she had opened the door and closed it behind her. I wanted to cry at her words. She was amazing and everything I've ever wanted in a girl and she was no longer mine because I was moving my entire life and she wasn't allowed to come with me. Well she was allowed but she wouldn't have job if she went out there.

She was the love of my life and I was going to lose her. I knew she was the love of my life. It was her, it was always going to be her. I really thought that someday we would get married.

But this was just something I have to do.

****

Along with saying goodbye to McKinley, I need to say bye to my family. Of course my family understood that this was for work and that at least Michael, Ashton and Calum would be with me so I wouldn't be totally alone. It's still scary moving all the way across the country.

"I'm going to miss you so much." My mom hugged me. It was so crazy because a few years ago I never would have picture myself moving to California and here I was only a day out from leaving.

"You can come visit whenever you wish." I smiled at her. "And keep me updated if you hear from McKinley." I said. I had a very good feeling that she wasn't going to talk to me. It would be easier to move on from her if I didn't talk to her.

"Of course I will." She smiled. "This is an amazing opportunity for you, don't let some silly girl ruin it for you."

"She wasn't a silly girl. She's the love of my life." I sighed. "Just, take care of her if she needs it." She nodded at me and hugged me before sending me on my way. I had no idea how I was going to live that far away from my family. Moving a few hours away was one thing but I was moving all the way across the country. I was leaving everything I knew behind all for something that could end in a year or two. I was putting my entire life on the line for this.

There was no say on if this was going to work out in our favor, it could end terrible and I'll be homeless.

MCKINLEY P.O.V

Luke had everything packed into the moving truck before he closed it up and pounded his fist on the back of the truck. It started up and drove down the street, out of view into the busy streets. His car was being moved onto a truck now and we both watched as the guy strapped the wheels down and got into the truck, following the moving truck down the street.

It had taken me forever to move my things out of Luke's apartment and into a new one. And not because I had a lot of stuff to move, because I thought that if it took me longer to move the things out, he would stay longer. But I was sadly mistaken when I came home a few weeks ago to all of my stuff packed away in boxes and a few work outfits folded over a chair.

I tried to tell myself that this was a good thing for Luke. That he was finally becoming everything he ever wanted, he finally had people following what he did, but I just couldn't get over the fact that he was really moving to California. And I should have known two years ago when we started dating, and he took a trip to California that he was going to be moving out there. I should have known.

Once both trucks were gone Luke looked to me and I looked at him silently praying with my eyes for him to stay. He didn't say anything for a while. It was like he was trying to figure out what to say to me to somehow make him and myself feel better but we both knew that there were no words to make this hurt any less.

"Do you have to go?" I was the first to break the ice.

"Yes baby." He said. I hated that name. I would never hear it from him again. Ashton, Calum, and Michael had all decided to also move to California with Luke so at least Luke would have a little bit of home with him but me, I would be homesick. I knew that this would be amazing for Luke and he deserved everything that was coming his way but I couldn't help the pain I felt deep in my chest whenever I thought about what he said to me a few weeks prior.

'I'm going to be busy McKinley.' And somehow that's how I knew. There was a three hour time difference between New York and California. Meaning when he got off work at 6, it would be 9 here and I would most likely be getting ready for bed. And that's when I knew, that it was all over. That everything that we had worked towards for the last two years was going down the drain and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I wish I could stop time to just spend a little more time with him. I wish that he still wanted to be with me. I wish that he would at least want to try to have a long distance relationship, but we were both smart people and we both knew that that, would never work.

I watched as he reached into his carry on bag and grabbed his phone checking the time.

"I have to get going. I'm going to miss my flight."

"I'll miss you." I said. I wanted to soak in his voice as much as possible but he wouldn't talk.

"I'll miss you too." He kissed the top of my head before he turned to hail a taxi. There were no goodbyes said, he just looked at me, gave a small smile, got into the cab, and drove off down the street.

I walked home staring at my shoes barely even thinking. Living alone was going to be weird. There was no one to wake up to in the morning. There was no one to make breakfast with. There wasn't another person to clean up after. There wasn't going to be a ton of laundry to be done. It was going to be me, that's it. I laid in bed that night, freezing cold wondering if there could have possibly been a way to make him stay.

I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't contact me. I knew it was because he was busy but I just figured he would at least try to see if I was doing okay. I was so hurt that he just left. He never even offered to see if I wanted to go with him. He just left.

And maybe a happy ending doesn't include a guy, maybe it's me, on my own, picking up the pieces and starting over, freeing myself up for something better in the future. Maybe a happy ending is just moving on.

*LUKE P.O.V*

Everything in my body was telling me to get off this plane and run to her. To marry her. To have kids with her. To grow old with her.

But I couldn't and we both knew it.

I needed to do this for my job, the only thing important in my life besides her. She was my everything. She understood why I had to do this which somehow made this easier. She wasn't mad at me and I was holding onto that to get me through this flight.

Go back to her.

But I couldn't. The damage was already done.

*TWO WEEKS LATER MCKINLEY P.O.V*

Trying to get into my own routine was challenging. I always made way too much food thinking I was cooking for two people but I wasn't. I'm not going to lie and say that there were nights I didn't cry myself to sleep longing for Luke, there were. I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not upset that he hasn't tried to contact me in two weeks, but I am.

I threw myself into my work. I would work for as long as I possibly could before someone in the office sent me home. Courtney was mostly working from home after giving birth to Finnley. It was like I was losing everything that made me normal.

My writing had become very dark as soon as Luke left. I couldn't help but fill the pages about how he made me feel and I didn't know why he had to leave me. I didn't know anything anymore. Luke was my first ever serious relationship. Somewhere during our relationship, he had changed my mind about marriage and at one point I thought we would get married someday but now he's across the country.

*FEW MONTHS LATER*

Courtney rushed around our office freaking out. I wasn't sure what was going on but it was something bad because she was avoiding eye contact with me.

"Courtney would you sit down and talk to me?" I asked as I placed the papers down that I was going through. She sighed, sitting down at the chair in my office.

"So, my boss came to me and asked if I could go and be the boss of the new company in Los Angeles." She said looking at me. "But Nick can't and doesn't want to leave his job here so I threw your name out there." I looked at her.

"Oh."

"He's offering a lot of money for you to go and be the boss out there for the new company. It's going to be run exactly like this one. You'll be fine."

"But I just moved." I said.

"They have a place set up for you already. Three bedrooms, two bath, huge kitchen, huge living room. You have four weeks to think about it." I sighed. It wasn't like there was anything holding me back here. I didn't really have a family, I didn't have any kids who were holding me here because of schooling. It was me and my career and I didn't need four weeks to think about it.

"Okay, I'll go." I answered. She looked shocked that I had decided so quickly. "My stuff is still packed anyway." I said. What else could I possibly lose?

****

Getting to California was weird. I wasn't sure where I was suppose to go but thankfully there was someone there to pick me up to bring me to the apartment. They pointed out where my office was as we drove past it before parking in the parking lot to the apartment.

"Do you need help Mrs. Davis?"

"Yes please." I said as the man got out and helped me carry my bags up to the apartment.

"Have a good day." He smiled and I smiled back as I entered the apartment. It was huge and very bright. It was lovely. I walked through the place, it was completely furnished. I quickly got settled. I would be heading to the office tomorrow to make sure that everything was ready. A few people from back home would also be working for me so thankfully I would know a few people.

I went to bed early that night so that I would be able to get to the office before everyone else. I typed in the code to lock the door to the apartment before I headed to the lobby.

"McKinley." A familiar voice said. I stopped in my tracks looking at the person standing in front of me who I hadn't seen in months.

"Luke."