Time-Lapse by J.B. Heller

Chapter Ten

She’s tryingto kill me. I’m sure of it. If not with her driving, then definitely with her dirty words.

I don’t know how I kept things PG at the rest stop earlier this week. She’s been taunting me with her mischievous smiles and kinky texts ever since I said I can’t fuck her.

She knows exactly what she’s doing, too. And I’ll be damned, but I think it’s starting to work. It gets a little harder each day to keep my hands to myself.

She tempts me in the worst possible way. She makes me want to forget my plan, to stay here with her.

But I can’t.

I won’t.

This need I have for her sears itself deeper into my soul with each breath I take, making my chest burn with exertion when I’m around her.

I never thought I could feel this much for another person. And it damn well feels like she’s in as deep as I am. But I don’t deserve it, deserve her. How she can possibly want someone as worthless as me to begin with blows my mind, but it doesn’t matter.

There’s no possible way I can stay in Shiloh Springs.

* * *

I can’t countthe number of times Eliza has pushed my control to its limit in the last two weeks. It’s like since I admitted that this isn’t going to go beyond heavy petting, she’s more determined to bring me to my knees.

We’ve been this—whatever we are—for over a month now, and I’m pretty sure Wayne suspects. I’ve noticed him watching her more closely recently. I know he’s into her. Everyone knows. But she’s been shutting him down for longer than I’ve been around.

I’m sitting under my tree, leaning against the trunk, eating an apple, when I see him approach her and pull her away from their group of friends. She humors him and supplies a coy smile just for him. I know she’s aware of me watching them when she turns her back on him to lead the way and throws me a little wink before spinning back around to face Wayne.

He crowds her against the side of the auditorium, leaning in with one arm propped above her head on the wall. I don’t like the way he’s towering over her, almost like he’s trying to intimidate her. Then, he turns his face and looks directly at me.

It’s right then that I know what he’s doing, and I get to my feet, ready to make my approach. But Eliza reaches up and pulls his face back around to her and says something to him. I pause, waiting to see how this will go and if I need to intervene. A moment later, Wayne lowers his head, and as he does, Eliza slides out from beneath him and struts away.

Wayne spins around, glaring at her as she goes back toward her friends. Then, he turns his attention to me again, and I don’t back down. He’s trying to fuck with her because he knows we have a thing. I can see it in his eyes. He doesn’t like being rejected, especially if a nobody like me is the one getting what he wants.

The rest of the day seems to go by unusually slow as I wait in the foyer outside the principal’s office and wonder what Wayne’s going to do next. Will he start targeting me now? Or is he going to keep going after her?

“Mr. Haynes,” Principal Robson calls.

I shake my head, bringing myself back to the present. “Yes, sir?”

“Are you with us now?” he asks with a raised brow.

I scratch my temple. “Uh, yes, sir.”

“You ready to discuss your upcoming exams?”

“Yes, sir.” I get to my feet and follow him into his office. We spend the next half hour scheduling times for me to take my exams at end of the month now that all my assessment pieces have been completed.

“Are you sure you don’t want to finish out the year Huxley? You’re only in high school once. The friendships you form here can be lifelong,” Mr. Robson says, lacing his hands behind his head as he kicks back in his chair.

He and I have always gotten along pretty well. He’s a chill guy in his early forties, but he’s a little too perceptive.

I arch a brow. “You and I both know I don’t have any friends here.”

He shrugs. “You’ve still got time to change that.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“Okay then. Well, if all goes well with these exams, you’ll be out of here in as little as three weeks.”

Instead of the relief I’d expected to feel from the news, I feel empty. I should be glad. I should be freaking ecstatic that everything is falling into place so easily. But I’m not. And I know why.

Eliza.

* * *

I decide tellingEliza as soon as possible will be the best. Otherwise, I might chicken out. And I can’t do that to her. I send her a text with the address of the job site I am working on today so she can pick me up when I knock off and we can talk.

Not surprisingly, she shows up early. I lift my chin in acknowledgment when she pulls up out front but keep on working.

“Who’s that?” Johnno asks.

I scratch my temple. “Eliza Quinn.”

“She your girl?” he asks with a smirk on his face.

“Uh, kinda,” I tell him.

Johnno shakes his head. “I don’t get you, Hux. You’ve got a fine piece like that, and I bet you’re still planning on leaving. Am I right?”

I nod once. “Got my final exam dates today.”

“She know?” he asks with a flick of his chin in Eliza’s direction.

“Yeah, she knows.” Guilt eats at me as I look over and see her dancing away in her car while messing with her cell, completely oblivious to our conversation—to what I’m going to tell her this afternoon. I can’t imagine she’s going to take it well.

Eliza meets my gaze and graces me with one of her smiles and a small wave. I close my eyes and hope I’m doing the right thing.

Johnno’s big hand clasps over my shoulder. “Go to your girl. You’ve done enough here today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I nod then get my pack out of the back of his truck before walking over to Eliza’s Rover. “Hey, princess,” I greet her as I climb onto the towel-covered passenger seat.

She beams. “Hey, you. So, where to? Stream or rest stop?”

“Stream,” I tell her. It seems fitting that the place where this all started be the place it ends.

Eliza pulls her car off to the side of the road a few minutes later, and we make our way through the trees to the clearing. As soon as we step into the small open area, I drop my pack on the ground and start kicking my shoes off.

“Why’d you get your bag out of the car?” she asks.

I answer her honestly. “Because you might not want to give me a ride home after we talk.”

The expression on her face says it all. “Okay, well let’s get it over with then. Whatever it is you have to say, just say it.”

I finish taking my shoes off and sit down before putting my feet in the cold water. “Sit with me?”

She stands there, shifting her weight from one sandal-clad foot to the other. “If you’re going to tell me we’re done right here, right now, I’d rather not.”

I sigh heavily and look out at the sparkling water flowing effortlessly over the boulders in its path and wish I could overcome the obstacles in front of me as smoothly. “Today I was given the date for my final exams—end of the month,” I say without looking back to her, and I can’t hear her shifting around behind me anymore.

“As soon as they’re done, I’ll—” I pause, taking a shuddering breath. It’s so much harder to tell her than it should be. “When they’re done, I’ll leave.”

Silence.

Turning my head, I glance behind me to make sure she’s still there. “El?”

She’s sitting with her legs crossed in front of her, running a piece of grass through her fingertips repeatedly. She slowly begins nodding to herself, and I wait for her to say something, anything, to put me out of my misery. When she finally lifts her eyes to mine, I wish she hadn’t. Unshed tears shine back at me, and I know I could have saved her this hurt had I just stayed away.

Dropping my gaze, I refocus on the water until I feel the heat of her against my back as she nuzzles her face between my shoulder blades and wraps her arms around my middle. “So, I still have time?” she asks.

Her question doesn’t make sense. “Time for what?”

“To be with you.”

I slide my hands over hers. “If that’s what you want.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She sniffles.

“It means, if it would be easier for you to start distancing yourself now, that would make sense.”

With an outraged growl, she releases her grip on me, pushes to her feet, and stands. “Are you serious? Why would you say that to me? Is it not clear enough to you how much I want this? How much I want to be with you, no matter how long we have?” She glares down at me.

I get to my feet, too. “It is. But I just wanted to give you an out. The sooner we end this, the better off you’ll be.”

Her glare intensifies. “How do you figure that? I’ll get to see you around school and town for the next three weeks but not be able to talk to you, to touch you? How would that be easier?”

Her glare is fierce, and I can’t take it much longer, so I look down at my bare feet instead. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.” I rub my temples with my thumb and forefinger. “I’m just trying to make this as painless as possible for both of us.”

Eliza closes the space between us and wraps her fingers around my wrist, pulling my hand away from my face. “It’s going to hurt when you leave. I know that. But until then, I’m going to spend as much time as I possibly can with you. I’m going to fill the next three weeks with memories of you to keep me going when you’re not around anymore. Do you hear me? I’m not going anywhere until you do.”

I drop my forehead to rest against hers. “Okay,” I murmur. But inside, I’m wondering what’s going to happen when those memories begin to fade. Because I’m not coming back here—ever.