Mr. Book Store

CHAPTER 37

MCKINLEY P.O.V

The next few months flew by. Lately I had been super busy at work and so had Luke so we really only saw each other when we were going to bed. I was still super worried that his boss would transfer him to California. Of course I wasn't going to force him to stay here because of me but it would be difficult to let him go.

I finally had a day off after a huge project that I had finished and I planned to stay in the whole day and watch Supernatural but Luke was working from home and making calls all day and making tons of noise.

"You're doing it on purpose." I commented muting the t.v when he walked into the room with his phone pressed to his ear. It's taken me nearly two hours to watch one episode because he kept interrupting me.

"I'm trying to plans with my boss." He rolled his eyes.

"Plans for what?"

"For me to go and look at the studio he's building in L.A." I sat up. He said that there were no plans right now to open a studio there.

"What?" I questioned and his eyes widened when he realized what he had said.

"I'll call you back." He rushed into the phone before hanging up.

"You lied to me." I commented and he sighed moving closer to me.

"I didn't want you to worry." He commented closing his eyes and pressing his thumb and pointer finger to his nose. "Nothing is decided on who's going there but there is a studio being built. It's all up to my boss about who is going to be employed there." He said.

"You still lied."

"I'm sorry." He said. "I have a meeting next week with my boss with the final decision on who is going there."

"Do you want to go there?" He was silent but I waited for an answer.

"Honest?" I nodded. "Yes. I do." I nodded leaning back on the bed. "It's a lot more money and I'll be able to work with more artists. It would be an amazing opportunity." I knew he was right but it wasn't like I would be able to go with him. I loved my job, my job was here.

I stayed quiet, I wasn't sure what to say to him. Of course I wanted him to follow his dream and to become everything he's ever wanted. But I wanted him to be mine. As selfish as it seems I wanted him to stay here with me and to marry me and have a kid with me. He was going to move away and he was going to find someone else and do those things with someone else and I didn't want that.

I thought that we were going to be together forever, that this was it. I was wrong. It was clear that if his boss asked him to go, he would.

He left the room to get back to work which left me with my thoughts. Maybe we could work through it. We could do long distance. I slowly got out of bed and walked over to his office.

"Can I go to the meeting with you?" I asked.

"If you want to. I don't see why not." He commented. I nodded my head before crawling back into bed. I had no idea what I was going to do.

Around dinner time he came into the room and looked at me.

"It's gonna be a while before anything happens." He commented. "The building isn't even finished." He rolled his eyes at me. It was as if he didn't even care about our relationship and where it was headed. It was obvious that this was the beginning of the end for us.

"I just... Nothing." I didn't want to make him feel bad and feel guilty about whatever he chooses to do. I just wanted him to be happy and if moving to California and working there made him happy then I had to put my selfishness to the side and let go.

"We can talk about this but nothing you say is going to change my mind. If he asks me to go, I'm going. It's my job."

"I know but-"

"No. McKinley, I can't stay here just because of you." He said. I looked down and played with my fingers. "My job is important. If we were getting married or if we had a kid it would be different but we're not and we don't. I'm free to move anywhere I want."

"I know." I commented. "I'll support you no matter what you decide." I commented. I would be upset with it, when he decided to go there but I would support him. "Does your mom know?" I asked.

"No. I want to keep this on the down low. I don't want my family to get all crazy. He might not even have us go over there."

"Us?"

"Well yeah. Ashton, Calum, and Michael will come with me." I nodded my head. At least he wouldn't be totally alone over there. "We can talk more later. I'm hungry." He left the room. I sat up and let my feet hit the floor but I stayed where I was. There was nothing that I could do to make him stay.

*LUKE P.O.V*

I was extremely nervous about this dinner with my boss. I had no idea what his decision was but I was praying that it was for us to go there. It would be a lot more money and a lot more people would know who I was and what the company was and it would be amazing.

I had warned McKinley a bunch of times before we got there to behave. I knew she wouldn't say anything bad to make my boss change his mind but I knew that she wasn't really excited about the whole situation.

We were seated in a private room and the guys were already here. We greeted them before sitting down and making small talk. McKinley stayed quiet the entire time.

When my boss came in we all stood to greet him. I introduced him to McKinley.

"Oh, not gonna be easy to leave this one." He said and her face changed but she smiled through it before looking at me.

"Does that mean you picked us?" I asked.

"Sit, we can discuss it." He commented. I sat down and waited for him to walk around the table and sit down. "I have decided that if you boys would like to, to send you to Los Angeles." He commented. "It's up to you. You don't have to make a decision now. You can talk about it for a few weeks. One of you can go, the rest can stay, you can all go. I don't care I just need the final decision by June on who's going." He commented.

"I'm going." I blurted out. I didn't care what anyone else wanted. I was going with or without them.

"Woah, shouldn't we talk about this?" Michael commented. Obviously it would be hard for Michael to leave, his daughter was buried here and his entire family all lived in the city.

"We can talk about it but I'm going." My eyes shifted from him to Ashton and Calum. They all seemed a little alarmed.

"I can't make that kind of decision right now." Ashton said. I didn't blame him. For some it was easy and for other's it wasn't. Ashton had younger siblings, who he was super close with so leaving them was going to be difficult. The only thing here stopping me was McKinley but I knew that if she really cared about me, she wouldn't hold me back.

Bowls filled with pasta were brought to the table and everyone started to eat. McKinley kept her head down for most of the dinner. I felt terrible. I knew that I should have given her a straight answer when she asked me about it but I couldn't bring myself to tell her. This was just something I had to do.

Around 10 I stood and announced that we would be heading home. I thanked my boss and left with hand on McKinley's lower back. I opened the car door for her and she softly thanked me before getting in. The ride home was short but it felt like years. I knew she had a ton of things to say but she kept quiet.

As soon as we got home she headed inside. I let the dog out before going to feed her and the cat. Our bedroom door was shut and I could hear the shower running. I let her have some time to herself before I went and tried to open the bathroom door but it was locked.

I changed before going to let the dog in. McKinley came into the kitchen fully dressed with her hair in a towel and she opened the fridge to grab a water bottle.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I questioned.

"Nothing to talk about." She commented back looking at me. "It's what you want. I can't stop you. I would say next time give me a warning but there probably won't be a next time." She said before leaving and heading to the bedroom. I sighed and ran my hands over my face.

No matter what someone was going to be hurt in this situation. If I said I didn't wanna go, my boss would be angry. When I said I was going, it hurt my girlfriend. I couldn't please everyone so I decided to please myself. I was doing this for me. I was allowed to be selfish about this. I'm allowed to further my career without feeling guilty about it.

*MCKINLEY P.O.V*

I couldn't say that I was shocked that Luke had decided to go, I knew he was going to the second he brought it up. He was leaving for L.A in a few days to check out the studio. I would get a glimpse of what my life would be like when he went over there.

When he left for the airport I decided to start looking for apartments. I would need a new one and I couldn't afford this one on my own.

Courtney was coming over with food and to show me her ultrasound picture that she got today. She was nearly 4 months pregnant and barely showing.

"What are you doing?" She asked coming up behind me as I sat at the island on my laptop. "You're moving?" She asked.

"Eventually." I looked at her. "Luke got a job in L.A."

"No!" She said and I nodded. "When is he going out there?"

"Not sure yet."

"Well he could change his mind."

"He won't. He made it clear that he won't. And he's out there right now looking at the studio so I'm sure he's amazed with it." I knew that there was a breakup coming. I rested my head on my hand looked at her. "I thought it was going to be different this time around." I whispered.

"What do you mean? He's not like the other guys you've been with. This is for his job."

"I just thought this would be the one to stick you know? I just figured we would get married and have a kid together." I got off the chair and got us some plates. "I can already tell that we're drifting apart." I didn't want that. I wanted to be with him for the rest of our lives.

"Why don't you just go with him then?"

"Because my job is here." I filled my plate with food and sat down. We ate in silence but lately I hadn't been hungry.

"So, wanna see the baby?" She asked smiling making me smile.

"Yes!" I shouted as she reached into her purse to grab the picture and handed it to me.

"There's his feet."

"His?" I questioned.

"Oh yeah! It's a boy!" She smiled. I was so happy for her. Her and Nick were going to be awesome parents.

We watched a movie together and then she left. I tried Facetiming Luke but he hung up on me. I was cuddled in bed with the dog and the cat, watching Supernatural and eating ice cream out of the gallon. I was sitting in my own self pity.

That night was the first night I had cried about it. It was the first time that it really sunk in that he was really going and that our relationship was coming to an end.

*LUKE P.O.V*

The studio looked amazing. Of course there was still a lot of work to be done before we could officially "move in" but so far it was coming along great.

"How's Kinley handling this?" Michael asked.

"Uh, we haven't really talked about it." I shrugged. He looked at me with a confused face.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I keep asking her if she wants to but she just says no." I commented as we found a place for dinner. "Maybe she's trying some weird reverse thing that if she doesn't say she wants me to stay that I will."

"If she asks you to stay will you?" He asked and I paused to think about it but no. I wouldn't stay.

"No." I commented. "She's a huge part of my life but work was here first."

"Don't say that to her." He said and I laughed. I would never say that to her. "What are you gonna do about Jack's wedding? Are you still going together?"

"I plan to yeah. We're both in the wedding party." I commented. Their wedding wasn't for another few weeks and I'm sure by then McKinley and I will hate each other's guts and not want anything to do with each other.

A few days later I made my way home and McKinley was lying face down on the bed sobbing.

"What's wrong?" I asked rubbing her back.

"Nothing."

"Talk to me."

"Just don't go!" She shouted. "Just stay here with me! We can be happy." She sobbed sitting up.

"You might be happy but I wouldn't be." I commented. "This is going to be good for me and I don't understand why you can't see that. Why can't you just be happy for me?!"

"I am happy for you. I know you want this but I want you to stay here with me."

"That's so selfish!" I shouted getting off the bed. I know she was hurting and I should have been more understanding but this was something that I wanted and I wasn't going to let anyone get in the way.

Jack's wedding was awkward. No one knew that I was moving away yet and lately things had been tense with McKinley and this was just the perfect place for us both to be right now. At a wedding. Where people confess their love for each other.

We were lined up waiting to walk down the aisle and she looked like she was being stabbed in the heart. I could see the pain on her face. She hadn't made eye contact with me in weeks, she's barely touched me.

I walked down the aisle and we both tried to put smiles on our faces so that no one would suspect a thing but every time I looked down at her, she looked somewhere else. When we got to the end I went to kiss her cheek but she slipped her arm from mine and went to stand next to the other bridesmaids. I was a little stunned but stood next to Ben who gave me a look like 'what was that?' I just shook my head.

At the reception I stayed away from McKinley. I had a feeling our breakup might be coming tonight and I figured that if I stayed away from her that nothing would happen.

"What's going on with you two?" Ben asked. "She's downing shots at the bar and you're sitting over here by yourself." He commented. "Did you guys break up or something?" He asked.

"Not yet."

"What do you mean not yet?"

"I was going to wait to tell everyone together." I started. "I'm moving to California. For work." Ben looked over at McKinley.

"And that's why she's getting drunk at the bar. Because she's not going." He confirmed and I nodded my head. I sighed and looked at her. She just looked so sad and I hated being the person who caused that type of pain in her life.

"Am I stupid?" This was the first time I had questioned it. If this was a bad idea.

"No." Ben said making me feel a lot better. "This is just something you have to do. As much as it hurts her, I'm sure she understands." He patted me on the shoulder. "Maybe you should go have one final dance with her." I nodded and stood up going over to her.

"Can I have this dance?" I asked reaching my hand out. She slowly placed hers in mine before I brought her onto the dance floor and held her close to me as we swayed to the music. We stayed like that for the next few songs. It was almost like we were both too afraid to let go thinking that we would never touch again.

McKinley had changed my life in ways that I never thought possible and I was so in love with her and maybe someday we would make our back to each other but for now, we left it here.