Friends With Benefits

8

Justin's p.o.v.

I woke up this morning to the wonderful smell of pancakes and bacon. I slowly adjusted my eyes to the bright light coming in from the open window. I could hear the distant sounds of the ocean waves crashing into the shore. I was purely in paradise. soon enough my phone starts to ring, ruining my peaceful moment. scooters name flashing across the screen, I debate whether or not to answer it, seeing as I already know what he's going to tell me. I let it go to voice mail, not wanting it to ruin what could possibly be a perfect day with Mackenzie.

I finally get out of bed and throw on some sweatpants. I walk downstairs to see my beautiful girlfriend cooking in front of the stove. I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her, causing her to jump a little. "why so scared?" I whisper in her ear. I feel her shiver under my touch. I smirk at the fact that I can make her feel that way. "you scared me." she said in a duh tone. I kissed her neck before looking over her shoulder to see what she was making. my nose was correct. in one pan she was flipping pancakes and in the other she was tossing the bacon around.

I reached into the cabinet and grabbed to glasses. I filled them both with orange juice and walked outside to set them at the table for two. soon after Mack came out with two plates and set one in front of me and one in front of her. we began eating, being surrounded with silence. I couldn't help but feel it was almost awkward. I glanced over at Mack to see her playing with her food, not even eating it. I sighed and put my fork down. she looked up at me, as if she knew I noticed the tension.

"Mackenzie, whats wrong?" I said looking her dead in the eyes. she tore her stare and looked over at the beach. "Mack please tell me whats wrong? we cant have fun with this obvious tension that came out of nowhere." she shook her head. "please?" I pleaded. she sighed and looked down at her plate. her face signaled she was thinking of what to say.

"Justin, you know I love you. right?" I nodded, "good. I love you with all my heart. I want to be with you for a long time if not forever." she started to play with her hair showing me she was nervous. if anything she was making me nervous too. "just tell me Mack? whatever it is I'm sure it cant be bad." I reassured her. he sighed once again like she was annoyed with herself. I didn't want to show any signs of anxiety but it was tearing me at the seams. "ok look, Justin, I love you and you know that, but I don't want to just pack up my stuff again and move back to L.A.. I love being here in San Diego. I love being right on the beach. I love being close to my mom. I just don't want you to be upset because I decide to stay here."

I had no idea what to say. I just stared at her with a black stare like my mind couldn't even focus in on what she just said. after I drove all the way here for her, to tell her I love her. finally make love to her and not just have sex. I got up from my seat and started to walk down the steps to the beach. I felt her get up about to follow me, but I turned around. "please Mackenzie, I want to be alone right now." I said I quickly walked down to the shore and just stared out. of all the things I expected her to say, this was not one of them. I figured that because were officially dating now she would want to live with me again. boy, was I wrong. she wants to stay in San Diego, hours away from L.A. and me. how is this going to work, I'm never gonna see her.

after about an hour of sitting on the shore I got up and walked back to the house. we had to eventually talk about this, now or never. I walked up the steps and saw Erin at the sink through the kitchen window. she smiled at me and walked over to greet me with a hug. I had a bittersweet feeling about Erin right now. I know she was the main reason as to why Mack wanted to stay. then again she has been nothing but nice to me, so I could possibly never be upset with her.

I walked up to Mack's room and slowly opened the door. Mack was laying in bed with her eyes closed and her music playing. I sat on the end of her bed and she suddenly opened her eyes and turned her music off. I rubbed her leg in a sincere way. "listen I get you want to stay because you love your mom and you like being close to her. I guess we could try and make this work, but the thing is for how long? Mack, I'm gonna want you to sleep over and cuddle late at night. how are we gonna be able to do that if your here in San Diego? I'm gonna want to hold you close to me every night and protect you. I just don't see this working with our busy schedule. I'm never gonna have time to come visit you." I could tell Mack was thinking and I didnt want to stop her. "I want to go with you but I don't want to just leave my mom out here. id feel bad because she would be all alone." I sighed and met her gaze. "would you rather live with your mom the rest of your life or make a name for yourself, make new friends and get back into modeling?"

"..."