บท 21: Justin's...Girlfriend?
Emily had worked the morning shift so she was excited to go on a real date for the first time in weeks. Mostly, she and Brandon had been hanging out in snatches between their work schedules and texting. Always texting.
She enjoyed their text conversations but for some reason she found herself comparing them to her chats with RoboCat. They hadn't really talked since she had gotten together with Brandon because she didn't want to rub things in his single face.
"What do you want to play first, Em?" Brandon asked.
She looked around the room to see what kind of games they had when she spotted a familiar head of messy blonde hair. But it couldn't be Justin because he never left his apartment unless he went to school.
Emily saw almost all of her neighbors out and about in the complex when the weather was nice but she only ever saw Justin in the context of giving rides. From what she could see, he was married to his computer.
Curious, she saw the blonde young man duck behind a game and lean close to the girl who was playing it. He turned and for a split second she saw his bespectacled face before the girl moved in front of him. What on earth?! It was him!
"Justin?"
He turned towards the couple robotically and didn't say anything until the very pretty blonde girl next to him nudged him with her elbow. "Justin, is this a friend of yours?"
As if a switch was flipped, he recovered. "Yeah, this is Emily Carter and…"
Emily realized he didn't know she had a boyfriend. "Oh! This is my boyfriend, Brandon Jones."
Brandon held his hand out to shake and Justin returned the shake with jerky movements. He turned to his girlfriend.
"How do you two know each other?"
"Justin's my neighbor! He lives upstairs and we carpool to school," she explained.
"Oh, so this is the guy who gives you rides," Brandon said. Something flashed across his face before quickly disappearing behind his usual smile.
"Yeah, that's me," Justin said flatly.
The blonde girl looked at her companion for a moment before hooking her arm around his and flashing a megawatt smile.
"I'm Samantha Burnett, Justin's childhood sweetheart!"
Brandon visibly relaxed but Emily was shocked. How had she not known Justin was dating someone?!
A childhood sweetheart…that meant she had been around the whole time Emily had known him. So why hadn't she heard of her?
"Are you from around here?" Emily asked.
Samantha shook her head. "No, I go to school in the Bay Area. I'm here visiting my favorite person for two weeks."
She batted her eyes at Justin, who was frozen in place. Was he embarrassed that his girlfriend was being so mushy?
Truthfully, Emily was surprised that he was with someone so outgoing and flirtatious. He was quiet, easily flustered, and everything this girl was not. He must really love her to have gotten used to the personality difference.
"How long have you been together?"
"We've known each other our whole lives but didn't get close until I was ten," Samantha giggled as if she had thought of something funny.
Justin finally came back to life and said, "She's been practically glued to my side ever since. Haven't you, Sam?"
He shot Samantha a look that Emily couldn't decipher but the blonde simply beamed and nodded.
Brandon spoke up. "So what brings you to the arcade?"
"Someone insisted on winning a lava lamp instead of letting me buy one for her so we've been here for hours," Justin said grumpily.
His arms were crossed over his chest and he was glaring but it was a soft look, somehow. Indulgent. Like he would do anything for his girl, no matter how ridiculous.
Emily's heart momentarily ached. Could guys actually be like that? Her dad hadn't ever done anything nice for her mom that she had seen, always shutting her down when she tried to do something she liked. And Justin had probably spent over $100 trying to win a $20 lamp.
"I just won another jackpot," Samantha said soothingly. "We only need nine hundred more tickets."
"Nine hundred?!" Brandon choked. "How long have you guys been here?!"
Justin sighed and looked out over the arcade as if he was a soldier looking over a war torn horizon. "Too long."
Samantha pouted. "Jay-Jay, you promised me we'd spend the whole day together doing something fun."
"Yes, but this stopped being fun a long time ago," he countered.
Emily wasn't quite sure what to make of this girl but she had to admire her persistence. And poor Justin's resolve. He looked like he wanted to crawl into a wifi-filled cave and never come out.
She studied the two of them. They definitely seemed like they had been together a long time. Justin was more conversational with Samantha than she'd ever seen him.
They had good rapport, as if they had been teasing each other for years. They even kind of looked alike. Their hair was the same shade of blonde but Samantha's eyes were cornflower blue and Justin's, hidden behind his glasses, were the color of warm amber.
Physical appearance aside, Samantha was dressed in a cute, trendy summer outfit and her wrists were bedecked in bangles. Justin wore a plain gray tee shirt with shorts.
Their fashion senses were worlds apart. Based on what she had seen, their personalities were too. What was it about this girl that sparked that kind of devotion? Was it just because she was pretty and cheerful?
"How does that sound?"
Emily zoned back in and realized Samantha was talking to her. "Sorry, what?"
"We're probably going to be done here in about twenty minutes but after that did you want to play laser tag? Brandon said that he wanted to play but you need at least four players."
"Yeah, sure! That sounds fun," she said hastily, trying to cover the fact that she had been lost in thought because she was analyzing the other girl's relationship.
Samantha clapped happily. "Great! We'll see you then. Come on, you need to help me!" She grabbed her reluctant boyfriend by the collar and stuffed coins in his hand.
Emily was still watching them interact when Brandon asked her if she wanted to play air hockey, snapping her out of it. She was here on a date. It wasn't the time to think about other people's relationships.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
Mcllorycat
Mcllorycat l actually had a TA in college named Brandon Jones so when I needed to make up a last name for Emily's boyfriend this happened. We're still friends on Facebook. He probably won't find out I stole his name though :3
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