Breaking the Rules by Hb Heinzer

doing, Tuesday was the longest day Carly had had in a long time. She cursed the clock as minutes passed while Adam was in meetings. Those were minutes she wished she could spend with him.
    As the thoughts crept into her mind, she admonished herself for having these feelings so soon. These emotions were foreign to her. There had been plenty of men to come in and out of Carly's life without leaving any significant impression on her heart. Ironically, she'd had no problem getting them into bed. Now, this incredible man she'd known most of her life was leaving imprints on her heart without leaving them on her body.
    By the time Adam walked through the apartment door, Carly felt like she had been sitting alone in the apartment obsessing for days. She needed to get out and feel the sun and the wind on her face. "Ready?" she asked, jumping from the couch.
    "Do I have time to change?" Adam laughed, pulling loose his tie. Biting the corner of her lip, Carly nodded. She worried she was going to push him away in his last hours here by coming across as the needy, clingy girl she’d fought so hard to never become.
    When Adam reached for Carly's hand as they walked the six blocks to the movie theater, she felt a charge running through her arm. The exact feelings she had scoffed at when her friends said they felt it.
    Before Adam, she was certain claims of tingling at the touch of another person were fallacies. No one really felt that. But here she was, feeling it. That charge did nothing to ease the melancholy she felt knowing they were together for only a few more hours.
    "You're doing it again," Adam said, still looking straight ahead. His eyes were masked by a pair of dark aviator glasses , but the smile lines peeking from the sides of the frames told Carly he was giving her a hard time.
    "Doing what?" Carly asked, hoping he hadn't actually noticed the drop in her mood. She was not a girly girl and didn't want him to see her moping. There would be plenty of time for that once he left.
    While they waited for the walk light at an intersection, Adam turned Carly to him leaving his hands resting on her shoulders. "You're being a girl," he laughed. "The Carly my sister was friends with all those years ago never looked like this. She didn't over-think things , and I distinctly remember her saying no guy was worth getting upset over. So, whoever has taken over Carly's body needs to jump the hell out and give me my friend back."
    She knew he was trying to lighten the mood , but it had the opposite effect. Everything he said was true. Carly was more than happy to spend time with guys in school but never become attached to them. And why did her heart sink at his use of the word “friend” again? Sure, they hadn’t said they were “going steady” or whatever adults called it, but what she felt for him was so much more than friendship.
    Carly spent most of her life trying to build the walls around her heart to keep people out. That happens when both of your parents abandon you by the time you're three, leaving you with no memories of them. Luckily, Carly had Gran and Pop Turner. They did everything they could to make sure Carly knew they loved her. That didn't change the fact that the two people who should have loved her no matter what left her. If they could leave her, Carly was certain it would be easy for anyone to walk out of her life without a backwards glance. What made Adam worth the risk? Carly needed to decide if Adam was worth the risk and she needed to do it soon.
    "Sorry," she said , leaning into Adam's chest. "You're kind of like a drug, you know that?" The truth in Carly's words surprised her. It wasn't what she expected to say, but it was fitting. She felt like a junkie who was down to one last pill with no clue when she'd get more. The anticipation of her withdrawals was keeping her from enjoying the high while it lasted.
    Adam cocked his head . "A drug? Not sure I've been compared to something that will thoroughly control and