One of the Guys (11 page)

My breath caught in my throat, and
I froze.

In all the time we’d been friends,
I’d never seen Logan’s stomach. Hard to believe, I know, but he’d
never changed in front of me, and we’d never been swimming together
either. We didn’t live anywhere near the beach so even that was out
of the question.

Every part of my body was hyper
aware of what my eyes had just landed on, and they were incredibly
pleased with the visual. So pleased, in fact that my heart rate was
through the roof. If I’d have gone to see the nurse, she would’ve
called an ambulance.

I squeezed my thighs together, the
ache there increasing the longer I stared.

Logan had lifted and lowered his
shirt in only a few seconds, but it was enough to scramble my
brain. I watched him step up to the mark and swing his bat over his
shoulder. His thighs apart, kneed slightly bent, ass pushed out the
tiniest bit and my mouth watered.

Pike pitched, and Logan hit the
ball with a ‘thwack’ and I swooned as he ran.

God I’m going crazy here!
I thought.

Logan made it around all of the
bases and exchanged high fives with the guys.

They all picked up their things,
and Logan walked over to me as I watched him.

“
We’re going to hit the showers.
Meet you outside the locker rooms?” He asked.

“
Sure.” My voice came out shaky
like I was a bag of nerves.

I was.

I’d seen what was under his shirt,
and now I wanted to see more. Imagining him naked in the shower
wasn’t doing me any favors either.

My legs wanted to follow him into
the locker room, and my lady parts were definitely up for that
too.

Logan shot me a smile and went with
the other guys, whilst I attempted to gather my wits together,
along with my books.

*****

I finally made it
to the locker rooms and only waited for a couple of minutes before
Logan and the others appeared. My eyes immediately fixed on his wet
hair, hanging down his forehead.

“
Hey.” He said, his huge smile
showing his gorgeous teeth.

“
Hey.” I replied as casually as I
could, even though I could hear the pulse in my ears from my
pounding heart.

“
Let’s go to class.” He said, and I
flinched a little when I felt his arm drape across my shoulders.
Lex had done that to me today and I wondered why now, of all times,
Logan decided to do that too. I won’t lie; it felt fucking amazing!
Right at that moment, it felt like more than a friendly gesture. I
was tucked under his arm, into his side, and I could feel his heat
through both of our T-shirts, inhaling his fresh clean scent every
time I took a breath.

I could feel eyes on me, and I
turned my head and saw Carl looking at me, and that’s when I
noticed a bruise and slight swelling on the right side of his lower
lip. He saw that I had seen it, and he turned away from me
without
scowling, for
once. He’d been hurt, and I wondered if Logan had been the cause of
that.

We walked into Chem class and Logan
only dropped his arm when we got to our seats. I felt the loss
immediately, feeling a cold spot where he’d touched me.

He sat at the table next to me,
Carl on his other side. Throughout the class, Logan didn’t speak to
Carl at all. He spoke only to me. As a teenage girl getting
attention from an incredibly hot guy who I was in love with, I was
loving every second of it. However, the other rational part of me
knew that it was because he felt bad at forgetting me and was just
trying to make it up to me.

Sure, we always talked in class,
but he was paying
way
more attention to me than usual and the extra touching,
although fantastic, wasn’t like Logan. I began to wonder what was
going on with him and his sudden change.

Grocery shopping for Bren was
something Logan and I did together. I know it’s a childish fantasy,
but walking around the store, I often wondered what it would be
like if we were shopping for
our
groceries.

Then, my thoughts turned back to
practice.

“
You’re smiling.” Logan said as we
walked down the aisle for Bren’s cookies.

I was so busted! My cheeks
heated.

“
I was?” I
was
so
embarrassed.

“
Yeah. What were you
thinking?”

About your hot body and sexy
ass!

“
Um… Nothing.” I said, trying not
to smile.

“
It must have been something.” He
pressed.

“
Ok, I was thinking about how I
beat you down on the video game, yesterday.”

Thank you, quick thinking brain!
Welcome back!

“
Oh really?” He asked, raising an
eyebrow.

“
Yep. You seriously sucked.” I
laughed.

"I did, but I bet I could beat you
at Street-Fighter.”

“
You’re on.”

Logan held out his fist to bump
mine, and we got back to shopping.

I picked up a few extra items for
Bren, and then paid the cashier.

“
Do you think she knows you buy
extra with your own money?”

“
I don’t think so, so don’t tell
her.”

Bren always gave me fifty bucks for
her groceries, but I always bought more. I don’t think she realized
that extra things appeared that weren’t on the list. I’d spend some
of my own money to buy her other things she might need.

This time, I’d spent an extra forty
bucks on things for her. A few extra apples, an extra carton of
juice, household cleaning items… Not that she cleaned.

The care company sent people over,
but they never provided the equipment.

There was a time that they’d run
down Bren’s supplies so they just used a damp cloth to wipe up
with.

Gross.

I wasn’t going to let that happen
again.

“
You’re really good to her.” Logan
said on the way back, after stopping at the pharmacy.

He’d said it many times before,
but
this
time
seemed different.

More…serious.

“
She’s always been good to me.” I
replied with a shrug, like it was nothing.

Bren had bought me ice-cream, on
hot days when the van came around. We’d sit on her front porch, and
she’d tell me stories from the old days. She was really sweet, and
I liked helping her.

After her husband had died, she
didn’t have anybody close by. Her granddaughter visited, but she
lived fifty miles away and Bren’s only daughter, had also passed
away.

Getting to the house, Logan and I
carried the bags to the kitchen.

“
Hi Jo.” I said to the
caregiver.

“
Hello Chase, Logan.” She said as
she helped Bren into her armchair.

“
Hello sweetheart!” Bren said with
a huge smile when she saw me.

It made me happy seeing her like
that.

“
Hi, Bren. Logan and I have your
groceries. How are you today?”

“
I’m just great, and thank you
both.” She beamed, turning her attention to Logan.

“
Hello, Logan. How are you, young
man?” She asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Logan never mentioned anything, but
I’m pretty sure she teased him about girls when my back was
turned.

“
I’m good, thanks Bren.” He replied
and saw a slight flush in his cheeks.

Yeah
that
was happening a lot more lately
too.

“
Well,
I’m
fantastic.” She grinned. “Jo, here, had made me tea, and
helped me about as usual. But, now she has to pick up her son from
school.”

“
I do. I’ll be back tomorrow,
Bren.” She said, picking up her bag. “Watch out for her…” She
pointed at Bren. “…She’s been up to her tricks today.”

“
Pah!” Bren said, waving her hand
but grinning like a little girl.

“
What have you done?” I asked in my
best Mom tone.

“
Nothing.” She lied.

“
She sneaked some candy, this
afternoon, and sent her blood sugars through the roof.” Jo said
before waving goodbye.

“
Bren!
You
know
you shouldn’t do that unless you’re low.” I chastised
her.

“
I
was
low, but now I’m
happy.” She giggled.

“
I meant your blood
sugar.”

Bren laughed.

“
Speaking of sugar…” She said with
a devilish grin.

I closed my eyes in anticipation
for the cringe worthy words she was about to say… in front of
Logan.

“
Have you had any sugar
lately?”

There they were and
there
was the red on my
cheeks as I flushed with embarrassment.

“
Bren!
” I complained, but she just
howled with laughter. “Time to check your levels.” I growled and
got her blood testing kit.

I’d done this for her hundreds of
times, but it still didn’t feel right making her bleed.

“
Eight-point-five. You’re lucky you
don’t need to be dosed with insulin.” I said, putting the kit
away.

Bren was eighty-five but her
diabetes made her seem older. I’d seen other, much older, people
move about a lot more freely than she did.

“
Let me have my
fun.” She said, her eyes turning back to Logan and he chuckled
nervously from her attention. “What about
you
handsome?” She
asked, clearly loving our discomfort.

“
No.” He said, quietly, dropping
his eyes to the floor.

“
Well…” Bren smiled. “You two best
get busy.”

Both of us snapped our eyes to
Bren, then to each other, then back to Bren.

Oh. My. God!

I think I died a little
inside.

I can’t believe she just said
that!
I thought to myself.

I had no idea what Logan thought
but by the look on his face he probably thought she’d lost her
mind.

Bren burst out laughing.

“
You should see
your faces!” She cackled. “I’m just kidding! I know
you’re
just
friends.”

Bren wiped the tear from her eyes,
but not before throwing me a knowing wink when Logan’s eyes cast
down to his feet.

The old lady was going too far.
She’d made comments, in the past, about Logan and I making a cute
couple and about how she could see I like him ‘that way’. I’d tried
to dismiss her, but she saw through my facade-the only person
to-but she’d never said anything in front of Logan, and knew I
didn’t want to talk about it.

Today was the first time she’d
brought it up in front of him.

“
So, how long until the end of the
school year?” She asked, and I was grateful for the subject
change.

“
Three weeks.” I
replied.

I was glad too. Junior year had
been tough, hormonally as well as academically, but I knew senior
year was going to be worse.

“
I bet you’re both excited for
that.” She said, suddenly looking very tired.

“
Yeah.” We answered in
unison.

“
Ok, I think you need to nap now,
Bren.” I said, and I took the blanket from her sofa, draping it
over her lap.

I used the remote to recline her
chair and covered her up.

“
You’re a good girl, Chase. You
always know what I need.” Bren patted my hand.

“
That’s because I’ve known you for
a long time.” I replied. “Anyway, here’s your remote.” I placed it
next to her thigh. “And if you need anything, call me or my Mom,
ok?”

“
I will honey.”

Bren’s eyes grew heavy, and Logan
and I left.

“
She’s crazy.” Logan said when we
crossed the street to my house. He was shaking his head in
disbelief.

“
Yeah, she could’ve made herself
really sick.”

“
Um, yeah.”

I had a feeling he wasn’t talking
about the stunt with the candy.

No. He thought Bren was crazy
talking about ‘us’.

Great.

That idea, to him, was crazy. I’m
pretty sure I could feel another part of my heart harden in knowing
that.

Chapter
6

We walked into my
house and into the kitchen. My heart was pounding as Logan stood
close to me by the counter. So close I could feel the warmth of him
through his T-shirt, and my legs began to tremble.