One of the Guys (17 page)

“
Hey!” I smiled, as he approached
us. “That was an awesome game.”

“
You’re quite the athlete, young
man.” Beamed Bren.

My Mom just watched the
interaction between us, and I had to fight with myself
not
to ogle Logan in his
uniform. I settled on licking my lips, and pulling the bottom one
between my teeth to stop my mouth from dropping open.

“
Thanks. I’m glad you made it,
Bren.” He said, shyly, before turning back to me. “We’re going to
hit the showers now, but Lex said that he’d have everything set up
soon.”

“
Ok. We’ll get going, and I’ll
change.” I replied.

I thought it funny how Logan was
trying not to mention the party. Like my Mom wouldn’t know already.
Also, it never ceased to amaze me how Lex could have a party set up
at a moment’s notice. Really, he would say ’
let’s have a party
’ and suddenly
food and drinks would appear as if by magic.

Logan waved and ran back across to
join the other guys, and I watched his magnificent butt as he did.
That time I almost sighed, quickly stopping myself because of the
present company.

*****

Getting ready for
Lex’s party, I chose a pair of jeans and a vest top. The ones that
hugged my body tight, making me feel uncomfortable. I had no
choice, really, because it was warmer today. I reached for my dark
red hoodie, putting it on, and zipped it up. I felt instantly
better. The size allowed the air to circulate around inside,
keeping me cooler than if I’d worn a T-shirt.

I tied my long hair into a crown
high ponytail, and applied my mascara. I didn’t look ‘girly’ by any
means, but my hair swished a lot more at that height.

Grabbing my phone and keys, I
couldn’t help my mind wandering to Logan and if he was going to be
back to his old self. I wasn’t going to lie, I was worried that now
it was all over; he’d forget about me again. I had that niggling
feeling.

I put it out of my mind and walked
down the stairs to wait for Logan. I got to the bottom, and I could
hear my Mom talking in the kitchen. I stopped still when I heard
whom she was talking to.

Logan.

I hadn’t even heard him
knock!
And
why
didn’t she tell me he was here?

I tiptoed to the doorway,
completely eavesdropping on their conversation.

“…
She’s not the same, Logan. Has
somebody said something, or done something to her?”

My Mom sounded worried, but why
the
fuck
was she
asking Logan instead of
me?
I hadn’t realized that she’d noticed anything was
up.

“
Not that I know of.” He replied.
“Chase hasn’t said anything to me.”

I knew for a fact that he was
lying to her. He knew all about Carl, and
especially
his own brother. He also
knew about Sian, and that the other girls had said things about
me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Great, I had a headache forming.

“
Well, she doesn’t tell me
anything.” My Mom continued, and I’d listened enough.

“
Tell
you,
what?”
I asked, interrupting them.

“
Chase!” My Mom looked guilty. “You
scared me. Um, I was just telling…”

“
I heard.” I glared at her.
“Coming?” I said to Logan, without taking my eyes off my
interfering parent.

“
Yeah.” He said, quickly, and
followed me out to his car.

“
You’re Mom’s just worried about
you.” He said, when we got in the car, and as usual he shifted in
his seat. Obviously uncomfortable about something.

“
She’s
so
worried, she didn’t even ask me
herself.
” I said, ignoring it. “I’m
sick of it.”

“
Of what?”

“
Being talked about. Nobody ever
says anything to my face!”

“
I
do.”

“
No you don’t,
remember? For over two weeks, you thought I was mad at you.
Not
once
did you say anything.”

“
I told you, I didn’t want to upset
you.” He said, defensively.

I didn’t have the energy to get
into it again, and I really didn’t want to argue with him after the
great day he’d just had.

“
Ok, can we just drop it now?” I
pinched the bridge of my nose again. “I have a
headache.”

“
Sure.” He
sighed. “Look, I know you don’t like parties, but you’ll be
fine.
I’ll
be with you; ok?”

You think the party is the
problem? No! You’re breaking my heart! That’s the fucking
problem.

I took a deep breath and let it out
slowly.

“
Ok.” I whispered.

The party was in full swing when we
got there, and bodies were everywhere.

“
We’ll have to squeeze through.”
Logan shouted over the music.

He grabbed my hand, which sent
shock waves running up my arm, and pulled me along with him to the
garden. His fingers wrapped around mine felt so warm, and I savored
the feeling while it lasted.

He spotted Lex, and Pike who were
talking to the rest of their team, looking very pleased with
themselves.

“
Hey!” They chorused to Logan. “Hey
Chase.” They said, surprising me.

I greeted them back, and then I
felt Logan drop my hand. I missed his touch immediately, and I
wanted to reach for him again.

Their conversation quickly turned
to their next big game, and I wondered how they could possibly talk
about it some more. Surely, they’d been discussing it after the
game,
and
in the
locker rooms?

“
It’s going to be the game of the
year.” Adam, their team captain said.

Adam was almost as tall as Logan,
but with light brown hair and nowhere near as gorgeous.

“
Yeah, it will. My good luck charm
will be there.” He said, winking at me.

I stopped breathing as my knees
weakened, and I felt a flush creep into my cheeks.

“
We need to go over our first
senior game.” Adam cut in. “East Comp are a strong team and we need
to focus hard to beat them.”

I’d heard Logan, and the others,
talk about East Comp high school. They weren’t in the local area,
and because the Flaming Tigers had won this game, they’d be playing
them after the homecoming football game.

“
Soon, ok?” Logan said, nodding to
Adam, then he turned to me. “Let’s get some drinks.”

Logan led me through Lex’s house
and into the modern kitchen with all the white marble tops and
glossy grey counters. The island in the center had stools on one
side, like mine, and cupboards on the other.

It was hot in there and I pulled at
my jacket, attempting to fan myself. The sheer amount of people
were only adding to the temperature.

“
Take off your jacket.” Logan said
as he saw me.

“
I don’t need to.” I replied,
quickly. I wasn’t going to remove it.

“
Don’t be silly.” He said, and
before I knew it he reached for my zipper and began pulling
down.

“
No!” I whisper shouted, gripping
the material together.

“
What’s wrong? Are you worried
about your T-shirt?”

“
I’m not wearing one.” I looked
around, checking that nobody was listening. “I’m wearing a
vest.”

Logan’s eyes widened in shock as he
realized he’d almost shown everyone what I was hiding. Not that he
knew.

He scrubbed his face with his hand,
then ran his fingers through his hair.

“
Jesus, Chase. I
am
so
sorry. If I’d known, I would never…”

“
I know. Forget about it.” I said,
interrupting his apology.

It was at that moment that a
somewhat inebriated Carl came over to us. Lex had obviously
supplied alcohol as well.

“
Logan! Hi!” He said, grinning
widely. “Chase! You’re here!” He said in mock happiness.

“
Carl, don’t start.” Logan growled.
The sexy sound, although menacing, rumbled through me.

“
Whoa, dude.”
Carl put his hands up in surrender. “I’m just making an observation
that
Chase
is here.” He said, then turned to me. “Good ‘ole Chase.
Always
fucking
here.”

“
What’s your problem with me, Carl?
What have I ever done to you?” I asked him, standing right up to
him.

“
Ha! Oh my God.
You’re like the little brother, oh sorry,
sister
…” He snarled.
“…That hangs around. The reason we can’t say, or do what the fuck
we want because
he’ll
get upset or offended.” He pointed at me. “Well I’m
sick
of it. You need to
just fuck off!” He slurred.

“
Carl, I warned you.” Logan said
between gritted teeth. He looked infuriated.

“
Whatever, man. You’re just too
much of a pussy to tell her.” Carl sneered.

“
Tell me what?” I asked, turning my
attention to Logan.

Tell me he doesn’t want me around
anymore?
I thought, and my breath caught
in my throat as I remembered the comments Carl had made about Logan
only needing me for math help.

“
Nothing, he’s drunk. He doesn’t
know what he’s talking about.” He said as he continued to glare at
a laughing Carl.

“
Yes I do.” Carl winked and tapped
his nose before walking unsteadily away from us.

“
Is that why he hates me so much?”
I asked, more to myself than Logan.

“
I think it’s
just like we said, Chase. I also think he’s just an asshole, but
he’s Stu’s friend. Stu’s
our
friend, and we’re all on the same team. We
have
to deal with his
shit.”

“
So they have to
deal with me because I’m
your
friend?” I asked. It made
perfect sense if that was the case.

“
No! The
others
like
you. It’s just Carl who’s the dick.” He turned and poured
liquid into two red cups. “Anyway, we’re here to celebrate our
awesome test scores and the team’s win today. So let’s party!” He
grinned, passing me a soda and crashing our red cups
together.

“
We are.” I plastered on a fake
smile and sipped my drink.

It wasn’t Logan’s fault that Carl
acted that way towards me, but something told me that what he’d
mentioned, about Logan ‘not telling me’… It only intensified my
suspicions that something was
definitely
going on.

*****

People came to
talk to Logan, ignoring me as per usual, and most of the time not
even acknowledging I was there. It was mostly about baseball and
the win, but yet again, I was made to feel like the
tagalong.

The longer the time passed; the
more I wanted to leave. I had nothing in common with the other
people there, and the noise and claustrophobic atmosphere were
making my headache worse.

I didn’t want to ruin Logan’s
night, so I tried to hang on.

I really tried, but I
couldn’t.

It felt as if I were there by
myself. Being that awkward loner who turns up to places on their
own, not knowing anybody. The only difference was, I knew who these
people were; we just didn’t talk to each other.

“
Logan.” I said, trying to get his
attention when one of the footballers had finished talking to him.
“I don’t feel too good. I’m going to go.”

“
Are you ok? What’s wrong?” He
asked, concerned. He looked into my eyes and, for a split second,
he glanced at my mouth.

No, I’m not going to puke.
I thought, like that’s what he was worried
about.

“
Yeah, just my headache’s worse.” I
said.

“
Logan!” Adam called as he
approached us.

“
Shit. Give me five minutes and
I’ll take you home, ok? I don’t want you to go by
yourself.”

“
I’ll wait in the hallway.” I said
as I nodded.

I walked through the house and sat
on the staircase in the hallway. People were going up and down, but
it wasn’t that bad. It was quiet and a lot cooler than the
kitchen.

I waited for Logan, and I knew I’d
been sitting for a while because some people even left to go
home.