Safer Outside (A Mature YA Romance) (The Outside Series) (8 page)

“Yeah, I want to show L
iz something.”

“Oooh, a surprise!
” Kim clapped her hands real fast and bounced.

“I don’t usually like surprises so this better be good,” I sai
d, turning my face up to Logan’s.

He kissed me lightly
, smiling against my mouth. “If you don’t like it, I’ll make you something else.”

“Promise?”
I had images of iced cookies or a friendship bracelet in mind. Although, neither would require a trip off campus for him to give it to me.

“Promise.”
He turned me around by my shoulders and pulled me into a deep kiss. Everyone around us faded away as my world honed in on Logan Cooper and the things he did to my insides. If he wasn’t holding me in those thickly muscled arms of his, I would’ve melted into a puddle at his feet.
I was so screwed!

~**~

Austin grabbed a huge camera from the trunk of his car as we all piled out into a field of brown weeds. “Ladies, first.” He waved Kim, Allie and Jen ahead while Logan held my arm to stop me.

“I don’t want you to freak out or anything.” He was more nervous than I’d ever seen him.

“Well, now I’m starting to.” I looked in the direction that everyone was heading and didn’t see anything to worry about. The field was open space that backed up to the highway with a huge sound wall stretched out in both directions.

Logan tugged a piece of my hair and I looked back into his eyes. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about you and I wanted you to know how much I like you.”

“Okay.” More than being nervous, I was starting to get really self-conscious. What if he made some weird sculpture of me out of mud or something? I would be mortified for myself and for him. I groaned. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Well, when you put it like that...” He laughed and pulled me forward, pointing out random plants to our right as we crossed the barren land.

As we got closer to the group, I felt everyone staring at me. I looked to them and saw that Austin had his camera pointed at me. Kim looked like a proud mama watching her baby walk down the aisle. I had no idea what they were doing so I turned to Logan for direction. He stood behind me and turned my shoulders so I was facing the sound wall.

It took me a second to figure out where to look but when I finally saw it, I gasped.
With my hand over my mouth, I stood in shock.

In pink and
white bubble letters that had to be at least four feet tall was my name, spray-painted on the wall. This wasn’t something you’d see a gangster tag with a sharpie just to be rebellious. This was art. Each letter was perfectly aligned and outlined in black with shading that looked like light was glimmering off the edges.

I’d never really paid attention to
graffiti, and certainly wouldn’t have expected Logan to be the type of guy to do it, but as I tried to wrap my mind around it, I realized how beautiful it was.

“You did
this
?” I could barely choke out the words through the lump in my throat.

“I know it’s silly but I just wanted to do something...big.” He chuckled and moved to my side.

“But how?”

“With a big ladder and a lot of paint.”

Randy snorted. “And a friend that went to three different Home Depots for more of that paint.”

“But, I thought you
didn’t show people your artwork.” I looked Logan in the eye. Every time I tried to sneak a peek, he distracted me with his mouth. “I don’t.” His eyes dropped to my lips and I could see them change from shy to lustful. “But this seemed like a worthy exception.”

It might not have been the right reaction but it was the sweetest gesture anyone had ever made to or for me and I was completely blown away. To see my name so large and in public was surreal. I couldn’t hold back my tears.

“Hey, don’t cry.” Logan pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

“Why me
?” I wiped my nose with the inside of my sleeve and pulled back, patting my eyes to keep the puffiness down.

“Do you hate it?” His tan face had an unhealthy pallor to it
. It broke my heart to see him vulnerable.

“I love it.”
I did. It must have taken hours to create something so precise. I couldn’t imagine doing something like that for anyone and I never would have expected him to do that for me. No one had ever made me feel memorable or worthy of taking risks. Risks were made
in spite of
my well being and happiness every day but never
for
me.

As I looked back at my friends,
I saw they were just as blown away as I was. I realized that I did matter to some people. There were people that did go out of their way to do things for me and that truly cared.

I smiled and turned toward my wall again. That’s what it was from that point forward.
My wall.

“Really?”
His relieved grin was adorable.

“Really.”
I pulled Logan down by his shirt and kissed him loudly on the lips. “When did you have time to do this?”

“We came out here on Saturday night. It didn’t take too long.” He shrugged.

“Isn’t this illegal?” He probably thought I was appalled by the idea of him doing something against the law. Maybe a part of me was but a much bigger part was thrilled that he was publicly announcing his feelings for me.

“It’s not a big deal. No one uses this space for anything so I just wanted to...beautify it.”

“Do you do this for all your girlfriends?” I imagined a big ‘Rebecca’ lived underneath my name. It was a bit creepy.

“Nope.”
Logan’s index finger drew a path from the base of my ear, down my jaw, stopping in the middle of my chin. “Just you.”

“Smile!”
Austin’s voice pulled me out of my haze.

I looked back just as
he snapped the first of about a hundred pictures of Logan and I in front of my name.

~**~

“I mean really, Liz. Who does that?” Kim was still obsessing over the wall art while we walked to her house after school. The Jameson kids were going home with a friend that day so I didn’t have to work.

“He’s just really into drawing. It’s not a big deal.” I couldn’t help the stupid grin that I’d been trying to hold back all day from making
another appearance. Every time I thought about Logan painting my name in giant letters, I fell a little bit harder for him.

“Don’t give me that shit about drawing. He’s just really into
you
.” She wrapped her small, perfectly manicured fingers around my arm and whispered into my ear, “Actually, he’s probably just trying to
get
into you.”

I laughed and swatted at her hand.

“He’s not a perv like the guys you go out with.” I felt the instinct to defend him but I didn’t actually know what his intentions were about us getting physical.

I
assumed he’d been sexually active with his ex and maybe lots of other girls. We never talked about it, and I didn’t actually want to, but it would come up eventually. No seventeen-year-old guy would wait forever.

“I hate to break it to you, honey, but a
ccording to Becky, they did it like rabbits. She used to go on and on about it.” She pulled her long hair into two low ponytails that rested on each of her shoulders. Even at the end of the day, she looked amazing.

Becky was a sore subject. Within an hour of getting back to school, word about my wall was all over campus. People kept asking to see pictures of it on my phone. Becky even cornered me in my technology class and asked if it was true. I played dumb just to see what she said. She huffed and swung her big boobs around and stomped out of the room. I didn’t k
now why she cared but I added her to the list of people to keep an eye on.

“I guess I’ll have to take some lessons from the energizer bunny,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m serious. Are you ready to sleep with him?”

Was I?
“No, not yet.” I pulled some gum from my purse. “Well, maybe. On the one hand, I get so caught up with him that I’d do just about anything. On the other hand, I just met him.”

“Just don’t do anything you’re gonna regret.” She s
ighed. “I know he’s super sweet and really hot but you’ve got a lot to consider if you get serious with him.”

“I know.” She was right, as usual. And I was trying to create a fairy tale where
one would never exist. My phone buzzed and I used the excuse of looking at it to collect my thoughts.

“Is that lover boy?” Kim asked, nodding toward the phone in my hand.

“Maybe.” I grinned while I read Logan’s text.

Sorry I couldn’t drive U home.
C U tonight?

“
You need to work on your poker face.” She leaned over to read my screen. “Tell him to come over. We can watch a movie or something. I’ll text Austin too.”

Kim wants you to come over tonight.
Movie?

Definitely.
Seven?

“Won’t your parents be home tonight?”
I asked. The Curtners were cool but I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about us having guys over.

“They won’t care.” Kim
let us in with her door code and we headed straight to her room. “When Mom sees Logan, she’ll really insist on buying you a new wardrobe.”

I stopped mid step, halfway up the flight of stairs. Grabbing the banister for support, I said, “What are you talking about?”

Kim must have realized what she’d said because she froze at the landing and took a deep breath before turning to look down at me. “You know how that woman loves to shop. She’s a freak and she’s basically adopted you.” She held her right hand down for me to approach her. “You just have to deal with it. She obsessed over me for my whole life. Now you get to share in some of the joy that is an ‘overachieving-professional-woman-who-overcompensates-for-not-raising-her-own-child-by-endlessly-shopping’ syndrome.”

Huh
?

“If you say so.”
I wasn’t going to be rude. I didn’t want charity but if she considered me one of her own, I could at least be gracious enough to accept her generosity.

“I do.” Kim
walked into her room, flung herself over the side of her bed, and stared at the ceiling. “Now, what are we going to wear tonight?”

“I’m wearing t
his.” I looked down at my jeans. “Logan’s gonna think I’m desperate if I always dress up to see him.”

Kim looked thoughtful for a minute. “Ya know
, you might be onto something.” She inspected me from head to toe with her eyes. “I think you’re okay this time. Just put on a chunky necklace and you’re golden.”

“A neck
lace? Really? Is that necessary?”

“Necessary? No. A nice gesture after what he did for you?
One hundred percent.” Kim liked to speak in absolutes. She didn’t know a lot about most things but she knew just enough about a lot of things that you could easily believe anything she said. She was the queen of confidence.

~**~

The doorbell rang just as I stepped out of the bathroom. I was as casually put together as I was gonna get.

Kim was already downstairs so she took the guys to her family room. I followed their voices and was pulled directly into Logan’s arms as soon as I entered the room. His light cologne reminded me of the last time we watched a movie together.

“Hey, beautiful.” He leaned in for a soft kiss. His lips were smooth and tasted sweet.

“Hey, yourself.”
I licked my lips when I pulled back. “You taste yummy.”

Logan laughed and walked me toward the huge sectional. “I’m glad you like it.”

He flopped into a corner of the sofa, pulling me with him so I was cradled against his chest.

“Please, make yourself comfortable,” Kim said, laughing at Logan’s lack of
inhibition in her home. “You guys want something to drink?”

I finally noticed the other guys in th
e room. Austin was seated in the opposite corner and from the corner of my eye I saw someone else. Adam stood by the front window, just watching us.

“Adam!” I hopped up and walked to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Austin and I were studying for stats when he dragged me here.” He smiled and gave me a hug. “It’s good to see you.”

Logan coughed in the background so I
looked back and gave him a quick smile.

“You too.
I feel like we haven’t talked all week.”

“Well, you’ve been a little distracted,” he leaned in and whispered in my ear, “with a certain hottie
that is currently glaring at me with those amazing green eyes.”

I
pulled back and stared him in the eye. “Yeah?” I quirked an eyebrow so he knew I was referring to everything he’d just revealed.

He shrugged. “Yeah, well, it’s true.”

“I agree.” I gave him another hug. “And I won’t tell anyone you think so.”