”This. Is. Idiocy!”
“Logan, come on. It was just a movie. And a good one for a change.”
“Right. Maybe I should have been drunk to see the finer aspects of it.”
“You were drunk. Drunk enough to call the guy who checked our tickets captain and drunk enough to throw popcorn at those ladies who kept shushing you.”
“Okay. Maybe I should have been more drunk, then.”
“What have I done to deserve this?”
“Won a bet with Scott. Had you lost, you would have been sitting in the surveillance for tonight and missed my charming personality horrendously.”
“It’s still not too late to call Scott and ask to trade places…”
“If you think that I’m going to spend this night with Scotty-boy you’re sorely mistaken.”
“I’m sure you’re able to find company that doesn’t mind you being the clown of the evening.”
“Shit. Since when did you become so stuck-up? Have you been spending too much time with Summers?”
“I haven’t been spending any time with anybody except you for the past two months! I’m sorry if I sound a bit bitchy, but there’s only so much I can take!”
Logan huffed and pulled her to the curb of the sidewalk, urging her to sit with him. At first she was going to refuse. She wasn’t going to soil her brand new jeans by sitting on snot, puke or chewing gum. But then she looked at Logan. He was completely serious. She looked around. Traffic had died down and there were only few other people besides them in the night. She made sure that there wasn’t at least anything sticky or wet on the ground, then sat down.
“You’re getting bored of me?” Logan asked.
“No! …Yes. It’s not you…”
“Shit. That’s the oldest excuse in the book, darling.”
“It’s not you that I’m bored with. It’s… Everything. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but…”
“Speak up, kid.”
“Ah… Hell. I like being with you. I like you. A lot. But as long as I tag along with you I have no hope of getting more.”
“You’re not getting any when were together. I’m not getting any. Yeah. You want us to take a break?”
“No. It just sometimes strikes how sucky life can be. Why the hell should I choose between a lover and my best friend?”
“Fuck if I know… I have been wondering that as well.”
“You have?”
“Yeah.”
It looked like he wasn’t going to elaborate further. She was almost too scared to ask. Logan always seemed to put their friendship over his occasional flings. Though she felt guilty for hampering his personal life she was tremendously grateful for the fact that he was the epitome of loyalty when it came to their… Friendship? Relationship? She couldn’t even find a suitable word to describe the bond between her and Logan. Friendship sounded as if it was something less. Relationship brought up images of smiling couples holding hands and trading longing glances just before that fatal kiss, and they really weren’t on that stage either.
“What do you want us to do?” She finally summoned her courage and asked. Logan snorted, his eyes cast towards something in the darkness surrounding them, then turned to look at her.
“This is not something that I should decide. That’s why it has been so fucking hard lately… Fuck.”
Again he fell in silence, dropping his gaze. As if there was a magnet designed to draw his eyes installed to the toes of his boots. For a long moment he just sat there. She thought he was done with talking and started to stand up when his low voice brought her back down.
“You were right when you said that it wouldn’t work between us. You were so fucking right… I have all the time in the world. Quite literally. You… You turned twenty-five last Tuesday. You’re going to be twenty-six after a year. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight.”
“It’s called aging. Even you do that, Logan. Slower than the rest of us, but you got my point…”
“It’s going to be hard as hell to let you go when the time comes. Truth to be told, I’m scared shitless by just thinking about it. And if we… If we had something more…”
“Logan…”
“I’m sorry, kid. Sorry for being this fucking selfish, but I think… I know that I wouldn’t make it if… If we let things go any further than they already are and something happened to you.”
Again there seemed to be something fascinating attached to the toes of his boots. And the look on his face told to Marie that he was done talking.
“Logan, that’s not selfish.”
“It isn’t?”
“It’s called careful planning. Or self-preservation. And I’m in to it. Hundred percent.”
“You are?”
“I’m not looking for a romance of the century with you. Fuck, I’m pretty sure that we’d be horrible in the sack together.”
“Hey!”
“Tut-tut… Just listen, okay?”
”Fine…”
”I love you. As a friend. As my closest friend in this whole world. And now I’m going to ask you something.”
“Anything, kid. You know that you don’t have to ask.”
“Could you please start making sure that your boxers won’t suddenly make an appearance anywhere near my bed at the wrong moment? It’s hard as hell to explain why I have like a whole collection of those under my bed collecting dust.”
“Sure. I could do that. As soon as you stop marking my bed with your nightgowns and bras.”
For a moment they sat in silence again, throwing sidelong glances towards each other. Slowly a grin started to creep over Logan’s face. It was infectious. Soon they were both grinning and snickering like maniacs.
“And now, as your bestest friend in the whole widdle world I’ll challenge thee!” Logan announced, climbing up from the sidewalk.
“A challenge?”
“Not a challenge. The Challenge. The big one.”
“Uh-huh…”
“Find a way to superglue Scott’s ass to the chair he’s sitting on in the comm. center.”
“I did that already last night.”
“You did it to me because of that fucking bet with Scott. I want retaliation. I need a retaliation.”
“How about if I put bright pink food coloring in to his shampoo? Would that work?”
“How old are you again? Bright pink? Use that brain of yours. Scott can see that. Use dark red instead. Blends in just nicely because of that visor of his.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Just a smidgeon of angst sprinkled in to this one. More foof in the future.