Page 42 of Attractive Forces
“Hey,” he says.
We look at each other for a few moments.
“How are you feeling?” he asks eventually.
“Like complete and utter shit.” I struggle to sit up.
He huffs out a laugh. “I’m pretty sure that’s to be expected.”
“I was pretty out of it last night, huh?”
“Yeah, you were.”
Something in Logan’s eyes as he stares at me causes my shoulders to stiffen. “Did I say anything…weird?”
“Not really. I mean, at one point, you were going on about our friendship being normal or not normal or something like that.” Logan grins at me.
Oh god. I close my eyes. When I open them, Logan is still staring at me intensely. “I didn’t know you were planning to get drunk.”
I shrug. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
He’s still staring at me, his gaze unwavering. Our stare stretches on for ages.
“I’m sorry I ruined your night,” I say finally.
“It wasn’t ruined.” His voice is soft, but there is something else in his words, something heavy.
He swallows, looking away. “I’ve got to get going because I’ve got rugby practice soon.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He stands and takes a step closer to the bed, then hesitates. I feel stupid just lying here, but when I go to prop myself up, my head reminds me that moving isn’t such a great idea.
He stuffs his hands into his pockets. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”
“Yeah. See you then.”
12
Logan
I drive to rugby practice, my mind stuffed so full of Jake there’s no room for anything else.
When I woke up this morning, I don’t know how long I sat there watching him sleeping, just observing the small inhale and exhale of his chest, the little frown he had on his forehead that I’ve never seen on his face when he’s awake. Somehow, sitting there watching Jake sleep gave me the same feeling I used to get last year in English when our teacher would make us meditate before doing any creative writing.
The feeling of peace.
And then, when he woke up, he lay in bed, all tousled-haired and sleepy-eyed and gravelly voice. I should get a self-discipline award for managing to leave his room.
Especially as there was something in how he looked at me last night that was still in his eyes this morning.
Am I just imagining it?
When I arrive at practice, I make sure to push myself, going hard in every drill.
Lots of the guys are mumbling about how unfair it is to have practice the day after the ball. I spent the night on Jake’s floor, so my body is protesting too, but I don’t care. I shove past the pain, glad to have something to distract me from the constant churning of my mind.
After we finish tackling drills and everyone heads back to the locker room, Coach stops to talk to me.
