We got our hot chocolates to go and walked out of the shop, hand in hand. I expected Logan to let go once we were out of Noah's view, but he didn't. Instead, he simply adjusted his grip so it was more comfortable.

I didn't know if I should let him keep up the ruse, since we were most definitely not boyfriend and girlfriend, but then I told myself there was a possibility that Noah or his friends could see us as we walked down the street, so it would be best to hold hands all the way back to Logan's car.

"So what's up with that back there?" Logan asked after taking a sip of his drink. He had gone with the candy cane hot chocolate as well.

"Remember what Emily said in English on Monday?"

"About how you'd invited Noah Taylor to hang out after last week’s game?"

I cringed at the memory. "I didn't just invite him to hang out. We made out at a party after he and Ashlyn Brooks broke up last summer. I thought it meant something, but apparently, it didn't." I shrugged. I was really good at doing that. I was terrible at reading guys true feelings, it seemed. "Anyway, since I'm the queen of rebound make-outs, I invited him to my house when he and Lexi broke up for like a second last Friday."

"And he said no?"

"Yup. Turned me down flat."

Logan winced. "Ouch."

"Yep."

A cool gust of air whipped down the sidewalk, blowing snow in my eyes. I ducked my head down to blink the snow away.

Once the wind had slowed and I could breathe again, I said, "You want to know the most embarrassing part?"

A crooked grin lifted Logan's lips. "I always like hearing embarrassing stories about you."

I rolled my eyes. "I thought you would." I took a sip from my hot chocolate. It was the perfect temperature: not too hot, not too cold. "The most embarrassing part of this whole thing is that I heard they started dating just to get me to move on."

I ran my finger around the lid on my cup, feeling the shame pour over me once again.

Instead of laughing, Logan just stared at me with surprise in his expression. "What?"

I tilted my head to the side and lifted a shoulder. "At first I kind of suspected it, since Noah never went for girls like her before. But I guess Lexi must have had something in her that Noah couldn't find in me."

Something no guy seemed to find in me.

I didn't get it. I wasn't ugly. I wasn't stupid either, so I figured I was interesting enough to talk to. And I'd kissed enough guys to know that they liked it.

So what else was missing? What else did I need to finally get a guy to want me for more than just a night of kissing?

Logan peered down at me as we walked down the sidewalk, and I worried he was going to have an answer to my questions. If anyone could tell me what my flaws were, I was sure it was Logan.

He cleared his throat and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "Don't take it personally, Raven. Just because Noah Taylor picked someone over you, doesn't mean every guy would."

"Thanks for saying that." I tried to say it lightly, but my voice cracked.

He stopped walking and stood so we were facing each other. "As someone who messed up a lot of things in my life because I was constantly comparing myself to another person, I can tell you that it's not you. People just vibe better with certain personalities."

I nodded. I guessed that made sense.

I wanted to ask him about why he always compared himself to someone else—that someone else who I assumed was his twin brother—when he started walking again and looked over at me with a lighthearted expression.

"So, not to turn the tables and rub it in your face about how you're not the only one getting rebound kisses, but I do need to point out that it kind of sounds like I was your rebound kiss on Friday."

I hadn't thought about it like that, but now that Logan mentioned it… "I guess you kind of were. Sorry you had to find out that not only did I think you were Jace, but I was also on the rebound."

He glanced down at our hands. "Are you only holding my hand still because you're imagining I'm actually Jace?" He raised his eyebrows.

My jaw dropped. How had he known I'd just been thinking about something like that when we'd been in the tie store?

He narrowed his gaze. "Raven?"

I scrunched up my face. He totally caught me. "Okay, so maybe for a second I considered pretending you were Jace."

It was his turn to look shocked and offended.

I hurried to say, "But I decided that would be stupid. So really, you've been Logan in my head this whole time."

He let go of my hand, and I worried I'd really hurt his feelings. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys to unlock his Corvette.

The low rumble of the engine started when we were about ten feet away.

"Hey, don't be mad at me. You said yourself last week that you're on the rebound and that I better not get confused and start liking you. So why should you care if I imagined your brother, anyway?"

He looked at me sideways. "So you're just trying to follow my rule?"

I'd go with that. "Yep."

And it was a good thing I'd just remembered his rule because my brain was already tempted to think he was cute and nice and funny and…

I shook my head. Yep, I didn't need to start getting confused into thinking Logan was actually likable in that kind of way.

"So what is it that you like so much about my brother, anyway? I know you've said he's way nicer, but I've been pretty nice to you all week. What else does he have that I don't?"

Why did he want to know?

Was it because he and Jace always had some sort of competition going? Or because he really wanted to know why I liked Jace but not him?

We made it to his car and he opened the door for me to climb in. I set my cup in one of the cup holders and tried to think of how to answer Logan's question as I buckled in.

He climbed inside a moment later and turned up the heater, letting his hands rest above the vents.

"Are you avoiding my question?" he asked after a moment.

I shrugged. "No, I'm just trying to think of an answer."

He nodded and looked ahead at the cars parked in front of us. "And is anything coming to mind?"

I sighed. Now that I'd spent a little time with Logan, he really didn't get on my nerves as badly as he used to. And I'd spent zero time with Jace since he'd been back, so I had no idea if I really even liked him anymore, or just the memory of liking him.

Logan turned to me again, waiting for an answer. Finally, I shrugged and said, "I guess you aren't as bad as I remember."

He narrowed his eyes as if to study me, and I couldn't help but feel nervous under his stare.

What did Logan Carmichael see when he looked at me?

After another long moment, he said, "Well, that's good to know. You're not as bad as I remember, either."

And I knew it wasn't exactly a compliment, but I was suddenly having a hard time breathing.

Before we could pull out of the parking spot, Logan's phone dinged. He pulled it out of his back pocket, and when he looked at the screen his expression fell.

"What is it?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

"Jace just bailed on me."

"He did?"

He nodded. "We were supposed to go look for a Christmas tree at five, but apparently he's still goofing around with Trey and Chance in Syracuse."

"I'm sure you guys could get one later."

"We could, but I was hoping to get one before all the good ones were taken." He put his phone back in his pocket. "Maybe I'll just go by myself. Jace wasn't super interested in going, anyway."

"I could go with you if you wanted company." The words were out of my mouth before I realized it.

Was I seriously offering to spend even more time with him today?

"Really?" he said before I could take back my offer. "The tree lot's not too far from here. I looked it up this morning."

"Sure, no problem," I said, not believing I was even doing this. "I'll just text my mom and tell her I'll be home later."

Logan turned on some music as we drove to the tree lot. I'd expected some sort of rap music, like what he used to boom through his bedroom windows back when we were neighbors. But this music was actually pretty good.

"Who is this?" I pointed to the stereo.

"It's this indie band I just discovered called Walk Off the Earth. I love their remake of Girls Like You." He pushed a button on the stereo a couple of times and turned the volume up. Soon the sound of someone picking a ukulele filled the speaker.

A slow smile slipped up my lips as I listened. "I love this song." I leaned back in the seat to get comfortable as a male voice started singing.

Logan looked over at me and grinned but didn't say anything, and we just listened to the music as we drove through the slush-covered streets.

And I couldn't help but smile over the fact that I was even in this position.

If anyone had asked me a week ago if I'd ever drive around with Logan Carmichael while listening to awesome music, I would have said no way. But apparently, my life wanted to laugh at me because right now, there was no place I'd rather be.

But as much as I was enjoying this, I knew I needed to remember that we were just friends. I didn't need this to turn out like every other time I thought I had a connection with a guy: real to me but just a fun time for them.

"Does your family usually buy a real tree?" I asked Logan as we walked through the gate to the tree lot.

"My mom usually insists on artificial trees, since she likes them to be perfectly symmetrical and professionally decorated. But Jace and I were able to convince her to let us get a real tree for our suite."

Their suite? Exactly what kind of a house did they live in?

"Do you guys live in a hotel?"

He furrowed his brow. "No?"

"You said you and Jace have a suite. I've only heard of hotels and office buildings having suites."

"Oh, no. Nothing like that." Logan nodded to the guy working the lot when we walked past. "We have our own sitting room next to our bedrooms. Kind of like a mini apartment, I guess."

That must be some house. Pretty sure we just had plain old bedrooms and shared bathrooms at my home.

"You'll have to show me this suite of yours sometime," I said.

"You want to see my bedroom?" He cocked his eyebrow. "Apparently, I've been a much nicer boy than I thought." He winked.

The blood drained from my cheeks and I stumbled when I realized how bad that sounded. "I didn't mean that." My eyes widened. "I may make out with random guys at parties, but I'm not that kind of a girl."

He grinned. "I was joking, Raven. I knew what you meant."

I shook my head and continued forward. "I guess I deserved that after teasing you about your elf costume all last week."

He grinned. "Um, yeah."

We walked down a narrow trail and the scent of fir trees filled my senses. My family never got live trees, since the one year we had gotten one, we ended up with a bunch of bugs crawling around our living room. Since then, I'd begged my parents to never do that again because I was scared of bugs crawling in my bed at night. But I loved their woodsy scent. It reminded me of camping with my grandparents when I was little.

"What size were you thinking of getting?" I asked

Logan stopped and pursed his lips as he looked over the options in front of us. "Maybe a seven-foot tree?" He raised an arm above his head. "About this high."

After deciding that none of the trees in front of us were right, we continued down the path. Logan would pause every now and then to inspect a tree more closely. And every time he was considering one, he would put his hands on his hips and get this really serious but cute look on his face.

"What about this one?" I asked when I found one about the height he'd indicated. It was a beautiful, dark green tree with full branches.

Logan came to stand by me. His breath was visible in the cold December air, his nose turning pink from the chill.

"I like it. We may come back to it later."

He took a picture of the tag with the tree number and then we continued down the row.

When we came to a fork in the path, Logan turned one way and I went down the other. A minute later I found another tree that looked really nice. It wasn't the perfectly symmetrical type that his mother preferred; instead, this had a little twist in the middle of its trunk. It had character, and when I thought about it some more, it seemed like the kind of tree Logan would be if he was one. A little rough around the edges, but once you actually tried to get to know him, he was surprisingly pleasant to be around.

"What do you think about this one?" I called in his general direction as I pulled on the branches to get a better look. But I must have loosened up the tree beside it, because before I knew what was happening, a huge tree fell on me, knocking me down.

I landed hard on the frozen ground, my hands barely catching my fall before my face could collide with the wet gravel. Ouch.

I tried to push myself up onto my knees so I could get out from beneath the tree, but it was too heavy.

Running footsteps headed toward me, and a moment later, Logan's face was close to mine. "Are you okay?" he asked, anxiety in his voice.

I squeezed my eyes shut, urging the pain in my banged-up hands and knees to leave. "I'm okay."

"How did that happen?" Logan immediately grabbed the huge tree and lifted it off of me.

Once I was free, I drew in a deep breath, feeling like I could actually breathe again. "I moved the other tree and I guess that must've knocked this one loose or something."

After Logan set the tree back in its spot, he held his hand out for me. "Here, let me help you up," he said.

I took his hand and let him lift me to my feet.

He gasped. "You're bleeding."

I looked at my hand, which he was still holding. Sure enough, I had scratches all over it. It wasn't horrible, but I would need to clean it up.

As if reading my thoughts, Logan said, "My house is just a couple of minutes away. Let's go and get you cleaned up. I can get a tree later. I would have had to pick it up in my truck later, anyway."

I nodded, feeling stupid that I even fell in the first place. But Logan wasn't laughing at me and my clumsiness, so at least that was good.