Chapter Twenty Seven – Logan
I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, I really don’t. Despite my best efforts, I haven’t managed to get my job back but I actually ended up pushing so hard that Alexandra said she was alerting the cops to what had happened. I haven’t heard anything about it since, but I keep waiting for the day when they knock down my door to lock me up, Pru must want revenge on me by now.
“You look a bit fucked up, if I’m honest,” my new best friend and fuck buddy, Cassie, or Snake Girl as I sometimes call her, says to me with a smirk. “Maybe it’s time for some water now?”
I promised myself that I would keep away from her after the first time we did stuff, but then as I’ve proven to myself I can’t resist the people that I’m definitely supposed to be avoiding.
“I don’t want water,” I growl in a sexy manner at her. “I want to go into the back with you.”
Maybe it isn’t wise to lose myself in booze and fucking when I should be spending my time hunting for a new job, but I just can’t face it. I can’t stand waiting for the question of why I left my last job. I don’t want anyone to know about that at all. I just want to forget about it, to put it in the past. Even Pru, I wish she wasn’t in my mind all the time, I wish I could forget the love I have for her, but it gets stronger every single day. Without her is worse than with her.
“You can’t come in the back with me, buddy, because the bar is full,” Cassie hisses back, seemingly getting irritated with me. The funny thing is I was scared of her becoming too attached to me, but it seems that I’ve become the crazed bunny boiler stalker who can’t let her go. It isn’t even her that I want, not really. But since I can’t have her, Cassie will do. I mean, she’s cool, she’s sexy and fun. What more could I want from a chick? Especially since she isn’t clingy. “I think it might be time for you to go, don’t you? You’ve had far too much. You better sleep it off.”
“But I don’t want to sleep it off,” I pout like a child. “This sucks. I want another one.”
Cassie slams her hands down on the bar and she stares at me. “Look, I’m not fucking around here. You’ve been in here for the last few weeks drinking until you’re stupid and making my job very difficult. I don’t want to be a dick, but you really have to go now.”
Still, I don’t leave. I remain seated as an intense sadness flurries through me. If I go I have to be in my apartment alone, thinking about what I’ve lost then I’ll end up going insane. I thought that time alone would help me to recover from my feelings for Pru, I assumed that I would figure out that it’s just a phase, but it’s gone nowhere. It’s stronger than ever.
“Dude.” Cassie clings onto my hands and she gives me an intense look. “I don’t know what is going on with you, but there’s clearly something that you need to sort out, and sitting here in the middle of this dive bar drinking your life away isn’t going to sort it. You are much too young for any of this shit, you do realize that, right? You need to solve this and move on.”
Solve this? I wonder what needs to be solved more. I seemingly can’t fix my career so what the fuck can I do? The only other thing I want is Pru but she’s out of reach. I pushed her away and I fucked things up. How can I go back to her and say ‘oh sorry, I didn’t mean it. I thought I had to sacrifice you to keep on working, but I was wrong’? She’ll hate me even more than she does already.
“I can’t fix it,” I tell Cassie sadly. “It’s too far gone, she doesn’t want to know.”
“Women trouble,” she mutters under her breath. “I should have known. Look, if this chick is worth of all this, then she’s worth fighting for as well. You might think that it’s done, but you could be wrong. You won’t know until you try, will you? Isn’t it worth having a go?”
Something about her words sets me free, she’s right about trying. I’ve been sitting here in a pool of misery, giving up. I’ve decided how Pru feels without even asking her. She probably hasn’t contacted me because I haven’t spoke to her, and I’m the one who freaked out and kicked her out. Maybe I should give her a chance to actually talk to me about how she feels. That would be the damn smart thing to do, I cannot believe that I didn’t think about it before.
“You’re right,” I gush happily at Cassie. “Oh my God, you’re right. I do need to do that.” I slap my hand down and push myself up. “Yep, I’m going to go now. I’ll… I’ll sober up on the way, it’ll be fine.” I don’t want to pause, even if it’s the smart thing to do. “Thank you, Cassie.”
As I run out of the bar, nothing has ever felt so right before. I can’t believe I haven’t done this yet, I’m such an idiot! What’s the point in sacrificing the only girl that I’ve ever loved for a job that doesn’t want me anymore? Why give up the only thing that’s ever brought me happiness? Pru is incredible, and perfect for me, and I think that I’m good for her too. In all honesty, that’s way more important than the rest of the bullshit. Maybe it took me a while to realize it, but I know now. This is what I need to do. I have to fight for the woman that I love, just like I should’ve been doing all along.
It’s a long way, but I don’t even think about it. I start running. My brain is everywhere, darting in all directions, freaking out with nerves and excitement. Possible outcomes fill my mind and I have no idea which one of them will come true. Maybe it’ll be a happy ever after, the lovely end to a wonderful romance, or maybe it won’t. Maybe she won’t want to know me, maybe she’s already found someone else, maybe she’ll slam the door in my face… but at least I’ll have closure. I won’t have to keep wondering over and over again, asking myself ‘what if?’.
It takes me a while to run out of breath, despite everything something must be keeping me going, but when I do it takes all that I have not to collapse onto the ground. The few weeks of living the unhealthy lifestyle of a drunk have finally caught up with me, and not in a good way.
I give up, and I hail a cab. I need to get there quickly, even if it isn’t in the most heroic way. So much time has been wasted already, it’d be silly to bypass even another moment.
By the time the cab driver drops me off near where Pru lives, I feel a little less chaotic. The manic side of me has died down as I’ve sobered up and now I feel a lot more rational. This is still something that I really want to do though, that hasn’t changed just because I’m calmer. Once all of this is over, whatever way it goes, I need to thank Cassie for giving me a much needed kick, up the ass. She got through my saddled brain and made me realize that I’ve been a fool.
I glance around, feeling ill as I recall just how crappy Pru’s neighborhood is. No matter what had happened, I never should’ve kicked her out and sent her back here. I should’ve found her somewhere new to live like I promised her I would. Somewhere much nicer. She’s too good to be in a hell hole like this. I feel like I’ve been gut punched as I try to accept what I’ve done, all through my own selfishness. When I got the news of my firing I only thought about how it affected me, not her.
I hope this is something that I can make right, I think to myself as I plough on, needing to see her face even more desperately now. I hope she doesn’t hate me.
As I walk through the building to Pru’s home, all the memories that we’ve shared together flicker through my mind, none of them from the center. That time was so irrelevant to us, so nothing, it’s unimportant. I recall taking her out to view apartments and to do job interviews and how happy she was, I remember coming here to pick her up when it all got too much from her, then bringing her back to mine where we shared a delicate kiss for the very first time. I think about when we first caved to temptation and slept together at last. That really did feel like it was a long time coming. Then, I think about the night that she got drunk and I kissed her, when I really did fuck up.
By the time I’m outside her door, I’ve talked myself into being a trembling mess. I could use another drink for a bit of Dutch courage, but it’s too late for that now. It’s now or never.
I raise my hand, internally preparing myself before banging on the door, a noise so loud it shoots right through my brain. I actually feel myself jump a little, which is crazy because I’m the one who made that noise. When I don’t get anything for a couple of minutes, I rise up onto my tiptoes and I press my ear against the door. I swear I can hear movement inside, which causes me to knock again.
“Who’s there?” comes the eventual, weary reply. Even hearing her voice in this state, melts me.
“It’s er, it’s Logan, actually.” A heat stains my cheeks, I actually feel embarrassed. Maybe acting on a whim wasn’t such a good idea after all. “Can we talk for a moment, please?”
“Logan?” The door swings open and all the breath is sucked from my body. Pru looks even more beautiful than I remember with her pale blonde hair that’s slightly longer now, her high cheek bones and bright eyes, her womanly curves which she now knows much better how to show off… she’s a dream, but she’s real, and once upon a time she was mine. “What the hell are you doing here?”
I glance behind her seeing a sight that stops my heart. “Why is all your stuff boxed up?”
“Oh that’s…” She waves her hand dismissively. “That’s nothing. Why are you here?”
I push past her, not waiting for permission. Everything she owns is packed away, this apartment doesn’t look lived in at all. It’s a good job I came today or I would’ve missed her! She’d be in another home completely. I can’t believe it, I feel sick to my stomach. I really have lost her.
“What’s going on, Pru?” I demand, needing my answers even if I don’t really deserve them. “Why is all your stuff packed away? Do you have a new apartment, or something?”
She folds her arms defensively across her chest. “It isn’t really your business, is it?”
“No, I know.” I shake my head gravely. “I lost the right to ask you anything when I was an asshole, but I want to apologize, I want to tell you that I’m not going to be an idiot anymore. I want to make it right.” I glance up at her, ready to spill my guts. “I want to tell you what I should’ve been brave enough to say all along, and that’s that I love you.”
There’s something very freeing about finally getting those words out, it makes me feel lighter than a balloon and full of delicious cool air… but Pru doesn’t look impressed, not at all.
“You’re too late,” she says curtly. “I’m leaving. I’m moving away from the city. Tonight.”