Logan
Chloe was hilarious. When she said she wanted to act like a tourist she wasn’t kidding. Her phone, doubling up as her camera, was attached to her hand as she snapped a picture of every-fucking-thing we passed – in the car.
“You don’t get out much, do you?” I said, laughing as she gasped at some statue and took a dozen pictures of it.
“Shut up! I’m excited, Mr Grumpy.”
“I’m not grumpy, I’m just normal. This is kinda excessive and you know all those pictures are going to be blurry, right?”
“Yes, you are and no, they’re not. I should’ve gone in your parents’ car.”
I snorted. “Please. My car is much more fun and you know it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure. How long do you think we’re going to look at buildings for?”
“Not long,” I replied. “I want to do a couple for Jace but, fuck me, it’s boring. I just need a pub and beer and I’ll be happy.” And you naked and/or proclaiming your undying love for me.
“Yeah, I definitely didn’t share that passion with him. Actually, I didn’t share any passions with him. We couldn’t have been more different.”
“Opposites attract.”
Now why the fuck did I just say that? I was anti opposites and pro same. Same, same, same, same, same. We made so much sense I wanted to shake her for not seeing it now and almost seven years ago.
“I guess,” she replied, frowning.
“You guess?”
“Yeah. I don’t know. Recently, I’ve been feeling like…” She bit her lip and looked out of the window. If she thought there was any way I was letting that go then she really didn’t know me at all.
“Spill, Chlo. It’s just me and you in the car so out with it.”
“I’ve been wondering if we would’ve made it. Sure, we were going to uni together and all but I think the further into the big, wide world we got the more we would grow apart. Growing up is inevitable. I’ll never know but do you think we could’ve made it?”
“You two were so confident you would. Sickening really.” Sickening. Agonising.
She looked back and gave me a shy smile. “We were one hundred per cent sure we’d be together forever and it’s nice to think that maybe we could have been. Still, not a whole lot of people marry the person they were with when they were fifteen.”
“Some do.”
“Yeah. That was going to be us. I just wonder if it actually would have or if real life would’ve separated us eventually.”
“Don’t drive yourself crazy thinking about it, Chlo.”
“Oh, I won’t. Sometimes my mind wanders off into plenty of what ifs.”
Mine too. What if she’d fallen for me and not him?
I slammed on my breaks as some idiot pulled out right in front of us. “What the fuck!”
Chlo had her hands on the dash, eyes wide. “We should’ve taken the train.”
“And listened to you moaning about how crowded it is?”
“It is crowded. But at least we’d be alive.”
I smirked at her. “We’re fine. I just gotta allow for more pricks on the road.”
“Might help if you watched the road, too,” she said, pushing my head back around. “Where is this hotel anyway?”
“My instructions were to follow them.” Mum, Dad and Cassie were in front, somewhere. I could just about see them a few cars up when the 4x4 prick that pulled out on us swayed to the side.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t be here for a full week. There’s a lot to see and not just Jace’s stuff.”
I wanted to tell her I’d bring her back some other time but that seemed a little inappropriate, especially since I wanted to add that all she’d see was the inside of our hotel room.
“This won’t be your only chance to explore London, Chlo.”
“Yeah, I know. Me and Jace wanted to take a selfie in front of Big Ben. I’d really like to do that.”
“Yeah, we can make sure you do that.”
“We do that. I’m not doing it on my own!”
It shouldn’t make me want to shout fuck yeah that she wanted a picture with me but it did. “You sure, sweetheart? Seems like it was a you and Jace thing. I’m cool to watch and laugh at you or take the picture for ya.”
“No, I think he’d want you in it if he couldn’t be.”
Was that all he’d want me to do if he couldn’t?
“You think?”
She smiled. “Of course. He loved you, Logan. He looked up to you more than anyone else.”
“Then why did he never get off that fucking Xbox when I told him to?”
Her laugher filled the car. “Not even I could get him off it and I could offer him things—”
“No! Thank you,” I said, my stomach turning inside out.
I’d heard them before and it ripped me apart. After that one, gut wrenching time I was careful not to go to bed too close to them going up and if I heard anything I was out of my room and downstairs in a rush.
She laughed again and rolled her eyes. “So you’ll do it with me?”
“Too easy, Chlo.”
“Now, now. Not going back to your whore ways I hope?”
“No, thanks.”
“Good. Hey, have you spoken to Cass?” she asked.
I gripped the steering wheel. Talking or even thinking about what that wanker did to my sister made me want to rip his limbs off.
“I have.”
Chloe laughed. “And?”
“She’s doing alright, considering.”
“We’ll get her through it.”
“We will.” I wasn’t going to let anyone I loved drown in the darkness I knew only too well.
***
After checking into our hotel rooms we wasted no time in exploring London. Day one was all about Jace so we headed to Westminster Cathedral. Apparently, Jace liked the shapes of the building or some shit like that. He’d also wanted to visit Albert Memorial, the Royal Albert Hall, The White Tower and Tower Bridge. We had one day so we weren’t going to spend too much time there, plus, we wouldn’t really know much about what we were looking at.
Day two was going to involve actual fun. Mum and Dad were hitting a museum Jace’d wanted to visit and one they wanted, Cassie had already booked herself into a day spa and Chlo and me were being annoying tourists. Well, she was, I was just there for the view. The view being her.
We took taxis because Mum flat out refused to go on anything underground.
“Who gets enjoyment out of looking at a building?” I said, staring up at Westminster Cathedral.
“Our brother,” Cass replied.
“Yeah, well, he spent ninety per cent of his time killing zombies or whatever he did on the computer, what did he know.”
Chloe laughed and snapped a picture. “I think it’s pretty.”
Mum, Dad and Cass moved closer to the cathedral, talking about Jace.
“Are you going to take pictures all weekend?” I asked her.
“Yep,” she replied. “I’m sending them to Nell as per her instructions and I’m also going to print the boring building ones off and give them to Jace. Think he’d like that.”
“He would.”
We walked around the outside of the building and Mum and Chloe got pictures from literally every angle.
“You know Jace has probably visited all this already, right?” I said as we got out of the taxi at The White Tower.
“Oh my God, you’re the grumpiest!” Cassie said.
“I’m the realist,” I replied. “I bet he’s having such a laugh watching us right now.” He was pissing himself for sure. Little wanker.
Chloe laughed, following my parents. She looked over her shoulder. “And you’re putting on a great show.”