Chapter Ten
EMMA
I grabbed a random book off the shelf and brought it to my nose, breathing in its glorious scent. The jerk leaning against the shelf beside me stared at me like I’d sprouted a third eye.
“Did you just smell that book?”
I placed the hardcover novel back on the shelf. Yes. I sniff books. It’s a weird quirk of mine. I don’t even realize I’m doing it half the time—which is how I happened to do it in front of Logan, who undoubtedly was about to give me a hard time for it.
“Yeah, so what?”
He smiled and shook his head. “You are such a weirdo.”
I turned to face him. “Am I? Tell me, do you like the smell of gasoline? Burning rubber?”
Logan rolled his eyes. He knew where I was going with this.
“Of course, you do,” I answered for him. “Because you love cars. Well, I love books, so I love the smell of paper and ink. Nothing weird about it.”
He dragged a hand down his face before taking his phone out of his pocket and checking the time. “Good God, woman, we’ve been in this bookstore for nearly an hour now.”
“Hey, you told me we could stay here for as long as I’d like.”
“Within reason.”
“You didn’t disclose that part.”
“I didn’t think I had to. It was implied.”
I glanced down at my own phone to look at the time. He was right, we’d been there for almost an hour. I could’ve stayed there for another hour or two, but I didn’t want to spend any more time with Logan than I had to, so I figured now would be a good time to call it a day.
“Okay, we can leave,” I said in defeat.
His gaze flickered to my empty hands. “You’re not getting anything?”
“Nah,” I said with a shrug. “Nothing spoke to me.”
“You probably mean that literally, don’t you?” Logan smirked and leaned in close. Staring me straight in the eyes, he said in a soft, mock-concerned voice, “Do your books talk to you, Emma?”
I reached out to shove him away, but he was too quick; he grabbed both my wrists before my hands could make contact with his shoulders and backed away on his own.
“Play nice,” he warned with a lazy smile.
I scowled as I broke my wrists free from his grasp. “Remind me again why I decided to go along with this idea of yours?”
“Because you’re in love with Matt,” he replied in a singsong voice.
“Shut up!” I hissed, punching him in the arm and instantly regretting it. Dude had some serious muscles going on in the triceps area, and I’m sure I hurt myself way more than I hurt him.
Logan laughed. “Don’t worry, nobody heard. Look around, Emma. Nobody from school is here. It’s summer vacation—they’re at the beach, they’re having pool parties. You’re the only loser choosing to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon inside a bookstore instead of spending it outside with friends, enjoying the nice fresh air…getting a little color, which you could desperately benefit from.”
I threw him a glare as we began making our way toward the exit. “You mean I could desperately benefit from a bout of skin cancer?”
He gave me an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? Emma, you’ve got some serious issues.”
“I never said I didn’t,” I mumbled as we left the store.
Logan led me over to a bench outside the bookstore and took a seat. He motioned for me to join him.
“So,” he said, “I’ve come up with a list of things for us to do.”
“A list?” I said curiously. “Of things for us to do? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that if you want to have any chance with Matt at all, we’re going to have to get you out of this shell you’ve been hiding in for nearly eighteen years now.” He turned on his phone and tapped the screen. “And doing that is going to require that you step out of your comfort zone and do some things you don’t normally do. Starting tonight.”
I blinked at him. “What’s tonight?”
“We’re going to a party.”
I blinked again. “We?”
“Yeah. We.”
“We’re going to a party?”
Logan sighed like he was already tired of this exchange. “Yes. We are going to a party.”
I shook my head adamantly. “No. No way. I’m not going to a party. Especially not with you.”
Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and I reveled in the thought I might be giving him a headache. “Emma, do you want to get Matt to fall for you, or what? He likes parties. He likes girls who like parties. He’s going to be there tonight. This is kind of a no-brainer.”
He was right, of course, but I hated parties. Detested them. They were just an excuse for kids to get loud and drunk and grope each other. I shuddered at the thought of having to attend one.
“What else is on your list?” I inquired, leaning closer to him to try and see the screen on his phone.
He was quick to jerk it away. “Sorry, you’re going to have to wait. You’ll find out each one right before we do it. That way, you won’t have time to overthink things and back out.”
“But you’re giving me plenty of time to back out of going to the party, if it’s not until tonight,” I pointed out.
He thought about it for a moment. “True. But you’re not going to back out.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? And what makes you so sure?”
He gave me a lopsided grin. “The fact I’m not going to let you back out. You bought a couple of hot outfits I know for sure will grab Matt’s attention. And I also know, deep down, you’re curious. You’ve never been to a high school party before, have you?”
The answer to that question was obvious, so I didn’t even bother to respond.
“I figured. So, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to put on those shorts and that white top you bought earlier, I’m going to knock on your door tonight at seven o’clock sharp, and you’re going to answer it. We’re going to get into my car, and we’re going to that party. End of discussion.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he didn’t want to hear it. “End. Of. Discussion,” he repeated, with a little more emphasis this time. He stood from the bench and motioned for me to follow.
Our little afternoon excursion was over, and it was now time to prepare for our evening one.
I was going to a party. With Logan Reynolds.
I must have been more desperate than I thought.
***
“I’m sorry, you’re going where with whom?” Chloe asked me through the screen of my laptop. She, Sophia and I were once again video chatting while I got ready for the party.
She’d heard me just fine, but I repeated myself anyway. “I’m going to a party with Logan.”
I was inside my closet, changing into the clothes I’d bought earlier, so I didn’t get to see the girls’ faces when I told them the news. Instead, I got to listen to the stunned silence that made me briefly wonder if our connection had been cut off.
“You guys still there?” I called out as I pulled the white halter top over my head, completing the outfit.
“Yeah,” Sophia answered. “We’re just…not sure we heard you correctly. Either time.”
I stepped out of the closet and into the view of the laptop. As soon as Sophia and Chloe saw me, they both gasped.
“Holy bananas, Em,” Chloe said. “What are you wearing?”
Glancing down at myself subconsciously, I said, “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
“Are you planning on Logan getting you pregnant at this party?” Sophia joked, a mischievous grin forming on her face.
My jaw dropped at her question, as the thought of ever doing anything with Logan that could lead to me getting pregnant suddenly made me want to hurl.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Soph?”
Chloe giggled. “It’s a fair question, Em. You look hella hot in that outfit. If those shorts were any shorter, they could pass for denim panties.”
I saw Sophia cringe. “Chloe, you know how I feel about that word.”
Chloe turned to Sophia and said directly into her ear, “Panties. Panties. Panties. Panti—”
Sophia placed a hand over Chloe’s face and shoved her out of view of the webcam. “Seriously, Em, what’s up with that outfit, anyway? And how did you end up getting invited to go to a party with Logan?”
I hadn’t told the girls yet about Logan’s offer to help me get a boyfriend—specifically Matt—and I still wasn’t sure I wanted to. “It’s kind of a long story,” I said, pulling my hair back into a loose ponytail and tying it with an elastic. “I’ll fill you guys in later, I promise. Logan’s going to be here any minute.”
“No,” Chloe said. “Emma, you can’t leave us in suspense like this!”
“Sorry, guys! Got to go! Love you!” I blew them a kiss and disconnected before they could say another word.
I glanced at the alarm clock next to my bed. I had about five minutes before Logan claimed he would be there to pick me up, which meant I probably had closer to twenty to finish getting ready. I figured I would use that time to attempt to put on some makeup.
I wasn’t going to do what Chloe and Sophia referred to as “the works”, which included concealers, toners, foundations and blushes (to be honest, I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to that lesson), and instead decided to go with just eyeliner, eyeshadow and mascara—the “eye trifecta”, as the girls often liked to call it.
In less than five minutes, I managed to apply the eyeliner, the shadow, and the mascara. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. The makeup made me look older, more mature. Maybe even borderline sexy. The smoky eyes look was the only one I knew how to do because that’s the one Chloe and Sophia had taught me. But it was the only one I needed to know because it looked awesome.
As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, I heard a knock at the front door. Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I checked the time. He was only two minutes late.
Impressive.
“I’ll get it!” I called out to my parents as I ran down the stairs and threw open the door.
As expected, Logan was standing on the other side, and also as expected, he looked good. Not that it was a surprise. Logan always looked good. I may have hated him, but even I couldn’t dispute that fact. He was wearing a pair of faded light blue jeans and a black Pink Floyd graphic tee that clung nicely to the muscles in his chest and upper arms. His slightly wavy hair was a bit unruly, like he’d just run his hands through it a couple of times to intentionally mess it up.
It had probably taken him less than a minute to get ready, yet he looked like a walking Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement. Why did guys have it so easy?
His eyes widened when I opened the door. He let his gaze slowly travel down the length of my body, lingering on certain areas as he brought his eyes back up to meet with mine. “Whoa, Dawson. Not bad. It actually looks like you put some effort into this.”
My own eyes narrowed into a glare. “Thanks. I’ll take that as a compliment, since I’m sure that’s the best you can do.”
Logan gave me a smirk, but quickly morphed it into a sincere smile when he saw my dad walk up behind me.
“Mr. Dawson,” he said brightly. Pleasantly. “Hello, sir, how are you?”
My dad shook his head. “Logan, how many times do we have to go over this? Start calling me Jake and stop calling me ‘sir’. It makes me feel old.” He shuddered.
“Sorry, Jake,” Logan said with a grin. I couldn’t believe how different he was around my parents than he was around me. It was safe to say Logan adored them as much as they adored him—the unfortunate downside to our dads having been engaged in a lifelong bromance.
I, however, was no different around Logan’s dad, and even his stepmother, Rachel. Mr. Reynolds—or Mark, as he liked me to call him—had always been like a second father to me. And technically, I guess he sort of was, since he was listed as one of my godparents. It was too bad Logan and I didn’t get along, or we’d all be one big, happy family.
“So,” Dad said, glancing between me and Logan. “You’re going to a party together, huh? I didn’t realize you two were friends.”
“We’re not,” Logan and I said at the same time.
We stared at each other, wide-eyed. “Jinx!” we also both said at the same time, after which we proceeded to glare at each other.
Dad chuckled softly. “Ah, you two and your jinxing. Brings back memories of when you were little. You guys used to end up in simultaneous jinxes all the time and it was always so nice to have that reprieve from your constant bickering.”
Logan and I both turned to my dad with pleading eyes. It was childish, but apparently Logan and I still took jinxes very seriously. Dad was right. When Logan and I were kids, we used to somehow manage to jinx each other quite often and nobody would say our names for what seemed like forever. I guess now we knew they’d done that on purpose.
And while I loved the idea of never having to hear Logan speak again, I wanted to be able to talk again at some point. If only I could telepathically ask my father to say my name and not Logan’s…
“Emma, Logan,” Dad said finally, a look of pure amusement on his face, “you are both unjinxed.”
At our release, Logan and I both breathed a sigh of relief at the same time and exchanged a wary glance, as if wondering whether simultaneous sighing was a jinxable offense. With a simultaneous shrug, we silently concluded it was not.
“Logan’s…helping me with something,” I explained, hoping my father wouldn’t press me for specific details.
“At a party?” Dad asked, looking confused. He glanced down at me with a slight frown as he seemed to suddenly take notice of my appearance. “Emma, sweetie, are you going to be warm enough?” This was Dad-speak that loosely translated into, “I see what you’re wearing is quite revealing, but I feel uncomfortable approaching the issue, so I’m going to find a subtle way of making you put more clothes on without coming out and asking you to.”
“Dad, it’s still nearly eighty degrees out. I think I’ll be fine.” To make him feel better, though, I added, “But I’ll go grab a hoodie, just in case.”
“Great idea, honey,” he said with a smile.
I quickly ran upstairs and grabbed the hoodie I knew he’d approve of the most: an over-sized navy-blue zip-up that came down past my shorts.
When I made it back to the foyer with the hoodie in hand, Dad and Logan were so busy laughing about something, neither one had noticed my return.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
Dad slapped Logan on the back and said, “Oh, nothing. You two have fun tonight.”
I didn’t like how chummy they were acting with each other, so I quickly ushered Logan out of the house, saying goodbye to my father as he closed the door behind us.
“It must pay to be a goody-goody,” Logan said as he led me to his car. Surprisingly, he opened the door for me like a gentleman would.
“Why do you say that?” I asked, mentally slapping myself for not giving him crap for calling me a ‘goody-goody’.
“Well, for one, your father is letting you leave the house looking like that.” He motioned to my outfit. “And he’s letting you go to a party. With a guy you’re not even friends with.”
“He trusts me.”
“I know. He trusts you because he knows his precious little girl would never do anything wrong or inappropriate.” He placed a hand on the top edge of the passenger door and leaned in close—too close for my comfort; his face was only a few inches from mine. “Well, tonight, we’re going to break that trust.”
A small smirk began to form on his face as I gaped at him. I did not like the sound of that. At all.
I knew I was making a huge mistake by going to this party with Logan, but I got in the car anyway. And I did so because…well, because I was tired of being thought of as a ‘goody-goody’. I was tired of sitting home alone while my friends had the time of their lives in Florida.
Maybe Logan was right. I needed to start living a little.