One Little Slip

[J]

Logan raised an eyebrow, “Huh, interesting…” If that was real, which it looked like it was, he hadn’t expected them to actually be a threesome. By the looks on everyone else’ faces this was new to them as well. Could this all be a show or were they serious? It looked very believable and yet, he had a hard time believing that the two guys were attached to one another. The blonde one had longish hair and what seemed to be a sensitive nature, but Logan hadn’t thought he was gay or instance, bi. He glanced at Desiree, she would know and if she wouldn’t tell him he could just ask Alex later. Desiree seemed even more peeved with him; wow, this chick might be more than he wanted to handle. Before he could even do or say anything, she jumped up and left, leaving her trash on the table. He shrugged. Whatever. He was almost glad she had left; with her gone he could pay more attention to his newfound interest, Brooklyn. Teah and Ryan were both far too emotional to be any fun. They were the kind of girls that would call you all the time and expect a real relationship. Brooklyn however, was very attractive and now had this added element of “kinkiness” that intrigued him. There was the small matter of the two guys that she seemed attached to, but they could easily be removed.

Brooklyn was sitting directly across from him, allowing him to focus completely on her, for now anyway. He was going to keep his options open of course, but she was right here, right now. He looked her over; from what he could see she had definite potential to be his girl. Her hair was well kept, long and sexy, her green eyes held a flirtatious manner; she was petite without being freakishly skinny. And, she was smiling at him. Despite just having kissed Westley she looked interested in him; now to get rid of the other two. “So are you two gay? Or do you just share her?” Logan asked he was watching to see which guy was more attached to Brooklyn. That could be the one to target; the other could just be shoved aside. He also wanted to know which one she was more attached to. Divide and conquer.

Teah sighed and rolled her eyes, at first she was shocked, but now she was just bored and a little annoyed. Last night after Westley had left she had done a lot of thinking. She had made the decision to get over Alex and move on. She had always thought Westley was attractive but had been so consumed with her love for Alex no one else had compared. Now she was thinking she needed a good guy like Westley. He was sensitive, gentle, funny, sexy, had a slight hint of a bad boy without the danger and he really cared about her as a person. He had never given her any indication of being attracted to her but that was okay. She just needed to show him she was interested in him. She had planned on talking to him about it today, but now she didn’t know what to do. Since when were the three of them a “couple”, or whatever you would call that. Westley and James weren’t gay! Were they? Or maybe they just shared Brooklyn, but even that seemed pretty gross. Westley wouldn’t do something like that; at least she didn’t think he would. She had no idea about James but Westley didn’t do those things. Wasn’t he a virgin? Or what if he was lying and he did all kinds of things. Maybe she knew even less about these three than she thought. It almost intrigued her that Westley would be so bold and crazy to fool around with his best girl friend and share her with his best guy friend. Wow, she obviously still had a lot to think about before going after him. She did not want to share Westley with Brooklyn and – wait was Logan interested in Brooklyn? She looked over at him, he was looking at Brooklyn in the same way he had looked at Desiree yesterday at Alex’s house. Maybe she could have Westley to herself after all.

Alex sighed, he was beyond bored, and there was nothing to do but watch TV and mess around on Facebook. His mother was hanging out with Ryan’s dad David and they were fun, but Alex missed his friends. He sat at the kitchen table picking at his lunch, his mom had made him a really great sandwich and chips with a pickle on the side but he was almost too bored to be hungry. He sighed again heavier this time and stuffed the last chip into his mouth. He stared out the back door window, he could see Ryan’s house from here, nothing going on there of course. Alex could hear David laughing at his mother as she tried to do something on the computer. The two of them were like brother and sister, David was a lot younger than Dria and it their relationship was completely innocent. What else would it be, seriously, it was Ryan’s dad. Even Alex’s dad trusted David to be alone with his wife. Alex’s looked down at his plate and grabbed two more cookies, man, he was gonna get fat sitting at home like this. He jumped a little when he heard the back door open; he looked up surprised to see Desiree walking towards him. She plopped down next to him and leaned on his shoulder. He smiled and put his arm around her, “Rough day?” He asked she just muttered something about his stupid cousin. He smiled even bigger trying to contain himself. “Tell me about it.” He said giving her a cookie, when he saw her eyes were closed he put the cookie against her lips and she took a bite. “Wanna go upstairs?” He asked, she nodded and followed him up to his room where she leaped onto his unmade bed. “So tell me, how does it make you feel?” He said laughing a little; he was sitting backwards at his computer desk looking at her. There was the nagging feeling that they could get into big trouble if Dria came upstairs and found Desiree here during school hours. It was alright though; he could hide her if he needed to. He was pretty happy that Logan had obviously failed at winning Desiree over and it had only been a few hours. It was hilarious actually. It made Alex think he could actually have a chance with Desiree. Sure he had been pining for her for far too long and she would think him a coward for it. But maybe this would be the year, maybe he was finally mature enough, maybe it was finally time to do something about all these pent up feelings he’d been holding in all these years. And maybe, just maybe, she felt the same way.

[Free]

James glanced around, smiling at the table. He too was interested to see everyone’s reaction. His gaze stopped on Logan, who was staring intently at Brooklyn. James didn’t like the way he was looking at her. There was something in his gaze beyond what everyone else was feeling. It was interest. He wanted her. James looked at Westley, but it didn’t look like Westley had noticed. “I wouldn’t call it ‘gay,’” James said smiling, “Just love. I love Brooklyn,” he said as he hugged her tight around the middle. The hug had two purposes in his head. It was part of the act, and it was a protective arm. It was intended to send a message: She is mine. “And I love Westley,” James said, giving Westley a tight hug, and leaning slightly against him a little, before straightening back up. His smile revealed none of his thoughts about Logan’s look. He was just smiling as if it was nice to finally be out in the open, and also that the hug had been nice. Hugging or leaning on Westley were both fine with James. He drew the line at kissing.

No matter how much Brooklyn wanted people to believe that they were all together, he would not kiss Westley. Kissing her was a different story. Although they had never crossed the line from “just friends” to becoming a threesome or even “friends with benefits,” they had otherwise been oblivious to possible boundaries. Boundaries simply didn’t exist. Behind his smile, James watched Logan. His gaze traveled around the table, but his attention was on Logan. He did not like the look he had given Brooklyn. He wanted to talk to Westley later about it, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted Brooklyn to know just yet. As much as Westley hated it when she smoked James almost hoped that Brooklyn would hang out with Eric after school for a little while so he would have the opportunity to talk to Westley. There wouldn’t really be any other chances. They usually hung out all afternoon and evening after school, and of course he always slept in one of their apartments. There was no way he could spend that much time in the same house as Sean. Sometimes they all slept together. Maybe he could work it tonight so that he and Westley were sleeping at Westley’s.

James spent the rest of lunch watching Logan. He was discrete, and it wasn’t unlikely that anyone noticed. He was trying to figure Logan out. Maybe there was some clue in his manner that would help them protect Brooklyn. There was no way he was going to let her become the trophy of this or any other male. Although Brooklyn had been in relationships, and none of them had been very serious, James could feel the difference between that and what this guy wanted. He wouldn’t admit it, even to himself, but if Brooklyn ever did get in a serious relationship with someone, he might try to mess that up too. He wanted her to be happy, but he also really liked the way things were. He liked the friendship that the three of them shared and he doubted that it would be same if she wasn’t there, or if she was only there some of the time. They’d been so close for so long, he wasn’t sure that he could let go, even for someone that deserved for her. Right now it didn’t matter though, Logan was not that guy, at least not from what he had seen.

Brooklyn’s brilliant smile lasted the rest of lunch. In all the time they’d been friends, all the people who’d teased them or questioned them about their relationship, never had their ruse turned out so well. Never had the circumstances been so perfect. Brooklyn hated it when people assumed things about her, and so whenever she was asked those kinds of questions, she always responded with an affirmative. Yes, they were together. Yes, people tended to stare when they were out together. Yes, it was fun. Yes, they would be together forever. Yes, their parents were encouraging. Yes, yes, yes. She couldn’t be more pleased with the way things were turning out. What made everything all the more thrilling was that they had managed to shock their friends. It was dull always doing exactly what people expected you to do. She loved shocking people. It was very easy to do with people who didn’t know her. Her innocent face made a nice cover from behind which she could easily stun people. It was another thing entirely to surprise people who supposedly knew her. That was harder and therefore a lot more rewarding.

As the bell announcing the end of lunch sounded, Logan asked her if she wouldn’t mind showing him to his next class. She had been throwing her trash from lunch away when he approached her. She smiled, and took the schedule from his out-stretched hand. After looking at it for a minute and finding the right period, she realized that they had the same next class. She handed it back to him. “You’re in with us,” she told him, laughing. She turned back to where Westley and James were standing. James was looking at Westley, but she couldn’t read his expression. That was rare, unless he was hiding something. He wasn’t hiding something this time though, she just didn’t recognize the look. She shrugged it off, if James wanted to tell her about it, he would. She walked back over to Westley and James, “Hey guys, Logan’s in our next class.” Westley and James didn’t look happy to hear this news. Whatever it was about him, Logan had done a great job of alienating himself from her friends. It seemed like she was the only one besides Alex who didn’t have something against him.

When they reached the classroom, she sat down in the back, in their usual seats. The only difference this time was that she was sitting next to Logan and James, with Westley on James’s other side, when it normally would have been her in the middle of the two of them. She told him tricks she’d picked up about the class so far, and a few about the school itself. She didn’t know much about him yet, so she only told him about the legal things that she knew. He had only missed a few weeks, so he wasn’t too far behind. James pulled out their notebook and he and Westley were passing it back and forth. At one point, she tried to reach out and grab it off James’s desk, but he was too quick for her. The notebook was something they shared. Since they had all their classes together it was a device they could use to talk in those quiet classes. If a teacher ever questioned it, they could just say that they were trying to help each other understand better. Even though James and Westley were acting strangely, the time passed quickly, and soon the class was over.

On her way out the door, her phone vibrated with a text from Eric. “I’ll catch up with you guys later. Don’t leave without me,” Brooklyn said before waving to Logan and blowing kisses to Westley and James. James caught her kiss and blew one back. She smiled. She couldn’t believe how well they both were doing acting this out. As she walked, she dug around in her purse for a cigarette, but was careful not to pull it out until she’d reached what Eric and his friends called the “safe-zone.”

[J]

Westley glared at Logan, he couldn’t believe their luck, he was in their next class. He and James exchanged glances, he didn’t like it either. Westley couldn’t figure out why James didn’t like him, it couldn’t be for the same reasons he didn’t. James didn’t care about Teah and had said that what Logan had said to Raynbow couldn’t be considered an actual insult. He and James followed after Brooklyn and Logan, she was chattering away, being her happy-go-lucky self. He smiled as he watched her, and then caught himself when he realized he was watching the way she walked. Whoa. He was seriously not himself right now; that kiss had definitely done something to him. Brooklyn sat between James and Logan and Westley felt both relief and a little insulted to be replaced. He knew that wasn’t really what was going on, but still, what had this guy done to have the privilege of sitting next to her?
A green notebook covered in “graffiti” slid onto his desk, their special notebook. The three of them used this to communicate privately in their quiet classes and in loud ones if they felt the need. James had passed it to him.

So, Logan is going after Brooklyn.

Yeah, looks like it. I can’t believe he’s sitting next to her instead of me.

That’s what you’re worried about? Can you focus on the real issue here?

Let’s get rid of him. Any ideas?

Nothing legal.

So? It’s not like anyone likes him anyways.

Brooklyn doesn’t seem to mind him. And therein lies the problem. Do you have any ideas?

Did you hear what they just said?

It doesn’t matter. Will you focus? What is wrong with you? I think we should get him kicked out.

Yeah, let’s get him kicked out.

Are you okay? I’m sure Brooklyn will let you have one of her cigarettes if you need to calm down.

Whatever. We need more people on our side.

More people?? We have the whole group…except Brooklyn…and maybe Alex. Well…maybe we do need more people. I don’t think that Teah or are going to be much help. Have anyone in mind?

We should call Desiree.

Perfect. She already hates him. Plus we might be able to use her to sway Alex. God if she ever read this…

No one’s ever going to read it. Because we’re going to shred it and then eat it.

Speak for yourself on the whole eating it thing. I’m not doing that.

Westley jumped a little as the belll rang for the end of the day. Finally! Brooklyn disapeared, probably to hang out with Eric. That made him a little mad, but he had bigger things to worry about than what Brooklyn was doing to her lungs. He grabbed his stuff and he and James started to head toward the picnic table when James grabbed him and steered him towards the parking lot. Westley did feel a little relieved that he didn't ave to talk to everyone, he was barely able to talk to James, let alone evryone else. He wasn't so sure talking to James was a good idea anyway; he was already mad about Logan, how mad would he be if he found out what Westley was thinking? He collapsed into the drivers seat and slammed his head onto the steering wheel; he felt drained of everything and yet his mind was spinning wildly. "Seriously, what is wrong with you?" James said staring at him from the passenger's seat. Westley didn't even look up, "I can't tell you." He said, if he didn't look at him, maybe it would be easier to lie. Yeah, right, he could never lie to James or Brooklyn. "You're just gonna get mad." He said, and was about to pick up his head when a voice broke into his thoughts.

"Hey!" He immediately straightened thinking it was Brooklyn. It was Teah, like that was any better. "Could you come over tonight?" She was leaning into his open window looking up at him with sad brown eyes.

"I think he's had enough crazy for one day." James said, Westley gave him a look but James just shrugged. "I have some stuff to do anyways." Westley told her, it was easy to lie to her, and besides they did need to figure out how to get rid of Logan. "Oh." Teah said softly, "Okay, I guess I'll see you later tehn." She shuffled away pathetically. "Uggghhh!" Westley grumbled putting his arms on th steering wheel and resting his head on them.

[Free]

Desiree relaxed a little as Alex’s arm slipped around her. He didn’t completely make up for the trouble his cousin had caused, but he sure helped. “Rough day?” he asked. She didn’t know exactly what to say. A thousand phrases came to her mind, but they all jumped in, cut each other off, and refused to form coherent sentences. Most of the words didn’t get past her throat, the only audible phrase was, “your f* cousin.” She couldn’t understand why it sounded like her irritation was making him happier, but his voice definitely sounded happier when he said, “Tell me about it.” He pushed a cookie to her lips and she bit into it. Dria made some of the best homemade cookies. She had very good chefs at home, but there was something in Dria’s cooking that she didn’t think her chefs could clone if they tried. She didn’t really feel like talking at the moment, especially here in his kitchen when anyone could just walk in or listen at the doorway. Alex seemed to understand this because his next question was, “Wanna go upstairs?” She just nodded and he led the way to his room.

She flopped onto his bed. There was room for him next to her, but he opted for the chair by his desk instead. “So tell me, how does it make you feel?” he asked, laughing. She suspected that he was trying to lighten the mood, and it almost worked. It was somewhat comical to have him sitting there in a chair listening to his “patient” complain about her day while stretch out on bed serving as a lounge. It was almost like the movies. “Like murder should be legal and you’re very far away.” Times like this were hard for her because she wasn’t sure how much she should share will Alex. On the one hand, he was the closest person to her, but on the other, she didn’t fully trust him either. It made her a little sad that in all the years that they had known each other, she could not get herself to fully trust him, or anyone else for that matter. It would be nice for once not to have to carry the weight of a million secrets around everyone. She was never sure if he would completely understand her anyway. They had their similarities, but it seemed like they were so different sometimes.

He had a soft spot for people in general that she would never understand. She sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. “Are you sure he’s really your cousin? You are nothing alike.” She stressed the word nothing as though that would make them less related. It was irrelevant the similarity that they might have, they were different enough for her not to take notice of those thing. Alex moved from his chair and came to lie down next to her. Desiree could almost see the fit that his father would have if he ever found out. Beyond the circumstances of their present position there was the fact that Alex was grounded and school was still in session. She didn’t even think that Dria would understand her being there during school. She didn’t care. She didn’t expect to be found out. Alex pressed her for more details about the day, but she didn’t really feel like sharing. Instead, she said, “I don’t think you’re alone in disliking him. I’m pretty sure that he did something to upset Westley and Ryan too.” She didn’t mention Teah’s behavior because she didn’t know why Teah was upset and didn’t care.

Desiree closed her eyes again. She was tired of the day. She wanted to go home and throw some wild party where everyone forgot what they were doing last night. She threw great parties. The only problems was that none of her friends knew it. They all thought that Teah was the party-thrower. That was really the only thing that Desiree was jealous of Teah for. It didn’t really count though because she could throw great parties, she just couldn’t invite her friends. It had started out as a way to protect herself, but it would be truly absurd now to suddenly reveal this secret. She also had the feeling that it would alienate Alex, and then she really would be alone; more so than she already was. Of course now she was really bumming herself out. How did these cycles creep up her when she usually managed to avoid them? Desiree turned her head to look at Alex, who was looking back at her. All of a sudden she felt the urge to kiss him. Not him specifically, but someone, and he was conveniently located. She had the feeling that it would make her feel better for the moment, but that the consequences would follow her for a good long time if it didn’t ruin their friendship.

They lay in silence for a long time. It wasn’t until her phone vibrated in her pocket that she realized that she’d been asleep. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. She’d received a text message from James. She wasn’t sure she cared about what he had to say at the moment, but the fact that he was texting her then was somewhat intriguing so she opened the message. “Your particular skill set required - planning to off Logan.” She smiled at the message and showed it to Alex. So she wasn’t the only one who wanted him gone. It probably wouldn’t be too hard to get rid of him. He’d already gotten in trouble at his last school. No doubt if he “started causing trouble here” he would get booted off somewhere else. It would be fun. No longer would any of them take the risk, it would be Alex’s cousin taking the fall. Although they would have to be careful about leaving clues without being sloppy, she was sure that it wouldn’t be hard. She sent a message back to James, letting Alex read over her shoulder, “Meet me in the park later.” The park was only a couple of blocks from Alex’s house. If they met there after Alex’s dad went to sleep then they could all attend. By later, she of course meant late.

Brooklyn lifted the cigarette to her lips and inhaled deeply through her mouth. Instead of exhaling slowly, her breath came out in a laugh. Eric was doing impressions today and he was very good. Upon request, he was giving his impression of her, although exaggerated to the point of amusement. It was amazing how well he captured people and moved on to where the character he created had a life of its own. He was like a caricature artist, but his canvas was his body. Brooklyn loved the how easily this group fit together. They were from various places in life, and they made few commitments, but they seemed to go together well. They complimented each other in such a way that it didn’t matter who was here and who wasn’t, the group was full and fun. She knew that Westley probably thought that she only hung out with this group to smoke, but the only reason to hang out with this group was the people. She didn’t need an excuse to smoke, it was just part of the group, part of the fun. She finally looked over at the school clock mounted high on a wall: 3:45.

She gasped. Oops! The boys had been waiting for her for forty-five minutes! She hugged Eric goodbye and quickly waved to his crew as she hurried off toward the parking lot. It would have been another story if she had had a way to get home by herself, but she needed the ride. She felt bad for having stayed so long. Her shoes hit the pavement in a regular pattern beat out by bounding strides she took. Even through her guilt, she felt like she was flying toward Westley’s truck. It had been a great day. She reached the truck in record time, and tossed her backpack into the back. Then, she went over to Westley’s window and leaned against the frame, “Sorry I left you guys sitting here like this.” James and Westley were looking at her. There was something in theirs, but it wasn’t anger at her. “Is everything okay?” She looked at her left hand, a cigarette was still between her fingers, but they weren’t looking at that. They were looking at her. Westley was the most visually torn up, but then, he was always easier to read than James.

She brought the cigarette to lips and breathed without even realizing what she was doing. Were they going to tell her what was going on or just keep staring at her? She didn’t know what else to say, so she tried again, even though it didn’t seem like this was the problem, “Look, I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you guys. We can do anything you want.” She hadn’t realized that she’d been blowing smoke into the car until Westley grabbed at her cigarette. Her hand moved instinctively out of his reach, but she let the cigarette fall to the ground. She moved back into the window, leaning in a little, hoping that they would tell her what was going on.

[J]

”The Park huh? Sweet.” Westley said, he loved going to the park at night. He was definitely a night person; the night air filled him with energy and made him really hyper. He had finally calmed down after all the madness Brooklyn’s kiss had given him. James hadn’t forced him to reveal what was wrong and for that he was “eternally grateful!” ((Inside joke between the three of them)) He wasn’t sure he would have been able to explain it if James had asked. They waited for Brooklyn somewhat impatiently. He wished she wasn’t off smoking, but at least she wasn’t with Logan. However, the wit did give him time to calm himself and think things over. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to act upon these new feelings. He didn’t want to mess up the little world the three of them had together. He was not a fan of change and he loved the way things were. He loved that they trusted each other enough to be inappropriate and crazy. He wished he could ignore the kiss and just consider it a new level of trust. It hadn’t a serious shock when he had seen Brooklyn in her underwear, why should kissing her be any different?

Westley caught himself smiling when he heard Brooklyn’s backpack thump into his metal truck bed. She appeared in his window and he remembered where she’d been, the long and worst of all, Logan. She caught their looks and apologized for making them wait. They’d waited for her before, that wasn’t a big deal. She asked what was wrong but neither answered. She said something about making it up to them. It wasn’t until his eyes started watering and his throat dried up that he realized she was still holding the little cancer stick. He hated that she smoked, but at the moment he was glad for it. The smoke had brought him back to reality; he had been staring at her this whole time. He made a grab for the cigarette but she backed away and dropped it. “We’re meeting Desiree at the park later.” Westley told her, opening his door, pushing her back a little. He jerked a nod and leaned back giving her room to climb over him into the truck.

“Cool.” She said as she climbed in, “let’s go to the movies.” Westley started his truck and pulled out of the almost empty school parking lot. “Sounds good.” He said, they usually snuck into the theatre with fast food and stolen candy. It was a regular weekend ritual, even if the movie wasn’t any good, they always had a great time.

Alex smiled at her comment of wishing murder could be legal but then she said he was very far away and it made him feel sad. He often felt that there were things she hid from him, things she would always hide from him. He wished there was a way to be closer to her, but he almost felt like this was it, this was as close as he would ever get. He often wondered if maybe they were dating the wall between them would crumble or at least more of it would calm down. He got up from his chair and lay down next to her on his bed. At first it made him nervous, hoping no one would catch him like this; he would be in even more trouble than he was already. She mentioned Logan making Westley and Ryan being upset and he asked her what Logan had done. Westley didn’t just get upset; he liked people and got along with just about everybody. Ryan was easily bruised by words and Logan threw insults around far too much for Alex’s taste, so that one made some sense. What could he possibly have done to Westley that would upset Brooklyn and James at the same time? The three of them were basically one person, hurt one the other two would immediately attack. “Des-“He looked down at her, she was asleep or at least he thought she was. A moment later she looked up at him and stared at him for the longest time. He wanted to know what she was thinking; he almost wanted to tell her about his feelings for her. It was the perfect moment, no one around, a full hour at least until a possible interruption. But for some reason, he just couldn’t do it; it was like too much time had passed in their friendship. It was like he had gone straight past the point of no return and he couldn’t go back. Even if Logan hadn’t won her over, that didn’t mean she would care about him that way. Although, hadn’t she just said that he and Logan were nothing alike? She had meant that as a good thing, maybe, something could happen. Maybe Logan being a complete ass to her and their friends had finally given him the opportunity he needed to tell her what he’d always wanted to. He looked down at her again, trying to think of how he would even word it if he even tried. He probably would never even get the words out even if they were exactly what he wanted to say. If anything, she might think it was a joke and laugh and it would become a horrible inside joke that they would refer to constantly. Mocking him every time she said it and then he would have to laugh along with her, like oh yeah isn’t it funny. Haha, great joke. It made him sick just thinking about it. She was asleep, for real this time, she was breathing evenly, eyes closed, body relaxed. He sighed mentally, well, there it went his tiny open window, came and went just long enough for him to chicken out. And that, he decided was exactly why she would never date him.

He laid his head down on his pillow next to her and closed his eyes, his didn’t sleep juts laid there and mentally kicked himself over and over again for being such an idiot. A small vibration roused him from his thoughts; Desiree had gotten a text from James that was random. Well, there was his answer, no one liked Logan, if James and Westley and Ryan didn’t like him neither did Brooklyn and Teah definitely didn’t like him going by what had happened yesterday afternoon. The plan was to meet in the park to figure out how to get rid of Logan. Perfect! Alex was already feeling better, things were looking up.

A door opened and shut downstairs, he ignored it; his dad wouldn’t be home for hours. It wasn’t until he heard a deep voice coming up the stairs that he started to panic. Then silence, maybe it was okay, and anyways, Desiree knew how to make herself scarce without his help. “Alexander!” The deep voice was right outside his door, and yet it seemed slightly off. “Hey!” The door bust open, Logan was standing there leaning on the door frame looking bored and a little ticked off. “You’re friends are gay.” He said as if that explained everything.

“Hello! What is wrong with you?! This isn’t your house; you can’t just go wherever you want!” Alex yelled sitting up, Desiree was now awake and she looked really pissed to see Logan. Logan just shrugged as if to say he could care less. “Fine, I just thought you should know you’re friends are gay.”

“Okay, I get it; no one said you had to hang out with my friends anyway.” Alex said, he couldn’t believe Logan still acted like the king of the world even when he was hated by all. “No I’m serious, they’re really gay.” Logan said he actually looked serious this time. “What? No one is gay.” Alex was getting really annoyed now. “No they are Shadow Boy and Goldilocks, they’re gay, I’m tellin’ yah.” Alex just stared at him, “What? Who are you talking about? Westley and James?” What a weird way to identify people, Shadow Boy and Goldilocks? “Yeah, those two and Raynbow, really?! And-“Logan stopped he seemed to finally notice that Desiree was there next to him. “Oh, good for you, you told her! I’ll just get out of your way then, wouldn’t want your dad to come home and find you messin’ around with Desiree!” Logan said and left quickly slamming the door behind him. Alex stared at the door for the longest time, had that really just happened? Had Logan just said what he thought he said? He wouldn’t… Why? Just to get back at him? Their fight the day before hadn’t even really been a fight that was seriously uncalled for. Alex glanced nervously at Desiree she was staring at him, oh god, did she believe Logan?

“Look, uh, don’t listen to-“She never let him finish, she silently got up and headed out the door. He just sat there stunned, his leg felt like spaghetti. He couldn’t move to run after her, he could hardly breathe, this wasn’t happening, it wasn’t possible. He put his hands over his face and fell back onto his bed and groaned. This was rock bottom; he might never be able to fix this. He laid there for a few minutes waiting for just the right amount of rage to surge through him. He jumped up and flew to Logan’s room slamming the door open, “What the hell is wrong with you?! Why did you do that? How could you! She’s my best friend! You ruined everything!” He paused to take a deep breath trying to stay calm; Logan just stared at him blankly. “I hate you.” Alex said calmly and slowly walked back toward his room. He wasn’t sure if any of that would even bother Logan but he didn’t even care anymore. All he wanted was to have Desiree back, to have things back how they belonged and that meant getting rid of Logan.

[Free]

Desiree’s attention followed the sounds of someone moving through the house. First the front door opened and shut, and then a voice moved through the house. Confused, she glanced at the clock on the night stand. It was still too early for Alex’s father to be home. Then she remembered that Logan lived with Alex now. She closed her eyes. Would she ever manage to escape him? It was obnoxious of him to live in the only place she currently cared to be. A deep voice resounded just down the hall, calling out Alex’s full name. For a moment, Desiree’s body tensed, ready to move at a moment’s notice. She had an escape root already planned before she realized that there was something wrong with the voice. It didn’t quite match that of Alex’s father. She frowned and listened closely, while she remained lying down. A few seconds later, the door flew open and Desiree craned her head to see who it was. Logan stood, framed by the doorway looking bored and angry. His first words surprised her and she smiled, managing to contain a laugh, at their meaning, “Your friends are gay.”

Desiree looked to see Alex’s response. He had not been there to witness the events of the day, so it would have a completely different meaning for him. He yelled back at Logan, which made Desiree a little happier. She hadn’t really said much to him today, but now she wished that she’d been able to get in a few choice words. Then maybe she wouldn’t be quite so upset by it all. He had been incredibly obnoxious in the single class they had together, so she was happy that she had only had to suffer through the one class with him. He loved to hear himself talk and he seemed to need to respond to everything the teacher said, including rhetorical questions and even random statements. It also amused Desiree that by the end of Logan’s rant, Alex still didn’t know that anything had happened at lunch. Maybe she should tell him after Logan left. He would probably get a kick out of it like she had. Desiree had been watching the exchanges between the two young men, removed from the situation. She was jolted into the middle of things when Logan’s eyes finally fell on her.

“Oh good for you, you told her.” His words were directed at Alex though, and she noted that his words and tone did not match his expression. Desiree’s interest peaked, and her head turned sharply to look at Alex. Told me what? Desiree sat up as Logan continued, “I’ll just get out of your way then, wouldn’t want your dad to come home and find you messin’ around with Desiree!” Desiree stared at Alex for several seconds as she tried to process the information. Her initial question was What has he been telling people?, but that jumped immediately to a feeling that he had betrayed her. She had regarded him as “safe.” Sure he was male, but surely there was a category in there somewhere marked “friend.” She knew that guys thought about girls in those terms, she wasn’t naïve, nor was she a virgin, but it meant something to her that that kind of thinking was coming toward her from her best friend. It meant something that it had come from someone that she had trusted more than anyone else. She wondered briefly if this was what trust inevitable led to, or if she was just being too much of a girl about the situation.

Either way, she couldn’t sit there with him anymore. She stood up and started to walk out. He tried to stop her, but she wasn’t listen to what he was saying, and frankly she didn’t care at this point. She walked through the house with the kind of confidence that accompanies indifference. She didn’t care who knew she was there. As she was coming down the stairs, Dria walked passed her. Desiree knew Dria was talking to her, but she wasn’t listening. She just continued walking. She walked out the door, through the backyard and over Ryan’s fence. When she reached her car, autopilot took over and she drove to the last place she had left to go: home. She sat, parked in the garage for several minutes. Normally she didn’t park her own car, but she wanted her real car. She needed to go somewhere and have some fun. The desire to party that had started earlier was growing. She needed to do something that didn’t require thought or emotion, just something to do, something to take her mind off things and let her enjoy a moment of the day.

She finally climbed out of the cheap (and by cheap, in this instance, she means around $30,000 when new) car and walked slowly over to her real car, her new car. This was car that she considered hers. This was the car that was more befitting of her station. This was the car that she loved. She slid into the driver’s seat of her beautiful and expensive car and then pulled out of the garage. As soon as she left her yard, she pushed the pedal all the way to floor and didn’t take her foot for a while. She raced around turns as she wandered through a maze of back roads. The freeways would be jammed with cars heading home by this point until sometime after seven. She kept driving, past everything that was familiar to her. She would have a party tomorrow night. In the mean time, perhaps there was a party she could crash. She told her car to dial Danny. If anyone knew the hottest parties anywhere, it was him. It seemed like Danny had connections everywhere. His voice came over the speakers, as loud and bright as ever, "Sunshine, babe. It's been too long. What can I do for you?"

Brooklyn took a couple of small steps backward as she allowed the door to move her. Park later, huh? On the one hand, it sounded a lot to her like princess Desiree was making demands, but she was sure that if that were the case, James wouldn’t have agreed to it. She smiled, “Cool.” She climbed over Westley to the middle of him and James. “Let’s go to the movies.” She wished that Teah would throw a party sometime soon, but there was no way on earth that she would ever ask. It had been a long time since any of them had been to a party. “You think that Teah’ll throw a party soon?” Brooklyn doubted that Teah would because Teah had been pretty sulky lately, but she didn’t mention this because she knew that Westley actually cared about Teah, even if she didn’t. Brooklyn slid sideways in her seat and leaned with her back against James, her head tilled against his shoulder. “You know I don’t think that Logan is as bad as you guys make him out to be. I spent the whole class period talking to him, while you guys were writing love notes back and forth.”

It was a small criticism of how they had excluded her earlier, but in a way that was intended to let them know she wasn’t really upset about it. She looked up at James and winked, but he didn’t smile at her. “You okay?” she ask, bringing her hand up over her head to touch his hair. He looked at her, “Yeah.” She moved her hand off of him, but continued to look at him. He was lying to her, and in his eyes, she could see that he knew she knew it, but that didn’t change what he said. She was little hurt that he wasn’t letting her in, but at the same time she realized that it was James. There were some things that she would just never know about him. He didn’t look sorry, but he did look like he didn’t feel great about it. Maybe her honest openness was starting to rub off on him. “Just something that happened today. Really, it’s nothing to worry about.” Satisfied that she had finally come close to the truth, she relaxed against him again and looked out the window. Trees and cars moved quickly out of frame as they moved toward the theater.

They parked one parking lot over from the movie theaters and picked up some snacks and candy on their way over. Brooklyn selected M&M’s and Coke to accompany the movie. James chose a Snickers bar, a Milkyway bar and a Pepsi. They walked inside the movie theater and the boys fell several steps behind her. There weren’t many people there at the moment; most would probably be showing up later. While Brooklyn waited for the people in front of her to hand over their tickets to the bored-looking young man leaning against drop box, she pretended to riffle through her purse for something. The closer she got to the front of the line, she more panicked her became. When she got to the front of the line, she looked up at the young man with sad eyes. “Hold on, I just put it in my purse. It’s here, I swear.” He watched her rifle through her purse for a few seconds, but then apparently couldn’t handle her being that upset, “It’s okay.” She pulled her eyes from her purse and looked up at him again, “No, really. It’s in here, I’ll find it.”

He was looking her at her; she’d seen it before. He thought she was cute. It was working. At this point, she looked almost like she was going to cry, but was managing to hold it in. Actually crying over losing your ticket was taking it a little too far. “What movie was your ticket for?” he asked, smiling kindly at her. On her way in they had looked at the board and decided what movie to watch. She told him the one they had picked, and he motioned her forward, telling her where which room she needed to go to for that movie and where it was. “But, what about my ticket?” Brooklyn asked, her eyes large and sad. “It’s okay, really,” he said. She looked at him for a moment and smiled weakly, “Are you sure? I don’t need to buy another one?” He shook his head. She body relaxed a little and she managed to smile at him, “Thank you. Thank you so much.” He smiled back, pointing the way toward her movie. She walked off in the direction he had pointed and disappeared around the corner.

When she was completely out of sight of him, she beamed. That had been fun. She rounded another corner, and Westley and James stood waiting for her, leaning against the carpeted wall. They had managed to sneak passed the young man while Brooklyn distracted him. James pretended to have a tear in his eye. “That…was…beautiful,” he said, pretending to be choked up, “What a kind and generous young man.” Brooklyn laughed. “You shouldn’t make fun of him, he really seems like a nice boy.” She sometimes felt a little bad when their target was innocent. She tried not to think of it as though she were breaking their trust. She didn’t know them, and so it shouldn’t matter and she shouldn’t care. But she did, a little. They continued the rest of the way together, taking seats at the very back of the theater where she could rain M&M’s down on those in front of them if the movie turned out not to be very good. If you threw them just right, people actually looked above them for signs of where whatever had hit them had come from.

When the movie was over, they headed back to Brooklyn’s apartment. It was no surprise that Brooklyn’s mom had not yet come home, even though it was almost seven. They had all just stretched out on the couch when James’s cell phone rang. After a very short conversation that took place mostly on the other end, with on a few uh-huh’s from him, he closed the phone, shoved it back into his pocket and stood up. “I’ll be right back,” he muttered irritably as he walked toward the door. Brooklyn watched him leave and then reached for the remote. She turned on the television and then looked at Westley, she eyes bright and playful. “We should leave while he’s gone.” Westley just smiled at her and shook his head. She shrugged and looked back at the television, thinking about what their next move for Friday night should be. She was not going to spend it in front of the television. Westley touched her shoulder, “Hey.” She looked over him, he looked a bit more serious. “About that kiss…I–” She lit up. “Oh I know, wasn’t it great?!”

She moved closer to him, “I think everyone totally bought it!” She looked back at the television, and he spoke again. “I mean it was kind of–” he tried, but she interrupted him again. “Yeah, sorry. I know. I hung out with Eric and his friends during brunch.” She looked apologetic for a moment, but then bounced back to ecstatic, “Even so though, it was too great! Their expressions! James pretending that you two were gay!” She laughed. “I don’t think that I could have planned it better!”

[J]

Westley rolled his eyes when Brooklyn mentioned Logan not being as bad as they thought he was, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t like keeping things from her, but she didn’t need to know the reason for going to the park later. She would find out then and she would soon feel the same way they did. He often thought of the three of them as a unit. One didn’t feel anything without the other two’s consent; when Brooklyn’s stomach hurt Westley and James both felt nauseas. When Westley had a headache they would all hole up in Brooklyn’s room with the shades drawn and take a long nap all cuddled up together underneath her big down blanket. She would soon understand their feelings about Logan and would feel the same way; it was just a matter of time. He noticed James was having a hard time keeping things from her too; he was secretive of course, but he didn’t like making Brooklyn feel alienated. They grabbed snacks and candy and easily snuck into the theatre. Westley loved the way Brooklyn could innocently trick her way into just about anything; it was fantastic. The three of them found great seats; their movie was fairly empty making them feel as if they owned the place. Brooklyn sat in the middle as she always did, the only time he and James sat next to one another was when she was sitting or lying in their laps. They were probably the most obnoxious people to be in a theatre with; they talked and laughed loudly throughout the entire thing. They commented on just about anything that happened in the movie, awed at the romantic parts and even gasped when the bad guy showed up. By the end of it they were practically in hysterics laughing about anything and everything.

Westley drove them back to Brooklyn’s, home base, they settled in on the couch and just when they thought everything was back to normal, James cell phone rang. It was his mom asking him to do a favor for her and Sean, gross. James never really said what it was, Westley didn’t think it would be bad or anything, but it was one of those things that James would just rather not talk about. They never mentioned parents or unknown parents, it was easier that way. James left and Brooklyn turned on the TV, although Westley doubted she would be satisfied with just sitting here until it was time to go to the park. He gazed at her for a minute she was sitting a little apart from him, he wanted her closer, the distance felt wrong. She abruptly turned to face him, “We should leave while he’s gone!” Westley shook his head smiled, she was nonstop entertainment. She turned back toward the TV realizing the idea was funny but it wasn’t actually going to happen. A took a silent deep breath, he knew he didn’t have too long before James came back. He wanted to talk to her about the kiss, and for some reason he couldn’t do it with James there. It felt too intimate, which was weird since the three of them shared everything. “Hey…” He said gently touching her shoulder and then pulling back, he didn’t want to get carried away with his feelings. They were acting especially weird today and he didn’t know if he could trust himself just yet. She turned to face him again, her full attention was on him now, he could see it, she knew he wanted to be serious for a moment. “About that kiss… I-“She cut him off instantly, her face brightening and she seemed to be holding back a giggle, “Oh , I know wasn’t it great?” She said excitedly and he wished they were talking about the same thing.

She moved closer and for a second he thought maybe they were, was she gonna kiss him again? Right now? “I think everyone totally bought it.” She said smiling and turning once again back to the TV. He swallowed, ok, one more time, “I meant it was kind of-“he didn’t know how to say it but she still didn’t get it. “Yeah. I know, sorry. I hung out with eric and his friends at brunch.” She said looking sorry, she thought he meant it tasted bad. What? It had had a hint of metallic to it but he had hardly noticed. Hadn’t she felt the same things he had? Was it possible that it was all in his head? “Even so though, it was too great! Their expressions! James pretending that you two were gay!” She laughed. “I don’t think that I could have planned it better!” He nodded and tried to smile, “Yeah, that was great. We’ll have to do something even better next time.” He said trying his best to sound as upbeat and excited about it as she was. His voice must have betrayed him because she gave him a look; “But I am not kissing James, that is where I draw the line!” He said forcing laugh and pointing at her face. She smiled, “Oh c’mon you know you want to!” She said laughing and playfully poked his side. He accepted the challenge, grabbing her around her middle, pulling her onto his lap and tickling her relentlessly until she was laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe. He set her free but she opted to lie across his lap and watch TV until James returned. He felt a little better, at least he could act normal for now, but he still couldn’t make his feelings go away. Maybe he’d feel better after a good night’s sleep, maybe he just needed to clear his head. He absentmindedly played with her hair; he loved its silky smoothness. After a few minutes he realized that just being best friends with Brooklyn didn’t feel like enough anymore. He wanted more; the three of them acted like they were married already. All that was missing was the romantic stuff and now with her lying in his lap happy and content he knew he was in far over his head. He feared he might be falling in love with his best friend.

Logan stared blankly at Alex while he shouted away; he barely heard anything, except the last part. Hate? Nobody hated him; no one had ever hated him, what was going on? Everything was upside down over here. Alex slammed the door leaving, good. Logan locked his door and stood there anger shooting up and down his body. Okay, he just had to stay calm; everything was going to be okay, he just had to stay calm. He took a deep breath pressing his hands against the sides of his head; he needed to get out, but that was almost impossible in this house. He would have to wait until his uncle had gone to sleep, that would be until around ten o’ clock going by last night. It felt so strange waiting for an adult to go to sleep so he could sneak out. The only place he ever snuck out of was a girl’s bedroom; sneaking out of his own bedroom seemed so ridiculous. He turned up the volume on his laptop; the acoustics in this room were pathetic. In his room back home… Home, he had never thought of it as home before, it was his house, not really a place he wanted to be. It had its perks, the quality he enjoyed, all of his stuff in the space he liked. But to call it home sounded weird, the only person he even cared about in that house was his little brother, funny, how he missed the annoying little kid now. Remy wasn’t seriously annoying but he was far too attached to Logan, something that had often annoyed him. Now, he kind of missed the way Remy would burst through his door with some tragedy just so he could be near him for a minute.

Logan sighed and glared at the tiny little room, ugh, this wasn’t home either, no matter how good Dria’s cooking was. He grabbed his phone, he needed to get out. He called around and found out there was supposed to be a huge party, somebody’s sweet sixteen or something, perfect. He didn’t need to be on the list all he had his natural pearly whites, amazing personality and of course his argument ender, his Chrystal Card. He glanced at the clock, Alex’s dad would be home soon and they would have dinner and then he could get ready to go out.

10:37PM

Logan climbed out his window and down a tree, he felt a little silly climbing out his bedroom window, it was something that happened in chick flicks. He started his car; she purred to him softly welcoming him back to where he belonged, behind the wheel. He waited till he turned the corner to blat his music and drove for about an hour to reach a mansion overflowing with people. He parked right in the middle of things, he climbed out decked out in his favorite black leather jacket, the night wasn’t cold enough for a jacket, but it was the tone that came with it that was important. The crowd parted for him like the red sea for Moses as he strutted toward the front door. A huge bouncer stood at the door with arms crossed, Logan smiled at him, “Hey, how’s it goin’? Logan Lebeau.” The man cracked a smile and moved aside to let him pass. Yes, that felt better, that was the way today should have been. He moved smoothly through the thick crowd, he could feel his body soaking in the high energy of the party. Kardinal Offishall’s Dangerous burst poured from the huge speakers throughout the room. He gazed around taking it all in, now this felt like home. He stopped, his jaw practically feel to the floor. Desiree was dancing on top of a table, and she was workin’ it. She was wearing hot designer clothes and dancing around like a girl on the prowl. She stopped dancing when she saw him and just stared at him unmoving. He stared back for a minute and quickly pulled himself together, and walked right up to her, he looked up at her with a sly smile. He motioned for her to come down and she did. “Alex’s cousin, what are you doing here?” She asked, she didn’t sound like herself and her breath suggested she’d had a quite a few drinks. Interesting, did everyone else know about this? More importantly did Alex?

Logan smiled down at her, “It’s not often people surprise me.” He said, his interest in her sky rocketing, he could have any girl he wanted at this party and Desiree showed up again. Fate was messing around a lot today, Brooklyn could be fun, but here was a whole new side to Desiree. What else did this chick have hidden under that stoic exterior? Desiree stared up at him looking a bit confused, “What are you doing here?” She asked again, she looked almost annoyed as if this was her party that he had crashed. “Just havin’ a little fun, later.” He said, and backed away dancing to a new song that blasted out, Cyclone by T-Pain. Logan smiled and laughed as he weaved his way through the crowd towards the bar; he ordered three and downed them all quickly, now the party could start. Within minutes of joining the ever moving crown he was surrounded by girls all wanting to be the only one dancing up against him; this was a great Friday night.

[Free]

Desiree glanced at the digital clock displayed in bright blue above the radio after hanging up with Danny. It was only 4:34. Any party worth going to wouldn’t start until 9 at the earliest, sometimes as late as 11. High school parties weren’t worth her time. She only ever went to college parties or parties specifically for older teens and younger twenties. She continued driving, turning gradually back toward her house. She wanted to shower and change before leaving for the party. She had no intention of being one of the first few people there. Her mind wandered over various topics, avoiding one in particular. If she didn’t think about it, it wasn’t a problem. The only issue with that theory was that she would run into Alex or have to deal with it in some fashion sooner or later. Even though she knew this, she preferred later to sooner. “Radio on.” It suddenly occurred to her that she’d been driving in silence. Rock music blared suddenly blared from the speakers, sharply contrasting the silence of the moment before. She didn’t remember all of the specific turn of her journey, but she had an excellent sense of direction and so was never lost. After another hour and a half of wandering in only partially aimless circles, she pulled back into her driveway.

Just before she pulled into the circle in front of her house, she saw his car. She stopped her car and stared. She always knew where he was, but that was never home. She was still staring when a servant ran up to her car, and pulled open the door, inquiring if she was okay. She just nodded, stepped out of the car, and moved toward the front door. It opened before she reached it, and close behind her without even the smallest effort on her part. She didn’t notice any of this of course, it was the way it had always been. She thought about ignoring it; he didn’t matter. After the death of her mother and brother he hadn’t been much of a presence in her life. There was always work to do, and none of it was anywhere near home anymore. Before, almost all of his work was done locally or over the phone or internet, and he was rarely ever away. In current years, when he was home, he was busy. He only ever stayed for a few hours much of the time; sometimes he stayed as long as a couple of days, but it was never longer than four days. She tried to pretend that she didn’t care, but she did.

She paused at end of the hallway that led to her wind, and then turned back. She could never resist at least seeing him when he was there. It was the way she reminded herself that she still had a family left. She moved quickly and quietly through the house, heading toward her father’s offices. If he was indeed home, he was more than likely there. His office was his world. She paused just out of view of those inside the office. The door was open and she could hear his voice. She stood for several minutes before stepping into the doorway. She took a couple of steps inside, watching him, but he did not look up. She resolved to wait until he noticed her, but his attention was completely absorbed by his phone call and the computer screen. He was unhappy about something, but this wasn’t new. She had never seen him smile since he lost his life and son. She finally gave up and left. Just as she walked out of sight, she heard his tone change, “Desiree?” her name sounded odd from his lips. She kept walking. Her pace quickened, and she didn’t slow down until she reached her suite. Desiree didn’t have to worry about him following her, he was always much too busy. Desiree slammed the door.

~

Music pounded up from the floor and through her body. Around her, chaos had already broken out as hundreds of young people jumped and moved to the music, staggered around drunk, laughed, threw things at each other and yelled over the music. Desiree made her way over to the bar. There was no other way to start a party. Of course, she also had a lot she wanted to step away from for a few hours. It wasn’t a long-term solution, but it would help. She leaned against the counter and ordered one of her favorite drinks. While she waited for her drink, she glanced around the room. It was a little calmer over by the bar. Most of the chaos was centered around the dance floor, but it was by no mean quiet in here either. In one corner near her, a group of people were gathered around two guys drinking. She smirked. The bar tendered set her drink down in front of her on the counter, but she ignored it and moved toward the group. She watched, moving methodically through the crowd until she was right against the table. Just as she reached it, on of the guys bent over and the crowd moved out of his way. A friend of his helped him, and she moved quickly into the vacant seat.

She smiled at the guy sitting opposite her, but he just stood up. From his expression, she could tell that he didn’t consider her a real opponent. She looked around the crowd. It was irritating for her not to be taken seriously, but it had happened to many times before for it to surprise her. The situation was easily rectifiable. She sized up several of the guys around her and finally selected her target. He was a reasonably big guy, and he looked like he thought he could have beaten the last two without effort. He wasn’t easily persuaded to go against her. He didn’t think of her as a worthy advisory either. She finally managed to convince him to go against her by raising the stakes. If he won, he could have her. Someone poured their drinks and Desiree lifted her shot glass. With a gesture of cheers, she downed the first glass. She watched him, and he her, a greedy look in his eyes. He had the advantage of gender and size, and it was clear by his expression that he expected to win. She, however, had the advantage of practice. This was not her first drinking contest and she was not going to lose.

~

Desiree stood atop a table in the near the front of the dancing area, her hips moving in perfect time with the music. A silly smile lit her face as she danced. People crowded around the table, some dancing as well, some watching those on the table. A guy jumped up with her and pulled her over to him, and they danced close. His timing was not as accurate as hers, but she didn’t notice. She was too caught up in the moment. The music and people were so loud that her laugh didn’t even make it to her ears. She felt free. After a while, a young man moving through the crowd caught her eye. Her movements came to a halt and she stood without her even realizing that she was staring. He walked toward the table and then motioned her over. She stepped off the table and landed a little unsteadily on her feet. She reached out for something to help her remain upright and regained her balance. “Alex’s cousin?” The words slipped from her mouth by accident. She laughed. She didn’t remember his name. “What are you doing here?” She was shouting above the noise of the room, but her voice was breathy with laughter.

“It’s not often people surprise me,” he said, but the words didn’t make sense to her. He was looking at her with an expression she couldn’t read. She had trouble properly identifying emotions beyond the base happy, sad, mad and lust when she was drunk. Another question came to her, “What are you doing here?” She frowned for a moment, the question sounded familiar. “Just having a little fun. Later.” She smiled. He was attractive. He was very attractive. Why hadn’t Alex mentioned how hot his cousin was? Maybe he was jealous. She laughed and then realized Alex’s cousin had disappeared. “Opps,” she said to no one in particular. She looked around. What had she been doing before Alex’s cousin arrived? Nevermind. Time for another drink? How many have I had so far? She decided that it didn’t matter and made her way through the house toward the bar. When she entered the room where it was supposed to be, she was surprised to find a dresser in the place where the bar had stood. A picture frame whizzed through the air and crashed against the door that she had just opened. “Get out!” a male yelled at her from the shadows over the giggle of a girl.

“Private party, huh?” she said, but she was immediately pushed out the door when the door closed. She laughed and sunk against the door all the way to the floor. Where did the bar go? She decided to try heading back the way she had come. After heaving herself unsteadily to her feet, she wandered back down the hallway. Where is the bar? She entered the dance room and was hit suddenly by a wall of sound. She paused a few steps in, somewhat disoriented by this sudden change. The music moved through her once more and she started to dance. This time her timing was off, but it didn’t seem to bother the two guys who came over to dance with her. She laughed as one of them grabbed her hand in an attempt to twirl her that sent her crashing to the floor. She let herself fall, and was unable to regain her footing for laughing. Both guys made an attempt to help her up, but she brushed them off. She was enjoying where she was. After watching her for a few moments, one left and then the other. They were off to dance with other girls. She leaned her head back against the dance floor and stared up at the ceiling, she eyes bright with uncontrollable laughter.

A pair of shoes came into her vision and she followed the line of clothing up to the face. “I knoow yoou!” she shouted unnecessarily loudly. The people around her looked down at her and moved a step back, but she didn’t notice. “Alex’s cousin!” He looked down at her. Maybe he was mad. It was something not happy. After a few seconds, he reached down to pull her to her feet, and she let him. When he let go of her, she sank against him. “Heeey,” she said, trying to whisper in his ear. It came out closer to a shout. I don’t know why I didn’t notice this before. He’s so hot! She felt giddy looking at him. She laughed and continued to lean against him with increasing pressure. “You’re hot,” she said and then laughed. In her normal frame of mind she never would have said something like that; it was clear that he already thought of himself in those terms. Her arms moved around his waist. “Alexx would be sso maaadd.” She paused at these words; she hadn’t meant to say them out loud. Where they true? She couldn’t remember and right now she didn’t care.

Brooklyn looked up as James reentered her apartment with an unusually annoyed air. The door slammed behind him. She gestured for him to come join her, and he sat on the floor in front of her. She moved toward Westley’s knees and put her hand on his shoulder, massaging gently. She didn’t say anything; she knew. “I think we should go somewhere,” she said suddenly. They both looked at her. James spoke first, “What about that meeting tonight?” Brooklyn blinked. She had completely forgotten. “Whatever Desiree wanted to talk about can be talked about on Monday.” Westley and James looked at each other, but because Westley was behind Brooklyn, she didn’t really notice. “Come on!” James spoke up, “I dunno. I don’t really want to go anywhere right now and I was wondering what this was about anyway.” Brooklyn paused. James was lying to her again. Something about that sentence was true, but not all of it. She sighed, but let the subject drop. They were both being weird today.

~

Brooklyn leaned against James as they sat up in a tree together waiting for everyone to get there. It surprised her that more people hadn’t shown up yet. Alex only lived a couple of blocks away, but if Desiree was picking him up that would probably explain why they weren’t here yet. Brooklyn glanced at Westley as she dug around in her purse. He was cleaning the soda that had spilled out of his truck. She’d offered to help, but he had declined her offer, so she and James were waiting in the tree for him. James didn’t like it when she smoked either, but he was less inclined to freak out about it than Westley was. Brooklyn lit the end of her cigarette and took a deep breath. James gave a disapproving look, but that was about as far as he would take it. Her eyes remained fixed on Westley, hoping that he would not notice. She rarely smoked without Eric, but tonight she just wanted one. After what seemed to Brooklyn like an interminable amount of time, Alex appeared in the distance. Brooklyn leapt from the tree, dropped her cigarette and stepped on it to put it out. She hoped that Westley wouldn’t notice. They were outside, it was true, but the smell was still a strong one.

Alex walked up and Brooklyn hugged him. Something was wrong. “Where’s everyone else?” she asked, looking closely at him. “More specifically, where’s Desiree?” She didn’t say anything about how they were always together because she knew that the same could be said of her and Westley and James. Of course, she had her group here. Where was his? “I thought for sure that you’d get a ride from her.” He shook his head at her last sentence. “I don’t think she’s coming,” he said slowly. “What? Why not? Where is she? What did you do?” Brooklyn’s questions shot out of her at a rapid pace, too quickly for him to answer before she asked the next one. He had a guilty look, Brooklyn decided, and yet was angry. “What is something that she did? Did she finally piss you off?” Brooklyn hoped not. Desiree wasn’t her favorite person, but she was a part of the group and she knew that Alex loved her, that he would be crushed if they suddenly weren’t friends. He would look kind of like the way he did now. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it in an attempt to comfort him, and then gave him a long hug. She usually wasn’t as physical with other guys as she was with her two guys, but Alex was upset and this was how she comforted people.

[J]

The alcohol was taking over, he still felt somewhat in control, but attention span was even smaller than usual. He danced with lots of girls all of them running together in his mind. He was finally having fun, today had bit, that felt like a million years ago. All he cared about was here and now. He was close dancing with a girl was seemed like a sure thing and yet something was weird, oh! H almost laughed out loud when he realized what was wrong, he seriously needed to pee. He pulled away from her and stumbled his way to a bathroom. Several minutes later he walked down what felt like and extraordinarily long hallway, the music was all around him and this song was really annoying. He ran his hands through his hair, ugh, they really needed to change that song, who actually listened to Avril Lavigne anyway? He looked down and was shocked to find a girl lying on the floor. She looked so familiar, hey wasn’t that- “I know you!” She shouted pointing up at him, he stared down at her, oh right, Desiree. He couldn’t believe he’d actually forgotten about her. He had been considering finding her later on in the party, but he hadn’t expected to her to be even worse off than when he arrived. He leaned over to pick her up, she allowed him to but even then it felt difficult. He let go of her, knowing what his next move normally was and wondering if it would even work on her. She was one step ahead; She leaned into him, “Hey…” She was pressing harder and harder against him; he smiled, this was going even better then he thought it would. “You’re hot.” She said a huge smile on her face. He chuckled, and bent his head toward her ear. “So are you.” It wasn’t one of his better lines but at the moment he couldn’t think of anything better.

She laughed and put her arms around his waist, he wrapped his around her and pulled her even closer. He was about to move into to kiss her when she murmured “Alexx would be sso maaadd.” He hesitated, what? He had only been making fun of Alex earlier, had he really told her? He was confused for a minute but then, Alex wasn’t here. It was his own fault for letting her walk off; he missed his chance and Logan was not about to miss his. “Just forget about Alex.” Logan said, and kissed her, she started to pull away and then kissed him back. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there kissing until he finally pulled away, “C’mon.” He said pulling her after him, he was still a little disoriented but he figured he shouldn’t be too hard to find somewhere for them to be alone. She followed him willingly; he grabbed one doorknob after another finding them locked or occupied with too many people. He finally found a dark room with a queen size bed that looked pretty nice, perfect. The two of them lay down and picked up where they had left off in the hall, suddenly Desiree went limp in his arms. He stopped, they hadn’t gotten very far, and he definitely wasn’t ready to stop. He looked down at her just as her eyes closed, he grumbled out what probably sounded more like whine and dropped his head onto her shoulder. She had passed out. He sighed heavily; just as well, he wasn’t feeling so great anyways. He wouldn’t have been at his full potential on a night like tonight, too much alcohol affecting his body. He slid off of her, laying half on top of her and half on the bed. He grabbed a pillow and tucked it underneath her head and then grabbed one for himself. The door was locked so he didn’t need to worry about being disturbed but even if it hadn’t been he didn’t have to energy to get up anyway. He rested his head on the pillow, oh, he really didn’t feel good; he couldn’t remember how many he’d had or what they had been. He’d actually been stupid enough to tell the bartender to “surprise him”, the surprise was usually the color of the vomit later. Ugh, shouldn’t think about that now, uh[oh too late. He had barely leaned over the edge of the bed when he threw up all over what looked like an expensive oriental rug. He felt much better now; he smiled a little, yeah, much better. He lay back down with Desiree; she looked so peaceful and happy. He looked her over once, wow, she was even hotter than he remembered from school. Looked like somebody had two lives. He smirked a little; he figured Alex knew nothing about this. He lay his head back down on the soft cool pillow and fell into a deep sleep.

Alex waited at the corner of his street hoping against all hope she might show. It was dumb to think she would, he probably wouldn’t see her until Tuesday when he went back to school. He sat down and waited a little longer, he checked the time on his watch, he would give her ten more minutes and then he would walk to the park by himself. It wasn’t that far, he could get there in maybe ten minutes fifteen if he walked really slowly. He sighed and rested his heads on his knees, this was pathetic, him just sitting here waiting for some chick to show up. Except she wasn’t just some girl he had a crush on, it was Desiree, the girl he had fallen for in the first few seconds of meeting her. Just because they had only been in seventh grade didn’t mean what he had felt wasn’t real. His mom had told him once that the very first time she saw his dad she had known he was her husband. Why shouldn’t he imagine the same for him and Desiree? Maybe she was the one he was meant to be with and this was just some weird twist of fate that would help him figure out how to tell her he loved her. He checked his watch again, took a quick look around, she wasn’t coming. He pulled himself up off the warm concrete sidewalk and slowly walked to the park, head down in defeat. Man, having Logan around had made life harder; he had hoped maybe his dad would have somebody else to concentrate on for a while. He had hoped that maybe the two of them could get along and he would have a guy to talk to things about, he had Desiree, but he couldn’t talk to her about her.

He turned the last corner; he could see the playground and Westley’s truck park sideways in the tiny parking lot. He smiled only slightly when Brooklyn jumped down from an oak tree and ran towards him giving him a big hug. He hugged her back so glad she was still acting normal. James had sent the text so he could only assume that all three of them felt the same way about him. These three were like one person, “Hey guys.” He said happy to have part of his posse back together, these three stayed mostly to themselves, but they always stayed loyal to him and that was what counted. Brooklyn let out a string of questions wondering where everyone else was and even asked about Desiree. “I don’t think she’s coming.” Alex said, he hated that Desiree had planned this and she had bailed, but it wasn’t her fault. It was Logan’s all the more reason to get rid of him. “What is something that she did? Did she finally piss you off?” Brooklyn asked, the last question caught him off guard and he wasn’t sure how to answer. What? Desiree confused him at times and maybe frustrated him but he had never been mad at her before, he didn’t think such a thing was possible. Brooklyn must have sensed his depression; she squeezed his hand and gave him another hug. “I’m fine, really, we uh, just have to think of a plan. Logan said something to her that, well, she’s just a little upset, but it’s fine. No big deal.” He shut his mouth before he said anything else, he was embarrassed as it was, and they didn’t need details. He pushed past them and sat down on an unstable wooden picnic table, “Okay, so, what are we gonna do about Logan?” Alex said it felt weird to plan things without Desiree’s input. She was his co-leader, his partner, he didn’t make decisions without her, it just didn’t feel right.

“Wait, what?” Brooklyn spoke up staring at him and then looking back at Westley and James who looked like they had their hands caught in the cookie jar. “What?” Alex asked, he stared at them, Brooklyn didn’t know, that was weird. “What do you mean, ‘do about Logan’” Brooklyn asked she sounded defensive but she wasn’t asking him she was looking at James and Westley. Westley was avoiding her gaze by staring at the sky, James stayed quiet. “Wait a minute, you don’t know?” Alex asked, he was in shock, how could Brooklyn not know something that the other two knew? Everything was completely upside down today!

[J]

Westley rolled his eyes as his phone rang out OMG by Usher, Teah was texting him again. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen before ignoring her text. I can't sleep, can you come over? He shook his head, he had a very sneaky suspicion that Teah was falling for him and he was the "new Alex." Joy. He mopped up Brooklyn's spilled Dr. Pepper with an old t-shirt he had found underneat the seat in his truck. He was fairly certain it was one of his brothers' t-shirts anyways; it served Ty right for stealing his truck without asking. He tossed the sopping shirt into a nearby trash can as his phone rang again, he sighed and pulled it out again.

[Free]

Oh God. Her head pounded and her stomach churned. She shoved whoever’s arm was around her off. The last thing she remembered was challenging some idiots to a drinking match. And winning. That brought a smile to lips.

Her phone had fallen out of her bra. She found it underneath her.

“Come get me,” she said. She’d have them retrieve her car later. Sent sent him her location. He could figure out the rest.

Her head hurt so much and the longer she lay here, the dizzier and more nauseous she felt. She staggered to the bathroom just in time to make it to the toilet.

She wiped her mouth and crawled back into bed. All she wanted right now was her hangover meds and her own bed.

She looked over at guy, he was dead asleep.

“Alex’s cousin, what the hell?!” Her voice was too loud inside her own head.

“I have a name,” he groaned into the bed.

Shit! She fell out of bed and scrambled around for her dress. She found on the floor.

“You okay?” He chuckled softly. He was looking at her now, an amused smile played across his face.

Tugging it on, she wasn’t sure if she should be relieved she was still wearing panties. What had he done? There was no way she’d have chosen him of all people.

“I will be pressing charges,” she said as staggered out into the hall.

“Hey, you’re the one that—”

But she wasn’t listening. She was walking away. Her phone rang and she answered it so Jacob wouldn’t start combing the house for her. Walking was making her more nauseous and the floor kept threatening to consume her.

Jacob handed her two pills as she crawled into the backseat after he opened the door for her. She downed them with some water that was always back there. 45 minutes to feeling better. She dropped herself into the backseat and tried to sleep as he drove her home.

When they arrived, he carried her up to her suite.

Back in her own bed, she snuggled in under the covers and tried to forget where she’d woken up.

~

She felt significantly better the next time she woke up until she remembered where she’d woken up the first time. How dare he.

She wanted Alex. He always knew how to make her feel better. She glanced at the clock and groaned. It was still too early to be awake, though judging by the time, his dad was probably at work by now, assuming he was working this Saturday. It was about a 50-50 shot.

She changed into something that wouldn’t shock him and parked outside of Ryan’s house. She thought about climbing up to the roof, but she was tired and that sounded like work. She let herself in the back door, hoping Mr. Moretti wasn’t home.

The house was quiet. She could Dria humming to herself somewhere, but other than that, it didn’t seem like anyone was up.

She made it upstairs without seeing anyone. A good sign. She shuddered when she passed Logan’s door.

She closed Alex’s door and crawled into his bed, snuggling up against him. He was awake now and seemed surprised to see her.

“Am I dreaming?” He yawned.

She laughed. His arms encircled her. She already felt better. Moments later, she fell asleep.

[Free]

“Westley? James? Care to fill me in on what I don’t know?” She crossed her arms. Neither of them made eye contact.

“We don’t keep secrets like this,” she said softly, hurt evident in her voice.

“We didn’t mean anything—“ Westley began.

“We didn’t think you’d come if you knew this was about Logan.” James sighed. His arms were crossed too and he was looking at her a little like she’d done something wrong.

“I don’t believe you guys!”She paused, “Well, actually, I believe this coming from James, but Westley, you know what’s it’s like to be left out.” He still refused to look at her, but she knew he heard her because even in the light of the moon, she could see the tint in his cheeks.

“I’m going home!”

“Uh Brooklyn? We came together...” Westley said.

”I’m sorry.” He didn’t care that everyone was looking at him. Apologizing wasn’t his brand. He only cared that Brooklyn had stopped walking away from them. It was late and no matter how tough he knew she was, no woman should be walking through their neighborhood this late at night.

“I need some time alone, James,” she said softly, still facing away from him.

“Since when?”

Brooklyn was glad they couldn’t see her face because James’s last comment made her smile. A little. She tried desperately to hold onto the anger, but it was dissipating. These boys... She sighed. It was so hard to be mad at them.

She turned around.

“You, no more plotting against your cousin,” she said to Alex. He held up his hands in defense.

“You two, no more lying to me.”

“I make no promises,” James said, enveloping her in a hug.

“Well, since we’re not plotting against Logan, how about pancakes? I know this little place that always open,” She said the last sentence in a singsongy voice.

“You mean Denny’s?” Alex laughed.

James opened a text chain between Westley and Alex.

James: Brooklyn’s obviously out. We still doin this?