“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!” A voice exclaimed suddenly.
Both heads spun towards the doorway. Whatever blood that rushed on Alex’s face drained away. She began to stand up and almost tripped. Logan quickly grabbed her arm to help her regain balance.
Lauren had her mouth agape as she took in everything, the flooded room, the laundry floating around and Logan & Alex’s messed up states. Her shoes became drenched from the water flowing out the door and onto the hallway.
Once she was done, her gaze settled on them sternly. She placed a hand on her hip. The moment had the ambiance of a mother about to scold her troublesome children.
“I come home to find you two making a mess?! Is this how young adults like you should behave?! Bad children! Bad children!” she wagged a finger at them. If it was any other situation, Alex would have laughed but she felt really embarrassed. If it happened to be her aunt who found them, she would have been buried alive!
“It was Logan’s fault” she pointed a finger in his direction, clearly panicking.
Logan scoffed, “My fault?! Why is it not your fault?!”
“It was you who messed up!” Alex shouted, “You couldn’t wait for me to help, could you?! Your male ego just had to prove that it could do the laundry. Well, news flash! You can’t!”
“Hey! I told you we could go out for a date but noooo” Logan dragged on the last syllable, his pitch going higher, “You chose to stay inside!”
Alex stomped her foot, a little water spewing up, “I had laundry to do!”
“And I wanted to spend time with you!”
“Children!” Lauren screamed, interrupting the petty banter.
Logan and Alex turned towards her at the same time, “WHAT?!”
Lauren did her best not to laugh and when she caught Alex’s pointed look, she cleared her throat. She still wanted to smile but hid it by pressing her lips together.
But before she could say anything, Logan spoke up.
“Wait a minute” he said, “You know? You know about Alex’s secret?”
Logan looked at Alex, then, back at Lauren. He did this a couple of times.
Lauren merely shrugged at his disbelief. She looked down at her watch and answered, “It’s been about five days, five hours and five minutes since I found out. Now, I find myself eating dog food.”
Alex’s forehead wrinkled, “How are you eating dog food?”
Logan’s attention turned to Alex. He crossed his arms, “How come you didn’t tell me?”
Her eyebrows rose up at his tone, “Didn’t I tell you about the folder?”
“But you didn’t say she found out! I thought you gave an excuse!”
“Like what?”
“A twin sister? Does that ring any bells?”
Alex groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, “That caused me more trouble than I thought it ever would.”
Jae’s words flashed through her mind. She couldn’t blame anyone but herself for that situation—well, except maybe the part where Logan insisted that Xandra should be the one to get her phone back. Then again, she could have just told him the truth instead of sneaking into the locker room!
Alex’s head started to ache but Logan didn’t seem to notice.
He shook his head, “I came here to make it up to you after ditching you at the party but clearly, I, your best friend, am not that important to you.”
“What?” Alex gaped at him. Those were some of the most ridiculous things she had ever heard, “I thought that was already implied when I told you that story.”
Logan didn’t say anything. He locked his jaw, not budging. Alex thought he acted quite immature. His sulking session was totally uncalled for! What about the other things she had done, huh? She helped him take off the stupid amount of makeup he made her do. She also didn’t throw him out of the house. When he said he wanted to help, she let him!
Alex took a deep breath, calming her temper down.
“Look, Logan ” she attempted again “I don’t want to fight. It’s exhausting. We already have a lot of them. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to tell you clearly that Lauren knows about the secret. Are you happy now?”
When he still didn’t respond, Alex looked over at Lauren. She smiled in sympathy, making Alex sigh.
And he wondered why she preferred not to have friends.
If Logan wanted to act like a baby, then, she should let him.
Alex started to walk towards the door when a pair of arms spun her around and water splashed all over the place.
“Logan Parker, let me go!” Her legs kicked around, hitting nothing but air. When she stopped, her feet remained elevated. She felt like the propeller of a helicopter.
“Not until you say you love me” Logan yelled, obviously enjoying himself.
“What?! No way in hell!”
“Uh-uh-uh” he teased near her ear. He switched tactics and swayed her side to side. After a while, Alex began to feel light-headed. Her stomach didn’t feel too hot either.
“Logan, I’m gonna throw up.”
“Well, it’s your house. You’ll clean it up.”
“Why you—”
“Children, stop.”
At Lauren’s voice, Logan finally put Alex down. Actually, he threw her upwards, causing her to squeal. His arms wrapped around her before she could hit the floor. His chest rumbled against her back.
Alex smacked his upper arm, “Don’t ever do that again, Logan Parker!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he said, still laughing as he placed her back on her feet. Alex fumed. It wasn’t funny. She felt feverish.
Lauren’s amused tone rang in their ears, “I think you caused enough damage for today, Logan. Go home.”
“Yeah, okay” Logan obeyed her and walked out of the room, “Good thing I have extra clothes in the car. See you soon, ladies!”
Alex found herself unable to look at Lauren. Logan left her at the mercy of the tiger. She could almost feel that Lauren was ready to pounce with a thousand questions.
Alex began to pick up her clothes to busy herself. As she walked around the room, Lauren stayed close to her. She waited for Lauren to say something. Alex knew she wanted to.
Honestly, Alex didn’t know how to start the conversation but she really became curious to know what was on Lauren’s mind.
“So, Alex” Laured finally talked. Her tone didn’t betray anything, “Had a nice shower with Logan?”
“I did not shower with him!” Alex instantly defended, dropping the clothes. She mentally face-palmed at her mistake. There was no doubt that Logan probably heard it if he hadn’t left the house.
“Oh, technicalities, technicalities” Lauren waved her hand off with an eye roll, “It still stands that your bra is showing.”
“What?” Alex cried in utter horror. She looked down at herself and sure enough, her bra showed through her white shirt. She couldn’t. Believe. What she just saw. That meant Logan could see her bra the whole time since the water poured out of the washing machine.
It was probably the most embarrassing thing ever.
Until Alex realized her bra was showing when Lauren saw them together. Then, that part of the incident became the most embarrassing thing ever.
Alex’s brain barely functioned. She felt beyond mortified. Logan had been there. Not only that but also Logan was a boy. That boy saw her bra.
She sent a quick prayer to the sky filled with gratitude that Lauren got rid of Logan before he could witness her embarrassed state.
“Personally, I think macaroni is sexy on you.”
Alex stiffened while Lauren covered her mouth, hiding her amusement.
Alex turned around slowly, delaying the whole thing. Although she felt hopeless, some part of her hoped that she heard a ghost and not Logan—but there he was, leaning against the doorframe.
Some bras had polka dots. Some bras had strawberries or cherries on them. Her brassiere had little elbow macaroni scattered on it. Emily and her bought it as a joke. The main fabric was blue and the macaroni looked like it was drawn because of their thick black outlines. Emily also bought one for herself and hers had poké balls.
“Get out!” Alex’s voice came out higher than ever before. The level of humiliation she ranked really high from her comfort zone. She wanted to ground to swallow her up and to never open again.
“Alright, alright” Logan held up his hands in surrender, backing away. When he was out of sight, he yelled, “Toodles, sexy noodles!”
