Logan took a deep breath.
He really shouldn’t blow up now. So what if his twin and Alex were close? Colin was on the same boat. He couldn’t control others. The only thing he could do was not make it difficult for them.
He hopped inside the driver’s seat, saying, “Look, I’m sorry about my behavior. I’m not sure if you noticed yet but Jae and I don’t always get along. When I saw you with him earlier, it really bothered me. I’m telling you this because I don’t want to overthink on what the two of you had been talking about.”
Alex’s head snapped towards Logan while he drove out of the hotel.
She felt stunned that Logan opened up about it right away. A little bit of guilt also seeped through. She couldn’t possibly say that she and Jae were conspiring against a possible ex-girlfriend rising back from the dead because they didn’t feel too confident about Logan’s actions about it.
“Well, if you really wanna know, I told him about the phone he found being mine” Alex attempted in order to lighten the mood, “Somehow he still believed it belonged to your girlfriend.”
Logan pressed his lips together. How would Jae—Oh. He had forgotten about that.
“That seems like a normal thought to have when a girl and a boy are alone in a locker room” he pointed out. Then, he squinted at the road ahead, “Speaking of which, what were you doing there? Last time, Xandra said she got lost. You go to that school. You know that was the locker room. How did you end up there?”
Alex gulped. Were they having another confession round right now?
“Oh, fine” she huffed. The guilt in her conscious told her to, at least, tell Logan some truth, “I wanted to get my phone back.”
“How—wait, by stealing it?”
“It’s not stealing if it belongs to me” Alex explained. Looking back, did she really go that far?
“If you wanna know, I didn’t get a chance to open any locker so I technically did not act on it.”
Logan licked his lips, “Considering how heavy your secret is, I guess I could overlook you doing criminal activity.”
Alex gave him a deadpanned. Their conversation almost distracted her from handing out directions. They missed a corner and had to U-turn back to it.
“Anyway, what is this story about Friday night?” Logan said, getting back to the main topic. He looked out for another corner turn that Alex instructed him to.
Alex bit her bottom lip. It was now or never, “Remember Courtney Wilson?”
About 10 minutes later, Logan figured he could probably break the steering wheel just by his grip alone.
“Why didn’t you call for help?” he spat out. His veins boiled with anger. He had been close by but he wasn’t able to do anything. Heck, her parents had been around. Why wouldn’t Alex alert them?
Alex scrunched her eyebrows together. Their reaction seemed pretty normal to her, “I’m not sure if I told you before but I can only have one person know about my secret. This was also why I thought about stealing the phone back. If I’d call out for help, my parents would find out and I’ll be shipped off back to home.”
Logan found an empty spot near the mall entrance. He parked his car in one attempt, perfectly distancing it between the two while lines.
“I think you mentioned something about your school records. Except I thought that was because we have an unidentifiable person who could be blackmailing you. That sounded like a pretty good reason they’d want you back home” Logan breathed out. He already turned off the engine and stared out the windshield, “Am I thinking what I think you’re saying? That if they found out more than one person knew, like anyone at all, even Lauren, you’d go back home?”
Alex thought carefully. When she spoke, she spoke slowly, “I think we’d have a discussion about whether I get to stay or not. I just believe the latter would be the stronger outcome—especially now. There’s Lauren, there’s Courtney and one other person—if it turned out to be only one person.”
Logan leaned his head back, hitting the headrest. His voice became soft, “I can’t imagine school without you.”
“Because becoming valedictorian would just be too easy?” Alex joked. She adapted the same tone as Logan and stared at nothing.
“You’re my BFF now. I’ve forgotten about that” Logan snorted, “It’s been a rocky road for us.”
“It has” Alex replied. Then, she pursed her lips, “We should get rocky road ice cream.”
“I’m way ahead of you” Logan opened the door and got out of the car, “I’d rather have that than nothing”
His last statement left Alex confused. She wasn’t sure if she was meant to hear that. Then again, he probably meant the shopping trip. Only she and Emily had things to buy. It would be a shame if the boys didn’t get anything.
===
Alex and Logan took an escalator up to the 3rd floor.
The Parthenos Mall in Arboreal had the size of roughly 140, 000 square meters. The outer design resembled Old Greek infrastructures. It hosted three floors. The ground floor had been divided into 5 sectors.
The center sect contained most of the highly famous brands. The open space was available for short term rental. It could be a one-day stage show. It could be a business stall staying for a week. It could be both. The large space could accommodate about two main events and multiple smaller ones.
There were two sectors on one side of the center sect. Combined, they looked like an L-shape attached to the center. The other side also had this design. The three of them had one common passageway that had most of the main restaurants and fast food chains.
The rest held up various shops. Each floor had a category. Most of the main retail was located on the ground floor. The second had several service shops and amusement like the theater.
The third had affiliated stores. Each took up a bigger space than the average shop. They also had a contract with Parthenos Company, making them the VIPs of the mall. Their services and goods were top of the class. Most of the customers they accommodate were among the upper class of society.
Alex led Logan to a dress emporium. Its interior design had been inspired by dress shops back in the Victorian era. The owners added a few modern twists to bring it up to trend. They also resembled a store for bridal gowns with a mini runway they had and a circular platform that had mirrors surrounding half of it.
The sound of a mini bell rang when Alex opened the door. A female attendant walked up to them right away.
“Welcome to the Carp Dress Emporium” she greeted them. She wore a simple business suit and held a clipboard, “Are you here for evening gowns, prom dresses or bridal wear?”
Alex smiled politely, “I’m here for Emily Greenwood.”
The attendant’s eyes lip and immediately led them through the store, “Right this way.”
Behind Alex, Logan’s eyes scanned the area. He couldn’t remember ever being in a dress shop. Most of what he had imagined were clothes in racks, not a mega closet. To him, the place looked like a walk-in closet except there was more than one and they were all 5 times bigger.
While they walked, the sound of two people arguing slowly became louder.
===
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