Logan looked at Alex in alarm. He grabbed her arms and leaned down to meet her eyes, “You got into trouble? What kind?”
Jae raised his eyebrows, “I see you haven’t told him, Alex.”
Alex felt lightheaded. The party seemed like a long time ago based on what had happened since then. Now, she found herself cornered by twin siblings.
She turned to Logan first, “I’m fine. Nothing happened. Lauren had been around to help me.”
“And you…” Alex glared at Jae, “Why can’t you just say you wanted to know where he had been that night?”
“What makes you think he’ll answer that?” Jae snorted, “Unless the reason had something to do with his so-called new best friend?”
“Tell me what it is and I’ll decide for myself if it was fine or not” Logan demanded, tightening his grip on Alex’s arms.
Alex widened her eyes at him. He had his nostrils flared and his jaw locked. If he had been shaking, Alex would say he had been close to exploding.
“It’s a party. People get laid. Max thought I missed out. He had this whole thing called making me the most eligible bachelor on campus.”
“He locked you in a room?”
“No, no, no” Alex shook her head as pain shot up her arms, “He wanted me to flirt with girls and get one of them to bed. Lauren stopped him before he could really do anything about it.”
“Why are you defending him?!” Logan exasperated.
“Because! It happened but it also didn’t! It’s now over! I want to move on because I really don’t see it as a big deal! If it was, wouldn’t I have asked you where you were that night? Didn’t you keep telling me to go? And how you said you would be around so I had nothing to worry about?”
“Okay, lovebirds. No need to get into an argument about it” Jae tried to interfere.
Logan let go of Alex’s arms and pushed him in the chest, “Stay out of it, Jaelin.”
Jae scoffed, “Using my full name? Real mature, Logan.”
“Stop it!” Alex yelled, jogging up to them. She stood between them with her arms stretched to keep the two boys apart, “This is your house. There’s no need to drag the rest of your family into this mess right now.”
“What is going on here?” Aunt Tim asked as soon as she reached the top of the stairs.
Alex gulped. The way Aunt Tim looked earlier barely compared to how she looked now. She bowed her head low, her eyes up like a predator hunting its prey. Her shoes clicked against the floor, adding to her intimidating aura. When she reached them, she straightened her back and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I don’t know what teenagers learn in school these days but when I was your age, I learned that manners make a man. The two of you will turn 18 soon enough. By then, the law considers you as legal adults. Would you act like one, please? Whatever you are arguing about right now can wait until the three of you have cooled off.”
Only Alex had her eyes on Aunt Tim while Logan and Jae stared off into space. None of them spoke up.
Aunt Tim sighed but her voice remained firm, “If you have nothing to say then, Logan, go back to your room and rest. Jae, take Alex home. No more discussion about this until tomorrow, at least. Be alone with your thoughts for some time. Are we clear?”
…
…
…
“I said, are we clear?”
“Yes, ma’am” the three teenagers replied in unison.
Aunt Tim accompanied Logan back in his room. Alex guessed it was to make sure they won’t fight again.
At least, for now.
Jae led the way out of the house. He seemed quite rigid compared to his usual self. His footsteps stomped a little on the stairs while Alex’s barely touched the surface.
Halfway out the front door, another voice cut in.
“Be home in 30 minutes, Jae. Don’t go anywhere else. You’re still grounded.”
Alex looked over her shoulder and found Mr. Parker in the middle of the living room. He stood with his hands in his pant pockets. His eyes went past Alex and onto her companion.
She followed his gaze.
Unlike her, Jae didn’t turn around. He had stopped at the sound of his father’s voice but when he didn’t hear more of it, he walked out.
Alex snapped her wide eyes towards Mr. Parker. He nodded once at her, a tight smile on his face. Before Alex could respond, he stared up at the ceiling and sighed. Then, he shook his head and walked into a room.
Just like Alex predicted when she stopped the twins, their disagreement had also affected their family members—even if they tried to hide it.
She sighed.
She may not understand how the twins could act selfishly but this time around, it had her involved. Guilt seeped into her chest. If she had told Logan about the party earlier then, maybe things wouldn’t have gone this way.
The sound of a car honk broke Alex out of her reverie. She instantly jogged away from the house and to the convertible waiting out front.
The car door opened when she was halfway down the front steps, making it easy for her to hop inside. She closed the door and tucked in her seatbelt.
Then, she and Jae rolled out of the driveway and the gate.
“You’ll have to give me your address or we’ll get lost” Jae said as soon as they left his family’s property.
Alex gave him her aunt’s address. Jae didn’t say anything else so Alex presumed he already knew the way.
They spent the rest of the ride mostly in silence. Some of the streets barely had any lights but Jae drove through them just fine. He focused on the road ahead of him, clearing out other thoughts in his head. Yet, something really bugged him no matter how many times he placed it at the back of his mind.
“Why didn’t you tell Logan about the party?” He finally said out loud, “Did you really not care about it?”
Did she? She meant it when she said she wanted to move on and she had tried. When Logan showed up like nothing out of the ordinary happened, she turned a blind eye. She distracted herself from the voices inside her head that chanted since the night she heard his voicemail.
Despite all of that, Alex knew something still haunted her and the reason why she hadn’t told Logan was…
“He wasn’t there like he said he would be,” she whispered, looking out the window, “Doesn’t that mean he didn’t care about the party? Why should I tell him about it then? If he did care, wouldn’t he have shown up?”
Jae shook his head, “Aw, come on. People don’t show up at events a lot of times and for different reasons. Logan could have a valid reason.”
Yet, Logan never asked how it went, Alex thought to herself. Maybe Jae’s suspicions had been right. Maybe Logan did have something to hide about that night.
Alex shifted the conversation. Not only because she didn’t feel comfortable showing her vulnerability but also if Jae had been right, well, she wanted to know more about it.
She rolled her eyes and snorted, “That’s rich coming from you who kept claiming Logan had been out on a date.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m paranoid” Jae responded with his own eye roll, “Can’t really blame me for it since I actually saw his ex sometime ago.”
Did that mean she was in town? But hadn’t she always been around? Or did she move out before so Jae hadn’t been worried?
Who was this girl anyway?
“What’s so bad about her?” Alex asked, turning her head towards Jae. She didn’t want to pry in too much but her curiosity seriously got the best of her sometimes.
Jae didn’t spare her a glance but his eyes turn into a glare, “That liar? Everything. She is as fake as anyone could be—except Logan loved her. I wanted nothing but to peel her off him but I hadn’t seen Logan that happy since mother died. I couldn’t do it so I waited instead. Sooner or later, she’d make a mistake.”
Alex bit on her lip. Would it be too much to ask for more? Why couldn’t guys be more like girls who liked to spill out everything that bothered them? Apart from the rare exceptions.
Alex settled for a simple question, “And did she?”
The silence sounded louder than screams in her ears. She felt like she aged 10 years from the wait.
“She did but it came with consequences.”
