Page 42 of Becoming Selfish

I start walking towards him as I begin my apology. “About last night—”

“Don’t worry about it. We were both drunk,” Marc cuts me off, shaking his head.

“No, you were right. And I shouldn’t have talked to you like that. My bad, man.” I give him an apologetic grin and hold my fist out to him.

He pounds my fist with his. “It’s all good, man. Want to come in?” he asks, nodding towards his room.

Following him inside, I take a seat on his desk chair, while he lies on his bed with his arms casually crossed underneath his head.

“So, you’re looking for Logan?” he asks without an ounce of judgment in his voice.

I slump over, leaning my elbows on my knees, and take a deep breath.

“Yeah. I need to apologize for something.” I keep my eyes away from his. I don’t want to see him disappointed with me again.

“Eli James Maddison is apologizing?” He slowly says my name, pronouncing every syllable. “I’ve lived to see it all.”

“Hilarious, man.” I look down, shaking my head.

“I’m just giving you a hard time. When did you get so sensitive?” He throws a pillow in my direction, hitting me in the face with it. “I don’t know when she’ll be back, though. You should just text her.”

I pick up the pillow and toss it back at him, missing intentionally. “I don’t have her number.”

Marc reaches for his phone to airdrop Logan’s contact info to me. Getting her number has proven easier than I thought it would be. When I hear my phone ding, I pick it up, eager to save her information.

“Leo? That’s her last name?” I ask while looking down at my phone, but Marc doesn’t respond.

When I look back up at him, he’s no longer paying attention to me as he mindlessly scrolls through his phone. Since he seems distracted, I take this as a prime opportunity to ask him some questions without raising suspicion.

“So...what’s her story?” I try to make it seem as if my question is impromptu.

It doesn’t work. Marc sets his phone on his bed and eyes me carefully, silently asking me to elaborate.

“You’ve said she’s had a tough life, but you’ve never explained.” I shrug, trying to keep my expression casual.

Marc shakes his head. “I don’t know, man. It’s not my place to say. She’s not really one to open up. She’s a lot like you in that way, actually.” He pauses a moment before expanding on his thoughts. “It’s her story, and I think that she should be the one to decide if she shares it.” He gives me an apologetic smile when he refuses to answer my question.

I stay silent, unsatisfied with his response, but trying to be understanding.

He must sense my unrest as he continues. “I mean, you know about Logan’s dad. I’m surprised she told you about that as quickly as she did. It took her a good three months to share anything with me,” he says, trying to reassure me about my lack of knowledge of the girl.

“Yeah. I guess so. I’m just trying to figure her out,” I explain.

I never ask Marc for this kind of information; I typically could care less. He knows me well enough to know that if I’m asking, it’s for a good reason. That reason being, she’s all I’ve thought about since the day I met her, but he doesn’t need to know the exact details.

He sits up, putting his back against his headboard, stretching his legs out in front of him, and gathering the words he’s going to say next.

“Look, all I’ll say is that she is probably the toughest person I know. She’s dealt with more at our age than someone should have to.” He shakes his head. “I wanted her to come out here so she could have fun and be a normal twenty-two-year-old for once. She’s been taking care of other people most of her life. I just wanted her to take care of herself for a change.”

He didn’t elaborate much, but it’s enough to appease me, for now.

“You’re a good guy, Marc,” I remind my brother with sincerity.

He rolls his eyes, a small laugh rattling in his chest. “Yeah. I know.”

I laugh along with him, both of us obviously finished with the heart-to-heart shit.

“So, how bad did you fuck up?” he asks with an amused smile, crossing his arms in front of his chest and changing the subject.

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