Page 57 of The Obsession

“Huh? Oh, heh. Can’t help it, these are really good.” He stuffed his third piece in his mouth. Fidget, fidget. He really wasn’t looking well.

“Have some water,” I said, handing him a bottle.

Logan gulped down the water and sighed. “I’m sorry, it’s so hard to focus on my essay with all this shit going on.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s…stuff from my past. It’s not important.”

The only stuff I knew from his past had to do with Sophie, but saying her name out loud to Logan felt all sorts of wrong.

“Okay, well, if you ever wanna talk about it…” Not that I cared, but it might give me some information I could use.

“Thanks, Dee.” He smiled, and for a second, he was the old Logan—charming, golden, healthy. Only for a second, though. He resumed shifting and squirming and running his fingers through his greasy hair. “Anyway!” he said suddenly, clapping loudly. “College apps. Let’s do this!” He rubbed his hands together. I resisted the urge to reach out and smack them so they’d stop flying everywhere.

“I heard from Aisha that you guys had a college prep thing over the summer where they taught you the basics of what to include in your college essay,” I said.

“Yep. They pretty much guided us through everything. I actually wrote my college essay then and there.”

“Wow.” I chewed my lip. An idea was taking root. Could this be my chance to stop Logan from following me all the way to NUS? “Can I take a look so I have an idea what colleges are looking for?”

“Anything for you.” He slid his laptop around to face me, took out his cellphone, and began tapping on it.

“Thanks.” I skimmed the first page, my heart beating in my throat. This was it. My chance to keep him from NUS. I sighed theatrically. “You’ve got quite a few grammatical errors in here. It’s driving me bonkers.”

Logan focused his eyes on me and grinned. “Who would’ve known that you’re the grammar police?”

“I’m gonna edit this. Don’t worry, I’ll use Track Changes.”

“Thanks, babe. You’re so sweet.”

Babe. Ugh.

I started typing so he’d stop talking to me. I was almost all the way through Logan’s essay, which was annoyingly well-written, when he got up.

“Gonna go to the restroom,” he said.

I froze. He was actually going to leave me alone with his computer. I wasn’t sure if pre-drugged-out Logan would’ve been so careless. I waved him off as casually as I could, still typing and making changes to his essay. As soon as he was out of sight, I minimized the document window, clicked on the computer icon, and called up a search. I went through the list of words he might’ve saved the video under.

Delilah.

Brandon.

Jackson.

Wong.

Camaro.

No luck. I looked through his recently opened files. Still no luck. I opened the internet browser and looked at his search history. Sweet Jesus. He’d not only done an extensive search on me, he’d also done his homework on Aisha and Mom and Pa.Sick, sick fuck. When I finally get rid of you, I’m going to—no, focus.I scrolled down the list, chewing on my lip. Where could he have hidden the file? He wouldn’t stick with the one copy he had on his phone; he must’ve made several copies. I’d planned on finding them and deleting them all, but here I was, unable to locate even one.

I was so engrossed in looking for the video I almost didn’t hear Logan coming back. He was at the desk before I noticed, and I started, barely having time to close the browser before he leaned over and took a peek.

“Doing a little snooping, are we?”

“Um—”Thinkfastthinkfastthink!

“That’s okay, it’s only natural to be curious when you like someone.” The kindness in his voice grated.

---