Page 57 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
“I shouldn’t have come over here.” Logan gave a soft sigh, and for the first time, unease entered his voice. “You ever do something you know is wrong, but you can’t help yourself?”
I swallowed hard. “You know I have.”
“Right. Me.” Logan shifted on his feet, his shoulder brushing more firmly against the middle of my back. “I shouldn’t have come here. But I had to see you again. Just once.”
My eyes snapped open—when had they fallen shut? I glanced back to my lane again, but I still couldn’t see Jade through the crowd of people. What if she saw us? The thought of getting caught had me sweating. “It’s not only my friends here. The girl who runs the gossip site?—”
“Let’s not talk, then,” Logan said abruptly, but the pressure of his body didn’t disappear from my back. “Pretend I’m not even here.”
The line shuffled forward again. Two people ahead of us.
Logan’s fingertips brushed my clenched fist in a teasing touch before gently taking it into his large hand. I jumped at the contact, and how the coolness of his skin attempted to swallow my fire. He worked his fingers around mine, forcing them to loosen, my nails easing up at where they’d been biting into my palms.
A shiver still zipped its way across my body. I allowed myself to imagine what it’d be like if I leaned back, connecting my spine along his chest. What it’d be like if his lips grazed my ear, my cheek. I thought aboutwhat those arms, lined with muscle from a boy dedicated to his sport, would feel like if they settled against me, wrapped around my waist.
I focused on the menu hanging above the counter, but the words meant nothing to me.
Logan’s fingertips brushed my knuckles, a teasing, ghostly swipe. It was my left hand, and he stood so close that even if my friends did look over, they couldn’t have known he was touching me.
Pretend I’m not here. His words turned my mind to mush. My fingers imperceptibly curled around the tip of his thumb.We can keep us a secret.
Logan pressed his palm flat against mine, like a kiss.
A sharp shriek cut through the bowling alley. I jerked toward my lane just in time to see Maisie shoving her chair back from her table, dark pop soaking the front of her white shorts. Her boyfriend beside her picked the fallen cup, and one of her friends started dabbing with napkins.
Even from here, I could hear the amusement in Jade’s tone. “There she goes again.Clumsy.”
A tight pressure gripped my chest, especially when Maisie pushed away from her table and stormed toward the bathrooms, with nearly everyone in the alley watching her. It was like freshman year all over again.
“Do you know her?” Logan asked at the same time the girl at the counter sighed in frustration.
“Hello?” she called. I hadn’t even noticed the kid in front of me had already ordered. “Do you know what you want? There’s a line.”
Logan’s mind-boggling touches paired with Maisie practically fleeing into the bathroom left me imbalanced, like a robot glitching. What was I in line for? What wasthe last thing Logan asked me? What should I be doing? My legs hummed, as if about to start moving on their own accord, but I had no idea where they’d lead me.
“Two large pepperoni pizzas, please,” Logan answered for me, reaching around me to offer out a small wad of cash. “One for lane nine and another for lane twenty-two, please.”
I looked up at him in shock—for the fact that he bought my pizza but also knew my lane number, but Logan only looked down and gave a nod of his chin. “Go ahead,” he said to me, eyes flicking toward the bathroom.
My first thought was all question marks. Go after Maisie Matthews? Me? “We’re—we’re not friends.”
Logan arched an eyebrow. “So?”
In Logan’s world, it was simple. Everything was simple. Even if I weren’t friends with Maisie Matthews, I could still go check on her. That was the kind thing to do. The obvious thing.
In my world, though, everything was complicated. But what could I tell him? That Jade wouldn’t be happy if I checked on her? I could already see his reaction—his eyes would darken in disappointment, he’d shake his head, and saysee, you will peak in high school.
Before I even decided, my feet took me forward.
Freshman year, when Maisie ran out of the gym, I hadn’t gone after her. I always told myself I wouldn’t have done anything differently.
But that was a lie.
So, despite the fact that I could practically feel Jade’s glare follow me the entire way, I crossed the bowling alley and pushed open the restroom door.
Maisie stood by the sink, scrubbing at her white shorts. Water and soda dripped down her legs, but shedidn’t seem to care. She didn’t seem to notice my presence, either, dabbing almost mechanically. “Are you okay?” I asked hesitantly.
She didn’t look up. “Yeah,” she replied, but her voice was thick.
