Page 96 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
“Worse?”
“Like…Cheerleader Gone Wildor something.”
I scrunched my nose. “As if. We have a status to maintain.”
“My mistake.” I could hear a smile in his voice, and could feel the turn of his lips as they brushed my ear. I went ramrod straight in his embrace as electricityzingedthrough me. “Ooh, what’s this one?Madison’s Mystery Man—” Logan abruptly stopped reading.
It was the Babble post that’d gone out on the first day of the school year. After Ava had posted her Welcome Back article, and after Jade and I had gone around the school hyping up Logan’s impending arrival.
Madison’s Mystery Man—Fact or Fiction?
My Babble inbox has been floooooded with the news. Brentwood High’s latest transfer student is Madison’s new boo? Sounds dreamy. The only problem… is that he’s nowhere to be seen. But don’t worry! Babble will have the inside scoop for you first, and Madison would totally never let us down, so everyone keep their eyes out!
She was more gracious than most of the student body was. I knew without looking what the comments all said;I’d burned them into my memory.He totally doesn’t existorShe’s just trying to steal Jade’s spotlightandhow embarrassing that she got ghosted!I’d been refreshing the comments almost as incessantly as I’d been scrolling Logan’s text thread back then.
I could feel Logan’s shoulders fall. “I should’ve been honest earlier.” Regret filled Logan’s voice. “I shouldn’t—I shouldn’t have let you think that for so long.”
“It was Jade’s fault, really,” I told him. He tensed as I shifted in his arms. “She wanted to post about you to stir up excitement. But don’t worry, it blew over pretty quickly.” The Most Likely Tos had taken its place as the superior gossip topic. The memory ofthatarticle dropping had my stomach turning.
“Do you see yourself being friends with Jade forever?” Logan asked me after a beat. “You’re that close? You’d forgive her… for anything?”
I lowered my phone a little, because the idea offoreverandJadeas of late immediately made me pause. As strange as it sounded, I couldn’t picture it at all. Life after high school in general just seemed so fuzzy, like an unfocused lens of a camera, but the idea of Jade after Brentwood seemed… impossible.You’d forgive her for anything?
“I don’t want to talk about Jade,” I said, turning around and looking up at Logan. His expression was clearly twisted with something like unease. I locked my phone and placed my hand on his leg, batting my eyes at him. “I don’t want to look at Babble anymore, either. I just want to be here in the moment with you.”
It didn’t immediately clear Logan’s restlessness, but his eyes curved ever so slightly, on the cusp of a smile. “Deal.” And he allowed me to settle back into his arms, once more drawing me close.
We sat like that for a little longer before he had to head to get ready for his game and I had to get ready for mine. We made nonsense shapes out of the clouds, laughed at the truly ridiculous images, and soaked up the sunlight as it peeked through. Logan’s fingers traced their own mystery shapes along my skin, and I leaned my temple back against his chin, and everything was perfect.
I could do this forever, I thought while the time passed, feeling his heart beat against my back, my own matching the pace.I want this. Forever.
It sounded strange, but I didn’t like Players Only parties.
They were parties that one of the football players normally hosted after a home game, whether celebrating a win or complaining about a loss, but only footballers and cheerleaders were invited. No one else.
And there was a rule about these parties—nothing was ever allowed to end up on Babble. It led to more freedom of speech, which meant pettier conversations.
“Stop being such an idiot, Connor,” Jade snapped.
I glanced down at her from where I sat perched on the couch’s arm, her tone startling me. Connor sat beside her on the couch, with another football player at his other side.
Riley was nowhere to be found, which was interesting. I thought about asking once or twice, but I didn’t care enough.
“I get that you’re going rogue, but you’re not stupid enough to really turn down homecoming court.”
“Yeah, dude,” Ashton said from across the room. He stood behind Gina’s chair, letting his fingers nonchalantly brush against her shoulders. “Especially becauseyou’re going to win. Why throw it away when it’s not even a contest?”
“Maybe because I don’twantto win,” Connor replied, scowling.
“That’s not what you said two weeks ago.”
“A lot can happen in two weeks.”
Ashton arched an eyebrow. “Like going into the closet with another girl?”
Connor squeezed his eyes shut, the area around his mouth whitening. “How many times do I have to tell you that I was in therealone?”
“Odd place to be having somealone time,” Kyle piped up. He leaned against the couch by my feet, and I had to keep kicking my foot when he shifted his weight against my shins. “Just saying.”
