Pascal's Perfect Family

Logan Blythe

Looking back on it now, Pascal had never set off any red flags. He was just this clumsy man that had a hard time understanding boundaries and taking a hint that someone didn't want to be with him. He seemed so harmless, just a kind, puppylike man doing his best. Logan supposed if he had looked just a little bit harder, he would have seen all the small red flags Pascal consistently set off. The pushing, the constant taking Logan out to dinner, the strange conversations, the absurd amount of money Pascal casually threw around.

At least, it seemed that way. Because Pascal asked Logan to dinner every day, and if Logan said yes, Pascal was always the one that paid. Now that everything had been said and done, Logan had all the time in the world to ponder over every strange interaction, every look that lasted a second too long. All the red flags Pascal had set off. Pascal had left small clues the whole time. If Logan had tugged on the loose strings and slip-ups, maybe he would have found out before it was too late. But if he was going to do that, he should probably start at the beginning.

Logan was a simple man. He was tall and dark-skinned, darker than both of his biological parents. His facial features favored his father's eyebrows, mouth, and face shape, paired with his mother's long nose and big eyes. He always wore simple clothes, plain black polo shirts, tan khakis, or dark blue jeans. On the weekends he wore simple tee-shirts in darker blues and greens. Simple man, simple life. He had spent most of his life trying to blend into the background of other people's drama, although with his family's connections, that never really worked out for him.

It had been a normal day for Logan; wake up, take a shower, and get dressed at around 6:00 am sharp. Then he always ate a quick breakfast of cereal and coffee, pausing ever so often to tap his spoon against the table in a half-routine manner.

Tap, tap. Pause. Tap, long tap, tap, tap. Short pause. Long tap, long tap, long tap. Short pause. Tap, tap, tap, long tap. Short pause. Tap. Pause. Long tap, tap, long tap, long tap. Short pause. Long tap, long tap, long tap. Short pause. Tap, tap, long tap. Stop.

Once he finished eating and cleaned up, his phone would buzz with a call from his half-sister, Lacey. He would look at the phone, pick it up and feel its familiar weight in his hand, and ponder over whether or not he should answer. He always decided against it.

Logan collected his things and left for his work at the college, commuting by bus. Even after years of living with his father, he still couldn't bear to own a car. His mother's philosophies still lived at the forefront of his mind.

Even once he reached the college, nothing abnormal or even slightly different in his schedule had occurred. It wasn't until he managed to move through the crowd and get inside the building where he taught that Logan met the reason everything became strange.

The damning reason for his spiral had been a single misstep. Barely anyone else worked in the hall where Logan had classes, and the ones that did only had afternoon classes, so they would never be down there so early. As such, Logan had gotten used to a sense of isolation in the mornings. The quiet that came before the first of his students bothered to straggle into his classroom. And so, Logan didn't notice the man walking his way until they crashed straight into each other and toppled to the ground with a thud. Papers flew out of both men's hands, scattering around. It was an absolute mess, and it would have been unclear who's papers belonged to who, save for the foolish drawings littering the papers belonging to the stranger and his unusual bright colored paper.

"Oh, my goodness gravy! I'm so sorry!" The man in front of Logan hurriedly stood and ran around, stooping to collect the papers off of the ground. Logan attempted to find the glasses that had been knocked off of his face during the collision. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry; I should have been watching where I was going! It's my first day teaching here, and I was trying to find my room, but this map is just so dang confusing!"