Not Another Summer Love Story

Chapter 17 - Closer

My high pitched tone reflected my astonishment. "What?" I squeaked.

"I know you have something with Logan or whatever, you're not damaging that or anything. Just don't go out of your way to tell them you and him aren't a thing."

Lottie looked as if her words were completely logical. I guess they were, but I couldn't shake the moral dilemma I had with her plan.

"Anyway," she said before I could say anything more. "Want some help to lug that bloody thing down the stairs?"

Logan and Noah were the only ones sitting beneath the jetty when we came into view. As usual they were both shirtless, which made my heart bloat for a second because I hadn't seen Logan shirtless since he kissed me. Prompted by my physical reaction, the scene of him kissing me on the jetty which was just above his head played for the hundredth time.

He wore a confident smirk, which Noah mirrored beside him, not quite as well as Logan. It missed some cockiness, maybe some of the smartness behind his expression.

"Thanks for jumping up to help us, gentlemen," Lottie exclaimed as we wheeled the esky to a stop. As if energised with the idea of beer they each got up.

"We're actually trying to encourage gender equality," Noah said. But he was laughing, which is good because I think Lottie could have punched him in his sculpted nose if he wasn't.

"Missed you around, Vally," Logan murmured as Lottie and Noah's attention was driven to a distant approaching figure. Something about his proximity made me extraordinarily nervous, and my mind wandered again to the kiss. But it wasn't the idea of kissing him that made my knees week, it was what could lead from that.

It had been a handful of days since our date, and between work and Maisie I'd only made it down to the beach once. The one time Noah was out surfing alone. Logan had been absent.

I didn't know what to say, missed you too? Cool? Once again I was caught between acting how we usually did and talking about feelings and acting sentimental. I think I opened and closed my mouth a few times before he continued to talk.

"Was it good news or bad news this morning?"

It took me a second to realise what he was talking about. His blue eyes had a way of locking mine in. "Good. I got my first preference. You?"

"Of course you did. And yeah, me too."

"You don't sound particularly excited?" I noted.

"It's in Melbourne," he said. "Kinda a long way away."

Melbourne was also on the East coast of Australia, whereas we were on the West, along with Perth. Melbourne was actually just below Sydney, where my dream course lay. "What made you apply there?"

"The program. You know how I want to do law. It's recognised a lot in the industry and it has good options for work experience. Everything is dead around here."

I hadn't thought very far about my slowly growing relationship with Logan. It was inevitable that we'd be starting university in about a month and a half, being mid-January. And if he was going to go to Melbourne, we'd be apart no matter what. There was an option to change which preference you held as your first before the second round of offers were released. That was a very small window, though. Only two days.

"I'm thinking of re-applying to Sydney," I blurted. "But like you said, it's really far away."

"It's weird that it's all coming up so quickly, isn't it?" He sighed and reached back to rub his shoulder.