Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

- 53 -

As Logan walked towards Roman's front door, he tried to keep the apprehension from climbing up from his chest and slipping onto his face. He knew that the only possible reason his brother would have come to get him in the middle of a party was because something bad had happened -- or was about to happen.

Logan passed Roman, who was peering out through the tall windows next to the door, no doubt with his eyes fixed on Damien. "Logan," the boy whispered, "what's going on?"

Logan shook his head. "I don't know." He paused to straighten his tie, then added bitterly, "But it's nothing good."

"And you have a brother?" Roman asked incredulously.

Logan nodded stiffly, casting Roman a stern look. "He's hardly my brother."

Outside the air was chilly. Logan had not brought a jacket, for the short walk to his house was nothing difficult in the cold. Sure enough, just as Andrew had said, Damien was leaning up against his new car, staring his brother down with a glare.

It seemed that all reformations the two had made in their relationship last time Damien had visited were unravelled and back to normal; the air crackled with hostility.

"I must say," Damien sneered, his short brown hair perfectly swept back, "when Mother and Father said that you were attending a 'social gathering,' I hardly expected to find you moping about a shabby high school party." His voice was dripping with gross superiority. And from the sharp, clean-cut glasses to the perfect hair to the tone of voice, Damien was disturbingly similar to their father. Logan found himself encountering the startling thought that this must have been what his father looked like as a late college student.

"Why are you here, Damien." Logan crossed his arms, uninterested in the games or quips his brother had to offer. As much as he loved to argue, now wasn't the time; it was Roman's birthday. Plus, the faster Logan could figure out what was going on, the sooner he could get rid of the nervousness that he was actively forcing down.

Damien sighed, seeming to cross his arms tighter to combat Logan. "Where's Patton?" he asked.  "That was his name, right?" His voice was uncomfortably cold.

A sort of chill ran down Logan's spine. "What would he have to do with this?"

Damien picked himself up from the car and began to walk slowly around Logan, circling him menacingly, like a lion or a wolf. "Everything, little brother."

Logan huffed, gritting his teeth so to keep his cool. "Cut the act, Damien. What is it that you want? You're not a movie villain, you're my brother -- so act like it." As much as he was trying to downplay the effect of the scare tactics, they really were working. If Logan wasn't panicking before, he sure was now.

"Fine," Damien bickered. "Our whole family's been suspicious for a little while now, but on my way to the office this evening, I saw you and your 'friend' in there --" he gestured towards Roman's house, "-- holding hands."

Logan felt the awful feeling in his chest expand throughout his entire body upon hearing Damien's words. His feet went numb and rooted to the spot, and even though Logan was somehow able to keep the panic off of his face, he couldn't keep it out of his shaking hands. All he could think in that moment was, They know. They know. They know. They know.

Logan opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a word out, Damien threw up a stern hand. "Don't even try to make excuses or cover this up. I know what I saw, and I saw the way you two were interacting."

Logan clenched his fists. "I wasn't going to make excuses," he snarled. "I'm not like you -- I don't look for any back door out that I can possibly find." He sighed. "I knew this was coming," Logan admitted, turning back towards the house, "I just didn't know when."