Something Else Entirely

21 - She's really beautiful when she's not trying to hate me.

Byron's team won, giving them a shot in the grand final next week, which he was super stoked on. The whole time he was playing I either sat on the fence or leaned against it on my own, my only company being Darcie when she caught sight of me and pulled her little, giggling girlfriends towards me.

Logan didn't try to talk to me, and now we were standing around each other again congratulating Byron on his win, she continued to not speak to me, look at me, or even breathe in my direction.

"Congrats, mate. Really good game," I said, shaking his hand. "Listen, I'm going to head home, but I'll meet you at your place later."

"You sure? You can always just come home with us and your family can just meet you there later," he said, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah," I said, glancing quickly over at Logan, but turning away when I caught her looking at me, too. "I want to check in back home and help out with the cleaning and shit so they don't have to do it all. I'll just see you later."

"How are you getting home?"

"Dunno. I'll catch a bus or train or something," I said. Our houses were conveniently along the same train line, so it shouldn't be too difficult once I found my way to the station.

"Logan could probably take you. She lives closer to you anyway. You don't mind, do you, Loges? You said you were heading home first anyway."

Goddamn, I have the worst fucking luck.

"I'm really fine," I said hurriedly, at the same time as Logan said, "Yeah, sure," which I was not at all expecting. I thought she was going to tell Byron that she'd rather drink bleach, or stab herself in the eye with a toothpick, or drown a few small puppies, or basically anything other than an easy 'Yeah, sure.'

She even pulled her keys out of the pocket of her skinny jeans and started saying goodbye to her aunt, uncle and cousins. I think I must have been in shock or something because I barely heard her say, "You coming, Jet?" over the sound of my brain trying to process what the hell was happening.

How did I go from having this girl wanting to castrate me, to me giving her an honest piece of my mind which bordered on being incredibly harsh and rude, to her voluntarily agreeing to drive me the half hour home, just the two of us alone in her car?

She led me to a small, older model, two-door Suzuki Vitara, opening the driver's side with her key and climbing in to unlock the door on the passenger side where I was standing waiting for her, not that I was conscious of my legs actually moving there themselves.

I don't want to be stuck in a car alone with Logan. I can't be trusted not to tell her where to go again. Nor do I think I can be trusted not to kiss her incredibly inviting lips, recently smeared again with that shiny nude pink shit I'm coming to adore.

I opened the door, leaning in to look at her sliding back onto her own seat, buckling the seat belt over her modest chest. "Are you sure this is okay? I can really just catch a train."

"It's fine. Get in. I won't bite." Last time someone else said that to me, I was a lot less clothed and a lot more eager for a biting. Though, truth be told, being in a similar position with a feisty Logan wouldn't be something I'd be at all opposed to, if she were to promise not to murder me in the process.

I chuckled, trying to erase mental images of both Logan and Lahela from my mind. I'm not convinced Logan wouldn't find a way to run me over if she caught on to the scenarios running through my mind right now. Scenarios I was trying to figure out how I could make a reality. "Consider me skeptical, at best," I said coolly, finally sliding into the passenger seat.