Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 21

Later that night I spent a rare evening to myself. Vic was busy and the guys were out drinking somewhere. I'd told them all I couldn't make it because I had to catch up on coursework, which was partially true. But my laptop was laying carelessly beside me, powered up but untouched. 

I couldn't really concentrate. If I was being honest I just wanted to be alone. I had managed a good fake smile for the majority of the day but now I was too tired to keep it up, and I didn't want to bring anyone's mood down. 

I mean I had tried not to think about it, but it was hard. Where was I going to spend Christmas now? At uni? I heard they put on a meal or something for students who stay, so that's a plus. 

I'd just need to buy a hell of a lot of alcohol to go with it. 

I sighed. Thinking about this was making me miserable. I needed a distraction. I looked around for some sort of other activity for me to focus on but I came up with nothing. 

Urgh. Maybe I should've gone out with the guys tonight. 

The best thing to do was probably call it a day and go to sleep. I just had to hope the morning would bring some better options for me. 

But before I could even get ready for bed my phone started bleeping widely. I groaned. But as Drake's name flashed across the screen I immediately picked up. Maybe a drunken call from my mates would be enough to cheer me up. "Hello?" 

"Hey Jack are you busy right now?" 

"No," I said with a smile, slightly bemused. "I was just about to go to bed." 

"Okay well...can you come down to Dev's?" 

I laughed. "Why? Surely it's closing soon." 

"Yeah it is but..." Drake sighed and trailed off before speaking again. "Look I'll be level with you. Logan is being a right pain at the minute and refuses to leave until he sees you at the club. He's really pissed: someone kept buying him drinks all night." 

"Oh wow. Doesn't he realise I'm like a ten minute walk away, back at his own apartment?" 

"No I don't even think he knows where he is. We're just sitting outside because he's been kicked out but-" 

Suddenly some loud shouting interrupts Drake and I distinctly hear Logan's voice through the phone. "Is that Jack? Tell him to...to get his British...stupid arse here...right now!" 

I couldn't help but chuckle: he did sound awful. 

"Alright I'm coming." It wasn't like I had anything better to do, and the campus club wasn't exactly far. This was the distraction I'd asked for, right? "See you in ten." 

Drake sighed with relief. "Thank you mate, you're the best." 

When I reached Dev's I spotted the gang almost immediately, or what was left of it anyway. Clearly a good majority of our friends had avoided babysitting duty. Right now I could make out Drake and Molly, the latter looking surprisingly tipsy herself and all over her grumpy boyfriend; Rachel who shockingly seemed absolutely sober and a bit miffed to match; and Jared, who definitely was stoned. 

My dear flatmate himself was sat firmly on his arse in the middle of the pavement, being unfortunately loud and attention drawing. I heard his voice a good few minutes ago as I was walking to the club. 

"Jack." Drake positively beamed at me as I approached and Rachel looked pretty happy as well. "Thank the Lord you're here." 

I laughed and went over to my drunk flatmate who had his back turned to us, and prodded him hard in the shoulder. He whirled around to glare at the intrusion but when he saw it was me his face lit up. "Jack!" 

"Hello Logan. I hear you've had a bit too much to drink." 

He scoffed at the accusation. "What a load of...bull. I'm...awesome. Let's go clubbing!" 

I rolled my eyes and laughed at him. "Nah I think you've done too much partying tonight. Come on lets go back to the flat." 

"No." He huffed and pouted at me like I'd just denied him a tub of candy. "I ain't going...anywhere if it ain't...in that...place with a good few...berrs!" 

Berrs? I just knew he was going to wake up tomorrow feeling so embarrassed. 

I groaned, realising that Drake had not been exaggerating when saying how difficult Logan was being. My American best friend was a strange drunk, I already knew that much. First he would be super flirty and would try get with anyone that breathed, and then as he drank more and more he'd become like a stubborn child. I'd never seen him this bad though. 

I decided that if he wanted to act like a kid than I was going to treat him like one. 

"Logan, if you don't come back right now than you're not gonna be allowed to watch any television for the next three weeks!" 

Wow I was really resorting to wack tactics now. 

Surprisingly, however, it seemed to work. He turned around to look at me in horror. "What about my games?" 

I shook my head and tried to look stern. "No games for a month." 

"A month! That is so unfair!" 

"Well I suggest you get your ass back to the apartment then. If you do then I promise I'll play anything you want tomorrow." 

"Fine!" 

He then proceeded to stand up and walk away from the club. I wrapped an arm around his shoulder to keep him balanced, whilst silently laughing to the rest of the group who all were stuck somewhere in between amazement and hysterics. I couldn't believe what had just happened and there was no chance I was ever going to let him live it down. 

After bidding our goodbyes to the rest of the group with Logan still sulking, I got him to sit down in the living room and drink a few big jugs of water. A while later he began to sober up, even though it wasn't enough for him to realise how embarrassing he'd been that night. 

He was able to manage a civilised conversation, though, which was pretty impressive. "Jack?" 

"Yes." 

"Can I ask you something?" 

Uh oh. "Sure." 

He paused for a moment before letting the question tumble out of his mouth. "Are you on good enough terms with your folks to go back there for Christmas?" 

I almost dropped the glass I was holding. Where the hell had that come from? Had my face really been that easy to read? No way. I hadn't been that obvious.

I could easily believe Logan was secretly psychic: he just hit the mark way too many times with me. 

"I don't think so," I answered shortly, trying to hide the shock of the question and the pain that accompanied the topic. 

"Well," he started, almost looking nervous for a moment. I couldn't tell if he was still really drunk right now or he had sobered up more than he was letting on. "I'd been thinking of asking you for a while...but I was waiting to see if things changed. As they haven't, I was wondering if you'd like to spend Christmas with my family? You know, if you want to." 

I turned around and gaped at him for a moment, shocked at what he was offering me. 

"My family love having people round," he rambled on, ignoring my expression. "There wouldn't be a problem and we have a big house and shit." 

"Are you sure?" I asked, finally regaining my speech. "Is this just the alcohol talking?" 

"No! It'd be awesome if you came! Then I wouldn't have to speak to my boring ass relatives by myself!" 

I laughed but inside I felt so grateful and happy I almost wanted to jump around in joy. "Yeah of course I'll come! It'll be a riot." 

We grinned at each other. It looked like I wouldn't be having a lonely Christmas after all.