Because You Exist(27)

Nothing is coincidence

Nothing.

“Logan? Where’d you go? Why do you keep leaving me?” The sound of Jenna’s voice pulled me from the darkness. I was stupid to think of her as some symbol of our doomed future. She was the only thing that could save me from it and keep me going.

I pressed my lips to Jenna’s hungrily. I needed this girl. I wanted her. My hands moved to her hair as I moved my lips to her ear. “I’ll always be right here with you.”



***



As we were putting on our clothes back on, I could feel Jenna looking at me. I pulled down my shirt. “You all right?”

She nodded. She took a step closer to me and moved her hands to my belt.

“Again?” I asked with a grin.

She smiled and shook her head. “Don’t think we should tempt fate again. It’s a miracle my dad didn’t hear us.”

“Well, maybe if someone wasn’t so loud,” I teased, wrapping my arms around her waist.

“Funny.”

“I like to think so,” I replied with a playful shrug of my shoulders. This girl was softness and timidity. She was safe. I knew her.

“We’re good right?” she asked as she began to buckle my belt. Her eyes refused to look into mine.

I lifted her chin up so she would look at me. “Nothing is going on with Josephine and me. She needed my help. That’s all. I promise.”

Jenna nodded. “When did you become such a nice guy?” There was a slight joking manner to the way Jenna said these words, but it still hurt a little that she thought like everyone else that I was a jerk. Even if it was true.

“I guess you’re just a good influence on me,” I said, forcing a smile.

Yeah, cause sneaking into a man’s home and seducing his daughter while he’s downstairs watching SportsCenter screams stand-up guy,” Jenna laughed.

Zinger two.

“Hey. I gotta go. My uncle is expecting me home so we can go over plays for Friday’s game.” He wasn’t. I didn’t even know when he would be home. To be honest, I wasn’t particularly anxious to see him. I didn’t need any more proof that the craziness of the future world was bleeding into my world, a world that was becoming less easy to control.

Jenna stood on her toes and pressed a gentle kiss on my lips. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Right. School. Tomorrow. Great.





Chapter 15





“You’re all over Facebook, Middleton. I mean they should really give you some sort of award or something. Not since the death of Michael Jackson have I seen one name appear in so many people’s status updates.”

Alec didn’t waste any time cornering me the next morning at school. He was waiting for me at my locker. I had set my alarm for a half hour earlier than usual in hopes that I could make it to my locker and first period class without running into any of Shepherd High’s moral and ethics committee, which consisted of some of Shepherd High’s most amoral characters. Their motto: do as I say not as I do, and never screw up our football season. It wasn’t a real committee, but damn did they band together like one when the mob was unhappy.

Usually they approached the guilty party in waves: first your boys would approach you under the guise of wanting to help you out. Next, the girls would approach your girlfriend, sister, cousin, or whomever else they felt had some sort of influence over you. Last, they would go to a guidance counselor, feigning concern for your well-being. Last year, the mob squad went to the guidance counselor when Lisa, a cheerleader, a flier no less, put on twenty pounds over the summer. The girls went to the counselor and told her they were afraid Lisa was stress eating. And eating disorders are a no-no.

Even with my early start, Alec was waiting for me. Meaning he must have been really pissed. Alec didn’t show up early for anything unless it would result in free booze or some play. Once he went to the Coach’s daughter’s birthday party two hours early under the pretense that he was there to help set up. During the two hours before the party started, he stole beers from the cooler one at a time and hid them in a cooler he kept in the trunk of his car. He always got what he wanted.

Today that included reading me the riot act.

“I don’t have a Facebook,” I snapped. I didn’t need everyone knowing what I was doing every minute of the day. Besides, the stories they usually made up about my supposedly wild weekends were usually better than what actually occurred. And I kind of liked having an air of mystery to me. How popular would I be if everyone knew I was fully committed to Jenna and usually spent my weekends curled up on the couch with her watching cheesy chick flicks?

“Yeah? Maybe you should get one. Do some damage control. Cheating on Jenna Maples isn’t sitting well with most around here. People actually think she’s nice. Not to mention if you mess up tonight, you’ll really see the witch hunt begin.”