Chapter 31
ALEX
My hands tremble as I lift them to knock on dorm room eighty-five.
I haven’t been to Logan’s dorm before, and I’m not sure why I’m nervous. It probably looks like every other dorm on campus. Logan isn’t that special, even if I think he is.
“Alright, I’m moving it, geez!” a muffled voice calls from inside.
I pause before knocking and step back as the door swings open, revealing a guy who definitely isn’t Logan.
He stops in the middle of the doorway, smirks at me, then glances back into the room.
“Your date’s here.”
He gives me a shark-toothed grin as he crosses his arms and sizes me up.
I shift on my feet, wondering if this stunning guy in Logan’s dorm room is Kai.
He runs a hand through his black hair and fiddles with the chain necklace resting against his caramel-colored skin.
“Hello to you too,” I mumble, crossing my arms.
“Kai, get out!” Logan yells in exasperation.
Well, that answers that question.
Kai looks back at me and winks before pushing past me. “You’re not even going to introduce me?”
Logan finally appears in the doorway. He gives me an apologetic look.
“Alex, this is Kai, my roommate and best friend. Kai, this is Alex.”
I hold out a hand to Kai as he looms over me. He smiles and shakes it.
“It’s nice to finally meet the man, the myth, the legend.”
I raise my eyebrows.
Kai snorts. “Sorry. It’s nice to meet the guy who turned Logan to my side.”
“Kai. Shut the—”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, even though Logan might tackle you if you don’t leave in the next thirty seconds,” I say, interrupting him.
Kai laughs and looks at Logan. “Hey, he’s funny too. You really lucked out.”
“Goodbye, Kai,” Logan admonishes.
He lets go of my hand. “Have fun, you two. I’ll be... around.”
Kai waves goodbye, and I turn to Logan.
He looks thoroughly displeased.
“Sorry about him. He doesn’t know when to turn off the flirt persona sometimes.”
I shrug. “He seems fun. I didn’t mind it.”
Logan holds out his hand. “Well, you’re spending time with me, okay?” he says, a hint of possessiveness creeping into his tone.
I take his hand, a buzz surging through me as Logan leads me into his dorm.
It’s a pretty standard dorm room, littered with football posters and memorabilia.
Kai’s side is covered with posters of football stars and teams, with trophies and medals scattered across his dresser. Next to his bed is a picture of Kai with what I assume are his parents and brother on a tropical beach.
“Are those Kai’s parents?” I ask as I look at the picture. “Is he—”
“His dad’s Hawaiian, and his mom is from just outside Montgomery. They separated a couple of years after he was born, though, and his mom had his little brother, Isaac, with another guy.”
Wow. Kai and I have a lot in common, from our heritage to our names.
I smile down at the picture. Kai is mixed-race, like me. I had a feeling he was, but I didn’t want that to be the first question I asked him when we met.
I put Kai’s picture back on his nightstand and look over at Logan’s desk.
I run my hand along it, stopping at another picture of a young Logan with his mom kneeling behind him and hugging him.
“That’s your mom?”
Logan nods. “That was around the time she started teaching me about constellations.”
“You were a cute kid,” I comment, smiling at the picture.
Logan crosses his arms. “I guess I was,” he mumbles.
I turn my attention back to Logan’s side of the room. He seems to have cleaned up pretty well. The floor is completely spotless.
A poster of constellations hangs beside Logan’s bed.
I point to it. “Is that how you impress all your dates?”
“It’s just pretty.”
I nod. “Right. So that was all just to impress me? You don’t genuinely have a love for the stars, then?”
Logan shoves me playfully. “Did you come here to comment on my decor?”
I shake my head. “No…”
My eyes land on a kangaroo sitting on his bed, and I gasp. “But maybe this, yes!”
I dive for it and pick it up. “Who’s this?”
“Be careful with him,” Logan mumbles, his eyes anxious as he watches me handle it.
“Him?”
Logan nods. “His name’s Theo. I got him after meeting a kangaroo when I was in Australia when I was nine.”
My jaw drops. “You went to Australia?”
“Yeah. My parents surprised me with the trip. I haven’t forgotten it. And I haven’t forgotten Theo.”
I look down at the kangaroo and think about the fact that he’s kept the same stuffed animal for over ten years.
“That’s so cute,” I say, smiling up at him.
I place Theo carefully back on Logan’s pillow.
“Do you wanna sit?” Logan asks.
I nod and sit down on his bed, a slight creak emanating from the frame as he sits beside me.
I look around the room again. There’s a dartboard on the outside of Logan’s closet door, and judging by the small holes scattered across it, he and Kai have less-than-stellar aim.
“It’s a lot cleaner than I thought it would be. You might think it’s primitive of me, but honestly, I thought football players would be slobs.”
Logan chuckles. “Well, I’m not a football player anymore, but we are extremely regimented people. I carried that with me even after my injury. Kai, however…”
“You do a lot of the cleaning for him.”
Logan’s cheeks puff in embarrassment. “Yeah.”
I chuckle. “Hey, I respect the hustle. I need my space clean at all times. I keep Naomi out of my room for that reason.”
“She’s messy?”
I throw my head back and groan. “Her room is a disaster. She says it’s a ‘No Boys Allowed’ zone, but I think she needs a boy in there. Me, specifically. To clean it up.”
Logan chuckles. “I wonder if she would let me.”
The thought of Logan being in Naomi’s room sounds like a disaster waiting to happen in the best way possible, like a giant walking through a small town and crushing buildings and cars as he goes.
“Oh, she absolutely would. You’re basically a god to her now.”
“I guess we’ll have to see.”
Logan smirks at me, and I look away to hide my blush.
He reaches in front of me, brushing his arm lightly against my chest as he does.
“So, I have a bunch of streaming services. We could watch whatever you want. I have some popcorn too, or we can order something if you want.”
My body buzzes at the thought of lying next to Logan on his bed.
“I am a bit hungry… how about some pizza?” I offer.
Logan nods. “Sure. As long as you let me pay.”
I gasp. “What?”
Logan pokes my nose softly. “You’re my guest. I have to pamper you. And you’ve given me so many free coffees.”
“And you’ve given me insane cash tips,” I counter.
He sighs and places a hand gently on my knee. “Please, Alex, just let me pay. Given how hard you’re working and how you're trying to support your family, I don’t have to worry about money. I don’t want you to have to either.”
I open my mouth to argue, but the warmth and earnestness in Logan’s eyes stop me. Instead, I let out a sigh of defeat.
“Fine. I only eat cheese pizza.”
“I knew you would say that.”
I scoff. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re interesting and unique in so many ways. You had to be plain and ordinary in at least one aspect,” Logan teases.
I scoff. “Everyone loves cheese pizza!”
He shrugs. “Yeah, but not me. I love Hawaiian with extra anchovies.”
I stick out my tongue. “You have a personality defect. Genuinely.”
Logan shoves me. “You’re talking to me like that in my own dorm room? In Kai’s dorm room—of which he is of Hawaiian descent? On my own bed? In front of Theo?”
I look at Theo, then back at Logan.
I pick up Theo and put his paw over his mouth, mimicking him throwing up. “Theo agrees, actually.”
Logan carefully takes Theo from me, his fingers gently brushing against mine. “He does not.”
My fingers tremble from the brief contact of his skin on mine.
I shake my head, trying to reorient myself. “Fine. Just for that, I’m making you watch my favorite movie.”
Logan smirks. “And that’s a bad thing because?”
I press a finger against his chest. “Because it’s Scream.”
His eyes widen ever so slightly, but he swallows. “I can deal with horror movies.”
“I’m sure you can,” I say with as much sarcasm as I can muster.
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not a big scaredy-cat. It makes fun of other horror movies, doesn’t it?”
I shrug. “It satirizes them, but it’s still scary. You might need to hold onto Theo. Or me.”
He shoves me. “I’m not taking advice from someone whose favorite movie is a horror movie.”
I shake my head. “Just order the cheese pizza with no anchovies, pineapple, or ham in sight already. I have to get back home and look over the piece I’m submitting tonight one last time, so the longer you take, the less time we have together.”
Logan snorts. “Okay, fine. I’m ordering now, but there might be some anchovies in our midst soon.”
I shrug. “Whatever.”
Logan makes a bowl of popcorn, and we settle onto his bed as the movie starts.
My pinky sits right next to his as he rests his arm on the bed beside mine.
I can’t stop thinking about that tiny bit of empty space and how much I want to close it. But this isn’t my room, and it’s not my bed. More importantly, I don’t want to do anything he’s not ready for.
I don’t want it to seem like I came here to hook up with him or something. I’m not even a hookup kind of guy, but I haven’t explicitly said that.
And besides, he just had his first kiss with a guy a couple of days ago. I don’t want to pressure him into anything he isn’t ready for.
Then, with the first jump scare of the movie, his fingers brush against mine.
He looks at me, then down at our hands.
I smile at him, and not long after, he intertwines his fingers with mine.
I feel weightless as I look at him. The glow of the TV casts soft shadows across his strong jawline and thick eyebrows.
I can’t focus completely on the movie, and I keep looking at Logan for his reaction to every jump scare, creepy moment, and witty one-liner.
A knock comes from the door about half an hour in.
He groans, lifting his hand from mine. “I’ll get it.”
I watch him get up, the contours of his biceps flexing as he pushes himself off the bed.