Chapter 4 – Nalia #2
“You’re always starving. Did you eat your snack?” I take her backpack, the thing weighs at least twenty pounds or more with her water bottle, computer, lunch sack, and books. Honestly, she is going to need a chiropractor by the time she is fifteen.
“Yes.” She leans into me as I look to where I last saw Logan and find him hugging the boy I saw him with on the first day of school.
The kid is the spitting image of his dad, except his hair is dark blonde instead of riding the edge of black and long to the point of shaggy.
After Logan takes his backpack, he looks over at me with a smile, and the two of them walk our direction.
“My car broke down, so a friend is giving us a ride,” I quickly tell Zuri, and she gives me a look that screams what the heck before I take my eyes off her and turn to Logan.
“Cooper, this is Nalia, and I think you know Zuri,” Logan says, wrapping his arm around Cooper’s shoulders when they stop in front of us.
“Hey, Cooper.” I smile at him.
“Sup?” Cooper says to me, then he nudges his shoulder into Zuri’s, and she rolls her eyes at him.
“Zuri, this is Logan.” I introduce her, and she gives him a shy smile and says hi quietly.
“Coop just told me he’s hungry, you two wanna stop at Sonic and get something to eat before we head to Gigi’s house?” he asks, and I feel my brows drag together, Gigi is what a few of my friends called their grandmothers.
“Yes,” Zuri and Cooper both say as we walk to Logan’s jeep where Dozer is waiting for us. The kids both pile into the back seat with him and a minute later the people ahead of us in line begin to drive off.
“So how was your test today?” I turn in my seat so I can look back at both kids.
“Good,” Zuri shrugs. “I don’t know how I did, but it wasn’t that hard.”
“We have another test tomorrow,” Cooper says, then adds. “And we have a project due in two weeks.”
“Really, what kind of project?”
“I don’t know,” he mumbles, and I laugh, hearing Logan chuckle as I look at Zuri.
“Do you know what the project is?”
“No, the paper is in my folder,” she tells me as we pull into Sonic, which is just around the corner from the school.
Rather than order from the car, Logan has us all get out and order from one of the picnic benches under the awning, and brings Dozer with us.
The kids both get the same thing, cheese sticks and ocean water, while I order an ice cream cone, and Logan gets some drink off the specialty menu.
When our food arrives, I pay the girl who drops it off to us before Logan can beat me to it.
I might have to max out my credit card to pay for my car to get fixed, but I can pay twenty dollars for after-school snacks.
“What?” I take a bite from my ice cream as Logan frowns at me, realizing what I did.
“You still haven’t answered the text I sent you about Saturday.”
“My not answering you was my answer,” I tell him, licking around the edge of my cone when I notice the ice cream is melting. Lifting my gaze to his when I feel him staring, my cheeks warm to the point of hot when I see the look in his eyes.
“What’s going on Saturday?” Cooper asks while Zuri waits for my response.
“Nothing,” I tell the two of them.
“Are you going to come to my game?” Cooper asks.
“Game?”
“Baseball, Dad coaches, and we have a game every Saturday.”
“Oh, well, I don’t…”
“I wanna go,” Zuri says, and looks at her. “Heather’s brother plays too, and she’ll be there.”
I look over at Logan and can see he’s trying to hide his smile.
“How about we talk about it tonight? I was thinking that we could go to the movies Saturday,” I say and her shoulders slump. Darn. “Or we could go to the game,” I give in hating to disappoint her.
“Thanks, Namalama.”
“You’re welcome, kid,” I sigh, ignoring Logan’s chuckle.
I continue ignoring him while I listen to Cooper and Zuri talk while they eat. Seeing them interact, it’s obvious that the two of them are friends, where normally Zuri would be shy and unsure around someone new, Cooper keeps her laughing and involved in the conversation. It’s sweet.
“Alright, are we ready to head over to Gigi’s?” Logan asks when the kids are done and start gathering up their trash.
“Yes.” Cooper shoots out of his seat. “Do you like Xbox?” he asks Zuri.
“I don’t know. What is it?”
“What is it?” He laughs. “Only the coolest gaming system ever. Gigi got me one for her house so we can play while we’re there.”
“I thought we were going to pick up a car,” I tell Logan quietly as the kids walk to drop their trash in the garbage.
“We are, Mom’s letting you borrow her Toyota, she never drives it, so it’s just been sitting in the driveway.”
“I’m sorry, I think I just misheard you. Did you just say that I’m borrowing your mom’s car?”
“Yeah.” He gets up and walks to the trash with his cup, so I follow him as the kids take Dozer over to the jeep.
“I can’t do that, Logan.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s your mom’s car.”
“And?” He looks down at me, it really is annoying how tall he is. “What does it matter?”
“I don’t know, it just does.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Yes, it does.”
“Where did you think we were getting a car from?”
“I don’t know, I thought maybe you knew someone who rented cars, or someone who had a hoopty they don’t use.”
“Mom’s car is a hoopty and she doesn’t use it, so there you go.” He places his hand on my lower back and uses pressure to get me to start moving.
“Logan,” I hiss, and he leans down so his mouth is close to my ear.
“You should know that every time you argue with me, it makes me want to kiss you to get you to shut up.”
My heart drops, my pulse skyrockets, and my mouth clamps shut, but that doesn’t mean I don’t glare at him when he laughs.