Finding relationships is easy... Keeping them is the real game.
That's what I'm learning in my first one. It's not easy. Our rival schools are an hour apart, my best friend's turning secretive, my parents are controlling, and my brother's still an a...
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Completely trusting Harper, even with my hair impervious to the wind and I'd be finding pins for days, she was right. A few naturally shorter strands framed my face by the time I parked at Grace's house.
Logan seemed uneasy, even after his eyes sparkled at my appearance, and his gentle kiss on my neck approved of my hair. He looked just as amazing in his suit, although my cheeks warmed because, this time, the idea of ripping it off him stuck in my mind.
"Cheese and rice... Ellie, you're a beauty," Grace gushed with teary eyes and a loud, nasally sniffle. Taking pictures, except for my hair up and a corsage of white roses on my wrist matching Logan's boutonniere, we looked the same.
"Sorry," he mumbled in my ear. "Mom's a hysterical mess."
"Under the tree!" She pointed at the only tree in their small yard.
I smiled when Logan poked his head around the lower branches, resting my hand on his chest when his arm slid around my waist. He squeezed my side and dipped his head, its weight resting on mine.
A similar band of white roses peeked out of Grace's sleeve. Logan had bought her a matching corsage. How sweet was this boy? She must've melted when he gave it to her.
"Let me take a few of you together," I suggested, changing spots with Grace and taking photos on all our phones. After a quick check that at least one was decent, I flashed a thumbs-up.
"Get going." She fanned her teary eyes and pushed Logan towards me. "I have bowling tonight, although there's no way I'm taking these flowers off."
I laughed and returned her phone. My smile faded at Logan's tight-lipped version with his extended elbow. Nerves fluttered through me as I took it.
"Here we go again." He sounded anything but happy.
His distracted mood lasted the ten-minute drive to his school. While I wanted to know what bothered him, what he knew that I didn't, I wasn't sure if asking would upset him more. Instead, I squeezed constant pressure into our linked hands to let him know I was here.
Judgmental eyes zeroed in on his truck as he parked, unabashed glaring continuing as I slipped out. Ducking my head, my smile wobbled under the obvious, 'Why is she here?' hostility.
As Logan guided us up the sidewalk, how little I knew about his friends sunk in. His closest friend, Josh, dated Ava. The ones he'd mentioned the most, I'd met both at practice since she was a head cheerleader, but since Logan and I headed out after, we hadn't hung out with anyone.
Sitting at Logan's practices was like sitting through Jake's with one glaring exception. Here, people still watched and whispered at me, understandable at first, but weeks later, it was difficult to keep my nose buried in homework when the cheerleaders struck haughty stances, hands on their hips and eyes narrowed.
They probably thought I'd stolen him away. Sorry, not sorry, they had three years and he was mine now.
Music bounced off the hallway walls and a trophy case I couldn't help but scan for Logan's name in. A couple of trophies wore it, but he kept walking, his bicep bunching tighter and trapping my hand the closer we got.
