If Only

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Logan Bond is currently unavailable. Please try again later."

I stared at the floor, feeling empty inside. I've tried to call him and text him for a day now but he hasn't responded to anything. I couldn't tell if he was just ignoring me or if wherever he went there wasn't cell service or something.

"Katie? Come down for dinner!" I heard my mom yell from downstairs. These past couple of days my parents had decided to take a few days off from work to spend more time with me, especially when they saw me unhappy and moody. I felt happy that they cared, but a part of me was worried that they'd pry into what happened, and then all the embarrassing moments between Logan, Nate, and I would spill out like a flood. I couldn't let that happen though. There was no way I was going to give my father the satisfaction of knowing that the boy his daughter dated was in fact untrustworthy, and that using the ridiculous name "Bob" had been a good idea. Now that was ridiculous.

I entered the dining room to see the dinner already set on the table. I walked over to the rice cooker and scooped some rice for myself before taking my seat at the end of the table. Dinner started off rather quiet. It was mostly just mom and dad talking to each other, with me occasionally interjecting my opinion. After a while my mom stopped talking and just began to give me curious looks.

Finally, she asked me, "Are you alright honey? You haven't eaten any bok choy."

I glanced at the leafy vegetable in front of me. "I'm fine mom. I've just been a little stressed lately."

This caused my dad to raise his eyebrows. "Stressed? About what? You're on winter break! There should be no reason why you're stressed, unless..."

This time it was my mom who asked the elephant in the room. "Katie, dear, did something happen between you and Logan?"

My mouth clamped shut and I bit my lip nervously. It would be obvious if I was lying now based on my body language. I took a deep breath and looked my mother in the eye. "Yes."

~-----------------------------~

Lying down on my bed, the conversation with my parents played through my mind over and over again. My mom seemed understanding and disappointed in Logan, whereas my dad was happy that he was right about my ex-boyfriend. He did try to seem sympathetic too though. Well, kind of.

Trying to clear Logan out of my head, I turned on my laptop and watched a YouTube video titled, "Make a Friend Challenge." Basically the rules were that you had to become long-term friends with someone you don't know well (or haven't met before), and preferably introduce them into your group of friends. The goal was so that no one at school would feel left out, and everyone would have at least one friend at school. Despite the goal, the person you befriended could be anyone, regardless of whether they recently moved here or already had 500 friends.

Even though the challenge seemed kind of strange and a really messed up reason to become someone's friend, I found myself intrigued by the concept. The video I was watching had clips of the YouTuber's first introductions with the person, them talking about similar interests, and some really hilarious basketball playing. I clicked some more videos and realized that usually the new friend wouldn't know about the challenge and their face would be blurred out. I was about to click on another video when my phone rang.

"Hello?" I said without looking at who it was.

"Hey Katie. It's Nate."

I frowned. Things yesterday didn't turn out so well. "Hey..."

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow? There's some stuff I want to talk to you about."

Wait, what? "Um. I'm not sure if I'm free tomorrow." I quickly tried to make up an excuse on the spot. "I- I have dance lessons?"