The Boy That Stole My Heart

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The week of school Logan missed afterward was the longest of my life. Every morning I woke up to an alarm clock instead of Logan slapping on my forehead screaming about being late and I realized immediately that it was the best part of my day. It was a waiting game. Every class, every hour, every minute I was just waiting... Waiting to get back to him. I texted him every single chance I got and unsurprisingly most of what I received in return was "don't text in class," or "pay attention."
When I got home I would ditch everything and shower as quickly as possible before hopping on my bike and riding to his house only to be met with "did you do your homework?" Or "how did you do on the math quiz?"
By the time Friday was here I had lost my fucking mind, which Logan made a point of making sure I knew.
We stayed up late playing videogames and watching the new Fallout show. We were in the middle of laughing hysterically at something stupid we saw on Facebook when I looked up to see the viscous red liquid pouring from his nose and dripping onto his shirt.
Did I flip out? I would say no... Logan on the other hand....
"Stop. STOP ELLIE!" He cried as I dragged him by the wrist to the bathroom, holding toilet paper to his nose.
I was startled at him yelling. I don't think I had ever heard him so angry. "What's wrong?"
"Stop treating me like a little kid!" He said to me, wiping his nose angrily on his sleeve. "I don't need a third mom!"
I shifted uncomfortably, my cheeks flushing. "Logan, that's not-"
"Yes it is! It's a nosebleed. I have them sometimes."
I didn't know what to say so I settled for nothing, figuring that I was doing something wrong and it was best to let him say what was on his mind.
Logan wiped his nose again, leaving a second stripe of blood down his sleeve. "When you fought those guys, I was so scared. I was sure they were going to kill you, and afterwards you just waved it off like it was no big deal, broken arm and everything. I wear diapers... I wet your bed... Who gives a fuck? You waved it off and taught me to play baseball. You don't know what that meant to me. Everyone in my life treats me like I'm broken but you were different.. or I thought that you were."
"I am Logan," I started but I didn't know if it was true anymore. My dad's advice on how to treat him had gone completely unheeded at the first sign of trouble.
"You called my mom's! Told them I was sick," he said in exasperation. "They both left work to rush home and find me in need of nothing more than eardrops! I had to spend the night in the hospital and miss a week of school just to make all of YOU feel better. Sick in this house means something different than yours. It's life and death. I know what's going on with me and when I tell you something then you should trust me but you don't! You're running around babying me like everyone else! I can't take it from you! I can't take you looking at me like I'm sick and fragile! I need you to be different!"
He was shouting now, tears and blood mingling together, dripping from his face and splattering against the bathroom tile. Maybe I could have said something to diffuse the situation. I'm sorry. You're right. I was stupid. But I didn't get the chance.
"What's going on?" Linda asked as she came up the stairs, her face paling at the blood on his face. "Oh baby!"
Logan lost it, slapping her hands away from his face. "Get off of me! Leave me alone! All of you just leave me alone!"
"Logan,"
"Fuck you Ellie!" He screamed. "Just fucking go home!"
I didn't try to follow him as he stormed out, slamming his bedroom door behind him. I just stood in the bathroom with his mom, both of us knowing what we had done wrong and unable to fix it. I finally managed to move, using the toilet paper, still clutched tightly in my hand, damp with sweat, to wipe up all of the blood on the floor.
Linda walked me down the stairs where Anna stood waiting. They hugged tightly and before I had the chance to feel like a third wheel, they pulled me into it where we stayed for a while, bonded by our love for their son.
"I forget sometimes," Linda told me as I put on my shoes. "I forget that he's a teenager, that he's so strong and brave. He takes everything life throws at him so fearlessly."
I nodded in understanding.
"You don't know how different he is with you," she told me with a gentle smile, brushing the hair from my face. "I had never seen him so angry as the day you two met. He was seething with a rage I didn't know existed inside of him, not because of what they did to him... But what they did to you. You protected him and he wanted to do the same for you. When I saw your rap sheet, all the trouble you had been in, I thought.... that was all that you were, all that you were going to be, trouble... And then I saw him change... How much stronger and more confident he became. I realized how wrong I was and how good for him you were.... How good for you he was.
At a loss for words, I nodded again.
"Ellister," Anna called as I put my hand on the door handle. "He wants you to see him differently than everyone else.. and I think that I'm correct in assuming that you do... But it's not the way he thinks is itit?"
I understood perfectly what she was asking and I felt my face catch fire, looking at my shoes, at the wall, anywhere else.
"I figured as much," she continued, gripping my shoulder tightly. "Just remember, that he's right. Me and Linda... We tend to treat him like a child, thinking we know what's best when we don't. We just want him to be safe but... Everytime we overreact it just pushes him a little bit farther away. Don't make the same mistakes we are making. See him for the boy he is.... Not for the child we are making him into."
I awoke at five thirty in the morning to a familiar palm slapping against my forehead. The room was still dark and I could only see a vague outline of him but there was no mistaking the mixture of sanitizer and Dial that I had come to know and love.
I reached up, grabbing his wrist and pulling him into the bed next to me. "I'm sorry," I whispered into his hair, hugging him tightly against me.
I felt him sigh, his fingers finding mine, interlacing together. "Me too."
"Did you break in through my window?"
"Go back to sleep you idiot!"