The Seeker In Red

Chapter 1 (Book 2)

The incredibly warm, humid day was nearing its end, the sun slowly yet surely setting behind the clouds and trees, leaving the hot air to linger around until the late hours at Logan’s home. Or, well, his American home. He and his father usually spent their time in England, but Jenson liked to take him to his home country. And Logan didn’t hate it per se; he just didn’t have many friends here. Sure, he didn’t have any problems making them, but by the end of the second week of this holiday, he was going home to England.

Another thing that just sucked was that his best friend was currently all the way in Australia. Logan was, of course, happy for him, as the boy was super excited about visiting his home country. But… he missed him. He would admit it proud and loud: he missed Oscar, of course he did. Oscar was the only one who fully got him, knew him just like the back of his hand. And he knew Oscar, so he was very happy that his best friend got the chance to see his country. Even though he was bored out of his mind 80% of the time without him.

It definitely wasn’t the first time that they’d spent the summer, or at least a fraction of it, apart, but the 14-hour time difference made it downright impossible to text or call him. The only time they could actually talk was when the sun was setting in Florida while Oscar woke up. It made Logan giddy when Oscar’s tired voice wished him goodnight as they ended the call; he loved how Oscar resembled a koala when he rubbed his eyes.

So, he was in his bed, waiting for a message from Oscar. He stretched and continued to mess around on his phone while he did so. It wasn’t until 22:30 that he got the message, making him almost jump. He thought that maybe Oscar assumed he’d gone to sleep, so he hadn’t really expected it, but there it was, a new message in their chat.

Oscoala
Logan, are you up?

He couldn’t help the soft smile that stretched across his face at the message, even when it wasn’t really anything special.

Lo
Not yet
Wanna call?

Logan typed without hesitation. When it came to texting Oscar, his best mate, he wasn’t worried at all about coming off as eager or double-texting.

Oscoala
I can’t. Arthur’s still snoring beside me
>:(

And yeah, Logan laughed at that. He could just picture Arthur lying on a bed in their shared hotel room, snoring loudly.

Lo
Poor you :(
So text?

Logan hoped that Oscar would answer with a yes. He was bored, and he wanted to hear from him. But then again, Oscar could also be tired. He could be bothering him by texting, and that thought made his gut twist anxiously.

Oscoala
Of course! Just don’t fall asleep :)

Logan let out another soft chuckle. He was thirteen now, he wasn’t going to be tired by 23:00. So what if he had just suppressed a yawn? He was just taking a really big breath.

Lo
No need to worry :)

Logan’s fingers hovered above the “send” button. His text, How was your day? remained unsent for just a little while as Logan hesitated. Then the gray marks quickly turned blue.

Oscoala
Long – Arthur insisted on staying up until 2 a.m. so he could see something he read about.
Of course, we haven’t seen shit.