🔞 Romantic Smutts

A different kind of perfect🫶🏽

"You're late again, Logan," Sara said, crossing her arms as she stood by the door. Her voice carried that familiar edge of frustration.

Logan and I are supposed to be ‘friends’—or at least, that’s what our dads like to think. In reality, we can’t stand each other. I don’t even know why he hates me. I just hate him back so it doesn’t look like I care. Simple.

Logan’s dad had assigned me the lovely task of tutoring him after school. Even though we’re in the same class at college, I’m apparently the one responsible for making sure he studies. Probably because Logan is too stubborn to focus with his friends constantly dragging him off to God knows where.

He sighed loudly, tossing his bag onto the bed like he couldn’t care less. “Maybe I just didn’t want to see your face today,” he muttered, his tone flat and dismissive.

I rolled my eyes, biting back a retort. "It doesn’t matter if you want to see me or not. I’m stuck with you because of Uncle Smith, not because I enjoy this." I was about to continue, but Logan cut me off, his eyes flashing with something darker.

“Shut the hell up,” he snapped, his voice dangerously low. “Don’t bring my father into this, little girl. We both know you act all sweet and innocent in front of him just to make me look bad, don’t you?” His fists clenched, and I froze, stunned by the raw emotion in his voice. “Every single fucking day, I hear the same thing. ‘Logan, why can’t you be more like Sara? Logan, why don’t you stick with her at school instead of your useless friends? Logan, why can’t you do this, why can’t you do that?’”

He was practically shouting now, his voice shaking with anger—and something else, something I hadn’t seen in him before. Vulnerability.

“I’m fed up with it. I just want to live my life the way I want. But no, I have to follow in your footsteps. You’re the perfect student, the academic star, and I’m just... what? The disappointment? I always wanted to do art, but no, I had to pick business—because you did. Because you set the standard, and I’m the one who can never reach it. And you know what? That’s not my fucking problem.”

Logan’s words hit me like a punch to the gut, but what really shocked me was the way his voice cracked at the end, the way his shoulders slumped as if the weight of all those expectations had finally broken through. He wiped his face quickly, but not before I saw it—tears.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. The arrogant, cocky Logan I knew was gone, replaced by someone who looked... lost.

I stared at him, my mind racing. I’d never seen Logan like this—so raw, so broken. He wasn’t the arrogant jerk I’d built up in my head, not in this moment. He was just... lost.

For a second, the room was heavy with silence, the only sound being his uneven breathing. Then, without thinking, I spoke.

“Logan... I never asked for any of this,” I said quietly, unsure if my words would help or hurt. “I didn’t ask to be compared to you either. I didn’t want to be the ‘perfect one’ your dad uses to beat you down with. I’m just... me.”

He scoffed, running a hand through his hair, frustration still etched into his features. “Easy for you to say. You get praised for every little thing you do. Meanwhile, I’m always one step behind, always the screw-up.”

I took a step closer, my voice softening. “Do you really think I enjoy it? Being put on some pedestal while everyone—including you—looks at me like I’m some kind of robot? Like I’m only good for grades and pleasing our parents?”

Logan looked at me, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. “You make it look easy,” he muttered.

“Because I have to,” I admitted, the words spilling out before I could stop them. “I have no choice. Do you think I like the pressure? Do you think it feels good to know that if I slip even once, everything I’ve worked for could fall apart? You think your dad’s hard on you? Try living with mine.”