stay

Chapter 25

After spending a few hours playing Guitar Hero and talking about random crap, Logan had to take us all home. Bradley and James lived pretty close to Logan so it took only about thirty minutes to drop them both off.

"Do you mind if I turn up the radio? I love this song." Before he can answer I reach over and turn the knob until the music pleasantly swifts through the whole cab.

"Of course you would like this song." He looks from me back to road.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I jokingly ask.

"You like the kind of music no one else wants to listen to." When I don't give a response, he looks over at me. I reach over and turn the music up even louder. Once the song finishes I turn the volume knob back down to where it was originally.

"Are you done being rude now?"

"Yes ma'am." Shaking his head with a small smile on his face.

"Hey. Do you want some of the best tasting hot chocolate ever?" I ask as we are about to pass a gas station that sells the one and only good hot chocolate.

"Hmm. I doubt it actually is the best."

"Then you have not lived! Pull into this parking lot. It's my treat for driving me all the way home." He parks and we both climb down from the truck. He reaches the sticker covered glass door and pulls it open allowing me to walk through first. I head straight to the back of the store where the large hot chocolate machine is running. I grab two foam cups and hand one to Logan. I pulled the lever down until the hot chocolate filled three quarters of the cup. "Make sure you don't fill it all the way to the top because it isn't finished yet."

"I don't know. This process seems hard and demanding." He laughs as he holds the cup under the lever and pulls. I wait for him to finish before we turn around and step to the toppings bar.

"To make a perfect hot chocolate drink you have to add a layer of marshmallows, whipped cream, and a drizzle of caramel."

"God damn. That's enough sugar to kill a man." He laughs as he piles on the whipped cream."

"Don't question the method." I say sarcastically. I hand him a lid and place one on top of my creation. I go to pay for the drinks, but before I can hand the cashier my money, Logan hands him cash. I look up at him waiting to remember that I was supposed to pay, but he only smiles and takes the card back from the employee. We walk outside into the cold. "Take a sip." I demand playfully.

He pulls the cup up to his mouth and takes a sip of the hot drink. He lets the warm liquid settle as he tries to process what he just tasted. "Theresa, you have really out done yourself. I cannot believe how not bad this is." I laugh at his choice of words. We climb back up into his truck and he starts the engine. My house is about five minutes from here, too close. I was actually having a good time with Logan. I didn't want this to end. We only drive for a minute or two when he pulls into an empty unplowed parking lot.

"So is this the part where you kill me?" I ask as I look out the window at the abandoned supermarket.

"Hold on tight." He looks at me and smiles deviously.

"What?" I ask confused. He turns the wheel sharply and floors the gas. The truck goes spinning. He continues to turn the wheel sharply as the bed slides against the snow covered asphalt. I scream, but begin to laugh at each jerk of the truck. The last donut leaves us close to the exit of the parking lot and before he can regain control of the car he whips it out onto the main road and continues to accelerate until we hit the next light.

"See, maybe you shouldn't have given me all that sugar." He looks at me as we wait for the light to change to green.

"You're lucky that police cars aren't big enough to go into this kind of weather."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Logan was different from what I had remembered from the years past. Not only was his body more rigid, but he seemed to have grown calmer than I remember. My first day at the school I remember him almost getting expelled for starting a fight with an older classman. Ever since then people left him alone, some type of underlining fear of him. The Logan that had went out of his way to take me home and was spontaneous was a completely different person. He was someone I could open up to. Someone who made me feel safe.

"Thanks for dropping me off."

"Yeah. It's no problem. Let me help you get the sleds up to your porch."

"Oh, I'm glad you reminded me." He walks the sleds up to the front steps and lays them against the brick siding of the house. "Thanks again for the ride." I walk up two steps and turn around to face him. He places his hands into his coat pockets to escape them from the cold.

"I'll see you later Theresa." I turn around and walk up the remaining two steps and open the screen door before walking inside. Before I push the wooden front door open I look back and smile and nod a good night as he takes a few step backwards before turning around.