smokin' | louigan

thirty-eight

louise's eyes fluttered open, closing suddenly at the bright sand in front of her. though her eyes shot back open when she realized there was a hand firmly grasped onto her chest.

her alert eyes glanced down to the pale hand holding onto her, the faint auburn hair over the forearm. his breath on her neck sent her sitting straight up. she looked over her exposed shoulder, finding rudy still asleep on the sand. his hair was disheveled and wild, lips slightly parted as he snoozed softly. every once in a while his eyes would twitch, and then he'd sink further into the red towel against his pale bare chest.

there was a dull ache throughout her skull. her eyes caught the empty bottle of gin and a small pile of clothes. louise groaned and closed her eyes, shaking her head at last night's bullsh*t.

we f*cked, she thought. what a d*mn surprise. you idiot!

a cellphone buzzing brought her out of her thoughts. after a moment she fished through the pile of clothes and found her cellphone. she sighed, wiped the sand from the screen, and opened the new text message.

NEW TEXT MESSAGE
f: logan

where are u?? there's a line at the door

she blinked once, twice, before grabbing her dress and slipping it over her head. she rose to her knees and pulled the dress lower, adjusting the straps on her shoulders. shoes in hand, louise exited the beach. she ran a hand through her slightly tangled hair.

when she reached the building she walked down the alley and scaled the emergency stairwell. the metal grating in each step dug into her feet, but she persisted, shimmying the window open and stepping through into the apartment.

as she slipped out of her dress and into a white tank and black jean shorts, she could hear him rummaging around in the kitchen. she rubbed her eyes, grabbed a pair of socks and exited her bedroom.

"where were you?" she sighed and shook her head, scraping her hair into a fast bun.

"nowhere."

"seriously, louise. i'm not playing around. where were you?"

"hey, mind your business, bush," she gritted out, walking over to a corner cabinet in the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen. her headache had seemed to tenfold when she had returned to the apartment.

"well you hired me to work in your d*mn restaurant, alright? and i can't do my job when i don't have the keys to open up!" he stated exasperated, scratching his arm with a sigh. she looked to her side, out the window over the sink. the sun was high in the thin clouds. logan gulped at the mark on her neck.

"who were you with?" she met his gaze in questioning, before noticing his pointed look at her neck. even in her hangover, she could still remember rudy's lips on her skin. she held back a shudder and simply stared at him, bringing a hand up to pul her hair down from its updo. he rolled his eyes, again asking,

"who were you with?" his tone seemed colder than the last. her brows came together in a look of guilt, cheeks pink as she looked down at the wood floor. he blinked in realization.

"was it him?" rudy. his name on the tip of her tongue, a taste so vile now, so foreign and corrupt, that she felt bile rise in her throat. when she looked back up logan was gone.

she jumped as the front door slammed shut.

~

logan bush found himself on the sidewalk, aggressively tapping his foot on the pavement. the anger, the frustration, was palpable. thick and strong, flooding through his body like a blood type. as he bit his lip, he could taste it on his tongue.

he closed his eyes against the bright morning sun. a few moments later the door to the restaurant was open, louise greeting people in a voice so sweet he almost fell to his knees in devotion.

how the h*ll was all of this real? he's hung up on some girl—some woman—who keeps her ex-boyfriend on speed dial. he looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers from an open palm to a tight fist. he almost smiled as his knuckles turned white from the pressure.

and it wasn't that she was sleeping with this kid, russet or radison or raisin, whatever the h*ll it was. logan bush knew this wasn't exclusive, but he now realized that he really wanted it to be.

the door closed. a thick puffy cloud blocked the sun. a few green leaves blew over his foot. when logan reached into his pocket he found a pack of cigarettes. in the other he found a lighter.

he opened the pack and found nothing. he smiled among the irony, and the agony crept into him. a soft smile lifted his lips before a single tear fell down his cheek.