Trust in Love

89. Lauren's Friday Night

"I don't" Alex spoke up, "Logan looked like an abomination that time. He sounded like one too."

"Hey, what I did was for the sake of authenticity" Logan defended.

"So since then you started to hang out?" Emily asked. If she didn't, the two of them might retreat in their own world again.

Alex shrugged, "Yeah, we usually spend lunch together."

"Well, sometimes I'd help Alex with her homework" Logan added.

Angeline felt like crying. Those two simple sentences made her heart soar. They sounded far from Alex's previous stories where she spent most of her time alone in school.

"Lilly also said I'm welcome to drop by the house anytime."

They also saw each other after school! Angeline couldn't want anything more.

"Ah, you've met my sister?" Ethan said. It was the first time he spoke since they started eating.

"Yes, sir" Logan nodded, "Alex and I did most of our practice for the presentation at her place."

The knife Ethan held slipped off the slab of lamb and landed on his plate. He had used too much force.

He repositioned it over the meat, "Quite convenient too since she spends most of her time at work."

"Yes, Alex and I were able to concentrate with little supervision."

"I could imagine since you have the house mostly to yourselves."

"Logan actually has basketball practice everyday. By the time he drops by, Aunt Lilly already reached home" Alex intervened. The last thing she wanted was for her parents to misunderstand their relationship.

"Ah, yes. She comes around to check on us whenever Alex hits me."

"That's because you'd scream like a girl."

"That was called acting."

The corner of Ethan's lips curved up. He felt secretly pleased by his daughter's use of violence—around boys.

"Anyway" Emily interrupted again. She had a feeling she'll be doing this for the rest of the evening, "Which scene did you guys pick?"

Angeline rejoined the conversation, "Oh, that's right. Did you kiss?"

Both Alex and Logan choked in unison.

"I remember that play had a lot of kissing scenes" Angeline continued.

Alex recovered first and wiped her mouth with a napkin, "Well, since neither of us wanted to be thought of as gay, we didn't choose a kissing scene."

"Such a thing exists?" Emily asked.

Alex glared at her innocent expression, "Yes. We did the balcony scene."

"Huh..." Emily thought out loud, "Isn't it that remake with Leonardo DiCaprio contained kissing for that scene?"

"Well, the original script didn't say such a thing" Alex smiled without humor.

===

Lauren's Friday night had a bit more noise than Alex. The benches screamed loudly as the football game commenced. With the scores close to each other, the crowd's enthusiasm didn't surprise her.

The field lights shined on the grassy field. The key players ran all over the field, blocking each other's paths and tackling whoever came close.

She held her two pom poms close to her chest. Each time the Woodlands team scored, she'd cheer along with her own team. Some of her teammates' boyfriends were among the players. They were the ones who cheered with the most energy, backflips and splits.