The Single Game

by Amanda Black

  “A massage?” I scoffed. “That’s the one you’re picking first?”

  “I didn’t say what I wanted massaged, now did I?”

  “Why, Mr. Black,” I teased, batting my eyelashes demurely, “I do believe you’re trying to corrupt me.”

  Logan reached around my back and pulled me up against him, taking me with him as he fell back on the bed, causing me to screech in laughter. “Now don’t be silly, Miss Foster. You taught me everything I know.”

  “I sure did.”

  * * *

  “Hey, I know it’s not until next week, but how would you like to celebrate Valentine’s Day a little early?” Logan whispered to me in zoology one afternoon during an extremely boring science film.

  “Why? What did you have in mind?”

  He looked around us quickly before leaning in closer. “Well, I just found out that my parents are going out of town for the weekend. I usually spend most of my time over at Devon’s whenever they’re gone, but do you think you could find a way to stay over one night?”

  Cha-ching!

  “Hmm…I guess I could see if Amy would cover for me.” I totally knew she would, but I didn’t want to seem like I had been hoping and praying for this opportunity for months.

  From the answering smile he gave me, I don’t think I was fooling him one bit. “It would be really great if she could. I mean, I cover for Owen all the time. I don’t think he’s even been in my house, now that I think about it, and his parents think he spends the night at least once a month.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I said while looking straight ahead, pretending to watch the movie while I was actually fantasizing about all the possibilities.

  I practically skipped down the hall after class to find Amy at her locker talking with Zoe. They both looked up at my glowing face and stopped mid-sentence, eager to see what I had to say.

  “Friday night!” I squealed, almost jumping up and down from the excitement.

  “Yes!” Amy cheered, giving me a high five.

  “’Bout damn time,” Zoe laughed, patting me on the shoulder in congratulations.

  They both knew how desperate I was to have an overnight with Logan. He and I had become more open lately about the fact that we were indeed having sex, which hadn’t been a shocker to anyone who hung around us. We were still fairly private when it came to sharing details and probably always would be, but we both admitted that we needed a little girl/guy talk once in a while with our friends.

  “So are they only gone Friday night?” Amy asked, immediately all business.

  “No, the whole weekend, but I think Friday would be the safer night to stay of the two, so we don’t have to rush to get me out of there on Saturday morning.”

  “Good thinking,” she nodded in approval. She tilted her head to the side and tapped her chin with her finger as she thought. “Let’s see…I have to go to the basketball game, but I can pick you up before that and you can tell your parents that you’re going with me, then home with me after.”

  “I guess that would work.”

  “Trust her,” Zoe laughed. “This girl is a mastermind at covering up her naughty behavior.”

  “Hey!” Amy scoffed at her. “I seem to remember lending you my expertise more than a few times.”

  “Yes, yes,” Zoe sighed, rolling her eyes. “All hail the Great and Powerful Oz.”

  “That’s more like it.” Amy turned to me. “Aren’t you on your way to gym class?”

  “Ugh, don’t remind me,” I groaned. “I dread it all day.”

  “Come on, I’m heading that way,” Zoe said as she grabbed her books. “I’ll walk with you. Talk to you later, Amy.”

  “Yeah, see you guys after class.” She grabbed her textbook and closed her locker, walking away in the opposite direction.

  Zoe and I chatted as we walked down the stairs toward the gym until it was time for her to veer off to her health class. I made my way into the locker room to change and was immediately reminded of why I hated the class so much.

  “Can you believe how fucking hot Logan is looking these days?” Skank One, or Holly Mathers as most people called her, asked on the other side of the lockers.

  “I know, right?” Skank Two, or Ashley Sanders, replied obnoxiously. “There’s just no way that Eden’s hittin’ that right. She looks so frigid. I love how they think they’re so in love just because they discovered sex. Man, what I wouldn’t give for an hour alone with him to show him how it’s really done!”

  Usually I could keep my cool when they started that shit by imagining Skank One and Skank Two in little red jumpsuits with their blue hair standing straight up, bouncing around after the Cat in the Hat, but I had finally had enough. Slamming my locker loudly, I marched around the corner, staring them both down with fire in my eyes.

  They stared back at me like two skanky deer in headlights. I had always assumed that they shit talked to piss me off on purpose, but apparently they’d never learned that sound traveled.

  “Actually, sweetheart, he needs way more than an hour. My man likes to take his time, and he sure as hell doesn’t need any schooling from you.” I stomped off to the gymnasium and managed to channel all my anger into the dodgeballs I spent the next hour chucking across the room. Poor Mike Davis’s head may have paid the price a few times, but I felt much better when I was able to put my clothes back on and leave.

  Skank One and Skank Two stayed the hell out of my way when we were back in the locker room, but the last ounce of my injured pride reared her ugly head when we walked outside and I saw Logan leaning against the wall waiting for me. I brushed past the both of them and walked straight up to him, shoving him back into the wall roughly and kissing him senseless before he could even speak.

  “Oof!” was all he got out before he was moaning in my mouth, gripping me around the waist and pulling me up against him tightly. I slipped my tongue between his lips possessively, owning his mouth as I continued to work out the last of my aggression.

  “Oh my God!” Skank One or Two gasped behind me. I couldn’t really tell which one it was, but at that point I didn’t care. “Get a room!”

  That’s right, skanks. He’s mine, and only I can give him what he wants!

  Wow… Apparently I had a possessive streak, too.

  As I pulled away, I slowly released his lips one at a time, sucking on the bottom one a beat longer than necessary before finally letting him go.

  “What the hell was that?” Logan panted once he could actually speak.

  “I guess it was me marking my territory,” I said with a blush. “Are they gone?” I whispered, not wanting to look behind me.

  “Who, Skank One and Skank Two? Yeah, they left a while ago.” When Logan had first heard my nicknames for the girls he had laughed for a good five minutes, and they had stuck ever since. “Now what was that about?”

  I told him what happened, feeling more embarrassed by the second as I remembered how I acted. “I’m really sorry, baby. That was so immature of me.”

  “Hey, don’t apologize. You’re only human, and sometimes people can only take so much before they snap.”

  “Really? You’re not mad?”

  “Hell no! Not if it ends up with you kissing me like that!” he laughed, hugging me tightly. “Plus…it was kind of hot, seeing you all worked up like that.” He grabbed my hand and started walking out to the parking lot. After a few minutes he looked down at me. “Just tell me that you don’t actually feel threatened by those two. A little jealousy can be sexy at times, but don’t lose touch with reality.”

  “That’s why I feel so silly—I actually don’t feel threatened by them. I know you wouldn’t give them a second thought. I guess I was just…pissed at their audacity, if that makes any sense.”

  “It makes more sense than you know,” he chuckled as he unlocked the car.

  “What do you mean?” I asked as I climbed inside.

  He placed his elbow on the door and leaned in closer to look at me. “I mea
n that every time some other guy even glances at you I want to rip him a new one, and I can never seem to make that feeling stop. I don’t understand it, because I love you and trust you. I know that what we have is just as important to you as it is to me, and you would never risk it. But does that make me any less bothered when some asshole checks you out? Hell no. I get this total caveman urge to scream in his face that you’re mine, and how dare he even think about it.”

  “Get in the car,” I growled.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong is the fact that I can’t jump you right here in broad daylight in front of the entire school, so I need you to take me home…right now.”

  “You got it.” He slammed the door shut and ran around to jump in. He didn’t say another word, but when he started up the car he looked at me with so much heat that I nearly broke out into a sweat.

  As he screeched out of the parking lot and tore off toward my house, I realized that we both had some pent up aggression to work out…and I was really looking forward to it.

  Chapter 29

  “That was so good,” I groaned, patting my full stomach as I gestured to the now-empty pizza box. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and tossed it down on my paper plate. “Thanks for the delicious dinner, baby.”

  Logan smiled at me from across his parents’ dining room table. “I’m glad you liked it. I know it wasn’t exactly a gourmet meal, but I never said I could cook.”

  “Hey, I’m up for delivery whenever you want to order it,” I laughed. I looked down at the mismatched scented candle jars scattered on the table between us and smiled, knowing that he must have run around the house before I got here, looking for any way to romance up the place. With the overhead light turned off, the glow they created was actually really pretty. “I like the candles. It’s the fanciest pizza dinner I’ve ever had.”

  “Stupid, huh?” Although the room was dim, I could still see his blush forming.

  “No way, I love it. You’re so thoughtful.”

  I was so excited to finally be here, alone with Logan overnight. Once we had all the details arranged, Friday night couldn’t arrive fast enough. I don’t think I remembered one thing I had learned earlier at school—I was too eager for what would happen later to pay any damn attention.

  “Listen Eden,” Logan said after a moment of silence, running his hands through his hair nervously. “I’ve got something I want to ask you.”

  “So ask me.” I smiled at him warmly. To my surprise, he got up and walked around the table, pulling up a chair until he was sitting down right next to me. When he reached out and took my hand in his I felt my stomach drop, suddenly not so sure I wanted to hear what he was going to say. I had a feeling it was either going to be something bad, or something I totally wasn’t ready for.

  “Eden…these months with you have been the happiest of my entire life. Sometimes I try to think back on what it was like before you and I just…can’t. It’s like my mind can’t comprehend the thought of you not around.”

  “I feel the exact same way about you,” I sighed. As apprehensive as he was making me feel, I could tell that it wouldn’t be something bad. His words conjured up images of the two of us together forever—getting married, having children, growing old with each other. They were thoughts that I hadn’t expected to have for a very long time, but when I pictured his face, it all made sense.

  I knew then that no matter what he was about to ask me or how little I was prepared for it, I would be able to answer him with my whole heart.

  “I’m so happy to hear you say that.” He took a deep breath and squeezed my hand more firmly. “Eden, will you please go to the prom with me?”

  What?

  “The prom? That’s what you were so nervous about?” For some reason, I felt the strangest mixture of relief and sadness. I had no idea what to make of that, so I shook it off and decided to think about it another time.

  “Well, yeah. You never want to go to any of the other school dances. You always say they’re stupid and you can’t dance, but I really want to take you this time. I want to get dressed up in an overpriced, uncomfortable tux and parade you around on my arm for the entire world to see. Please, Eden? Please, don’t say no.”

  I leaned forward and kissed him softly, resting my forehead against his as I pulled away. “You do realize that Amy is going to demand to take me shopping every spare minute I have until we find the perfect dress, right?”

  “I know.”

  “I hate dress shopping.” Seriously, it was right up there next to seeing my dad in his underwear on the list of things I’d like to never do again.

  “Come on,” he pouted, batting those obscenely long lashes at me. “Isn’t that a small price to pay for making my dreams come true?”

  “Wow, you’re really laying it on thick this time. This is going to be worse than Facebook, isn’t it?”

  Logan didn’t say a word in reply; he simply stuck his bottom lip out farther, throwing in a quiver for good measure.

  “Oh, God, not the lip,” I groaned. “All right,” I sighed loudly. “I’ll go to prom with you.”

  “Really?” His eyes shot wide open in surprise before he grabbed me and pulled me onto his lap, showering me with kisses. “Thank you so much, baby! I’ll make sure you enjoy it, I promise.”

  “As long as you’ll be there looking sexy, I don’t think that will be a problem,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Keeping my hands off you until we’re alone might be, though.”

  “It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” he said with a smirk.

  I kissed him quickly and stood up. “Well, it’s only fair that I clean up. You did go to all the trouble of ordering,” I teased.

  “Sounds fair to me,” he laughed, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it as I gathered the dirty items and carried them to the trash. When I sat back down and looked at Logan, I noticed his face had gone completely pale.

  “What’s wrong?” The sudden change in his appearance scared me.

  “Who’s Riley Thompson?” he asked.

  “Why?” I had an immediate sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “Because he just tagged you in about fifteen different pics on Facebook. Who the hell is this guy?” I could hear in his voice that he was getting upset.

  “Of course he did!” I spit out in anger, stomping over to look at his phone. “Show me.”

  “You obviously know this guy,” Logan said as I grabbed his phone and started scrolling through the pictures. “Who is he and why does he have all these pics of you?”

  “He’s my sleazeball, piece-of-shit ex!” I snapped, looking at the random images of the two of us. Some of them were from school while others were from different parties we’d been to. None of them were too bad, thank God, but I didn’t appreciate him flashing me in a bikini all over the internet.

  “Have you been talking to him?” he asked, an accusatory tone entering his voice.

  “No!” I gasped. “He sent me a friend request a while back and I honestly forgot all about it. He tried to message me once or twice but I just ignored them.”

  “Then why would he think it’s okay to post these pictures of you?”

  “Because he’s an asshole!” I yelled, getting angrier the more I looked at the pictures and listened to Logan’s jealous questions. “That’s what he does! When he doesn’t get his way, he finds some way to hurt me.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me he tried to contact you?”

  “Because that’s how little I think about him now! He’s nothing! I forgot about him the second I ignored his messages. I didn’t even consider telling you because I thought it was a non-issue—I wasn’t hiding it from you!” I couldn’t help it, I was yelling louder and louder with each new accusation.

  “Well I think you should have told me!” he yelled back, clearly getting agitated. “Why the hell did you even accept his friend request?”

  “Because Amy said I should let him see how ove
r him I am and how happy we are.” I could hear how stupid it sounded as the words left my mouth.

  “Oh, that’s brilliant. Amy said! If you think so little of him then why do you give a shit about what he thinks?” He had a good point, but I didn’t tell him that—he pissed me off too much by what he said next. “This is bullshit! I hate that he posted those pics of you!”

  “And you think I don’t?” I screamed. “Those aren’t your ugly, vile memories splashed all over the internet, they’re mine! Do you think I want any kind of a reminder of my time with him? And do you really think that I’m supposed to stop and soothe your ego when I’m the one who feels violated?! You wanna know what I hate? The fact that instead of asking if I’m okay, you’re accusing me of something completely ridiculous!”

  I stomped off, heading upstairs to his bedroom where I’d left my things. Halfway up the stairs I stopped and turned around to look at him still sitting in his chair, dumbfounded. “And another thing,” I yelled. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t made me join fucking Facebook! That asshole had no way to even get ahold of me before that! He’s the whole reason I changed my phone number!”

  When I reached his bedroom, I slammed the door and grabbed my overnight bag, tossing the few things I’d already removed back inside. Deep down I knew I was being too dramatic and sensitive, but I wasn’t used to Logan acting distrustful and accusing me—something inside of me had exploded. Still rifling through the bag, I came across the new lingerie I’d packed for the weekend that I’d hoped to surprise him with. All my expectations and excitement about our sleepover ruined in an instant, I crawled on the bed and curled up in a ball, bursting into sobs.

  Before long a timid knock sounded at the door. “Eden?”

  “What?” I croaked, my voice rough.

  “Are you done yelling now?”

  “Are you done being a jealous shit now?” I cried, the words interrupted by a loud hiccup.

  “Come here,” he said, crawling onto the bed next to me and pulling me against his body. I struggled at first, but gave up quickly, admitting to myself that I really just wanted to be in Logan’s arms. We didn’t talk for a while, the only sounds in the room my sniffles as he stroked my hair. “I’m sorry I made you cry,” he finally whispered.