Hard to Handle part 5

Sorry it's been awhile! I've been super busy! here you go!

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“She’s beautiful!” I said and my brother’s smiled widened as he nodded and then put the picture away. “I’m happy for you,” I said. But what I didn’t say was that I was a little jealous of Katherine. Not that I wanted to date my brother, but my logic tells me that once they get really serious about each other, my brother and I won’t be as close. That fact scared me more than anything; Damien was the only escape from my family. If he was gone, who would I have on my side? Maybe, if I was lucky, I’d always have Logan.

“You know, what kid, Logan is lucky to have you. I don’t think he realizes how fortunate he is, you’re incredible.” I smiled at him, knowing my brother was always full of random compliments, but even knowing this, they never ceased to make me feel better.

I was suddenly hit with the realization that I was exhausted from today’s events. Logan and I had kissed, but he had also found out about my stepdad. I met his family, and they all seemed really nice, but something about his dad seemed suspicious to me. Almost like he knew more about me than he was leading on, and I had no idea how he could have figured it out. Unless, of course, Logan told his dad, everything I had confessed to him, but I couldn’t imagine Logan being the kind of person to do that. Lastly, and most importantly, I was no longer alone on this vacation! It felt as though an enormous weight was lifted from my shoulders, knowing that I had someone on my side. I slowly, drifted off to sleep unable to hold my eyes open any longer.

All too soon, I felt my brother shaking me awake. “Abbey, wake up. You fell asleep,” he explained as I slowly sat up, very aware that the pain in my side had increased, most likely because of my sleeping position. I grimaced and rubbed my side. Noticing this, Damien frowned; he was a man of few words, I knew that, so frowning, for him, meant more than it did for the average person. I smiled at him, trying to reassure him that I was fine and that he shouldn’t worry about it, but his frown did waver.

“Thanks, for everything,” I said hugging Damien.

“Love you, Hun,” he said with a smile, hugging me back. “Come on, let’s go back. It’s getting late.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and I rested my head on his shoulder as we walked back to the condo in silence.

When we got back, my stepdad was still up, his eyes fogging over, with a bottle of vodka sitting on the table. It was almost gone.

***

“Logan?” I called knocking on the door of his condo. I hadn’t been able to find him on the beach this morning, and I was worried because we had made a promise to meet each other by the same spot every morning. “Logan?” I said again.

I was taken aback when the door was forcefully swung open. My eyes widened when I saw Logan’s face, ridden with contempt. I was so caught off guard by his expression; I was silent for a couple seconds.

“What?” he said almost harshly; I flinched. This was not the reaction I had been expecting, especially after what happened between us yesterday.

“I…uh…I didn’t see you on the beach today and I got worried.” I said quietly. He didn’t respond. We both stood there for a moment and he began to shut the door. “Wait, what’s wrong with you?” I said, beginning to get frustrated. Why was he so pissed off at me? I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Don’t worry about me; you and your new boyfriend have a great vacation together.” He said, now the tone of his voice just as sad as the expression my face portrayed.

I was instantly lost. What boyfriend? Logan was the only guy I’d hung out with this summer, besides Damien. Then I understood. Damien, Logan though Damien was my boyfriend, how could that be? I repeatedly knocked on the door again until it opened.

“It’s…oh,” I stopped when I realized it wasn’t Logan who had opened the door, but his dad.

“Hey Abbey, can I help you?” he asked, obviously not knowing what was going on.

“Yeah, could you just tell Logan, ‘He’s by brother’ from Abbey? Please?” I said, avoiding the awkward conflict of asking if Logan was there and explaining why I needed to talk to him.

“Yeah, sure,” Logan’s dad said.

“Thanks,” I said and then I walked away, leaving Logan’s dad with a confused expression on his face. It wasn’t until I heard the door close that I let out a deep breath. Wondering how Logan would react, or if he would even believe me, I headed down to the beach.

I walked a couple yards down from the entrance, and found the palm trees Damien and I had been sitting under the night before. I contemplated leaning against the tree, but soon figured that would only cause me to think more. The best part of my vacation was gone; there was no use pondering over it, wondering how my life could get any worse. Without warning, I felt hot tears running down my cheeks. Logan was the best thing that ever happened to me. Now that he was gone, I was lost, empty again.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts and whipped the tears away. I took off my sandals, and began running at a full sprint down the beach. Running was the only relief I had from stress at home, or in general. It was something I was good at, therefore something I did often. Not to mention it kept me in shape, and was part of the reason I was so lean.

It was working; I was already starting to feel better as my endorphins were released. I thought I heard someone calling my name but I ignored the voice and kept on running. The sky began to grow dark; I slowed to a jog and looked up at the stars. They were beautiful, and to get my mind off of Logan, I stopped and began to count them. I know I was trying to accomplish an impossible feat, but as long as I had something else on my mind, I was content.