| |
Logan stared after Wendy in genuine confusion. She was the one who had started it. She’d kissed him! He’d only meant to tease her a little about the photo he’d found, maybe hint at it and wind her up. But instead she’d utterly pole-axed him, looking the way she did, and then kissing him. Really kissing him, like totally blow-away-the-competition kissing.
So now what? They were supposed to go back to mutual antagonism? No chance. He’d seen her in a new light and now he couldn’t unsee her. She was stunning when she wasn’t bitter and wearing those awful clothes she favoured. Even if she put them back on, he’d still know she was a heart-stopper underneath. And more than that, he now knew that she was attracted to him too. She’d been all over him. No way was all that just the costume.
Yes, for all her fighting him at every turn, she definitely wanted him, and now he wanted her too. She was hot, even when she was angry. In fact, maybe more so when she was angry. All that physical rage was just repressed attraction, he was sure of it. She’d been hiding her desire behind disgust, and was just using their arguments to keep him at bay. Either that or she was using them as an excuse to touch him.
Logan smiled smugly, happy with his explanation of her behaviour. She didn’t hate him at all; she just hated herself because she liked him.
He went slowly back into the party, still smiling, and plotting how he could break down her barriers again for another round.
He ate some more canapés, chatted to some familiar faces, and even allowed his mother to present him to various people he would normally avoid. He was charm personified, but his eyes kept searching out Wendy.
She was making a concerted effort not to catch his eye. He was sure of it. Every time he spotted her she would turn deliberately away and take great interest in whomever she was talking to. But he was sure that she was just as aware of him as he was of her now.
The countdown to midnight began, and Logan moved toward Wendy, intending to start the new year off with another kiss, but his mother snagged him on the way, and burst into an emotional rundown of how life had changed and that this was the year he would become a big brother.
That stopped Logan up short. He hadn’t really thought about the baby so far. He had acknowledged his mother was pregnant, but not the fact that he would have a little brother or sister. He felt strangely overcome by the idea, and put his arms around his mother feeling suddenly protective. She was going to need lots of support, especially if the marriage never happened, or went the same way as her previous ones. Maybe his New Year’s resolution should be to be a better son?
As everyone began to shout “Happy New Year” all around him, Logan hugged his mother and tried not to think about girls for a change.
He spent the next hour or so being dutiful, sticking close to Marina and making sure she had plenty of juice to drink.
His new sense of responsibility lasted until the guests began to leave and his mother decided she had to go to bed.
Logan looked around and realised Wendy was gone. It was nearly two o’clock in the morning, so she was probably in bed too.
He climbed the stairs slowly, considering whether to share with her his thoughts on being a good older brother, and how much their parents and the new baby would benefit from their all getting along. He was sure Wendy would agree.
There was a light showing under her door so he tapped on it quietly.
Wendy answered it in her pyjamas. “What?”
He blinked in surprise at her cold tone. “I didn’t get to wish you a happy New Year.” He gave a friendly smile, despite her frown.
“Whatever – happy New Year,” she snapped, then began to shut the door.
Logan put a hand out to stop it. “Don’t you want to hear my resolutions?”
“Not really. It’s late, Logan, and I need my beauty sleep.”
“You’re beautiful enough already.” He gave her his best smoulder, hoping it would break through her reserve. But Wendy made a gagging noise and stuck her fingers down her throat to show just what she thought of his comment.
The smile left his face. “But you like me; you kissed me.”
She closed her eyes briefly as if pained by the memory. “I don’t like you, it was a momentary aberration.”
Logan tilted his head. She wasn’t going to get away with it that easily.
“Uh-huh, and what caused this aberration, do you think? Was it the whip maybe?” He touched the bullwhip hanging on his belt.
Wendy’s eyes flickered downwards, but then she firmly shook her head.
“Or perhaps the hat?” Logan tipped the brim towards her.
He thought he saw the ghost of a smile, and leaned closer.
“Is it the aftershave? I wasn’t sure about it – can you still smell it?”
“For goodness’ sake, will you just leave me alone!” Wendy tried again to shut the door.
“So that’s it? A one-time-only event? No more momentary aberrations?” Logan held on to the side of the door.
“I know you think every girl should fall at your feet, but I’m not going to, okay? I really wish I hadn’t kissed you. I don’t know what I was thinking. But this is not going to turn into one of those gross stepbrother romances. They revolt me, and so do you!”
Stepbrother? Hell, no! He let go of the door in shock and she slammed it shut. He stood there for a moment, processing the dreadful thought of having Wendy as a stepsister. He’d never be able to get rid of her, he could be stuck with her as a step-relation for life. They were only sixteen, and might have to deal with each other for a long long time, especially if their parents ever did get married.
He went back to his room shaking his head. She was right, it was a bad idea to get involved on even the lightest of levels. He wouldn’t tease her again.
He showered and changed, pushing all thoughts of Wendy from his mind. For at least twenty minutes, anyway.
He brushed his teeth and looked at the small bottle of the aftershave he’d worn. He grinned, his mind straying back to the kiss.
What a kiss – she had knocked his socks off with that one.
But now that he had discovered he did feel some attraction to her, he didn’t like the idea that she didn’t want him even more. He much preferred girls to be way more in to him than he was to them. How had Wendy managed to turn the tables on him? After all, he had set out to pique her interest, not the other way around. She should be swooning over him while he held back being non-committal. She should think he was wonderful while he remained indifferent. He flopped onto his bed thinking how frustrating the situation was. He just needed to go back to not caring what she thought, and definitely not give in to the temptation to see if he could get her to kiss him again...
He lay awake in the darkness, thinking too much. That was the problem with New Year’s, it led to introspection about life. First he had gotten all responsible about his mother, and then being mature about not teasing Wendy into more “momentary aberrations”. It wasn’t like him. What was the point of being young and good-looking if you didn’t use it? He pulled his phone out from under his pillow and checked his messages. He had twenty-five texts, mostly from girls. He scrolled through them feeling better about everything. He decided that being away from school was clouding his thinking. He and Wendy were in a bubble right now, but at school they were much more themselves. Totally separate friends, separate interests– everyone had their clique, their place, and his was way removed from Weird Wendy.