Chapter Sixteen

Elijah When we got up the next morning, everything was fine between us. Sophia got onto me about leaving so many marks for her to hide, but she was glowing the entire time, looking like she was trying to hide a smile even as she complained and glared at me. I was all apologetic.

Then, we parted ways. And I started to panic again.

Shit!

Last night was enough to tell me, that Sophia would find out about my lies sooner or later. Even when she was only suspecting, I could feel her withdrawing from me. I was sure if she found out, she’d be pissed, more than I’d ever seen before, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t tell she had a bit of a temper.

It was Friday, and I only had one class in the morning, so I prepared for it, then left the dorm. I met up with Logan just outside the class and suddenly had an idea. Not a bright one, but I was desperate. He hadn't even noticed me yet, this wide, stupid grin on his face as he texted on his cell. I guessed he was talking with Dana.

“Hey, Logan!”

He looked up from his cell, arching an eyebrow at me. “Elijah, hey. Thanks for treating dinner last night, here’s your wallet.” He pulled it out of his pocket and tossed it at me, then looked down at his cell again.

With a frown, I caught the wallet, then closed the space between us and gave him a hard pat on the back, enough to catch his attention.

“What the hell? I’m texting here.”

“Well, stop texting and talk to me before the professor gets here.”

He grumbled to himself, but after fumbling with his cell a bit, he put it away, then looked at me, frowning.

“Well, come out with it already. What’s got your panties in such a twist?”

I scowled. “Do you wanna talk out here, or do we go inside first?”

Logan shrugged. “Might as well go inside and sit.”

I followed behind him as he entered the class. It was a big room, enough to fit more than a hundred students, and we moved all the way to the back. A lot of people hadn't arrived yet, and for the ones that were around would probably only walk inside when the professor showed up, so the place was still looking a bit empty. Finding seats from the other students was simple.

“Now,” Logan said, setting his bag down on the desk and lying on it. “Why don’t you tell me what this is all about, huh?”

“I have a bit of a problem,” I said stiffly.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I could guess that much, thank you for telling me anyway. What problem is it? It’s not school related, right, ‘cause you know I’m never good at those. Or did something go bad between you and Sophia?”

I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s Sophia. And it’s not…bad exactly, but yesterday was a close one. I don’t want a repeat of what happened, or we really might be in trouble. Or maybe just me.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Logan suggested.

“Funny you should say that,” I muttered with a glare. “This whole thing started with you.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you remember? The whole thing with the dating site? I only ever found out about it because of you! I set up my profile to be as close to a match as hers as possible, and I had to include that I was an X-Men fan since it seemed to be the biggest thing for her.”

His eyes lit up with understanding. “Oh, this is about the movie yesterday? You watched it fine, didn’t you? It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“I fell asleep,” I groaned, leaning forward to rest my arms on the desk and bury my face in my arms. “I don’t know how it happened, man. I bought a bunch of snacks, and I was all ready to suffer through it and pretend like it was okay after. But then we were holding hands, and it felt so comfortable, and I was bored, so I fell asleep.”

Logan was quiet for so long that I raised my head, and I found him just staring at me. Then, he started laughing, and I glared.

“Dude, this isn’t funny!”

“Uh, really? Who the hell told you to fall asleep! How could you even fall asleep in a theater? Let alone the damn movie, everyone in the room kept screaming every time something exciting happened. How could sleep through all that?”

“Because the movie was so damn boring,” I growled.

“Hey, no it wasn’t. I watched that same movie, and I loved it. You’re too damn picky. But if you could please get to the point now before the professor gets here? What do you need from me?”

“Because I slept through the movie, she got really suspicious. I don’t know what to do. I can't be guarded around her all the time, what if she springs something on me and I can't fake it? She’ll know something is weird.”

“And you want to try and do what?”

I shrugged. “I was thinking of coming clean. Do you think that would be a good idea?”

His eyebrows jumped up again. “Whoa, dude. What did you say? Come clean?”

I nodded, and Logan sat up, looking at me like I was an idiot.

“Are you crazy? What girl would be okay with a guy doing something like that to her, huh? She’ll skin you alive and leave you on the curb to die. You will fucking be roadkill.”

“I think it would be better if I told her myself, because if she found out the truth, she would never forgive me. Maybe this way she will? Fuck, I don't know, but I've got to do something right for a change."

“Sophia isn't the forgiving type. You better just forget about telling her, or tell her then forget about her.”

I winced, thinking about the ex-boyfriend she hated so much, she decided to hate any guy that played sports. Logan was right, she wasn’t the forgiving type, but this wasn’t something I thought I could hide for the long term. I was lucky enough that she hadn't discovered anything yet, but I wasn’t that great at keeping a secret. Especially now that she was getting suspicious. If she laid a trap for me when I had my guard down, it was all over.

My cell rang before I got to say anything more, and I pulled it out. My eyebrows shot up because I wasn’t expecting a call from my dad. I answered and laid my chin on top of my arm on the desk.

“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

“Hey, kid. How’s school been? Keeping those grades up? I hope you remember the deal we had.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, my grades are so incredible, you’d be surprised just how smart your boy is. Hockey isn’t getting in the way of anything, and I wouldn’t quit anyway. Was that all you wanted to say?”

My tone was disinterested, but Dad just laughed, because we’d had this conversation so many times before already.

“No, it’s not everything,” he said with a chuckle. “I wanted to let you know that I’m in town. You’re probably busy with school work right now, but how about we meet tomorrow at my hotel for a coffee? It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

It was a Sunday anyway, and it wasn’t like I had something to do. Sophia hadn't once approached me for a date, so if I didn’t call her out first, we probably wouldn’t have any plans.

“Sure thing,” I said, sitting up. “I wanted to talk to you, too, about something. So this is the perfect timing.”

“Really? Anything to do with school work?”

“I’ll, uh, let you know tomorrow, okay? Can you tell me where you’re staying and what time we’ll be meeting up?”

I memorized the information he gave me, and after I cut the call, I put it in a reminder. Not that I would forget. I could do with talking to my dad. At least, he would make much more sense than Logan.