Chapter 30: Up Your Game-3

"Not dead." I rolled my eyes and turned down the volume. With a grunt, I propped my feet on the nearby coffee table. "But now I'm half-deaf." "Logan Alexander Hightower, how are you calling me just now? I thought you were dead in a ditch, dehydrated, or run over by a bus." My palm hit my forehead. "I'm none of those." "I wouldn't know." Her indignant huff was audible two rooms over. "Brody's called me four times." "I'm calling now," I deadpanned. Already the urge to end this conversation crept in. "I miss your big, dumb butt," her voice relaxed. "It's so quiet here. Smells better though." When I inhaled to gather my response, she launched a full one-eighty. "When you get home, you have to make some changes, Mister. My biggest worry is you're a Loose-hips Louis. Shape up and start using some basic human decency, Logan. You're handsome and you think you're charming, but you can't -" "Mom, stop," I spoke through clenched teeth and rubbed my forehead. Loose-hips what? How long had she thought about this? "I don't know what you're saying, but please, just… stop." Her telling me to quit doing awful shit involving girls was unnecessary. If she saw any of the game's evidence… Yeah, the 'pics or it didn't happen' aspect looked awful, but it wasn't the full picture. They weren't any of my pictures or of girls I'd been with, but my phone was now clean. I deleted every dirty picture, including Chloe's. I should've wiped them years ago. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not true. And what you think you saw on my phone, Mom… it's gone. I'll show you at home." "It'd better be." She sniffled. "If you didn't give me so much ammunition from sheer stupidity, then -" "I'm hanging up now, Mom," I interrupted and ended the call with a groan. Thankfully, no one overheard that conversation. And she wondered why I hadn't called. I paced the hall until Josh's brown-haired head peeked out. A wide grin spread across his relaxed face as he snatched the coat hanger off the door handle. Fuck, I was ready to go home. "Chill." He sat on his bed. "Are you pissed off after striking out with Ellie?" "No," I muttered and plugged in my phone. "I'll take it she didn't text me through you." I clenched my teeth at his shaking head. She stopped responding to me. Fuck, I hated chasing girls. Embarrassing. "You should leave that one alone." His eyebrows raised. "Ava's already got a new lineup anyway. Plenty of other distractions." "No distractions." I sat down with an eruption of squeaks and frowned. "Especially one of Ava's." I'd already indulged in those kinds of distractions. They were shallow, unfulfilling, and tiring. Never again. "I'm not as miserable being single as she thinks, Josh." I paused. How could I explain this? "They're all the same. They want the label, my jacket, class ring, or arm at rallies or Homecoming." A girlfriend who cheered during my games because she was proud of me, not because my skills were 'hot,' was a false hope. Girls liked me for what I was, not who. His frown dissolved into a smirk. "I meant a distraction from Ellie." Fuck, he wouldn't let this drop. "I told you, Josh. Harrison's my focus. As I told you eighty-seven billion ties, she's the step between me being bullied to 'don't fuck with me and my team,' that's all." His mouth opened when his phone buzzed. "You'd better up your game then." He chuckled and dropped the phone on his bed. "Because you have some competition." What the hell was he talking about? My eyebrows lifted at his cryptic warning. "What?" Josh's phone buzzed again. "Jackson." I tipped my head back and laughed. "He's no competition." Jackson had more fluff than a dandelion. Any girl who couldn't see through his idiocy deserved him. His score pictures were badges of honor, with a certain look. Ellie's look was… sweet and wholesome. Beautiful, not, 'look at my boobs.' Although, I bet hers- "And Christian." buzz. "And Sebastian." "What are those JV idiots doing?" Whatever he read, it made Josh's eyes crinkle at the corners. "Standing in front of your girl, if you believe them." I sat upright with a bed squeak and palmed the flimsy blanket. "Yeah, right." He looked up from his phone with a smirk. "Your girl works at Pizza Palace, right?" "Stop calling her that. I guess?" My eyes widened at the blurry picture he shoved under my nose. Ellie wore the ugliest red and white uniform I'd ever seen and stood behind a counter. Her long hair hung in a ponytail out the back of a black baseball cap, and she flashed a polite smile. A weight sunk in my stomach. Fuck, it was her! How had they found her already? These horny idiots would bother her at work if they hadn't already done so. Heat rose under my skin. I shot out of bed like my ass was on fire, and my feet hit the floor with a thud. Fuck, they could ruin everything. And I was stuck here one more night. I grabbed Josh's phone, my other hand in a tight fist. Strings of curse words left my mouth as I paced between our beds. I wanted to tear something apart. What could I do? How to intercept? Ellie didn't deserve to be bothered by these guys, not while working at a shitty job. She could chew up anything those three said and shred their cocky asses like a meat grinder, but she shouldn't have to. While those three tools deserved anything that Ellie dished out, they made one thing painfully obvious: "I need to up my game." "Leaving?" Josh asked with raised eyebrows and a grin. I cut my gaze to him. "Why?" "I'm calling Ava in an hour…" He reached over the bed, then waved a coat hanger. "You're welcome for letting you use my phone until then." "Fuck, didn't you - never mind." I slammed the door. My feet led me around the corridor back to the common area. I found my same empty corner chair, so my Ellie plans didn't unravel before they started. Here goes nothing