“Hey,” I say, returning the hug, and all the while Logan still stands a few feet away, his arms folded over his chest.
Wren pulls herself off me, and Logan mutters, “Why the fuck does she hate me so much? What did you tell her about me? You know, the first time I ever met her, before I even knew who the fuck she was, she was threatening me.” He frowns. “And she totally fucking meant it, too. I’ll never forget that shit.”
Laughing it off, Wren leads us into the living room, where both Logan and I sit on the couch on opposite sides of her. “Sloane is just protective of me,” she says. “She wants to make sure neither of you will hurt me after everything that happened with my ex.”
“Well, she didn’t threaten him,” Logan says, pointing at me. “So what the fuck?”
“Maybe if you wouldn’t have abandoned me last semester, she wouldn’t be so full of threats,” she says with a shrug.
“Bullshit. Like I said, the first thing out of her mouth was a threat—”
I decide to say, “As fun as it is talking about Wren’s roommate and her disdain for you, Logan, maybe we should decide what we’d like to have for dinner. We could get something delivered. Pizza?” There are a dozen pizza joints in the nearby vicinity, along with many other restaurants we could get delivered.
“Pizza sounds good,” Wren says, and when she looks at Logan, he mutters something about always being down for pizza.
We decide on a place, although none of us could agree on toppings. Wren is a plain cheese kind of girl, while Logan prefers pepperoni. I, on the other hand, like to have banana peppers and black olives on mine. In the end, we each get our own personal pizza even though I’m fairly certain it’ll end up being way too much food.
That’s all right. Better to have more and not need it than not have enough.
Wren, ever the gracious and semi-awkward host of the night, offers to get us some drinks from the kitchen. Water, an assortment of pop, and orange juice is our selection. Logan goes for water while I go for whatever pop she’s going to have.
As she gets up to bring them to us, I now have an uninterrupted line of sight to Logan, and I lean my head back on the couch and look at him. He stares hard straight ahead, at the TV across from us that isn’t playing anything yet. It’s like he’s trying his damnedest not to glance at me, like if he doesn’t look at me, I’m not real.
Unfortunately, it’s too late for that now.
“How are you doing, Logan?” I ask him, making him look at me.
“Better than I was,” he says. “But I’m betting you knew that already.”
I shrug, not bothering to deny it. Why would I? He must know I keep a very close eye on him, for Wren’s sake. He’s not off the leash completely. “I’m just glad you’re here, that we’re both adult enough to try this out for Wren.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re fucking thrilled.”
“The song you wrote her was very good,” I compliment him, and it’s clearly not something he’s expecting, because the expression on his face after that is one of confusion and then annoyance. “Soulfire, was it? Cool title.”
Logan keeps his voice low when he says, “You know, you might not hear this enough, but you’re kind of creepy.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. I also can’t deny it. Being creepy isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially when everything I do is to protect Wren and her well-being. The world has proven it is a cruel place, so yeah, I’ll do anything and everything I can to make her life easy, including vetting those she shares time with.
Wren returns with three glasses, handing me mine and then Logan his before sitting down. She grabs the remote from the coffee table in front of us and glances at both of us. “Should we find something to watch? Pizza won’t be here for another forty minutes.”
Yeah, who knew Friday night is a busy night in a college city when it comes to restaurants?
“Put on whatever you want,” I say. “I’m not picky.”
“Of course you aren’t,” Logan mutters, earning himself a look from Wren.
“Logan,” she whispers. “We talked about this. Be nice.” I can see Logan’s head over hers, so I’m able to watch his unimpressed expression the entire time as she tries to lecture him about his behavior. As much as he’s changed, turned a new leaf, he’s still the same Logan when it comes to certain things, like me.
He leans closer to her, his voice dropping an octave or two, “If you wanted nice, you wouldn’t want me.” In that moment,it’s just him and Wren, and I can see the fire burning in those emerald eyes as he looks at her, but the moment is over just like that, and as he straightens himself out, he adds, “And, no, that’s not an invitation to go and find a third boyfriend. I have limits, you know.”
“Awe,” I say, reaching around the back of Wren’s head and touching his shoulder. “Does that mean we’re best friends now?”
He jerks away from me. “No touching, dude. Fuck off.”
I chuckle and remove my hand from him, and all the while Wren sighs and says, “You guys are ridiculous. Are you two sure you can do this? If this is going to be too much for you, then we don’t have to.” She fiddles with the remote on her lap, her anxieties peeking through.
She doesn’t want us to fight. She wants us to get along. I think us playing nice would help make her feel okay about this—okay with dating two guys at the same time. My brothers might have a thing about sharing, but until very recently it’s never been on my radar. If it wasn’t for Wren, I definitely would not be here.
