The Logan Brothers

Chapter 15 - Leah and Elsie's Scandalous Advice

Chapter 15 - Leah and Elsie's Scandalous Advice

As I walked through my front door, I let the car keys slip through my fingers, onto the coffee table. My eyelids were getting harder to keep open by the second; I was desperate for a nice, long nap. My mom trailed in behind me, already half asleep.

"If you wake me up, I will cut you," She mumbled as she stumbled up the stairs. I chuckled halfheartedly, not having the energy to laugh properly. Elsie walked through the door last, sending a timid smile my way.

"Thanks again for letting me stay at your house," She said, hesitantly walking down the hallway. We still hadn't been able to contact her mother, and when we had stopped by her house, no one was home. Of course, we weren't going to let her stay home alone, not after something so traumatic had happened.

"It's no problem," I grunted, leading her to the kitchen. I flipped on the light and held up her bag of pain pills that I was clutching. "Think you'll need these soon?"

She shrugged. "I'm okay for now, but I'll probably take them before I go to bed."

"Alright," I nodded, running a hand through my greasy, tangled hair. A shower would have to wait, though. If I had bathed in that condition, I definitely would've drowned. "Do you need anything? A snack, something to drink?"

"I'm fine for now, Imogen," Elsie insisted, shifting on her feet. She looked nervous like she didn't belong here. I couldn't blame her, we weren't exactly close, and she was preparing to stay with me for a few days. I would've felt awkward and out of place too. "You should go and get some rest, I know you're tired."

I opened my mouth to protest, but instead, a huge yawn came out. Okay, so I was exhausted. "Probably a good idea," I shook my head, fighting to keep my eyes open. Honestly, I couldn't remember the last time I had been so tired. The sun was just setting outside; we had spent the whole day at the hospital while Elsie had been monitored. Grayson had stayed until his mother called, worried sick about him. He had been so sweet and kind to Elsie that I couldn't help but wonder where the old Grayson had gone. The one I was seeing on a daily basis surely wasn't the one I had grown up with.

"Make yourself at home," I reminded Elsie as I exited the kitchen. She nodded, but I knew she would probably just stand around until she got tired. "I haven't gotten to set up a bed for you yet, so when you get tired you can just come up and sleep in mine."

"Okay," She said, gripping her casted arm to her chest. "I'll be up soon." Without another word, I turned and walked up to my room. I felt like a zombie, and I was fairly certain I wouldn't remember how I got to my bed when I woke up. Laying down was like heaven, and within moments I was fast asleep.

**********

The next morning, I woke up to my ring tone blaring through my eardrums. I jolted, snapping my head up and my eyes open. For a moment everything was blurry, and when my vision cleared, my eyes were assaulted with sunlight. Groaning, I grabbed my cell from the nightstand and pressed it to my ear.

"Hello?" My voice was raspy and thick, so I coughed a few times to clear my throat.

"Imogen?" Wes said, sounding confused. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No," I exclaimed, sitting up all the way. Elsie was groaning next to me, covering her eyes with her hand. "Nope, I was wide awake. I've been up for hours."

"Yeah right," Wes scoffed, laughing. My cheeks started to burn, and even though he couldn't see me I ducked my head. For some reason, I was embarrassed. "Sorry to disturb the princess's slumber."

"Shut up," I mumbled, sliding out of the bed so Elsie could go back to sleep. "What ya' need, Wesley?" As I trotted down the stairs, I realized I was still wearing my clothes from the day before, including my tennis shoes. I slipped them off by the front door and continued into the living room.

Suddenly, he sounded nervous. "Are we still up for our annual camping trip?" I froze. With everything that had been going on, I had totally forgotten about camping.

When we were little, Mr. Logan took us on a camping weekend every summer. I had loved every minute of it, especially those years when Grayson hadn't tagged along. The year that Wes turned fifteen they had let us go alone, and every year since we had kept up the tradition. Usually, I looked forward to it. Now, I felt like I had a pit in my stomach.

"Um, yeah," I stuttered nervously, biting my lip. It's not that the idea of spending the night in a tent with Wesley was scary, it was intimidating. In light of Wes' recent confession of his feelings, and my emotions running rampant, I didn't think it was such a great idea.

His voice fell. "You don't sound very enthusiastic."

"It's not that I don't want to," I rushed, wiping a hand over my face. Things seriously could not get any worse. "I just..." What was I supposed to say? I don't want to spend the night with you because I'm afraid I'll make a mistake? That didn't seem like the way to go. "You know what, it's nothing, I'm still just half asleep. Of course, we're still going camping. This weekend, right?"

"Yep," I could practically see Wes grinning from ear to ear. "We leave tomorrow. Can I pick you up around one for our Walmart run?"

"Sounds good," I said, sitting down on the couch with a sigh. "Bye, Wes."

"Bye, Immy," He laughed and hung up the phone. My heart was pounding slightly, and not because he had called me Immy again. I knew my mom wouldn't have a problem with me leaving for the weekend, but she didn't know about recent events.

And what was I supposed to do about Grayson?! We weren't a couple, that was for sure. We weren't even friends exactly, we were more like neighbors who liked to make out. But I still felt like going on a trip with Grayson's brother was some sort of betrayal. It felt wrong.

Leah, I need you. Can you come over? I texted, leaning my head on the back of the couch. She would be able to put everything into a new perspective. Sure, I could've gone to Elsie for help, but I didn't know her as well. She probably wouldn't have understood.

Her response came swiftly, be right there. I blew out a breath and closed my eyes, forcing my brain to clear. If I let myself think about it too much, I would go crazy.

Five minutes later, I was still trying to clear my head. The front door opened, and I heard the familiar click-clack of Leah's flip flops coming down the hallway. "Imogen!" She called, coming to a stop. I jumped up, startled.

"Shh," I hissed, "I'm in the living room." Seconds later, she appeared in the doorway, all dressed for the day. Even her hair was straightened to perfection, and her makeup applied.

"You look like crap," She commented, sitting on the couch next to me.

"Gee thanks," I rolled my eyes. "Okay, look, I have something to tell you."

Leah leaned forward, on the edge of her seat. "Spill," She demanded, a wicked smirk slipping onto her lips. Leah seemed to have a thing for gossip, especially when my love life was involved. I didn't quite understand it.

"Wes wants me to go camping with him this weekend," I cried, flopping back against the armrest. My head flopped back, hanging over the side as I groaned in frustration. Not even looking at the world upside down made the situation any easier.

"That's it?" She deadpanned, slapping my knee. "I thought you were about to tell me something good!"

I sat up, eyes wide. "This is good! Things are...different now."

"How so?" She rose an eyebrow, challenging me.

"Because he said he likes me! And I've kissed his brother!"

"Why does that matter? You like him, Imogen! Maybe this is a good way for you two to work out your feelings." She gave me a kind smile and gripped my hand, squeezing. It was good advice, I suppose. I hadn't thought about it that way; I had only imagined a suffocating situation of awkward silence.

"What's going on in here?" A groggy voice asked. Both of our heads snapped to the doorway at the same time, and I realized Elsie was standing in the hallway. She was still wearing one of my oversized t-shirts that hung almost to her knees, and her red hair was a tangled mane of fire.

Leah stood up, alarmed. "Who the hell are you?" Elsie stepped back, clearly frightened of my friend.

"Whoa, calm down," I grabbed Leah's wrist, pulling her back to the couch. "This is just Elsie. She goes to our school, remember?" For a moment, Leah's face twisted in confusion. Then I saw her eyes clear as realization dawned on her.

"You sit in front of me in English!" She exclaimed, smiling. "You're the one who always answers Mr. Fredrik's questions!"

"And you're the one who drools in her sleep," Elsie said with a blank face, leaning against the doorframe. She crossed her arms. "I didn't know you had company, Imogen. I'm sorry for interrupting."

"Damn right, you should be sor-"

"It's fine," I cut Leah off, giving her a stern look. She frowned at me and turned away from Elsie, giving me a patronizing look. It was almost as if to say, 'really, her?' "We were just talking about some of my issues."

"Oh, well maybe I could help," She offered, coming to sit down. "You did help me yesterday, after all." Jealousy was basically rolling off of Leah in waves. I winced slightly, rolling my bottom lip in between my teeth. Something told me these two wouldn't get along.

"It's personal," Leah sneered, giving Elsie the stink eye. Elsie glared right back, turning up her nose.

In desperation to break up the cat fight, I blurted, "My friend Wes wants me to go camping with him this weekend," I hadn't really been planning to tell her, it had just slipped out. There was so much stress in my life that I was having a hard time keeping my sanity; I could not add two fighting friends to the mix.

Elsie's face wrinkled. "Who's Wes? I thought Grayson was your boyfriend."

"She met Grayson?!" Leah cried, outraged. She slapped my shoulder, huffing. "How long have you been sneaking around with her?!"

"I haven't been sneaking around, Lee," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I'm allowed to have more than one friend, you know."

"But I thought we had something special," She cried dramatically, flopping onto my lap, overcome with fake sobs. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her antics; what a drama queen.

"You know," Elsie drawled with an amused smirk, "I can leave if you two want some alone time."

"Go to hell, best-friend-stealing-monster!" Leah cried, still pretending to bawl in my arms. She dug her nails into my legs, making me squeak and slap her back. "Okay," She sat up, wiping nonexistent tears from her cheeks. "I'm over it."

"Good," I signed in relief. "Now can we get back to my Wesley predicament, please? I'm in crisis mode here!"

"What's wrong with Wesley?" My mom walked into the room, hand placed on her chest. I stiffened. "Did something happen to him?"

"No mom, it's nothing," I said quickly. Maybe a bit too quickly. My mom rose an eyebrow suspiciously, looked between the three of us, and then shrugged.

"If you say so," She smiled. "Do any of you girls want some coffee?" For the first time in forever, my mom didn't look exhausted. She had slept for a solid fourteen hours; the bags under her eyes had resided slightly, and she had lost the cold, biting tone in her voice. The woman standing in front of me looked more like my mother than I had seen in months.

"We're fine, thanks mom," I said, smiling sweetly.

She sighed. "Okay, Imogen. But it's almost noon, so you girls should start your day. Why don't you go hang out at the mall or something?" Of course, my mom was ecstatic, I'm not sure why I hadn't realized it before. I was starting to make new friends, so now more than ever she was going to try to push me into a life of popularity.

"Sure," I forced out, standing up. "Let's go get ready, girls." My mom seemed to be satisfied because she nodded as I stood up. She watched as we headed up the stairs before finally walking into the kitchen.

"Will your mom ever except that you're not going to be like she was in high school?" Leah asked, flopping down on my unmade bed.

"Probably not," I frowned. "I'm not sure why she wants me to be so much like her. It's a good thing that I'm not knocked up like she was."

"Your mom had you in high school?" Elsie gasped, sliding to the floor to avoid sitting next to Leah. I gave her a strange look, and she immediately apologized. "Sorry, that's none of my business."

Why am I being so bi-polar? I thought to myself as I shrugged. "It's fine, it's not a secret." It really was unfair of me to keep secrets from Elsie, especially when I was asking for her advice. If she didn't know the whole story, how was she supposed to help me? Plus, she was living in my house. There were no secrets; she would find out one way or another, anyway.

"So who's this Wes kid?" Elsie asked, laying back on the floor. Her hair fanned out around her head and she closed her eyes.

"Grayson's brother," Leah answered for me. "They're both extremely hot and both want to date Imogen. She has to pick which one she wants."

"You're so lucky," Elsie gushed, giving me an envious look. "Grayson is so yummy."

"I know right?!" Leah sat up, gripping fistfuls of her hair. "I just want to bake cookies on those glorious abs."

"Enough, guys," I snapped, feeling a pang of jealousy. I wasn't sure why because he wasn't my boyfriend and they were just appreciating his more than appealing physical features. Leah and Elsie exchanged a look and then burst out into giggles. They both threw their heads back and laughed, hard. "And on that note, I'm going to take a shower," I grumbled.

When I closed the bathroom door, I could still hear their infernal chattering. It seemed like they would never stop laughing at my expense, which made my cheeks burn scarlet. I pressed a hand to my cheek and blew out a breath. Time to calm down, Imogen, I told myself. I needed to stop thinking about Greyson and focus on Wesley; I was about to spend a weekend with him, after all.

The only problem was that I wasn't sure if I wanted to go camping with Wes. Instead of the nerve-tingling excitement I usually felt towards the trip, I felt like I was being suffocated. All of a sudden I had to worry about what I was going to wear and what I would look like when I woke up in the morning. Wes had never complained about my bed head and bad breath before, but I knew it was not at all attractive. That was not something I wanted him to see.

The whole time I was in the shower, I mulled over my possibilities. I couldn't back out of the trip, and I couldn't help that my morning breath could knock out a camel. As far as I could tell I was backed into a corner and there wasn't a way out. It's not like I could just wake up early to brush my teeth and take a shower; we would be in the middle of the woods for Christ's sake.

By the time I stepped out from under the water, I had practically chewed through my bottom lip. I was no closer to a solution and I was fairly certain that the two blubbering buffoons sitting in my bedroom wouldn't have an answer either. With a groan I brushed through my hair, completely giving up. Wes would just have to see me at my worst. If he still didn't want me after that...Well, that was his problem.

Except I really did care, because every time I thought about him changing his mind, I felt like someone had shot a cannonball through my stomach.

I walked back into my room wrapped in a towel, ready to deal with a fresh round of laughter. However, I was met with my two friends sitting on my bed, facing each other, having what looked like a serious conversation. Immediately, I stiffened. What had made them so buddy-buddy all of a sudden?

When the door slammed against the wall, both of them jumped and looked at me. Elsie cleared her throat, and Leah scratched the back of her neck. It was Leah who recovered first. "Come over here, sweetie," She beckoned to me, patting the spot next to her on the bed. Hesitantly, I walked over and sat down.

"What's going on?" I asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. Both girls were sitting with rigidly straight backs, and Leah had her hands folded neatly in her lap.

"We think we have a solution to your predicament," Leah said proudly with a wide smile. "I've suggested it before, but now I have someone to back me up. Elsie agrees with me."

Elsie was quick to intervene. "Usually I wouldn't condone it, but this seems like an extra especially delicate situation."

I was thoroughly confused. "I'm sorry, what are we talking about?" I asked, wrinkling my eyebrows. It was like I had left for fifteen minutes and they had become the best of friends or something.

Leah rolled her eyes. "We're talking about Grayson and Wesley. We think you should date them both."

"What?!" I cried, standing up. I had been so surprised that I had almost dropped my towel. "Elsie, you agree with her?!"

"She has good points, Imogen," She squeaked, dropping her head. "It's the best way to find out who you actually have feelings for."

"Besides," Leah interrupted, "If you're not official with either of them, you're not doing anything wrong." I didn't know what world she was from, but it sure felt wrong to me. There was an odd feeling in the bottom of my chest.

"I don't know..." I hesitated, biting my lip. "Won't I have to tell them?"

"Hell no!" Leah laughed, giving me an evil grin. "That's the best part, you get two for the price of one." Her eyebrows wiggled mischievously, and I couldn't help but giggle. I had to admit, it did sound pretty good, even if my moral compass said it was way off track.

Elsie sighed. "You like them both, right?" She asked, exasperated. I nodded. "Then why are you arguing?! It's the best of both worlds."

"You could make cookies on those fabulous abs any day," Leah added, nudging me. I rolled my eyes but laughed along anyway. What was with her obsession with Greyson's abs?!

"Come on," Elsie pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. "Do it for me. Clearly, I won't be getting any action anytime soon." She gestured to her bruised body and gave me a knowing look.

"Fine," I finally sighed after a minute of hesitation. They squealed and grabbed me, forcing me into a group hug. Just as we were pulling away, the doorbell rang. "Crap, I forgot all about Wes."

"Hurry and get dressed," Leah exclaimed, jumping up. "We'll keep your future bf busy." I opened my mouth to protest, but they both scurried out of the room, obviously sensing my objection.

"Just bloody brilliant," I muttered under my breath.