The Lies He Spoke

TWENTY TWO

LOGAN

After they got home, Olivia sat by on the couch, yawning and listening to Blake and Andy talk about school and discuss when they were going to go back to their apartment. When she fell asleep, Logan motioned for Blake to come down the hall and talk to him.

"What?" asked Blake when Logan pulled him into his bedroom and shut the door.

"We have to do something."

"The last time you said we have to do something like that, me and you ended up getting shot at by Olivia's old house."

Logan gave him a humorless smile. "This is kind of the same thing." 

He didn't want to put his brother in danger like this again, he didn't want to have a redo of what had almost happened, and he most certainly didn't want to tempt fate a second time. But he couldn't do this by himself, as the night before had shown him. 

But Blake didn't shy away from whatever it was, and that made Logan's chest ache that his little brother would do just about anything if he asked him to. He didn't deserve him or his loyalty but for some reason, since they were little, Blake had always been his partner in crime and always would be. 

Blake only sighed and asked, "Alright, what is it?"

"Will you come to that bar with me so I can see if I remember anything?"

"Why is that even a question?"

"Okay, well, what should we do about Andy?"

Blake shrugged. "I mean, if you really want to bring him-"

"No, I mean we can't leave him here."

"Why not?"

"Are you crazy?" Logan gestured towards Olivia's room. "Olivia's sleeping here!"

"So if she wakes up, she won't be freaked out that no one's around if at least Andy's there. That's a good thing."

Logan's lip curled in disgust. There was no way he would trust anyone with his sister. "I am not leaving Olivia here alone with some random college guy," he said in a hard voice.

Blake grimaced. "Why do you have to make him sound so pervy?" he complained.

"You're making me feel even grosser just thinking about this. Just tell him to go home. I'll drop you off tomorrow."

"Andy is not disgusting like that!" Blake protested. "And it's eight o'clock at night. We can't make him drive home this late."

At that, Logan felt slightly bad. Andy had brought a drunk Blake straight to the hospital - and Logan knew firsthand how hard it was to deal with a drunk Blake - and had calmed Olivia when no one else could, and he'd somehow managed to joke with Logan as if they were friends. 

Then he remembered Milo Cortez, the boy who had pretended to be Olivia's friend for all the wrong reasons, and made himself say, "Andy is not a kid, he can handle himself. Tell him to go."

Blake tried every which way to convince Logan, and when he wouldn't agree, they got into a heated argument for his not trusting Andy, but Logan refused to give in. Eventually, Blake crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Fine. But only because I know how important this is to you. And I'm still not happy about this."

Logan rolled his eyes, opened the door, and gave Blake a shove towards the living room. "Just get out of here."

*****

"Which seat did you sit in when you came last night?"

Logan glanced around himself at the bar. It was one of those pubs that also had a diner, which was the only reason Blake, still being underaged at eighteen, had been allowed in. Background music played from a stereo in the corner, and the smell of stale cigarettes and some sort of citrusy drink wafted in from the front. Although it was dark inside, there were plenty of people milling around and dancing on this Saturday night.