Boyfriend for Christmas

Ten

"I'm I missing something?" Rory put his book down and looked up at Logan and Allison, "I thought I was your fake boyfriend."

"You were," Ally said, "But Logan offered and this would just be so much easier."

"You've only known him for hours!" Rory protested.

"Oh please." Ally rolled her eyes, "Like it matters! I've known you for three days!"

"Yeah! That's three days longer than you've known him!" Rory gestured angrily to Logan.

"Look." Ally said, exasperated, "If it's the essay your worried about, you can still use it. I don't need it."

"Well..." Rory started again, "I just-- I mean. What am I supposed to do for Christmas?"

Suddenly Ally felt guilty. Rory wore a tough exterior, but under all that negativity and sarcasm, he had probably been looking forward to a real Christmas. 

"Oh Rory..." She let go of Logan and sat next to him, "You can still come..."

Rory scooted away from her and Ally's hand dropped the the bed.

"That's ok. Someone needs to wait for your car anyway." He said, standing.

"No no, I insist Rory." Logan spoke up, "Come with us."

Allison looked at him adoringly. What a perfect guy.

Rory raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Nobody should spend Christmas alone!" Logan patted Rory's back.

"Don't touch me." Rory said coldly.

"Rory!" Ally scolded, she could tell he didn't like Logan, but that gave him no excuse to be a jerk. "You're coming with us. Get your bags."

"Yes mom." Rory rolled his eyes as Allison dragged Logan out of the room. 

"I am so sorry. I told you he was hard to get along with." Allsion told Logan as soon as they had left his room.

"Don't worry about it," Logan put his arm around her shoulder, "he'll come around."

Allison wasn't convinced that he would. And after the three hour car ride to her parent's house, she was certain he wouldn't. 

Rory had succeeded in making them pull over three times for bathroom breaks, spilling smoothie all over Logan's backseat, and throwing up out the window.

When they finally made it to her parents house, Ally had never been more relieved.

"I'll take your bags." Logan offered as they pulled their luggage out of the trunk.

She gladly accepted and handed Logan her suitcase.

"Thank you!" She smiled.

"Hey Rob," Logan opened the car's backdoor, "Why don't you clean up your mess back here and then take in the rest of the bags?"

Rory sat up groggily from his nap and glared at Logan.

"First of all, it Ror-" he started, but Logan slammed the door shut before he was finished.

"Shall we?" Logan gestured to the house and Ally plastered on a smile.

She felt a little guilty leaving Rory like that, especially after Logan had been kind of mean...

But then again she would've been mad if he'd spilled smoothie in her backseat too, so she didn't blame him.

"Let's." She took his hand and they walked to the door.

Before they even reached the porch, Ally's mom flew out the front door and down the driveway to greet them. 

"Ally!!" She squealed and threw her arms around her, "For a while there I thought you were flaking out on us!"

Typical mom. Ally thought, Instead of making me actually feel good about being here, you make me feel like trash. Awesome.

"Hi mom." She said unenthusiastically, "sorry we're late. We had some car troubles. This is-"

"Logan!" Her mom interrupted, "Ally has told me so much about you! I'm so glad that you were--"

It was Mrs. Carter's turn to be interrupted when Rory stumbled groggily up the driveway.

"Sorry to interrupt," He began, "But um Ally, do you have any cleaning supplies or something? I'm trying to clean up the smoothie, but it's a little hard with my bare hands."

Okay. First of all. Gross.

Ally exchanged glances with Logan and her mom. Her mother stared wide eyed and drop jawed at Rory as if he were a sea monster that had just crawled out of her bathtub.

"And you are..?" Mrs. Carter prompted uncomfortably.

"Roderick Anderton," Rory put his hand, "But you can call me Rory. Most everyone does."

Mrs. Carter looked down at his smoothie covered hand and Rory sheepishly wiped it on his jeans.

"Sorry." He said with an awkward half smile, "Forgot that was there."

"And you're somehow related to Logan? Or..?" Ally's mother asked skeptically.

"Yes!" Logan said at the time Rory disgustedly said "No."

"He's uh... They're old friends." Ally said and Logan nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Logan jumped in, "Our families are so close that I consider him family."

Rory raised an eyebrow in disgust.

"Actually--" He began, but Ally didn't let him finish.

"There are paper towels in the kitchen and rags under the cabinet in the garage," Ally said, lightly pushing Rory to the door. Maybe bringing him along hadn't been such a good Idea after all. She didn't want him ruining her flawless scheme with his big mouth.

As he walked toward the house Logan leaned close to Mrs. Carter, "His parents died when he was little. He has nobody to spend Christmas with. I do hope you don't mind that I invited him along."

Mrs. Carter put a sympathetic hand on her heart.

"Oh the poor boy!" She said, "of COURSE we don't mind. The more the merrier. That's what I always say!"

Allison decided not to point out that after 22 years of living with her mother that was the first time she had heard her say anything even close to "the more the merrier". She also decided that she needed to lay down some ground rules with Logan. Things like, DON'T DIG OUR HOLE OF LIES ANY DEEPER!! But she would get to that later.

"It really was a tragedy." Logan nodded sadly, "I think that's part of the reason he comes off as a bit of a jerk sometimes. He's putting on a tough exterior to hide his pain."

Mrs. Carter looked like she was about to cry and Ally couldn't help but roll her eyes. Logan was laying it on a little thick. 

"Do you guys want to go inside?" Ally asked hopefully, "Logan still needs to meet dad."

"Oh you're right!" Her mother beamed, "And Amanda is here to with David and the kids, so we'll have the whole family here for Christmas!" 

"Perfect!" Ally faked a smile. She had forgotten that Amanda was going to be here. Her sister knew her better than anyone in the world. If anyone was going to see through their charade, it would be Amanda. 

"You okay?" Logan whispered to her as they walk to the door.

"I'm fine." She promised, but she wasn't fine. The guilt of lying to her whole family was already settling in her stomach, and from now on, it was only doing to get worse.