Crash and Burn

t h i r t y t h r e e: Admittance

    I glared at the coffee mug in my hands, silently hoping that it wouldn't shatter at how tightly I was gripping it. My fingertips were white, and although the outside of the cup was scorching hot I couldn't find it in me to let go. 

"Tess you've been staring at that mug like it hurt you on a personal level for the past ten minutes,"  Logan pipes up from his seat across the table from me. 

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, instead settling on just flicking my gaze up to meet his. He raises an eyebrow expectantly as if to ask what was wrong with me. 

We were seated in a corner booth of a local coffee shop on a Sunday evening in December, the Christmas decor around us making the place feel homey and cozy. What a perfect date idea, right? Wrong. 

I had called him earlier to meet me here because I had some....questions that really couldn't wait any longer. 

"Are you gonna say something or did you ask me to come here so I could watch you feel offended by your coffee?" This time I really did roll my eyes at his snarky remark. 

I sigh, willing myself to just spit it out. "I saw you yesterday at my race flirting with some random girl instead of watching me," I attempted to sound strong and confident, but instead my voice was small and weak with my eyes cast downwards. 

Now it was Logan's turn to sigh. He ran his hand through his tousled blonde hair, flicking his eyes around the cafe quickly before they landed back on me. It worried me that he wasn't immediatley denying it and saying my accusation wasn't true. There was a part of me hoping he would say something like, "Oh her? That was just an old friend and I catching up, I told her all about you!" 

Sadly, that answer never came. 

"Look, I'm sorry if it seemed that way. Watching running has just never sparked my attention," he shrugs his shoulders lamely. At this, my eyes whip up to meet his, no doubt looking cold and venomous. What kind of answer is that?! 

"So, are you implying that redheads with unnaturally large boobs do?" I snap, suddenly finding my courage and not caring about being rude. 

His eyes widen as he sputters, "W-What? No!"

"Yeah well, that's what it fucking sounded like," I snip back, shooting daggers with my eyes. I rarely cursed, but when I did it was because someone made me angry enough to not feel bad about it. 

"Tess, babe-" 

I cut him off, "Don't even try that Logan," 

"Try what?" he throws his hands up exasperatedly. 

"Be all 'oh Tess babe' to try and make me swoon and forgive you!" 

"That wasn't my intention," he says impatiently like he wished to be anywhere but here. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I wasn't flirting, just making conversation."

Was that all he had to say for himself? Like the middle of the most important race of the season was a perfect time to socialize?!

"Really, Logan? That race meant so much to me and I look over to see you laughing it up with some random chick you'll probably never see again! I'm sorry if supporting me, your girlfriend, is such an inconvenience to you," I cross my arms over my chest after making my point. Logan drags a hand down his face tiredly as if I was exhausting him. 

"No it's not an inconvenience, but when that girl came up to talk to me I couldn't just be a dick and tell her to fuck off, could I?" he chuckles humorlessly, completely missing my point.