safer | louigan

1.5 - louise, logan, and tammy

the three sat around tammy's kitchen table, an awkward silence hanging in the air. "so." logan fumbled with the hem of his white undershirt, glancing back and forth between louise and tammy. "are you ever going to go back home?"

louise shook her head, a frown playing on her lips. "i don't think so. i'm planning to wait about a month until my case is kind of forgotten and then sign up for online classes with a different name. if i can hide out long enough, i think i'll speak to a detective when i'm sixteen about a restraining order on my dad."

"why not talk to a detective now?"

"they'll just send me back to the restaurant or they'll throw me in the foster system. it's not worth it. i'd rather stay with tammy."

"but, what about wagstaff?" logan asked, feeling his brown eyes grow warm. he could feel himself growing emotional, his hands balling into fists over his lap. "are you ever going to go back and visit? your family is going insane over there!"

louise tensed, calming when tammy rubbed her back. "i mean, yeah, i want to go back, but it's just not the right time, you know? who cares if my family is going insane? they ignored me when i called for them! they—they sided with him! they don't have any right to be going insane!"

logan frowned, wiping the tears from louise's small face with his thumbs. "you're right," he murmured, louise looking in his eyes. "you're right. they don't have any reason to feel like that. but, you're still their daughter, you know?"

"i'm sure they miss you." tammy spoke up, then turned towards logan. "but, right now, it's just too risky to send her back. i mean, who knows what bob might do?"

"what did bob even do anyways?" logan piped up, gripping louise's hand under the table. "what happened that night?"

louise tightened her grip on logan's hand, trying to find the courage to speak up. although she struggled to get the words out of her mouth at first, they ended up spilling out faster towards the end as she rushed to get them out of her system. the whole time she spoke, tammy were there to remind her to take her time. when her voice cracked, logan was there to rub his thumb over her hand softly and wait patiently for her to continue.

it was a strange feeling, logan's gentle hand against her own underneath tammy's kitchen table. only three days ago, had bob's rough ones gripped her's tightly and pinned them against the sheets of her bed. as much as she thought being around logan would scare her, it didn't. in fact, logan brought about a sense of safety she had never felt when she was with her family. it was nice.

just sitting with logan and tammy made louise's heart swell. she wanted it to last forever, but she knew it couldn't. soon, logan would go back to his house, and fall right back into his normal routine, which didn't include louise. tammy would end up in her routine as well, soon, leaving louise all alone to fend for herself. she tried her best to ignore the thought, but it had sat at the back of her mind since logan and tammy burst through the door.

in an attempt to distract herself from the thought, she spoke up. "when are you going home?"

"i have to leave in about an hour if i want to make it back to my house before my mom gets home from work." logan said, glancing at tammy.

louise bit her lower lip, fighting the urge to just tell logan to stay the night with her and tammy. she knew it was selfish of her, but she didn't want him to slip through her fingers. she didn't want to lose the safety she felt when he was near. sure, tammy provided a sense of safety, but logan did more.

louise could allow herself to be at least a little bit selfish around tammy, but she couldn't do the same around logan. it was strange, and she didn't know how to feel about it, but she pushed it to the back of her mind and smiled at them.

"that's enough time." louise smiled, looking at logan's hand still in her own.

"for what?" tammy asked.

"anything!" louise exclaimed. "that's enough time to do whatever we want!"

logan and tammy chuckled, but louise frowned. she had lied.

there wasn't enough time.