Plan Of Seduction

12. The Perseverance of Pain

Edit/Rewritten: May 6, 2021

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Logans POV

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Chapter Twelve: The Perseverance of Pain 

     There was a low hum in the air as I stuffed my face with cereal, my nose scrunching up as I reprimanded myself for leaving it out too long.

     "What's that look for?" My eyes snapped up, coming into contact with my brother's hazel eyes. He looked almost amused, watching me from the other side of the dinner table, like a creep.

     "It's soggy." I explained my dilemma because who eats soggy cereal? Only Satan, probably.

     "And it's also Tripp's cereal." I looked down, no way - oh. I nodded, yeah it was. Odd because me and Tripp have completely different tastes when it comes to our cereal. While the health-freak liked the tasteless baked crisps, I loved the sweetest, most colorful bits one could find in the store. Actually, I frowned, why does this have so much milk?

     "I wonder how it got here." I pondered out-loud, completely moving past the fact that I did know how Tripp's cereal got in my cabinet. He had decided to have a sleep over a few days ago, bringing over his favorite box of cereal because in my household, we don't cook. It wasn't anyone's fault really, my dad, me and my brother all had the attention span of a fish, meaning that if we did cook we would end up burning the food. And mom, well mom never really came back home in time to ever cook.

     It wasn't like she was a great cook anyways. But, for some reason, I think a cooked meal would be a lot better than the same four meals ordered from the same four fast-food places in the area.

     Kyle hummed, chin propped on his hand. "I wonder."

     I narrowed my eyes at my brother's suspicious tone. Wonder what? "What?"

     "You like him don't you?" I chewed on my next spoonful slowly as his accusatory question registered in my mind, making my ears ring at the implication.

     "Tripp? Yeah, of course I like him. We're the closest friends could be." My heart stammered in my chest. While Kyle had come out to me for being gay a few years ago, I had never told him about the development of my feelings towards Tripp. There was always that overlying hesitation when it came to me, Tripp and our relationship, and I didn't want to drag anyone else into those flurry of emotions.

     Kyle sighed heavily from the other side of the table, tongue clicking. The action and the sound made me freeze, tongue clicking wasn't something Kyle did. I swung my eyes back over to his figure, breath stuttering as my brother's figure blurred and morphed, tongue clicking was only something my dad did.

     And he usually only did it when he was mad about something.

     "Too close if you ask me." His grave-like voice muttered, sending a shiver down my spine. I let the bowl of cereal fall to the table again, clunking heavily as I pushed my chair back in an attempt to get away from him. The same green eyes that we shared looked back at me. As always, they were monotone, lacking the color that was often there when I was child. Now, it was replaced by this glassy haze. Sometimes it was because of the alcohol, but most times it was just pure hate. "You know, ever since your mother had you I knew you'd be a good-for-nothing-son."

     My thigh burned and when I looked down I could see the cut he left me bleeding, the bodily fluid thick as it seeped through the fabric of my jeans. I didn't have to look up to see him smiling at me, his yellow teeth clashing against each other as his eyes studied me in a predator-like manner.