Collin and I walked in to my best friend and Adam sprawled out on the floor behind the ratty old couch in the midst of a board game. Neither of them did as much as bat an eye when we walked in, but were in the middle of a pretty heated debate.

"Yo." Collin groaned. "This is worse than walking in on you two having sex."

I could feel a smile starting to inch across my face as the two of them stood quickly, my best friend's cheeks flushing immediately. She grabbed her long dark hair in a tight fist and threw it into a quick ponytail as she approached Collin and I in front of the door.

"We were just passing time." She explained, gesturing toward the game on the floor.

"By playing Dungeons and Dragons?" I responded, trying my best not to smile and remain serious. "At least you finally found someone that enjoys it as much as you do."

The blush in her cheeks grew darker hearing my comment. Looking as if she wanted to kill me, she took a step forward and looked up at Collin.

"Is there somewhere we can talk in private?" Collin's eyes darted from the short girl in front of him and to his roommate. There was some weird unspoken understanding between the two because they both disappeared down the hall. Lea poked her head around me to ensure they were behind closed doors before she smacked my shoulder angrily.

"When the hell were you going to tell me you were living with two ridiculously hot guys?" She snapped.

I crossed my arms with a sigh. "Three."

"Three?" She echoed, glancing around the room. "Where's the third?"

"Logan is the third and he's out." I responded shortly, cringing slightly at what I knew was to come. Her eyes widened, lips pursed as she crossed her own arms over her chest.

"Logan? As in Logan Daniels? That douchebag player your brother always hung around?"

Lea had always hated Logan with such a passion I was sure she'd end up killing him at some point. I'd never really understood where such a bitterness could have stemmed from, but anytime he'd show up at my house when we were kids, she'd find an excuse to leave and disappear so she wouldn't have to be in the same house as him. Staring at her now, I decided it was probably best not to tell her where I'd been when she showed up.

"The one and only." I answered quietly.

She stared at me, dumbfounded. "What the hell, Em? Didn't Jesse leave this apartment in your hands? Why are they here?"

"They were here when I got here." I replied. "Apparently Jess forgot to mention it to both sides."

"That doesn't sound like Jesse." She whispered, then let out a long sigh. "What are you going to do? Because there is no way in hell you'll last in this house with three men, especially when one of them is that egotistic dickhead."

I opened my mouth to explain the reason why I'd invited her here but was interrupted by her phone ringing. She held up a perfectly manicured finger and stepped away, immediately delving into a conversation with her mom in Spanish. I started rocking back and forth on my feet, watching as her expression fell and she ended the call.

"What's up?" I questioned. Her dark eyes were as guarded as Logan's had been earlier tonight.

"Mom just lost her job again. She wants me to go to the community college until she can get back on her feet." She ran a had over her forehead, wiping away invisible sweat. "She needs help with the little ones. The house is a hurricane on the daily."

I frowned, feeling my stomach churning a little. "So you won't be going to school here?"

"I will eventually." She assured, reaching a hand out and grasping mine. "And I'm only an hour and a half away, Em. I'll still be visiting you so much you'll be wishing I would disappear."

I nodded, not even bothering to try and force a smile. "I understand, Le."

She smiled weakly, then her expression started to change entirely. Her eyes grew sad, lips almost in a slight pout as her eyebrows drew together in concern.

"How are you feeling? I know we haven't talked a lot since graduation and Jesse. . . how are you handling things?" I could see the guilt clear as day in her eyes, and knew if I expressed how I was truly feeling, she'd be even more guilt ridden.

"I'm okay." I lied through my teeth. "Have a few bad days, but I guess I kind of detached myself from him months ago."

She pulled me into a tight hug, one so familiar I was ready to fall apart then and there. Thankfully she stepped back and snapped her finger.

"Oh yeah, why was it that you wanted me to come by?" She asked. "Did you miss me?"

Throwing away any of my previous thoughts about moving in with her and adding more to her family's plate, I squeezed her hand.

"Obviously, that's why I called. I was in desperate need of my best friend."

*

By some never to be seen again miracle Adam and Lea were able to talk Collin and I in to sitting down and hearing out the rules of the game. The two of us zoned out about halfway through, but Adam and my best friend continued on as if they didn't see it. About an hour into it, Lea dozed off on the ground, her head on Adam's lap. Not soon after that, he fell asleep sitting upright, head and back against the couch, mouth hanging open slightly. I must have succumbed to the drowsiness being spread around the room because I was startled awake by the sound of the door unlocking a few feet away. I lifted my head a fraction to find I'd fallen asleep against Collin's shoulder, but he looked as if it hadn't bothered him at all. He was the only one of us that had stayed awake and was scrolling through his phone. His head whipped in the direction of the door as Logan walked in, red splattered across his knuckles. I felt Collin tense under me, and didn't have to see his face to know he was probably eying him down.

"What the hell?" Logan muttered. "Is that Lea?"

I sat up, looking toward my best friend, "Yeah."

"What is she doing here? I don't need her setting my shit on fire." He looked from Collin to me, then shook his head. "You girls can just take the room, I'll sleep on the couch."

I blinked, shocked. "Really?"

"I'd let you girls sleep in my bed and I'd sleep in Jesse's, but I think your little pet firecracker might have an issue with that." He shrugged. "It's just one night, no biggie."

Collin looked just as surprised as I was, but was interrupted by a quiet, groggy voice behind us.

"Why can't she sleep in my room?" Adam asked. Collin looked ready to slap a hand against his face at the dumbness of the question.

"I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of answering that bro." He responded. "I'm pretty tired though, so I think we should all just head to bed."

Adam was able to slip out from under Lea but stared over at her for a while, then looked toward Collin, and eventually Logan. "I can't carry her to the room."

"That is because you, my friend, are weak." Collin answered, slapping a hand against his friend's back. Adam shot him a dark look, but Collin was too busy talking to Logan to see it. "I'd do it but I pulled something at practice this morning. You think you can do it?"

Logan rubbed the back of his hand, looking uncomfortable. "I can do it, but nobody is to tell her, understood? I don't need her putting some witchy hex on me."

I smiled as he crouched down and swept Lea up in a quick, swift movement, and stood. I couldn't help but question if he'd done the exact same to me, and how many girls he'd done it to before to be able to not wake us.

I saw Logan breathe out a sigh of relief as he edged back out of his bedroom unscathed. The three of us had stood and were laughing at his relief. Adam stretched his arms behind his head and brushed passed me with a squeeze of my forearm.

"Night, Emily." He waved a hand as he passed Logan and headed for his room at the end of the hall. Collin did the same, ruffling my hair playfully on his way passed and touching a hand against Logan's shoulder. But it wasn't quite comforting but held a little more aggression in it. Logan and I watched him until his door shut quietly behind him at the end of the hall. I leaned back into the couch and dropped my gaze to my feet.

"What'd he say?" Logan questioned, eyes still on the hall. "And don't feed me any "nothing" bullshit."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, Logan. He didn't say anything."

"Emily." He closed the distance between us and pointed down the hall. "I know he said something."

"He really didn't." I straightened myself, unphased by his anger. "Nothing I didn't already know, anyway."

He huffed out an angry sigh. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Logan, just drop it, alright? He didn't say anything." I met his cold blue eyes. "Calm down."

He shook his head, still angry. "I know he said something. I can tell by the way you're looking at me."

"How am I looking at you?" I rubbed a hand down my face. "You need sleep, Logan. You're imagining shit."

"You look disappointed in me." He dropped his clenched fists to his sides. "But that's fine, cause I'm disappointed in myself too, sweetheart."

I looked away. "You're better than them, Logan. I think you're an ass, sure, and that you need to figure everything out, but you're a million times better than them."

"Am I?" He laughed without emotion. "Because last time I checked I'm their son. Maybe it'd just be easier to follow in their footsteps and fall into it like everyone expects me to."

I touched his forearm gently, staring up at him through my lashes. "Jesse always believed you'd succeed in life and leave them in the dust, Logan. Remember that. Thank you for letting us sleep in the room."

I had just passed him when he grabbed my hand. I turned around, surprised. I was even more taken back by the look of vulnerability he wore. If there was one thing that Logan Daniels wasn't, it was vulnerable. He'd always told my brother love and other emotions were just another form of drugs and for the weak.

"Em, I need him." He whispered. "I don't know what to do. He was always here to talk me out of dumb shit and push me onto the right path. I need him."

It took every ounce of willpower I had not to allow my own emotions to surface as I responded to him.

"I'm lost too, Logan. I had this whole life planned out and he. . . then he was just gone, and with him when all my hopes and dreams. He had always pushed me too, made sure I was happy and okay even if he wasn't." I could hear my voice catch in my throat and averted my eyes immediately as I got to the point. "But he's gone and he's not coming back. You need to make sure that all that he did for us wasn't for nothing."

His eyes softened hearing the waver in my voice, but his words didn't match his expression.

"I hate that you're here, Emily." My mind drifted back to Collin mentioning how I got under Logan's skin in the car. "But I hate knowing that if you weren't, I would have given up completely already and been long gone even more."

Without another word, he grabbed a blanket from the closet behind me and crossed the room to the couch, falling on to it and disappearing under the blanket, until he became one with it.