Chapter 13

"Hey beautiful." Chris grinned, finally showing up to the smoothie shack at noon.

"And where have you been?" I raised my eyebrows as he stood next to me behind the counter.

"I slept in." Chris bit his lip. "And my dad had already left for work I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "It's cool. I've just been kicking ass here on my own all day." I grinned, bumping my hip against his.

"Customers." Chris said, pointing to a group of people who were walking up here.

My eyes widened as I saw the three people that Mark was talking with.

"Oh hey it's those guys from last night." Chris grinned.

Unfortunately, yes.

I didn't care about seeing Kellan and Kent, but the fact that Logan was there made me extremely nervous.

And it sucked because I looked awful right now. My hair had been straightened but now it was curly from the humidity, forced into a small ponytail sticking out of the back of my hat. I was just wearing my bikini top and a pair of jean short shorts, the usual attire for working on the beach.

But today I was a lot more sweaty than usual, as I'd been singlehandedly doing everything so far.

"What can I get for you?" I asked. I mentally cringed at how shaky my voice sounded.

"Marley!" Kellan said excitedly. "I didn't know you worked here."

"Well yes, this is my job." I laughed.

"Aw look at the little Ryders actually doing work." Kent teased, giving me a grin.

"With her little baseball cap and all." Kellan laughed. "So going on Twitter."

I raised my eyebrows as he took a picture of me.

"You're so full of shit." I shook my head, trying not to laugh. "What can I get you three?"

Each of them ordered what they'd like in a smoothie, Logan noticeably the quietest out of all of them.

"So how long are you losers here?" I asked with a laugh while Chris made the smoothies.

"Uh we just came to hang out with Mark for the day then we're going home tomorrow." Kellan told me.

"Hey Marley can you help me here instead of socializing?" Chris laughed. I turned around, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Excuse me, sir, but I've been doing all the work all morning, it's time for you to pull your weight." I raised my eyebrows.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I've been doing all the work here for three years." Chris gave me a look.

"Great so you know what you're doing." I winked before turning back around to face my friends.

I suddenly realized that I wasn't wearing my necklace.

I wondered if Logan would even notice...

After Chris had given everybody their smoothies, they sat down and kept talking to me. Well I was talking to Kellan and Kent, not Logan.

"So you and Ellie are approaching your one year?" I grinned, looking at Kent.

"Well I mean 10 months, that's almost a year." He shrugged.

"Do you want to hear a secret?" I laughed.

"What that she bitched about me for like an hour to you girls after we first hung out? Yea I've heard this story a million times from Ashley." Kent laughed.

"Oh but come on it's funny because you guys are inseparable now." I grinned. "So Kellan, how's Ashley?"

"Uh, we broke up..." Kellan said awkwardly.

I gasped. "No!" I exclaimed. "What how?!"

"I dunno we didn't see as much of each other over summer. We broke up like two weeks ago." Kellan shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"That's awful..." I frowned.

"Yea it's like all of our friends are breaking up." Kent nodded in agreement.

"Uh you and Ellie are still together? Wesley and Grace are still together?" I raised my eyebrows.

"That's two out of five though." Kent shrugged.
"Whatever, it's just gonna be weird when school starts."

"When do you guys start school again?" Chris asked, leaning against the counter next to me.

"First Tuesday after labor day." I replied.

"What?" Chris frowned. "That's confusing." He added with a laugh.

"Yea it's the law for public schools in Michigan." I shrugged, smiling at him.

"So you'll still be here when I go to college?" Chris raised his eyebrows.

"Sort of. Mark and I are supposed to go home on the twenty-fifth, finally, but we're gonna try and push it earlier because of our brothers' birthday." I replied with a smile. "But I'll still have to run this place on my own."

"You'll do fine." Chris grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I will."

"Right well we should be going." Logan said suddenly, standing up.

"What? But we haven't seen Marley in ages!" Kellan frowned, looking over his shoulder as Logan walked away.

I just awkwardly smiled at the guys.

"I'll see you guys when school starts I guess." I laughed.

"See you Marley." Kellan waved as they walked away.

I sighed.

"So who was the quiet moody one?" Chris laughed, raising his eyebrows.

"Mark's best friend. He's weird." I laughed, shrugging.

"Hey where's that necklace you always wear?" Chris asked curiously, looking down at my neck.

I frowned. "I didn't feel like wearing it today." I shrugged, looking up at him.

"Oh. I liked it." Chris smiled, stepping towards me. "So I had fun on Friday."

"And so did I." I grinned, looking up at him as he put his hands on either side of the counter.

"I think we should do it again."

"And so do I." I giggled as he pressed his lips against mine.

~*~*~

I stopped dead as I walked into Aunt Audrey's house.

It was like an alternate universe.

"Oh Marley! Mark's friends are staying for dinner." Aunt Audrey grinned as she set dishes on the table.

I looked around the kitchen.

It was like throwback to the beginning of my sophomore year when all four of them were always in my kitchen with Wesley.

I just stood there, my heart racing.

"I was going to go out with the girls..." I managed. "I was just changing..."

"Oh no honey come eat dinner with all of us." Aunt Audrey smiled.

"I..." I trailed off, glancing around the kitchen. "Aunt Audrey..."

"Marley come on." My aunt sighed as she set the lasagna on the table. "Come eat with us. And put a shirt on."

"Yea Marley, gosh, parading around shirtless." Mark teased. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Tell the girls to come join us." Aunt Audrey grinned.

"No that is not a good idea." I laughed, leaning against the doorway.

"Eat dinner with us now and then you can go out later." Aunt Audrey said, giving me a look.
I bit my lip.

"Can I at least change first?" I asked softly.

"Yes go put on clothes." Aunt Audrey laughed.
I nodded, quickly running to my room.

I pulled on a sweatshirt, fixed my hair, then ran back out to the kitchen.

I quickly took the open seat in between Mark and Kellan, not wanting to get stuck next to Logan.

"Where was Chris today? I didn't see him at work when I went into town." Aunt Audrey asked me.

"Oh the genius slept through his alarm." I laughed with a shrug.

"Of course he did." Aunt Audrey laughed, shaking his head. "Tell him to come around for breakfast soon, I haven't seen him around lately."

"You'll be seeing a lot more of him soon." Mark grinned from next to me.

I elbowed him harshly.

"Shut up." I hissed.

Mark just laughed, giving me a wink.

I glared at him, looking down at my plate.

"So are you guys going to the bonfire tonight?" Aunt Audrey asked.

"And how do you know about the bonfire?" Mark raised his eyebrows.

"Watch it. I may be sixty years old but I know things." Aunt Audrey replied, giving my brother a look.

"Well I dunno that depends if we're allowed to go to the bonfire." I said, grinning at my aunt.

"Bring your friends and yes. Don't come home drunk or I won't hesitate to lock you out." Aunt Audrey gave me a look.

"Oh trust me. We know." Mark rolled his eyes.

I didn't know if I was happy about that or upset.

Sure, I wanted to go to the party.

But did I want to hang out with Chris the whole time while Logan was there?

I glanced at Logan.

Yes. Yes I did want to hang out with Chris the whole time.

~*~*~

"Can I ask you a question?" I said to Mark as I walked up to him. He'd been standing a bit away from the group, talking to Kellan.

"Right well I'll go join Kent and Logan." Kellan laughed, walking away.

"Yes you can ask me a question." Mark laughed.

"You know what I was thinking about today?" I said softly.

"Lots of things." Mark rolled his eyes.

"No okay can you please be serious?" I frowned.

Mark sighed, turning to look at me completely.

"Go on." Mark nodded.

"I was thinking about New Years. The party at Jane's house. And right at midnight what were you thinking?" I asked, pushing my hair back from my face.

Mark sighed, crossing his arms. "I wondered if you were telling Logan that you loved him. I was thinking about the conversation on Christmas."

I nodded. "That's what I thought." I sighed.

"And why do you ask?" Mark raised his eyebrows.

"I mean, I'm not going to do anything about it but I think I'm starting to rethink my feelings about Logan... And maybe breaking up with him wasn't the best idea." I shrugged.

"No... Marley oh my gosh no." Mark groaned, running his hands through his hair. "Okay I know you're my sister and I'm supposed to take your side but he's my best friend and I won't let you hurt him anymore."

I glared at Mark.

"I just said I'm not going to do anything about it." I sighed.

"Good. Don't." Mark shook his head.

"What's all the tension about over here?" Chris laughed, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

Mark sighed, walking away.

"Just Mark being annoying. The usual." I laughed, turning around to look at Chris.

He smiled, pushing my hair back from my face.

"Would you like a drink?" He offered.

"Water?" I laughed. "I don't want to get in trouble tonight."

"Got it." Chris nodded, taking my hand as we walked to the drinks. "So what's the deal with them?" Chris asked.

I followed his gaze to Logan and Mark who looked like they were in a heated conversation.

I shrugged. "I don't pay attention to them." I laughed, grabbing a water bottle from the cooler.
Chris just nodded, his eyes on me.

"Want to dance?" He asked softly.

This bonfire was bigger than usual, and there was loud music playing.

"Not particularly." I giggled. "Nothing against you I just don't dance."

Chris just sighed. "Worth a shot." He shrugged, wrapping his arms around me.

I sighed, resting my head against his chest.

"I'm glad I met you this summer." He whispered.

My eyes met Logan's, the bonfire making it look like his eyes were lit up.

He took a sip of his beer, not breaking eye contact with me.

It sent shivers down my spine as a million things crossed my mind, all revolving around Logan Hamilton.

Did I make a mistake?