14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Nick

Day 5

Even with the air conditioning cranked, it was hotter than Hades as I kicked off the blankets. The Sunlight streamed through the cracks of the blackout curtains, and as my hazy vision cleared, the pounding in my head grew. Fuck, I hated hangovers, but I had no one to blame but myself as I made promises to my aching head that I'd never drink again, but I always did.

God, why is it so hot in here?

Then I discovered the source of the heat. Logan. His big body was pressed up against mine, spooning me. He was a fucking furnace. I would've laughed had my head not felt like it was about to be split in half with a crowbar. I found it almost hilarious how much of a snuggler he was because he didn't give off the sweet, snuggly vibe at all. He was just drawn to me, which I kind of found weirdly flattering.

Then my brain went straight to last night. Did I really just teach Logan how to kiss? Oh fuck, I got a boner, too. It all came crashing back harder than my splitting headache.

It's fine. He's fine. I'm fine. No one's freaking out.

It had been strange kissing a dude—a grown man, not a thirteen-year-old best friend. There was nothing soft about Logan, no matter how gently we kissed.

Dayum. Okay, moving on.

As much as I didn't want to move, I needed to take a piss and drink some water, so I shifted and wiggled out of his heavy grasp. Logan suddenly bolted up, wide-eyed, then his eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell back onto the bed, clawing at his brain.

"Oh, god, I've got a gnarly headache."

"Yep, and your breath is gnarly, too. The curse of drinking too much."

"So is yours, ass."

I snorted a laugh and winced as I climbed out of bed, headed to the bathroom, and peed. My bladder felt so much better, but my head not so much. I washed my hands and poured two glasses of water from the faucet with the glasses the motel provided. After handing one cup to Logan, I dug around my backpack to pull out my bottle of aspirin.

"Here, take these."

I handed Logan two pills, and I took two myself, washing them down with water.

"Thanks." He rubbed his temples and shut his eyes. "We aren't driving anywhere until I feel a bit better."

"Agreed."

I sat on the edge of the bed, unable to take my eyes off him for some reason. His hair was a wreck, sticking up in places and flattened in others, and his lips were swollen. The only thing he wore were his red briefs. Had he been undressed all night? But so had I. I remembered removing my clothes and then touching his bare skin at some point.

Stop looking at him, weirdo.

"We better get dressed and call our parents before we head out."

"Yeah. Let me take a quick shower," he said, slowly climbing out of bed.

After Logan got out of the shower, wearing a new pair of briefs in blue, he pulled clothes from the suitcase and started to get dressed as I called home from the motel phone. I called collect because expensive long-distance rates would be charged to our room bill.

"Nick, is that you, sweetheart?" Mom said over the phone.

"Yep, it's your most favorite offspring."

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head, smiling as he pulled on a pair of cut-offs. I watched as his junk slid behind the denim as he zipped up. Why the fuck was I looking there? And why did I keep staring at him?

Because we both got boners last night from kissing .

I kind of questioned my sanity now that I was sober—hungover, but sober. At the same time, I didn't regret a minute of it, feeling Logan melt under my teachings. He really got into it. Hell, I got into it. More than I ever did with Caleb, but we'd been kids then.

"Sorry, what, Mom?"

"Where are you boys at and headed to now?"

"We're at a motel in Nashville about to drive to Memphis. We'll see Graceland and shit. Then we'll camp close by for a couple of days before moving on to Little Rock, where we'll grab lunch before cutting north to the Ozarks. Logan reserved a small cabin for us to stay in over there."

"Isn't that exciting? So, are you and Logan getting along?"

"Actually, yeah. We ironed out some kinks," I said, looking at Logan and winking. "He's got more wrinkles than I do, but he's smoothing out."

He gave me the bird, making me laugh.

"Oh, I'm so glad. I can't tell you how good it is to hear that. I worry about that boy sometimes."

"I know, Mom."

I could tell Hannah was grabbing the phone to eat as she mumbled into it.

"Hey, is that my Hannah Banana?"

"She's hungry. Always hungry. Or perpetually teething."

"Give her a kiss from Logan and me."

Logan smiled and nodded. He was doing that a lot more lately, which I couldn't stop noticing. It really softened his features and brightened his aura. It looked fucking good on him.

"I will. You boys, be careful. Wyatt's at work, but he'll expect a call from Logan soon."

"We'll call you tomorrow."

"Love you."

"I love you, too."

After I hung up, we loaded up the car and hit the road for the three-hour drive to Memphis.

I had my bare feet propped on the dash, with my hand catching air out the window as Logan drove. The landscape looked so gorgeous, with rolling hills and thick woods. And there were bugs everywhere. Their little bodies playing kamikaze all over the windshield, but the gas station attendant would clean them once we stopped for gas again.

I didn't really care about any of that. My brain kept getting lost in that kiss with Logan last night. I'd only meant to help him along on his journey to finding himself and be ready for a guy to come into his life, but I hadn't expected to like it, too.

My head leaned on the door, the wind gusting on my face as my hand weaved up and down like a wave to the beat of a country song on the radio.

Was it weird that I kind of wanted to kiss him again? I'd never once had thoughts like that with Caleb, or any dude for that matter. Was I thinking about it now because Logan told me he was gay? Would I have reacted the same way if he said he'd never kissed a girl and wanted to practice? Would I have helped him learn? I didn't know.

"Yeah, we're in country music, er… country, but I need some rock right about now," Logan said, startling out of my thoughts. "Pick a mixed tape to play. Any of them."

I pulled out the old shoe box and dug around. "How about The Cure ?"

"Dope. Drop it in."

I changed the setting to play tapes on the radio, then pushed in the cassette, which started to play ‘In Between Days.'

"Man, I love the guitar riff on this song," he said, cranking up the volume. It was hard to enjoy the full sound with the wind blowing through the windows. Still, Logan wasn't wrong. This song was wickedly good. I tapped on the window's edge to the beat.

I didn't know what was currently going through my head after last night, but for now, I felt fucking good. The hangover still tore my brain apart, and I couldn't stop yawning, but my body was completely unwound. Logan and I were finally getting along and understood each other. This trip had been epic so far, and we still had two and a half weeks left. I couldn't help but believe I was in the right place at the right time. You know that sensation you get when even your soul is comfortable? That was me.

"Hey, man, you okay?" Logan asked.

I looked over and smiled at him. His face was full of concern, but it softened when he saw my smile. He never cared before, but he did now. I liked that. "Yeah, bro. I'm pretty stellar right now."

Logan smiled back with those straight white teeth of his that I rarely saw until recently. "Not hungover anymore?"

I snorted a laugh. "I'm still totally hungover, but what's the point of being young if you don't hurt a little bit after having too much fun?"

"I'm not sure that makes sense," he chuckled. "But I think I get it."

By the time ‘Close to Me' came on, Logan and I were singing along while I clapped to the beat, and he tapped the steering wheel.

A couple of hours later, we were driving through Memphis.

"Let's look for a place to eat, then we need to fill up on gas and grab some groceries, water, and ice. Would you mind taking the wheel the rest of the way to our campsite? I'll need to read the map."

"Yeah, no prob. We need more beer, too."

Logan suddenly looked green. "Ugh, I don't want to think about beer right now."

"Oh, you will tonight."

"Plan to get me drunk and take advantage?" Logan's eyes suddenly turned wide, and his face flushed bright red. "I didn't mean… I wasn't saying… Ah… Ugh."

I burst out laughing. "Dude… I know you're just joking. Chill, man. And I'll only take advantage if you want me to."

When I winked at him, he punched me in the shoulder, but I knew the difference between a playful punch and one of Logan's angry punches. "Fucker."

"Ow, fuck you back." I punched his shoulder in return. "Eyes on the road, Snuggle-Wuggles."

"I hate you."

"Not anymore," I said, folding my arms on the windowsill and resting my head on my arms as I stared out at Memphis.

"Not anymore," he agreed.

After lunch and grabbing gas and supplies, I drove the Mustang slowly across the dirt road toward Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park. This car was not equipped for camping, but it sure was pretty. Every time we stopped for gas, the attendant would caress it lovingly and ask us all sorts of questions we didn't know the answers to.

"Turn right about a half mile ahead. That should take us to the campgrounds," Logan said, staring closely at the park map we picked up in town, which was much better than the state map.

"Aye, aye."

"This place has showers on site."

"Thank god. I love camping, but it's been so damn hot lately. And swimming in a lake or river isn't the same."

"Such a suburbs boy," he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes as I made the turn. "Yeah, so are you, dipshit."

Once we arrived at our spot, I took in the sight. The air was so hot, heavy, and still that it silenced the world, but under the thick woods, it wasn't too bad. We had a perfect setup next to Poplar Tree Lake. The trees surrounding the water were huge and thick.

"I can't wait to dive in," I said, wiping my face with my tank top.

"Let's set up camp, then we can."

Once we had the tent pitched and the firepit ready to go for tonight, we chugged down some water and put on our swim trunks.

"Not getting naked this time?" Logan teased.

"Only if you want me to." I winked, enjoying his blush. "But maybe it's best not to be with so many other campers nearby."

"Wise beyond your years," he deadpanned.

"So they say."

"No one says that."

We both laughed, and I fucking enjoyed this side of Logan. I'd never seen him playful in my life, which was so much better than the brooding one. Just think that all this time, we could've lived like this as brothers. The years seemed rather wasted, but we couldn't do anything about it other than make up for lost time.

The sun sat between afternoon and dusk in the cloudless sky, but humidity created a light haze over the horizon.

After changing into our swim trunks, Logan rested a hand on my shoulder long enough to feel the weird tingles through my body. I didn't understand my reactions to him. Was a damn kiss all it took to get me to react like that? And I wanted to do it again, but this time, would it be about helping him or me?

"Race you," he said.