Half truth

Chapter Forty-One

It had been exactly three days since I’d seen Logan and I still wasn’t sure who was to blame for our fight. Probably him. Maybe me. Definitely both of us. It would’ve been over by now if I’d called him, but after he left my apartment, I just kept getting more and more upset. I’d ranted to Nora over the phone and she listened quietly, but I got the sense that she was on Logan’s side of the argument. Unlike Logan, she’d kept that to herself and just listened. In his absence, I’d met the other two members of The Eight, A

Also, in his absence, I’d been stalking Nolan’s social media and overanalyzing everything in the background of his photos, but it was just the usual—Nolan gri

Logan: I’m sorry.

I stopped walking and leaned against the nearest column, closing my eyes and letting out a shuddering exhale. He’d never apologized before, not that he’d ever done anything worth apologizing for, aside from the times he was a jerk before we actually got together. It wasn’t a Logan thing to do though. I knew that from every single interaction I’d seen him have with everyone around us. His apology actually meant something. My eyes popped when a second text came through, but I stayed leaning against the rough column.

Logan: I was an asshole.

Me: I’m sorry too.

Logan: I miss you so fucking much

Me: I miss you too

My phone rang. I answered his call quickly.

“Does that mean you didn’t go looking for someone to share a bed with?”

I laughed. “I hadn’t gotten around to printing out the flyers with my number.”

“Good. That’s less people I have to kill when I get back.”

“How many do you currently have to kill?”

“Just Paper Boy. He uploaded a picture of the two of you together and I’ve been envisioning punching him in the face since.”

“Logan.” I laughed. “Max is like your number one fan.”

“You think that’ll stop me?” he asked and I swore I could hear the scowl coming through the phone line. “I want you to be my number one fan.”

“I still know nothing about hockey. I guess I’ll get there if we’re going to stay together.” I pushed myself off the column I’d been leaning against and kept walking.

“If?” He sounded offended. “We’re staying together.”

“I don’t like to jump to conclusions. For all I know, I’m just a footnote in your college experience.”

“Oh, Mae.” He sighed into the phone. “How could you be a footnote when you’re the whole damn textbook?”

My heart skipped. He said things like that all the time, little glimpses of just how serious he wanted us to be. I loved that about him. My ex-boyfriend had always been too cool to talk to me in front of his friends and God forbid he ever said anything that sounded remotely like he wanted us together forever. He’d said, I think I can fall in love with you, once. It was what made me decide to follow him to college. Like an idiot. Logan didn’t say anything as if it was something he thought. He said it all with clarity, so there was no room for confusion, and he only said things he meant. I wished so badly I could tell him right now, but I was too scared. What if those three little words, that held such promise, were what would scare him away?

“Hey, Logan,” I said quietly, heart pounding loudly in my ears. “You should just come back right now.”

“Yeah?” He chuckled. “Did I say the right thing?”

“Yep.”

“I’ll be there . . . ” He stopped talking. Someone in the background started shouting at him. “Coach wants me to get off the phone. I’ll call you tonight.”

“I’ll be waiting. In my red lingerie.”

“Jesus, Amelia,” he groaned. Another shout came from the background. “Fuck. I gotta go.”

I laughed at the sound in his voice when he hung up and continued on to the library. Hailey had said she wanted to meet with me because she’d found some things in her mother’s home office pertaining to Lana. To say it had piqued my interest was an understatement. I hadn’t seen her since the incident at the toga party, not for her lack of trying. A part of me had been really turned off by the way she’d screamed at Logan and me, even though I knew where she was coming from. She was jealous because I’d caught his attention when she hadn’t. Every girl on campus had been watching me like I was some kind of wizard, the girl who managed to tame Fitz. What they didn’t understand was that I had done nothing. I hadn’t tamed Logan. He’d decided he wanted to settle down when he met me, hopefully because of me, but I hadn’t pushed him to get there.

I spotted Hailey outside of the library. She was on the phone, smoking a cigarette. That gave me pause. I didn’t even know she smoked. Her head snapped in my direction. She flicked the cigarette away and waved a hand at me, as if I’d miss her, even though she was blocking the entrance.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” I said as I closed the distance between us.

“Only when I’m nervous.”

“Why are you nervous?”

She raised an eyebrow, lifting a yellow manila envelope in her hand. My heart quickened. Instead of wasting more time with questions out here, I pulled the door open and held it for her to walk through. The vacant tables basked in the sunlight coming from outside. Unlike every other day this week, which had been cold and gloomy, the sun was out today, slightly warming the crisp temperature. We sat down side by side and pivoted to face each other.

“I printed this out. It was on her desktop.” Hailey’s hand shook slightly as she handed the envelope over. “I don’t know what to make of it.”

I opened the envelope and took out the few sheets of paper inside, my eyes sca

“I guess my mom has access to all of the emails sent within the system,” Hailey explained before I could ask.

I nodded and continued reading. Lana had apparently been sending Max all of her locations. He didn’t always respond, and when he did it was a mere thumbs up or “got it”. What could this mean? I thought back to when I sent Travis my location and what my mindset had been then. I’d been scared. Terrified. And he’d been the only one I trusted. According to these emails, he would have had to be the last person she emailed and it would have been a location. The last email was sent to him May 23^rd. She’d been reported missing May 24^th. Max had said they emailed back and forth, he just never said what about.