Logan Echolls woke up with the hangover from hell, it felt like the world was screaming inside his head, the low sunlight streamed through the windows on his balcony and he squinted, the snow outside reflected more of the light practically blinding him. New Years Trip in Aspen with Dick Casablanca's his roommate since his sister Trina had decided it was time to reconnect with her birth mother last year. He couldn't really blame her he supposed, he understood that ache to have some kind of attachment to someone who considered you family… especially after he had screwed up his one chance to get to know his only remaining blood relative left anywhere apart from his Uncle Samuel Lester. Charlie Stone, his older half-brother, just one more screw up on his list of regrets from last year, and as his eyes shifted focus to the discarded pink sequinned dress on the floor, he realised that it wasn't the last one he had made that year.
Madison Sinclair lay curled around him with her long legs entwined with his.
What the hell had he been thinking?
He pushed her arm off his chest like it was something poisonous and climbed out of the bed, pulling on his underwear. He glanced at the clock beside his bed and tried to fight the sudden nausea that threatened to release the contents of last nights finger buffet.
This certainly wasn't an unfamiliar situation, the last time he could recall having done something like this was the evening of the Alterna-Prom when he awoke with Kendall spooned against his back. Wasn't this how he dealt with his self-loathing? Ply himself with too much alcohol and fall into bed with the first hot willing floozy who would take him? He glanced quickly at the several discarded condoms on the floor beside the bed, at least they had been careful.
The thought of being permanently tied to an entitled status hungry hell bitch like Madison, Neptune Highs own personal Regina George, didn't bare thinking about. Dick would be back soon, he had to get her out of his room… Logan thought as the shame started to sink in.
How did he get himself into these situations?
He had just slept with his roommates one and only long time ex-girlfriend.
Had Madison made a play for him just to get back at Dick?
He was still wondering how he had ever let himself get that far when he picked up her dress and there was that familiar lingering scent. Veronica's perfume.
That agony he had been trying to escape last night was back now and he couldn't have regretted last night more.
She can never know about this…
"Good morning lover" Madison purred from the bed, finally awake. "I know, I think I broke the zipper last night… guess I'll just have to find something else to wear" she said as she pulled on his shirt and began to button it up.
Logan still hadn't said anything as she walked up to him, taking the items in his hands and kissed him on the neck, pulling her arms into his bathrobe.
"Last night was fun… who knew you could be such a bad boy?" she said squeezing his ass.
A bad boy? I am a fucking trainwreck… he thought bitterly.
"Anyways, I have a spa morning booked with Jaz and Natasha.. so I am going to go" she declared as she slipped into her heels and stepped back from him.
"Don't let me stop you" Logan said quietly.
"I've left my number in that new phone of yours" she told him in what he was sure she considered to be a seductive tone. "We should have some fun again.. next time I'm in town" she winked before Madison walked out of his room with her hips swaying.
No-strings sex was no big deal for girls like her, women who grew up spoiled and using their bodies as weapons to get whatever they wanted. Right now all Logan wanted was to rewind to last night and avoid taking those shots at all. At the party where they'd met last night, the prospect of a no-strings, one-night stand with a hot willing woman had felt sexy, slightly dangerous, liberating and a salve to the ego following the end of a relationship…. No… not just a relationship.
The Relationship. The one that would haunt him for the rest of his life because it was the only real thing in his Lights, Camera, Action existence that had ever been real… and he had chosen to throw it away… because what? Veronica had believed in him too much? She pushed him to try and be a better version of himself? Because he loved her more than he had ever thought it was possible to love anything?
He poured himself a glass of water and slumped back onto the bed, picking up his new phone, Madison had taken a picture of the two of them together last night and set it as his screen saver.
Her smiling face was mocking him from the screen. Isn't that all girls like Madison wanted him for? Son of a model and an a movie star… he sure did look great in pictures Logan thought bitterly a he swiped and deleted it. Dick couldn't see this. He knew Dick probably didn't give a crap whom the vapid socialite Madison Sinclair was off screwing these days and his roommate was currently on his way back from an overnight booty call camp out session under the stars… you wouldn't think it, but astronomy was one of Dick's true passions in life. Something to keep him entertained while he lay on the beaches around the world after surfing when he was trying to pick up chicks. Not that he was much of an academic.
Sim Error. Network Fail.
Logan sighed as he looked at the box again to see if there was instructions on what network this thing was tied to. Then he noticed the small card in the bottom of the box.
Unlock Permission Code: WHU46-SH85S-ALKJ5
It had been here all along.
He flicked through the settings guide and put the code in.
Sim Searching Network.
Welcome to AT&T. Please stand by to receive your internet and message settings.
Several messages started to filter into his new handset.
"Happy New Years Little Brother, Love T"
"Where are you man?" –Luke
"Dude.. HAPPY NEW YEARS!"
There was a picture message from Dick making a Rock Out hand gesture near the top of the mountain.
"Happy New Years, V xxx"
His fingers traced along the screen and the words started to blur as Logan buried his head in his hands and cried. If he had just waited or looked through the box… he could have called her last night. He knew he hadn't cheated, logically he knew that… he wasn't an adulterous bastard like his father. They were broke up... but it felt like he had. He had woken up feeling used and disappointed with himself.
Why couldn't he just swallow his pride and admit that he missed her enough to go and plead for another chance?
When was he going to get it through his thick skull? Veronica was the only one he wanted… hadn't he known that since the night he packed Dillion Goran into his car and kissed her outside his house when he told her he was moving on from Lilly's death? Hadn't he always known? He thought miserably as he stepped out of the shower. Trying to scrub all trace of Madison from his skin.
"Dude!" Dick called as he came back to the suite. "Oh no… are you still Moping?" he said as he observed Logan's melancholy greeting. "Suit up man, start the year as you mean to go on… let's go make this mountain our Bitch" he smiled, punching Logan in the arm before heading towards the breakfast buffet.
"Yeah… I'll be right down" he said quietly.
But wasn't he already Down? Because this trip was certainly starting to feel like he had just taken up residence in Hell as he spotted Madison smiling at him from down the corridor.