Chapter 3
Author note: Thank you for all that reviewed. CurrentlyFalling and Kaiya, your last two reviews helped me push past my issues with this chapter. Please continue all... thanks.
The bell rang as Louise swung the door open to her father's restaurant. She slumped towards the kitchen entrance without lifting her eyes off the floor. Without thinking she tossed her backpack in the corner, slipped an apron over her head, and planted herself behind the register.
The last four weeks had dragged on. Louise had been irritable and rude, and even she had to admit it was worse than usual. Louise knew the reason, although she couldn't tell Rudy or the Pestos about it: Logan had not posted anything new on his site in 4 weeks. She could live with the occasional week off, but it had been a month now. Was there something wrong? She had even gotten to the point of emailing Logan to be sure he was okay.
Louise had actually gotten to this point several times. Several times late on Thursday night or early Friday morning Louise would awake to see her laptop open and an open email with something pathetic written down. Phrases like "I miss you," or "When are you coming back?" would be waiting for the send button to be pushed and ruin Louise's life. If those had been sent Louise's secret would be spilled, and there would be no going back to the person she was.
Louise sat behind the counter thinking wondering if this would be the last week she would need to suffer this way. At least today was Friday and she wouldn't have to worry about school for the next few days. After her shift she would go for a nice run and it would help her forget everything for a short time. Louise let herself smile for the first time that day as she absently looked at the counter in front of her.
"What's troubling you, kiddo?" A familiar voice rang from very close. Louise's eyes widened and turned to see her sister sitting at the counter in front of her.
"Tina!" Louise yelled out in surprise. She hadn't seen her sister in months and wasn't expecting a visit, let alone a visit without her attached-at-the-hip boyfriend Joshua. Louise was still in shock when Tina reached over and rubbed her head between her bunny ears. Tina had learned that Louise loved when people understood she was still the baby of this family and the look on Louise's face showed she appreciated the gesture.
Louise fought the urge to jump over the counter and tackle her sister. Instead, she ran out of the kitchen entrance and towards her sister, embracing her tightly. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked as she dug her face into her sister's shoulder.
Tina rested her chin on Louise's head, "I had the day off, so I thought I'd stop by and see if you guys needed any help." She held on to Louise as her words faded. Tina and Louise had gotten very close before Tina decided to leave and move in with her boyfriend. She knew Louise had taken her leaving hard, and with Gene leaving shortly after thought Louise might feel slightly abandoned. Tina would let Louise hold her until she wanted to let go. She could feel the moisture start to develop on her shoulder, and she knew it wasn't her leaky pits.
Tina pulled Louise back to look into her face. She wasn't used to scene before her: Louise was smiling from ear to ear but her eyes were puffy and tears rolling down her cheeks. Tina looked down into her sister's smiling face, "So, why don't you tell me what's wrong?" She asked with a smile.
Louise took an extra second to look into her sister's eyes. Tina's sudden appearance had completely wiped her mind of the issues that bothered her the last few weeks. As her reflection appeared in Tina's glasses she could see that she was crying, "What?!" Louise responded as she let go of her sister and wiped her tears away with her sleeves. "I'm just happy to see you, T." It wasn't a lie; Louise couldn't drop the smile from her face.
After a little catching up with her sister the dinner rush caught up with the family. Tina had put on an apron and started helping out with the grill. "It's like riding a bike," Tina had said about getting back on the grill after so long. Bob had stood at the prep station and watched his oldest daughter with pride as she flipped the burger of the day. "Dad," her eyes turned and met her father's gaze, "Do you think you could clean the grill so I can talk to Louise?" Tina was already taking off her apron when her father asked if there was anything he could do. "No, this is a girl thing." Tina took a step towards the kitchen exit and stopped. She looked back at her father, "You're not a girl, right?"
Bob looked at Tina with a surprised look. He couldn't tell if she was serious or not. Bob decided he would answer with a slow shake of his head. "Oh, okay. Then I'll handle this," Tina said as she walked out the door. Bob continued to look at the spot where Tina left the kitchen. He was slightly happy that some things would never change about his children.
Tina walked out into the seating area. The restaurant was about to close and Louise was cleaning the tables. Tina grabbed a wash cloth and started helping her sister. "So, are you going to tell me what was bothering you?" Tina asked while trying to get a ketchup stain out of one of the seats.
Louise continued wiping down the table, "I told you, T. I was crying because I was happy to see you." She looked up at her sister for a second and smiled.
Tina scrubbed at the stain twice more before deciding it was futile. "Louise," she stood up and looked at her sister, "I saw you walk in. I saw the look on your face as you sat right in front of me without even noticing me." Tina wasn't smiling anymore and the smile from Louise's face was fading.
Louise grabbed her supplies and moved to the last table in the restaurant. "It's nothing," Louise said a little more forcefully than she had wanted. Tina's words had made her remember the last few weeks and her frustration at the lack of Logan Bush information she was receiving. Louise started cleaning the table when her wash cloth moved across the picture Logan had put there before he left. Her hand stopped and her eyes focused on the picture glued to the table.
Tina looked down at her sister's face as she stared at the picture. "Is it Logan?" Tina asked quietly. Louise's face slowly lifted to meet her sister's and Tina could see the pain in her face. "Do you want to tell me about it?" Tina slid into the seat opposite the picture. Louise slowly sat down across from her.
Louise slowly and quietly confessed all to her sister. She told her how she used the family computer and Tina's password the first couple of weeks then she got her own laptop. She admitted she knew she had to limit herself because she had become addicted. She told her how she knew she was developing feeling she didn't want to have but didn't care. She admitted that not receiving any news for the last 4 weeks was not something she knew how to handle. She told her sister that this whole thing was something completely new to her. She admitted she thought she was completely insane. "I…" Louise was now breathing hard after literally spilling her guts, "I really think…." She paused.
"You really like him…" Tina finished her sentence with a smile.
"I do!" Louise admitted without thinking. Her hand immediately shot to cover her mouth. This was the first time she had admitted this out loud. Many times she had let the thought flow absentmindedly through her head, but because she never wanted to define the feeling she just let it go. Now though, she had to admit, "I like Logan."
Tina watched at her sister's face as Louise contemplated the words she just admitted. Finally Louise's eyes connected with Tina's. "Well at least you have a little extra time until he comes back." Tina told her sister.
Louise's sad eyes widened. "Comes back?" she whispered. Louise hadn't even thought about it, but she instantly realized that Logan had been gone for a little over 2 years now. He had said the trip would last at the most 2 years and promised he would be back. "When is he coming back?" She almost yelled at Tina.
Tina started to wipe down the table again as she knew her sister would want to be done as soon as possible. She tried to be casual about it and did not look up, "Oh, he sent me an email about a problem they had during the last part of their trip. He said," her eyes just barely looked up at her sister, "that he was going to post the whole thing tonight."
Louise's didn't even give herself a chance to think her actions through. She leapt off the seat and bolted for the door. The sound of the bell over the door brought her to her senses. 'Okay Louise, don't freak out. It's Friday so you have all night,' she told herself as she held the door open. She let out a forced laugh as she closed the door, flipped the sign to closed, and locked up. "Um, just checking the… uh… door. Yeah the door, cause it needs to be locked now." She tried to play it cool.
Tina just kept scrubbing down the table. "You've got it bad girl," she said as she finished up and got off the seat.
"I know…" Louise anwered. She had admitted so much to her sister today that this didn't seem like something she could hide.
Neither Tina nor Louise bothered to mention anything about Logan Berry Bush the for rest of the night. They went up to the apartment where there was a hot dinner waiting for them. Louise listened as Tina droned on about Joshua, as she usually did when she was around. Normally Louise would feign listening but this time was different. Maybe it was that she hadn't seen her sister in so long, or maybe she was starting to realize what the look on her sister's face meant. Every time Tina would say Joshua's name a huge smile would cover her face. Louise wondered if that's the face she would make on Thursday nights as she looked at Logan's new posts.
As the night went on Tina finally decided to go home. She had to fight off multiple attempts by Linda to stay for the night, or the weekend. At one point their mother even asked if Tina wanted to move back into her old room. Surprisingly, Bob also asked several times if Tina ever wanted to come back home. Eventually Tina broke free and made her way back to her home with Joshua. In all the excitement of Tina's short stay Louise had forgot what her sister had said about Logan. It wasn't until she was already lying down that she remembered.
Louise's body shot up and she reached out for her laptop. She pulled up Logan's page and there it was: a new post.
Everyone,
I'm sorry for the long delay since my last post. It seems we hit a few snags in our journey. Well, maybe it's safer to say we hit a big snag and then one of us open fell into another huge snag.
You see the thing is we made it to our last stop in South Korea. Apparently we misjudged how much money we had left over for tickets back home because we had none. Me and the amigos decided that we would need to get jobs in order to get home. Luckily, Jacob is actually fluent in Korean and I'm actually not that bad. It's a long story… my mother had me take classes because she started watching Korean Dramas. Well we're trying to teach Scotty and he's coming along.
Anyways, me and Jacob were able to land some pretty nice jobs. Jacob was able to land a job teaching English to kids in primary school. You wouldn't believe how much they'll pay you for that job! Myself, I found a job watching over some kids for a very wealthy family. I watch over them when they get home, I help them with their homework and English speaking skills, and I cook them a nice dinner. Usually they help with the dinner since I'm still getting accustomed to Korean food. Scotty was able to land a job with an English speaking delivery company. They got him a motorcycle and he rides the streets of Seoul all day making deliveries to other English speaking companies. He enjoys the crap out of the job but I swear he scares me and Jacob to death.
That said, we are going to have to postpone our return home. The money problem seems to have been solved, and if that was the only issue we'd be home soon. The other issue that we've come across is that Jacob has broken one of our main rules: DO NOT FALL IN LOVE ON THIS JOURNEY! Yes, Jacob met a girl at his school and fell instantly in love. Now don't get me wrong, Hyen-Eun is an amazing, beautiful, and great person and I wish them nothing but the best; but, it's against the rules! Since we are forced to stay here for the time being me and Scotty have agreed not to force Jacob to give her up, but we don't know what we're gonna do if this continues when we're ready to leave.
Well, that all said I have still been taking many pictures. The scenery here is gorgeous and kids I've been watching are all together amazing. Their family is also amazing and has treated me like an adopted son and brother since I've started working. They also pay much better than my biological parents. That was a good one.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and for all of you back home I'll see you soon. – LBB
Louise took the time to reread the post. After all the emotions that were running through her head during her talks with Tina she didn't know how to think about this new information. Logan's trip was going to be longer than planned. Louise didn't know whether to feel happy or sad about this. After a few contradicting thoughts she decided that she was happy he wasn't returning just yet. Louise had just admitted to herself that she liked Logan, and the more she let herself understand the feeling the more she realized how much she liked him. It wasn't even just the way he looked, it was the way he challenged her and stood up to her like no one else did, it was the way he made it difficult when everything was too easy. If he were to return right now she wouldn't know how to control herself or her feelings. She needed time, and Jacob was giving her that time.
Louise shook her head violently. She shook the issues out of her head and decided she would let herself slip back into the coma like state she normally occupied when looking at Logan's new posts. "I wonder if he did something stupid like dye his hair," she laughed quietly.
She scrolled through the new pictures with an unknown smile on her face. She had to admit that the scenery he captured there was beautiful. Also, the pictures with the two kids he was watching over were cute well. Louise thought the little girl in the picture couldn't be more than 8, and the little boy more than 10. They were doing things like flying kites at the beach, playing in the water, kicking a soccer ball, and kneeling at some kind of shrine. The children always had smiles and Logan looked to be enjoying himself as well. Louise liked those pictures.
As Louise continued to scroll through the pictures she started to notice some other reoccurring people. Scotty and Jacob were in a lot of the pictures and in many of them there was also a very beautiful Korean woman very close to him. That had to be Jacobs girlfriend that Logan mentioned. They both looked happy and for some reason that made Louise happy. She also started to notice other members of the household Logan was caring for. The parents were in several pictures where Logan was eating dinner with the family. There was also another person constantly in the photos of the family: a girl around Logan's age.
Louise started to scroll slower than before, taking each picture's details into more account. As the pictures of the family started to become more frequent so did the appearance of this other girl. There were pictures with the family where she would be sitting next to Logan at the table, and Louise had remembered that she noticed her in some of the soccer photos with the children. Louise continued to scroll and kept seeing the same girl in the photos. She had concluded that the girl was part of the family and was nothing she should worry about. A sly smile crept across Louise's face at this thought, until she scrolled down to the picture of the two hugging on the beach.
Louise nearly lost her mind. She jumped off her bed and paced her closet bedroom. "He couldn't…. I mean it's a rule right? But… I mean he's hugging her… and he's there all the time… UHG!" Louise yelled out. Her body than decided it knew better than her mind. She jumped back onto her bed, loaded her email, and typed in Logan's address. "Who the hell is the girl you're hugging Bush?" she typed out. Her finger pressed SEND and it was done. Louise was breathing hard and looking at the screen. She grabbed her still braided hair, "What the hell did I just do?"
Louise refreshed her email every hour for was seemed to be the next week. The week had passed slowly and the only time she didn't feel anxiety about her email was when she was running. Fortunately, there was never a response from Logan when she checked. As Thursday night came Louise had hoped for the best with new post from Logan.
Everyone,
Long week but nothing too interesting to discuss. I was able to take the kids to a few places and have some great pictures. These kids are a blast and I'm going to miss them when I leave for home.
To: Anonymous
The only picture of me hugging a girl is of Shin-Ya. She is the older sister of the children I watch and has become a dear friend in the time I've been here. Try not to be jealous.
Louise felt a sharp sting in her side. She was very jealous of this girl that got to spend all this time with Logan. The fact that he said not to be jealous made her feel even worse. Did that mean he had feelings for this girl and I shouldn't try to interfere? Or was he just saying she was a friend. Louise didn't know what to think. She slammed her laptop closed and laid down on her bed. These feeling were so new to Louise and they were confusing her like crazy. She pulled the covers over her body hoping she could just go to sleep and not think about. Three agonizing hours later she finally fell asleep. She dreamt she was in Korea with Logan.
