Crap, crap, smiled angelically, as though that would save her, save them…hell, save us. Although, he did hear me say I couldn't keep a secret from him, didn't he? Of course, I'd managed to keep the Big One, the you're-home-to-me, I-want-to-marry-you-and-have-your-children one. So maybe I'm not such a sucky secret keeper.
I slowly turned around, over compensating for to urge to whip around guiltily. "Hey Al! Found my phone!" I cringed, my voice overly cheerful even to my own ears.
"That's good Soph," he said distractedly. Crap, he called me Sohp. I was Sophie, I was Phee, but I was only Soph when his head was messed up. "What's going on? Why is your inability to lie to me an issue?" he asked, staring me down like I was holding a knife and ranting crazily.
"Erm…" I fished around for an excuse, "Uh…" nothing was coming to me. Probably because I was only devoting half my brain power to it, the other half being busily occupied by the fact that I didn't really want to lie to him. But it wasn't my job to tell him about his sister and Logan, either. "Ah, see, the thing is…"
"I was waiting to tell you something," Lily broke in, "and Sophie found out and I still wanted to tell you myself, but she said she couldn't keep a secret from you, and that you know all her lying tells, and-"
"You and Logan?" Al asked, dangerously quiet. It was yet another thing I loved about him, he hardly ever yelled when he was mad, unlike my father, who'd only seemed to have two modes, in-your-face-and-yelling mad and pathetically-weak-begging-for-forgiveness. I'd seen more than enough of both for ten lifetimes.
"We wanted to tell you, tell the whole family, but I just didn't want all the threatening and teasing and everything right off the bat." Lily stared out at a normal level, but was whispering by the end, lower lip trembling as she twisted a hand in Logan's shirt.
Al sighed and sagged, the fabric of his tee shirt catching mine and dragging my sleeve down. I glanced over, I hadn't even realized he'd moved so our shoulders were touching.
He was eyeing the two of them, glaring at Logan and staring at Lily helplessly. "Well," he finally said, "I don't suppose there's much I can do about it, is there?" He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, before dropping it to his side and clenching it into a fist. "But if you hurt her, I swear I will hex you into oblivion. And then bring you back and sic James on you."
Logan shuddered. "Good thing I don't have to worry about that," he said after a few beats, "I would never do anything to hurt her. Just like you'd never hur-"
"So," Al interrupted crisply, "we're cool. Should we go find everybody else?"
"Sure." Logan drew the word out, and gave Al and knowing look. I snagged Lily as she walked past, allowing the guys to draw ahead.
"Did it seem to you like Logan was going to say something about who Al liked?" I asked her, twenty-five percent curious and seventy-five percent terrified. Of having to share him, of the faceless girl who might, could, would take my best friend away from me suddenly becoming more tangible with a name.
Lily's forehead wrinkled for a moment, eyes clouding over, then she almost seemed to shake herself out. "No, I don't think so." She said confidently. "Let's catch up."
I wasn't just imaging things, I knew Logan had been about to say something interesting. Maybe the girl Al had kissed? I kept forgetting about that, and then remembering. It was like learning it for the first time again and again. I sighed, thinking about Albus touching another girl. It killed me, but I wasn't willing to put myself out of my misery. I couldn't just throw our friendship away because he didn't want as much out of it as I did. I needed him.
We were almost caught up with the guys when Lily glanced over at me, amusement playing over her face, and then her brother, shaking her head.
Weird.
A/N: really short, I know, but I wanted to get it up fairly fast after the cliffie. I have the next few chapters roughly planned out, so I should be able to get them done pretty quickly. Reviews make me write faster…just sayin' :)