An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter Twenty-One
**Sorry for such a long delay. I suck, I know :( You guys are great reviewers though so keep it up!**
Logan spent his free days lounging around after school. He would do one of the chores every few hours. The list was just as stupid as the other had been. He was suppose to go through his parents closet, and Trina's closet, to make sure none of the clothes had wrinkles, and if they did, to iron them. He was to wash all the linen on all of the beds, including the guest bedrooms. The list went on and on like that, him doing chores basically for his father and Trina.
When he wasn't doing chores or watching TV in the living room, he was at Duncan's house. A couple of days after he had broken up with Veronica, he had completely freaked out and Logan had walked in on him attacking his father. After Logan had pried the two apart-Duncan had taken a couple of swipes at Logan, but Logan was use to dodging hits, anyway-Mr. Kane had pushed Logan back out of the bedroom and Logan heard the two talking.
Then, nothing. No discussion. Duncan didn't even acknowledge that he had tried to punch Logan, or that he had nearly killed his father. Mr. Kane never met Logan in the eye and tried to explain the incident.
So Logan didn't mention it. He knew about family secrets-his entire life was a "family secret".
The couple of days that Lilly wasn't pissed at Logan or Logan wasn't pissed at Lilly, she used her fake ID to buy alcohol for his party. He had lost track of the number of people who had confirmed that they would be there, but he told them to try to bring their own alcohol. But he bought a few dozen beers, a few dozen wine coolers, and a couple of liters of vodka. His parties were notorious and he wanted it to be the best yet.
The day of his party, he met Lilly at her locker. "What time you wanna meet up tonight?" He asked.
"What? For what?" She asked, distracted as she put books in her locker.
"Are you serious? My party, Lilly. The one that you bought all that alcohol for. The one I have every year."
"Oh. Yeah I'll be there. Listen, I have to go," she said, standing on her tip-toes to kiss his cheek. She was looking around anxiously, but Logan noticed her eyes light up as she looked across the hallway. By the time he could turn around to look, no one was standing there.
"Text me what time," he called after her.
Duncan met up with him on their way home. They decided to walk to Logan's house to get ready.
He had big bags of ice in their freezer, and three different, fancy coolers to store stuff in. He had bought ten bags of chips and had them in big bowls. It was one of the perks of being a celebrity kid-more specifically, a celebrity kid of a woman who loved to throw lavish parties.
He brought his CD collection downstairs and re-wired the surround sound to the TV since it went louder than the actual stereo system.
"This is going to be so awesome," he said excitedly as people began showing up around eight that night. By nine, there were easily over a hundred kids, and by ten, over two hundred.
Logan stepped outside and called Lilly after he looked from room-to-room and couldn't find her.
"Baby, where are you? The party started two hours ago," he shouted over the noise.
"Oh. Logan, I really don't feel good. I'm sorry, sweetie!" Logan's eyes narrowed as he heard a giggle in the background.
"Right," he said and hung up. She was such a bitch! People had been telling Logan that she fooled around for two years and any time he had confronted her about it, she laughed in his face and took the next three weeks to kiss up to him. He fully realized this was a cycle but Lilly was one of the few constants in his life, and he felt like, in a strange way, he needed her.
Still angry, he went inside and grabbed a Smirnoff. Truth be told, he had never particularly liked beer even though he had gotten wasted off it enough times. He went upstairs and sat down, fuming. He slowly sipped on the drink, silently cursing Lilly for making him miserable at his own party.
One of the newest kids at Neptune-Yolanda-stumbled onto his lap. Her breath reeked of alcohol and he almost couldn't stand it.
"Hey, baby," she slurred, rubbing his chest.
"Oh, um, hey Yolanda. How are you?" He asked.
"You know you throw some great parties, cutie."
"Thanks. I think so too!" He exclaimed, finishing his drink off and dropping the bottle onto the ground. He then took hers that she was holding-it was some vodka mix-and drank it as well.
"You're so silly," she told him. Before he could react, she was kissing him-a wet, slobbery kiss that only drunks knew how to do.
He pulled away. "I think you've had enough, Yolanda," he said, standing up and pulling her across the room. He laid her down on the couch. "Now don't puke or my dad will beat my ass."
Before he had even turned around, she was passed out. He shook his head and headed back downstairs, feeling better.
His night would last for many more hours, and he would have many more drinks before he finally passed out near the pool.
Over that weekend, he spent his time recovering from his massive hangover and cleaning up. Duncan helped him, and five trash bags later, the house was back in good shape.
"No one even threw up this year except in the toilets. I really think we're perfecting this teenage alcoholism thing, dude," Logan said, poking Duncan in the ribs. He had been one of the ones, in the years before, to puke on the carpets.
"We do have some amazing friends," Duncan said, and the two laughed.
They sat down to watch TV and both opened one of the dozen or so wine coolers that had been left over. As they were sipping it and watching TV, Duncan looked at Logan.
"Tell me something, Logan."
"What?"
"How do you like your dad?"
Logan was taken back, and stole a look at his friend. He wasn't sure if Duncan had ever seen Aaron explode. He was fairly certain that he hadn't, because Aaron was very careful about his temper and where he allowed punishment to happen. Sometimes Aaron would scream at Logan, but he was pretty sure that he had never hit him with Duncan around.
"You know. We get along good. It's fun. He does his thing and I do mine," Logan answered.
Duncan was quiet for a moment. "You know, you can tell me anything, Logan."
"Don't go getting Oprah on me, Duncan. There's nothing to tell. My dad is Aaron Echolls, the superstar! What isn't there to love?" He realized that the last part had come out probably sounding bitterer than he had intended.
"The way your dad yells at you sometimes, that's not right. My dad doesn't scream at me like that. Not over something stupid."
"Not everyone can be a member of the Brady Bunch," Logan snapped. "What? You want me to tell you some dirty lies? My dad beats the hell out of me sometimes. And sometimes if I'm extra bad, he'll beat me until I can't walk anymore. It hurts so bad. Won't you save me, Duncan? Is that what you want?"
"No! Shut up. That's not what I was saying. Fuck, Logan, I just wanted to let you know that you can tell me anything."
Logan rolled his eyes and didn't answer.
"But sometimes I do see bruises on you, you know. And my dad has. I just thought I'd ask. If he does hit you, that's real messed up. You should leave, or call the police, or something."
"The police?" Logan scoffed. He remembered one time; it had been a couple years, that Don Lamb was riding past the Echolls home. Trina had walked into the house and had been greeted by Aaron punching Logan in the face for some infraction—Logan couldn't even remember which. The front door remained open for a moment before Trina had kicked it close, but Logan had looked up, blood streaming from his nose, just as Lamb had passed the house. Their eyes had locked and Logan stared at him, silently pleading with him to stop his car and take away his father forever.
But no such luck, though the next time Lamb had seen Logan he had acted civil with him. He had greeted him with a "What's up, buddy?" Opposed to his usual "What are you up to, Echolls?" with a suspicious glare. And when Logan had stared back as an answer, wanting him to acknowledge that he had seen the Secret and could expose the Secret, Lamb looked away. "Fathers can be assholes. Know what I mean? My dad was." That was the only acknowledgement Logan ever got, and the next time they were near each other, it was back to the normal suspicion.
"I'm just saying, dude. That's shitty of him," Duncan simply said.
After school Monday, Lilly had cornered Logan in one of the more secluded hallways.
"I know what you did Friday," she snapped.
"What'd I do?" He asked, rolling his eyes.
"Veronica told me she saw you kissing that bitch Yolanda!"
"Whoa! Slow the fuck down, Lilly. Yolanda kissed me, and I guess Veronica didn't see what I did three seconds later, when I dragged her to the couch and put her to bed!"
He could see that Lilly was a little taken back, but she quickly recovered.
"We're through Logan. I can't even trust you!"
"You can't trust ME? That's rich. I've had a dozen guys come up to me saying they saw you kissing other guys at different parties. And you weren't sick Friday night, I'm not completely stupid!"
"Logan, you'll never find a girl like me. Ever. And it's over!" And with that, Lilly Kane stormed off.
In a week, she would be dead.
**Sorry it's so long. Review!!!**