Always
(A/N: This story is written by my best friend Lauren A.K.A Twisted3ljw. All credit goes to her. I (fyreangel5) only own the Grown up Cora.)
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"Logan Echolls! Promise me we will always be friends. Always, Always! No matter what!" She said to him on a cold winter day.
They were snuggled on the couch together, watching their favorite childhood movie, The Goonies. The hot cocoa in front of them was slowly melting the marshmallows, and cooling to the point where they would finally be able to drink it.
"Of course we will always be friends. What's gotten into you today, Cora?"
"You didn't promise." She said, with a stern look on her fair skinned face, and a pout on her naturally red lips. Her long dark hair had fallen into her bright blue eyes. It was still a mess from sledding outside all day. Oh how they loved snow days!
Logan just laughed and smiled at her practiced pout that he had known so well. But when her stern look grew more serious he obeyed, knowing not to mess around with her when she was in one of her moods. "I promise, we will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be friends, no matter what. Scouts honor." He said with his hand raised into the boy-scout symbol.
"You were thrown out of boy-scouts three years ago Logan." She said, still giving him the eye, but at a little less of a glare than she was before. He immediately threw her a smirk. He knew that smirk would break her, it always did. In the 8 years that they had been best friends, she had never been able to resist his smirk. Just like he could never resist that pout of hers.
Finally she dropped the glare, and smiled. "I guess that will have to do." And she went back to watching the movie, as if this strange outburst had never happened.
He sat their confused for a minute, then decided to shrug it off as a Cora moment. In the eight years of friendship that graced them with each others presence, he had come to know her many different moods. The one she had been in lately, had been strange to say the least. Even stranger than she had been before.
He could remember the day they met. Kindergarten art class, they were both caught eating the paste out of the jar, instead of gluing their paper teddy bears to the cards they were making. Logan had lied, and said he didn't eat the paste, even with the evidence all over his hands and mouth. She, on the other hand, had looked at him with a secretive smile, then back to the teacher, and offered her jar of paste for the teacher to try. "It's good, Miss Tringle." She had said with her soft voice, then had handed Logan a napkin to clean off his face. The teacher had been so touched/disgusted by her offer, that she forgot to yell at Logan for lying.
They had been friends ever since.
Aaron had always hated the fact that Logan was never close with any guys. He said, "It's not natural for a girl to be your only friend!"
Logan had just always preferred Cora's company. She could play and understand sports better than any of the guys at school, and she smelled pretty. Plus it didn't hurt that they liked all of the same movies and music.
The movie had finally ended, and it was dark outside. "Logan, I am tired. Will you walk me home?" She had asked him, with that same pout she had on her face earlier. Of course he couldn't refuse her.
So he nodded and stood up, grabbing her hand to pull her up as well. "Let's go then." He said sadly, he obviously didn't want her to leave.
"You know it's not a school night, you could sleep over… if you wanted too." He threw in as they reached the front porch to her house 4 minutes later. She only lived down the road a little.
"I could, but then I would have to listen to another lecture from my dad, about how it's not appropriate for a girl my age to be sleeping over a boy's house. I tried to tell him that you're not a boy, but he didn't wanna listen to me!" she laughed at his expression.
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" Logan shouted, angry at her insinuation.
"Relax, I know you're a boy. Remember, we played 'I'll show you mine, if you show me yours' when we were six. I still have nightmares!" she laughed, and faked a shudder. "I was just telling him that I don't think of you like that. We are friends, and nothing more." She finished. He still seemed angry.
"Nothing more?" He asked with a slight hesitation.
"Best friends, that's it Logan. Nothing more, it can never be anything more than that." She said to him with determination in her voice. Even when he had stepped closer to her; that determined face of hers didn't waiver.
"Are you sure?" He asked, stepping closer again. His toes of his shoe were touching hers now, all she would have to do was close her eyes, and lean forward a half inch and his lips would touch hers. But she knew she mustn't. It would ruin everything.
"Y-yes" she said, "Positive."
Logan took another long look into her eyes, she had felt it all the way down to her bones. Then he suddenly stepped back and smiled a Cheshire Cat grin. "Okay, Good Night!" he said, and turned around and bounded down the steps, back to his own house.
'That bastard!' she thought, 'He did that on purpose!' He had been trying to get even with her for saying that he wasn't a boy, and he knew the best way to do it was to make her nervous. She hated unfamiliar, uncharted situations. The way he had been acting a minute ago was definitely uncharted for either of them. She just turned 13, and he was about to in a few months. Neither of them had ever even been kissed before! And he was pulling this shit on her! UGH!
She turned around hastily and threw open her door, walked inside, and slammed the door shut behind her. She stalked up to her room, determined to not talk to him for the entire weekend, but secretly knowing she would cave. For, unbeknownst to Logan, He would be moving in a week's time, and she had promised not to tell him.
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"Logan, I am glad you're home son, I have something to talk to you about." Aaron had said to him as he walked in from the cold outdoors.
He shook the fallen snowflakes off his hair, and kicked off his wet boots. "What's up dad? You are never waiting for me to get home. Where is mom?" Logan asked, getting nervous.
"She is in bed already, Trina is out with her new boyfriend. I swear that girl is going to be the death of me!" His dad joked about Trina's new found favorite hobby, Dating.
"Now, Logan, I have some really exciting news for you!" his dad started with fake enthusiasm. "I recently got a new agent, and because that last movie did so well, I was offered a LEAD roll in an upcoming film." He paused for dramatic effect. None of these things went by Logan, who was trained to notice them. Being the child of an actor hard wires you to notice those things.
He waited for the ball to drop. "Logan, my agent thinks it would be wise to move closer to L.A. for publicity purposes. I agreed, and bought a house in a town called Neptune. You are just going to LOVE it there." His father beamed with fake pride.
Logan sat there stunned for a minute, completely expressionless. He was still processing what his father had just told him. 'Something about L.A. and a town called Neptune. Moving. MOVING! NO!' his brain yelled at him.
"W-When?" He finally asked.
His father got up, and busied himself with reading a script at the counter. With his back turned to Logan, he answered him. "You have one week."
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"Logan, calm down, it's not that far away! Plus, it's CALIFORNIA! You can't get any cooler than that!" Cora said to him, trying to comfort her best friend. The truth was, it was far away from their hometown in New York, but she didn't want him to know how affected she was by this. 'Stay strong' she thought.
The other end of the phone line was silent for a moment that seemed to last forever.
"You knew didn't you?" he asked, sounding hurt, not angry like she had expected. Though a hurt Logan might actually be worse than an angry Logan.
She sighed, he was no dummy, so no use in lying now. "I did. My dad told me three days ago when your dad fired him. He was not happy. I guess his new agent is some big to-do up and comer." She paused for a moment, to let the words set in. Waiting for his reaction was the hard part. Logan was not a good reactor.
"I see, so, for three days, you knew and didn't tell me? Didn't even hint? Is that what that whole argument today was about? The 'will you always be my friend thing?' That's what that was?" He asked, sounding relieved and sad at the same time.
"Yes" was her simple answer. She waited again for him to blow up at her.
"One week, that's all we have, ya know?" he stopped and it sounded like he put the phone down for a minute because she could no longer hear his breathing. Then she heard the phone being picked back up again. "I'm not going to waist this last week being angry with you for not telling me. I just want to spend as much time with you as possible before I have to leave." He had been near tears, she could tell in his voice.
Cora had already cried over this as much as she could when she found out. So it was easy for her to remain dry eyed now. "I agree" she replied.
More silence.
"I am just glad its holiday vacation next week, that way we don't have to worry about school, and you can sleep over a few nights." He said, hoping she would agree.
"Logan, I don't know about sleeping over. My dad, he gets…. You know how he gets."
She didn't want to tell him that her father was now refusing to let her even see Logan again, due to being fired. Mr. Echolls refusing to give him his last paycheck today didn't help the situation either. She had to lie to him about who she was on the phone with now. She was going to have to lie all week about who she was hanging out with.
"But, I am leaving Cora, can't he just let it go for this one week?" he pleaded.
"It won't hurt to ask!" she said brightly, though she already knew what his answer would be. "Logan, I have to get some rest if I am going to be attached to you for the next 6 days straight. I will call you as soon as I wake up in the morning."
"Okay." He sighed. "Goodnight Cora"
"Night Logan, Love ya!" and she hung up the phone.
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Logan had spent as much time with Cora as possible during the week he had left. Though she was unable to sleep over, every waking moment was spent with her, at his house. Even when he went to visit the few guy friends he had, he bought her with him. She hadn't minded so much, until Logan's friends started hitting on her.
"So, Cora. You're wearing a skirt today? Where have you been hiding those legs?" Josh asked. He was one of the few guys Logan hung out with, and while Cora didn't particularly like him, she tolerated him for Logan's sake.
"I happen to like wearing skirts." She retorted, choosing to ignore the compliment on her legs.
Then she noticed Josh's hand on her knee. She gasped out loud, but Logan seemed too enchanted in his video game he was playing to notice. She looked at Josh in surprise, but he just kept on rubbing circles on her knee. Then she felt his hand inching up further.
Cora was about to protest, and push his hand away when she heard Logan shout.
"Josh! Man, stop." Logan stood up, before she got the chance.
Logan glared at his friend angrily, then he looked over at Cora's leg, right where Josh had been touching her. "Don't touch her like that again, couldn't you tell she didn't want you touching her."
"Sorry Cora" Josh muttered then went back to the video game Logan had dropped.
Logan walked over to Cora and his glare softened. "Though I must agree with Josh that your legs do look great in that skirt!" he whispered so Josh wouldn't hear and then winked at her.
Momentarily taken aback, Cora wasn't sure what to think of either boy's comments or actions, but her mind lingered longer on Logan's.
Josh and Logan had left the room for snacks, when her cell phone rang.
It was Logan from the bathroom downstairs. He was hiding, begging her to make an excuse for them to leave as soon as he got back upstairs. He said he was bored of Josh, and wanted to spend his last day with just her. For some reason he sounded a bit angry. She of course agreed to help, happy to get out of Josh's line of sight.
When the boys arrived back in the room, she clamed to have womanly problems, and asked Logan to walk her home. Josh asked no questions, and looked ridiculously embarrassed as they left.
"Sorry man, duty calls" was all Logan said to his buddy as the two of them left snickering.
During the first few minutes of the walk home, things were tense and silent. Cora was wondering what was up with the hasty retreat from Joshes house, and Logan was wondering why he all the sudden had the urge to punch Josh in his face. It was strange, almost like he was jealous.
"Logan, are you alright?" she finally decided to break the awkward silence.
He stopped suddenly on the sidewalk, and looked at her. He looked upset.
"He…. He…. GRRR!" Then he stomped off ahead of her.
"Yeah, cuz that makes the kind of sense that doesn't!" She shouted after him. Then she ran to catch up to him, and grabbed him to turn him around. "Logan! Stop!"
They were standing in front of the park now, though it was empty because of the recent snowfall. "Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the park, over to the swing set. "Sit" she demanded. He complied, knowing that arguing with her was a lost cause.
She sat in the swing next to him, and twisted it so she could see his face. "What's wrong? What was with the desperate bathroom phone call?"
He stared into her Ocean Blue eyes for a minute, then back down at her knee, where Josh had touched her.
"Oh." She nodded in understanding. Then she felt embarrassed. "It's not like I wanted him to grab my knee Logan, but get over it. It's just my knee, there are far worse things he could have grabbed." She laughed, but he didn't. She continued, when he didn't say anything else. He was still staring at her knee.
"Thank you for sticking up for me though. Not that I couldn't handle the situation myself. I was about to yell at him when you started shouting." She said.
"I didn't shout!" Logan shouted. Cora just raised an amused eyebrow at him and gestured to the birds he frightened away with his booming voice. "I didn't shout." He stage whispered this time.
"Yes you did." She laughed.
"Fine I shouted. I was angry. Are you happy now?" he asked, throwing up his hands in exasperation.
"No, you still didn't tell me what is really wrong. Why did you let that upset you so much?" Cora asked.
Logan didn't know how to answer that question. He didn't want to let it upset him so much, but for some reason it did. Just like last year when Bobby Jahorkison wanted to know if Cora liked him. Logan told him no, even though he was pretty sure she did like him too.
Anytime it involved her, he just seemed to loose his cool. 'She is only a friend' he would constantly remind himself. But it did no good, he knew he thought of her as his, and his alone. Anyone else that tried to weasel there way in between them, got immediately kicked to the curb.
But he could never tell her those things. Because they were only friends, and he was leaving tomorrow. 'So where does that leave me now?' he thought. How was he going to distract her. 'Of course!' he thought, with a smirk.
"You know why it bothered me so much." He suavely said, grabbing the chain link on her swing, and pulling her closer to his own. Then he placed his fingertips on her knee, right where Josh had before. He started drawing little figure eights on her knee, and he could tell that he was getting to her.
Every time he made her nervous or uncomfortable she forgot what she was angry, or curious about. It was a wonderful tactic he discovered this summer when he had rubbed her back while in the pool. He had "accidentally" unhooked her bikini strap when he noticed her newly developed breasts. He was just a little curious himself.
She had been so flustered that she forgot to yell at him. He realized then that this was his golden ticket with getting away with stuff with her.
"Logan" she whispered. Then she pressed her hand against his to stop his movement, but it only served to press his entire hand on her thigh right above her knee. This time, it was his turn to become flustered. He actually froze in mid-breath. The fact that he could feel how warm her skin was on such a cold day, spoke volumes to him. It only increased his want to continue to touch more of her skin, but he mustn't because they were only friends.
Just at that moment, when they were looking into each other's eyes, and his hand on her thigh, with hers clasped on top of his, Cora's father's car screeched to a stop in front of the park.
He came bounding out of the car, screaming all sorts of things at Cora. Then he looked at Logan and said "You are never welcome near my daughter again! Do you understand me boy?"
Logan just looked at him, as he pulled Cora out of her swing, and pulled her away from him. He could distinctly here him telling her she was grounded for the next 2 months, and she was not allowed to leave the house unless it was for school.
The only thing Logan could think of, as Cora's father's car sped off was 'What the hell just happened?'
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It was night time now, around 10:30 p.m. Logan was laying in his bed, just staring at the ceiling. He refused to look around at what was his room.
He knew there were boxes and boxes of memories, all filled to the brim. All packed lovingly with the help of Cora. That was what they mostly did this past week, pack him up to leave.
Now, she wouldn't even be able to see him off tomorrow.
Logan had to fight to stay neutral. He didn't want to cry. This is what he would do from now on. Hide his feelings. It was the only way to ensure his heart stay intact. No one would break this barrier in California.
Just as he decided to attempt sleep, he heard a knock on his window.
At first he ignored it, thinking it was just a bird or something. He was on the second floor after all. But then he heard it again.
He walked over to the window and opened it up to find Cora hanging from the ledge of the rooftop by her fingers. Her feet were wedged between the pane of glass of the window and the ledge of wood under it.
He immediately slid the window open the rest of the way and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her in from the darkness.
"What are you doing? You could have been killed!" he whisper shouted at her. He didn't want to wake his parents up after all.
When he finally calmed down and looked at Cora, he could tell that she had been crying, and he noticed she changed into night clothes, and she had a backpack with her as well.
"I snuck out, and your back door was locked. I had to get to you somehow!" she explained to him.
"Scaling my roof was not the best option!" He argued back. She broke a smile, for what seemed like the first time in a week. This of course caused him to smile, then snatch her up into a hug.
"I thought I was never going to see you again. What was your dad so upset about anyways?" he asked her.
Cora separated from his embrace, and sat down on the edge of his bed. Then she looked up to him with tears in her eyes, and explained the whole story to Logan about how there dads are no longer getting along, and how her father was never going to let her see him again. How she had defied his orders all week, and he found out. How, she snuck out tonight, and was not planning on ever going back home again.
"Cora, you can't just run away. That will make things worse" Logan said, surprisingly adult like.
"If I am with you, then it can't get worse. I want to come with you Logan. Please?" she begged him, still crying.
"I want you to come too, but you know you can't. We both know you can't." he surprised himself again with this voice that was coming from him.
She nodded, agreeing with him, but still crying. "I know" she choked out.
Logan sat next to her, and put an arm around her shoulder. Then she spoke. "I held it together all week with you, helping you pack, visiting all your other friends to say goodbye, looking at old photos of us. Now, less than 12 hours before you leave, I break down." She started laughing at herself.
"That's because it's really sinking in." he said to her. "It is" she agreed.
"Can I stay here tonight? My dad wont realize I'm not home until he comes to wake me up around 10, so I will be able to see you off." She said, sounding hopeful, but not sure.
"Of course you can sleep here. I wouldn't have it any other way." He said to her, taking her backpack and putting it on top of one of the boxes they had packed. He turned around, and saw the look of relief on her face as he turned out the light.
Then they climbed under the covers and said there goodnights to each other. Less than 30 seconds later Logan could here her crying again.
"Come here" he said, and he pulled her into him. And he held her until she fell asleep with her head on his chest, and her hand clutching his shirt, refusing to let go.
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Cora woke up first, to the sound of knocking on the door. At first she didn't know where she was, but then she felt someone shift underneath her head. Looking down she saw Logan, wide eyed and worried. He put his finger up to his mouth, to motion for her to be quiet.
"Mom?" he yelled to the person knocking on his door.
"Yes honey. Its 9:00, the movers are here, they want to get your furniture next." She tried his door knob, but thankfully he had locked it the night before.
While Cora was allowed to sleep over, they were never allowed to sleep in the same room, let alone the same bed. His mom would flip. His dad would beat him. Her dad would kill him. Oh, it would not be pretty.
"Okay mom, I'll be down in a minute. Cora is coming over soon, in fact she should be here any minute. Will you make sure the door is unlocked in back for her?" He asked his mom, hoping to get her into the other room long enough for him to tell her Cora came in through the front with out her noticing.
He heard her footsteps retreating down the stairs and pulled Cora out of the bed with him. "Get dressed, and run down the other stairs, make it seem like you came in through the front."
He turned around so she could get dressed in her clothes that were in the backpack she brought over.
"What if the movers ask how I got in? Your mom will realize that I didn't come in the front, she will figure it out Logan." She was nervous now.
"They wont say anything if I give then 20 bucks." He smirked, and even though he had his back to her, he could tell she knew he smirked. He felt her relax.
Twenty minutes later the two were outside with Mrs. Echolls, watching the movers put the last of Logan's furniture into a large truck. Every few minutes one of the burly men would sneak a look at Logan, and the girl he "snuck in" and smile approvingly. Then they blatantly stared at Logan's mom. 'Eww they are so gross.' Cora thought.
Before either of them new it, Logan was standing next to his Mother's car, while his father drove off in his car with Trina in the front seat. Lynn Echolls sat in the front seat of her car, and waited for her son to say goodbye to his best friend.
Cora stood before him, with tears in her eyes yet again. "I can't do this Logan. I can't say goodbye to you." She said, shaking her head. "I won't do it." She cried.
"So then don't say goodbye." He spoke back to her, like he was out of some movie.
She was still shaking her head no, so he put both hands on each side of her face to stop the movement. He didn't know how to make her stop crying, or to distract her enough so she wouldn't be upset. He didn't know how to tell her how much he would miss her, and that this was slowly killing him.
Being without her was going to be hell.
Finally he thought of something that would help both of them. It would help him with his way of telling her just how much she meant to him, and it would help her with the way to distract her.
He took a step into her, and made it so his toes were pressed up against hers, just like he did last week. His face was not more than an inch from her own; which he still held between his hands. That's when he leaned in and placed his lips on hers.
To say she was shocked would be an understatement. She just stood there for a moment, unable to respond, but then she realized, Logan was kissing her. That's when she felt his tongue brush across her lower lip uncertainly. She gasped at this new feeling, and immediately felt his tongue slip into her mouth, brushing along her own.
Then she responded to the kiss with everything she had in her.
That's when her hands reached up to touch his face, like he was still cradling hers.
That's when she realized he was crying.
That's when she realized she wasn't.
Logan pulled away from her, and kissed her forehead, turned around and walked to his car. "I love you Logan Echolls" he heard Cora shout.
"Always" he said back, with his voice cracking. Then he got into the car and drove off to Neptune.
Cora just stood there, with her fingers on her lips. She was trying to burn that moment into her memory forever. Logan was her first kiss.
She had ALWAYS known it would be him.