Lola sprinted down the stairs two at a time, not bothering with the elevator. It was a journey from the rooftop level to her friend's apartment on the fourth floor, but she made it. Running on adrenaline, she skidded as she ascended to the floor and ran to the familiar-looking door with the number 20. Praying it wasn't locked, she cheered or would have if she wasn't so out of breath when she turned the handle and burst into the apartment. "Quinn!" She called out, bending over to rest her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She did yoga daily, and some light workouts, but that sprint had taken a lot out of her.
"Lola?" Quinn walked out of her room, dressed in a simple light pink cap-sleeve dress. She was baffled when she heard her friend calling her but came rushing over when she saw the state she was in. "Oh my god, are you okay?"
Lola froze when she heard the elevator ping from the hallway. Turning around to kick the apartment door shut, she grabbed her friend by the arms. "It's a date!"
"What?" Quinn stood very still, even more confused now. "What is?"
The brunette groaned, "It's not just a hook-up! Logan thinks you guys are dating!" She yelled into her friend's face.
Mouth half open, Quinn pushed her off. "What are you talking about? Logan so does not think we're dating."
"Oh, he so does!" Lola put one hand on her hip, hoping to portray how serious this was. "Michael and Chase just told me that Logan told them that you guys are dating."
Knock Knock
A knock on her apartment door had both girls stiffening up. Brown eyes looked at one another before Quinn sighed and moved to answer it. "What are you doing?" Lola whispered, stopping her by throwing her arms out. "Did you not hear what I said?"
"Yes, I heard you." Sighing again, Quinn lightly pushed her friend out of the way so she could answer the door. "I don't know what Michael and Chase told you, but it's utter nonsense. There is no way-!" She opened the door, already expecting to see Logan waiting for her. Only she hadn't been expecting him to be holding a bouquet of yellow tulips in his hands.
"Hey, you ready to go?"
He stepped inside her apartment, handed her the flowers, and smiled down at her. Quinn felt frozen in her spot. Her mind wanted to shut down, but she forced it to shift into high gear instead. Taking in his appearance, she saw how he was dressed, nothing unusual. He took pride in his good looks and always dressed to impress. Only she did notice that recently, he had been using the same cologne. The one she complimented on their third outing. He was still standing there, smiling down at her. It wasn't his usual I'm too good for you grin, either. His expression was so soft and open, like he was genuinely happy to be there with her.
"Um…" she turned her head slowly, looking over her shoulder to give her friend a wide-eyed, fearful look; the girl seemed to be sprouting a similar expression. "Yeah, just about." Unsure of what to do, she looked down at the bouquet that had been handed to her. She didn't even know he knew her favorite flower. She had mentioned it in passing one time, and that was over two years ago. "What are these for?"
He gave her a silly grin, "Come on, you didn't think I'd show up for our one-month anniversary empty-handed?" He did another quick check of himself in the mirror, patting away the one loose strand of hair that had come undone when he walked to and from the elevator. Only when he heard the choked gasps behind him did he turn his full attention back around. "What are you doing here?" Logan finally seemed to take notice of Lola when Quinn turned to look in her direction. "I thought you had to use the bathroom?"
"I did," Lola nodded, smacking her lips together. That was the cover story she used to get out of his place.
He frowned, "So you came down to Quinn's instead of using one of mine?" He crossed his arms, trying to make sense of her weird behavior that evening. Then again, she had been acting weird around him a lot lately.
"That's because…" Lola pursued her lips, trying to rack her brain for an excuse that sounded plausible. "Quinn programmed her toilet to talk."
Logan scoffed at this, "So? Mine talk too." This made both girls give him a strange look. They didn't know that.
Licking her lips, Lola moved her head about to try and gather her thoughts. She could really use the work of a certain super genius, but by the wide-eyed expression told her that all of her friend's brain power was going to not freaking out. "Yeah, well, Quinn was able to make any voice you want come out of them." Her excuse seemed to knock her friend out of whatever state of shock she was in because she turned around to give her a bewildered look.
Logan hummed, "Wait, really?" He put a hand on his chin, thinking about this. "Can you program mine too?"
Having her own tight lip smile, Quinn nodded. "Sure," she had no idea how to program a voice to a toilet. It had never been something she was interested in doing, but it seemed she would be learning. "Whose voice do you want?"
"Mine," he told them, sounding fully confident in his decision. He saw their perplexed gazes and sighed, "Come on, how cool would it be if my voice told me to have a good day in twelve different languages?" He swore some people just had no taste or vision. Taking a quick look at his watch, he saw the time. "Anyway, we should head out now." He reached out to take Quinn's hand but was stopped by Lola pulling her back.
"She can't go yet!" Lola knew that letting her friend leave the house now would only end in disaster.
Logan frowned again, "Why not?" He was starting to get annoyed by this weird banter that was going on.
"Because I need help with my dress," Quinn blurted out the first thing that came to mind. It was a pathetic excuse, but it was all she could think of.
He smiled at her; she was wearing the cutest expression. "If you're having wardrobe issues, you know I'm always happy to help." He winked at her, moving to embrace her.
But Lola pulled her back again and dragged her into the bathroom. "We'll be right out!" Flowers were left on the kitchen table; the two girls locked themselves inside the washroom.
"Oh my god!" Quinn ran her hands through her hair, pacing inside the cramped bathroom. "What is going on?"
Lola stomped her foot, "I told you what was going on, but you wouldn't listen!"
"No!" Quinn shook her head, pointing a finger in her friend's direction. "We aren't dating. That is not what's happening here." She gave a heavy sigh, crossing her arms over her chest to provide herself with some sense of comfort. "There has to be some logical explanation behind this."
"Then how do you explain him saying your one-month anniversary?" Lola demanded she come up with an explanation for that because, in her mind, there was only one conclusion.
Too bad Quinn could only think of the same one. "I don't know why he said that, but it can't mean what we think it means!" It just couldn't because if that were true, it meant she had been dating the guy for an entire month without even realizing it.
Sometimes, for being the smart friend in their group, she was the dumbest one. "Wake up and smell the tulips!" She looked around the room and spotted her first piece of evidence. "He has his toothbrush here," she held up the black electric toothbrush sitting on the sink right next to her yellow and green one. "You're dating."
Quinn shook her head; she refused to believe it. "That doesn't mean anything."
Frowning, Lola yanked open the vanity mirror and pulled out more objects. "Men's cologne, shaving cream and razor, aftershave, and rejuvenating face cream! You're dating!"
Quinn shoved all that stuff back inside her vanity. She hadn't even noticed when that stuff had gotten there. "No!" She cried, stopping herself from screaming out any further. "That means nothing. This is Logan we're talking about," she pointed behind her where the bathroom door was closed, and on the other side was the guy in question. "He just comes over a lot, and you know how he is about his appearance."
Lola frowned; she hated to admit it, but that was true. She had literally just seen him give go-go eyes to his own reflection just moments ago. "The bedroom," she stiffened up, mind reeling with the new thought that came in. "If he has his stuff in your room, that proves it."
As much as Quinn hated to admit it, what Lola said made sense. The bathroom was one thing, but if he had managed to move into her bedroom and leave items, that was another. Both girls took deep, calming breaths before stepping out of the bathroom, standing side by side as they tried to put on a casual smile. Too bad neither one of them could do so right now.
Logan had taken to sitting on Quinn's couch; the flowers he had brought were now in a vase and on display in the room. In his hands was his phone, and he appeared to have his notes app open. "What's with you two?" He was starting to get weirded out by how odd they were acting. He always found them a little strange, but today, they were acting weirder than normal.
The two girls looked at each other, realizing they hadn't come up with an excuse to go into the bedroom. "Shoes!" Lola said suddenly, raising one finger. "We need to pick out some new shoes." Quinn nodded, pointing down at her feet and laughing at her chosen footwear. The two girls waved at him before pushing each other inside the bedroom.
Logan sat there momentarily, staring at the now-closed before before shaking his head. He figured it was better not to ask questions and just let them do their thing.
Locking the door as an extra precaution, Quinn pressed her back against the wooden frame. The night had barely gotten started, but already her head was pounding. Running one hand over her face, she tried to calm herself with some breathing techniques but stopped when she saw her friend ripping her room apart. "What are you doing?"
"Gathering evidence," Lola told her matter-of-factly, pulling out two pairs of hoodies from the closet that weren't Quinn's, along with three graphic t-shirts that were clearly from the men's department. She held up a finger when she saw her friend's mouth drop. She wasn't done yet. Walking over to the dresser, she started pulling the drawers open. One after one until, she finally found one that held men's sweatpants. She threw them down on the bed, along with the rest. Moving on to the next drawer, she gasped at what she saw inside. "Quinn, I'm sorry, but you can't deny this any longer." With shaking hands, she reached inside and pulled out five pairs of black socks.
Quinn gasped, hands coming up to cover her mouth when she saw the socks. That had been the final straw. "Oh my god," her hands uncovered her mouth to flail about as she all but ripped the pure cotton items out of her friend's hands. "I'm dating Logan Reese!"
The two girls looked at each other for a moment before they screamed.
~X~
Logan heard their screams from the other side of the door in the living room. He had been mindlessly looking through the photos on his phone when their cries echoed, making him jump in his seat.
"Girls are so weird."
He muttered to himself, returning his attention to the device in hand.
~X~
Their screams died down as the two girls stood panting in front of one another. The shock, however, was still with them. "What do I do?" Quinn paced about her bedroom, hands back to pulling at her hair. Seeing the t-shirts littering her bed, she shoved them off her comforter to sit down. "How did this happen?"
Lola threw her hands up in the air, indicating she was just as lost as her friend. "I don't know," She sat next to the science genius and sighed. "But if what Michael and Chase told me is true, then Logan really likes you."
She had been chewing on her own hair, a nervous habit she hadn't done since pre-school. "He does?" She spits out her highlighted locks, looking over at her friend.
Lola nodded, "According to them, he said your name a few times in his sleep after we all went to that beach last year." She looked over her shoulder to see the very picture was where it always was. Sitting on display on her nightstand, but oddly enough, the frame looked like it had seen better days. Next to it was an empty duplicate frame.
Hearing this, Quinn sighed and pushed herself off her bed. "Okay, so now what do I do?" She started pacing again, going in front of her mirror to try and fix her appearance. "I can't just go out with him and act like everything is normal?" When she realized how much effort she was putting in to fix her look, she stepped away and faced her best friend. "I mean, what do you say to the guy who you thought was just a sex friend, but he thought we were dating all along?"
"Tell him you're into butt stuff," Lola said causally with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Lola!" Quinn's entire face burned bright red. "I'm being serious, and I told you that in confidence." She knew telling her friend that part of her secret desire would come back to haunt her.
Letting out a sigh of her own, Lola stood up from the bed. "Look, I know this isn't ideal, but it happened. You're dating Logan, and by some weird twist of fate, you seem really happy." She placed two hands on her best friend's shoulders. Trying to help steady her. "I haven't seen you this happy in a long time, so enjoy being the guy's girlfriend."
What her friend said was true. She was happy. Really happy. It was something she hadn't felt in a very long time. Except, "I didn't want to get into another relationship so soon." She told herself that she wouldn't just get into another relationship after Mark dumped her. The next time, she would be more careful and make sure the guy was right for her.
"Too late for that; you're already in one." Reaching up to make a few minor adjustments to her friend's messy hair, she let go and gave her an encouraging smile. "And I think this will be good for you." As crazy as it sounded, she believed that. In some weird twist of fate, Logan Reese had turned out to be exactly what she needed.
Taking in one last calming breath, Quinn nodded. She knew she couldn't hide out in her room the whole night. Perhaps things hadn't gone the way she thought they were going, but she knew what needed to be done. Walking out of her room, she saw Logan was where he was before, sitting on her couch with his phone in hand.
"About time," he groaned, getting off the couch to come stand in front of her. "Weren't those the shoes you were wearing before?" He thought they had gone in there to pick out new shoes.
Quinn lifted his gaze away from her footwear. "We couldn't find anything else."
He hummed, nodding softly. "How about next week I take you shopping? You can buy whatever shoes you like." He gave her a soft smile, already planning their next date in mind. "And no, you can't come." He gave a pointed look to the rising actress who was standing there with her mouth half open to ask that very question. "Haven't you crashed enough dates lately?" He sneered at her, rolling his eyes when she stuck her tongue out at him.
Quinn flinched at the word date. "Right, we should get going on our date. I don't want us missing our reservations for our date." She cringed, biting her upper lip at how awkward she was behaving.
He didn't seem to notice and only smiled fondly at her. "You're cute," he kissed her forehead, taking her hand in his, he led her to the door. "Don't wait up!" He called out to Lola, not even bothering to turn around. Quinn gave a quick wave and unsure expression as she walked out of her apartment with Logan. Or should she say, boyfriend?