Chapter 1
QUINN
Stepping out of the taxi, I smooth down my dress and shut the door. I knew this was a long shot, but I needed to be here. I had a plan, and I was going to see it through.
Ever since college had finished, and I began my new job in design, I hadn’t had the chance to come back home to see my family or friends in at least three years. I moved away after getting my degree and now I was home for the New Year. I would have been home for Christmas, but my parents were away and wouldn’t have been back till the twenty-seventh of December from their holiday, so I opted for the new year.
When I told them I wanted to come back home, they were excited and mentioned that we could attend a New Year’s Eve party together since they were already going to, which was being held by their friends. When I got told that, I wanted them in on my plan and mentioned that I wanted to surprise best friend, Logan.
Logan and I have been friends since high school and were inseparable ever since. We were each other’s cheerleaders. When I wanted to get into design, Logan was the one who came to the galleries, award shows and even my final presentation, where I would have to hold an event which he even bought a few items I had made. He didn’t need to do that, but he did, and I was very grateful.
But it was the same the other way around. Logan wanted to be a football star, and I was his number one supporter. I was the one who was cheering him on and even wore his jersey at every game. His full college scholarship brought celebration, but also sadness that distance would separate us as we’d attend different schools.
While in college, we would keep in contact with each other, and probably stalked each other through social media. Well, I did. I didn’t enjoy being away from him since he was always in my life every day, even when we weren’t in school. We did everything together, even being each other’s first kiss. It was perfect.
In school, most of the kids thought there was something going on between us, but we always shot it down. Even though I had feelings for him, I never pushed it any further since I didn’t want to ruin our friendship and even told him that after our kiss.
I don’t know where my feelings came from, but I noticed the way he smelt, to the way he looked. He looked different, handsome. Even his cologne was intoxicating to me. I believed it was lust, but over time my feelings became more intense, and I would often look at him more longingly, or find myself thinking of ways of spending some time together, even if it was a few seconds.
All I wanted was him, and it has been like this for since the day we kissed each other.
Logan was popular in school, but he let no one hurt or even bully me. They would have to go through him.
As for women in his life, he never had a girlfriend in high school, but college was a different matter. Whenever we spoke on the phone or even face timed, he would dodge the question. He posted only photos of his activities on social media; most showed many women, and none mentioned girlfriends.
For me, I only had one relationship with a man called Joe, who was a year older than me. It was never love, only with benefits. We would go on a date and then hook up. Joe never bothered asking me out as a proper girlfriend, but I guess he knew I wasn’t interested in him like that. He was a good fuck when I needed it, but that was all.
“Quinn!” Mum screamed just when the door opened. I shook my thoughts away and looked up at her with a smile as she ran down the steps of our family home with dad following right behind her.
“Mum!” I said, stepping closer and walking into her outstretched arms. I wrapped mine around her while Dad did the same, pulling me into a bear hug while still connected to mum.
Closing my eyes, I could smell mum’s floral perfume and Dad’s musky scent. Mum and Dad were already dressed for the party, fashionably late as usual.
I pulled back and smiled.
Mum held my hands and made me step back for her to look at me. “Quinn,” she murmured with a low whistle. “You look stunning.”
I grinned.
Yesterday, I came here first and then head straight to the party. When I face timed my mum, she helped me chose my dress, which is the one I am wearing now.
“The dress is stunning in person,” she said, her eyes meeting mine. “Logan is going to—”
“Don’t,” I said, stopping her. “I don’t want to jinx anything and besides, I don’t know if he feels the same as me.”
When I told my parents I’d visit them for New Year, Dad was thrilled, but then he left the conversation with Mom and me to attend to something in the house. I only mentioned to mum about surprising Logan as I hadn’t seen him in ages and wanted to surprise me. That caught her off guard since we were always on the phone with one another, and she wasn’t having any of it.
Mum always spots things and even know at twenty-five, she still knows me all too well. She knew I was planning something and when I told her I wanted to tell him how I feel about him, she somehow knew that I loved him.
That part took me by surprise, but she told me to stop being so defensive. She had noticed the way I would look at him when he wasn’t looking, but it was the way I was looking at him that had her convinced I was in love. I never told her I was or not, but mum thought I would be a fool not to tell him.
My eyes stayed on her for a moment, while mum looked over her shoulder at dad and motioned to the house. “I’ll take your bag into the house. Then we can go.”
I gave him a nod and watched him leave, before looking back at mum who hadn’t taken her eyes off me. “Mum, I—”
“No, Quinn. Don’t be negative about this,” she said, her hand gently squeezing mine. “You have no idea about how Logan feels about you. You need a little faith and believe.”
That part was hard to even put into words. How can I believe or even put faith into my feelings when I don’t know how Logan feels? I mean, I never once told him how I felt about him, only in my dreams and journal when I was a kid, but not to his face.
Dad came out of the house and stopped by behind my mum, who placed his hand on her shoulder while looking at me. “Are you ready?” he asked, which only made my stomach fill with butterflies.
All the way here by plane and taxi, my anxiety has been through the room, but not I want to throw up and head into my home to stay out of this.
Mum, being mum, sensed something and wrapped her arm around mine and guided me away from our home and across the street where Logan and his family lived. I mentioned we live on the same street. If not, well we do and now, come to think about it, I had no hiding place to go now. All I had to do was pull up my big girl pants and do what I came here to do, and hopefully not to crash and burn, which is what is replying in my head.
I could hear the music on, which was only when we came closer to their house and noticed a few cars in the drive away.
All I had to do was surprise my best friend and before the clock strikes midnight to tell him how I feel about him. What the hell could go wrong?
