—Logan—

I paced around my bedroom like an animal trapped in a cage. I felt like shit. God, what an idiot I’d been to go to that damn party. It was pure luck that we’d only had the one, little kiss. Even luckier that it had been thrown by college students and no one from school had seen me there. It was one thing to come out to my family—I was not ready to go public.

Especially since I’d, you know, been cheating on my girlfriend.

I sank down heavily onto my bed. Even if Felix hadn’t kissed me, it was still cheating. I’d never cheated on anyone. It made me sick to realize I’d done that to Zoe. I’d apologize if it wouldn’t mean she’d have to know about it.

What was I going to do? I liked Zoe a lot—maybe more than liked. But I was beginning to think that I could feel the same way about Felix.

The way he made me feel whenever we were together was so different from how I felt with Zoe and yet exactly the same. Like I was a coin and Zoe had one side and Felix had the other.

Did I stop seeing Felix? Cut him out of my life? Even as I considered it, I shied away from that as a solution. He was my friend more than anything. I couldn’t do that to him. But I also sure as hell wasn’t breaking up with Zoe.

I needed to talk to someone. Which was insane because that would probably mean admitting to cheating on my girlfriend, but I needed to talk it out. I was grounded so my options were limited. Unless I convinced my parents to let me go somewhere else. It was worth a shot, I supposed. Otherwise I was going to keep stewing up in my room.

Downstairs, the smell of food drew me into the kitchen. Mom was at the stove while Dad had taken up a spot at the island.

Mom smiled at me. “Hey, kiddo. Lunch will be ready in a bit.”

“Actually…Could I go over to Tobi’s? I know I’m grounded, but I really need to talk to him.”

My parents shared the kind of look that seemed to contain an entire conversation.

“Alright,” Dad said, rising to his feet. “But I’m driving you.”

“Hey, are you okay?”

I looked over at Tobi. “Yeah.”

“Are you sure? You’ve been quiet ever since you got here.”

He wasn’t wrong. As soon as I’d gotten there, Tobi and I had gone to sit on the back porch, and I’d probably only said a handful of words in the last fifteen minutes, for all that I’d come over here to talk.

I exhaled deeply. “No, actually. Some stuff has been going on…I’m not sure how to deal with it.”

The blond frowned. “What is it? Does it have anything to do…y’know, with the last time you were here?” The time we’d gone to the burger place.

“Yeah,” I admitted.

“So, are you gay? ‘Cause what you were saying last time…”

I smiled a little and shook my head. “No. I like both.” I laughed quietly. “I guess I’m an equal opportunist.”

“Have you told your parents?”

I nodded. “The other night. Something happened…Something’s been happening. See, there’s this guy, Felix…”

I told him everything. Felix turning up suddenly in study hall. Zoe’s offhand comment that turned my world upside down. The practices and the party. The kiss. I unloaded it all and, to his credit, Tobi sat there stoically and took it all in until I finally said, “I don’t know what to do.”

“I mean, I think you have to pick one or the other, Logan. You can’t love two people at once. If you’re feeling this way about Felix, isn’t it pretty obvious that your feelings for Zoe have changed?”

“But they haven’t. When I’m with her, nothing is any different than it was before I met Felix. Why does it have to be either or?”

“Look, man, you admitted to cheating on her once already. You kissed somebody else. If you keep hanging around both of them, you know it’s going to happen again. You should break up with her now so you don’t cheat on her later.”

I glared at him, but I was as upset at myself as I was at him. He was only parroting back my own thoughts. “Whatever. I’ve gotta go.” I ignored his attempts to call me back and all but ran out through the house.