15. Envies, Charity Galas and fictions

The moment I see you and my whole world becomes bright. The smile on my lips feels weird. The beats of my heart start skipping. Do you know what this feeling is? - Logan

~~~

15. Envies, Charity Galas and fictions

(Alexandra)

He stopped in front of the mall Alex had wanted to go.

"Where to?"

"Follow me. They are totally awesome and the people there, not snobby like your friend."

"Yeah. Whatever." He said as they walked inside Leclange and Levitt. When he closed the door, a small bell chimed above them.

She had always liked that sound. It was like the sound of wind chimes, the ting ting, so pleasant on the senses. She smiled. She hadn't been here for so long.

She missed it, almost. The familiarity of this. Since she had lost her house, it was full of unfamiliar, unexpected things in her life and she loved this tinge of ordinary from her past.

The glass panels, the silver framed mirrors stacked against the walls, the mannequins wearing dresses and suits and tuxes, the metallic white shine... Everything gave the boutique that upper-class ambiance, but the prices were not so hurtful in the pockets, too and since Alex didn't want to waste too much of her father's money, she had always came here for her dresses shopping.

They had wonderful collections from up and coming designers, ranging from risky to traditional. And Alex loved their edgy outlook on various designs.

Betty, the manager of the boutique, gave her a welcoming smile before she noticed Logan and her eyes widened as she threw a look at Alex and winked obnoxiously. Oh, Betty Betty! Always easily swayed by the handsome men.

"Hey girl." Betty said as Alex walked to her front desk. "Your guy is totally cute." She said and Alex shook her head with a Shh. It looked like Logan heard her. He smiled at her and gave Betty a wave.

"Ohh God, that smile is illegal, I say, girlie." Betty said as she fanned herself.

Alex chuckled as she looked at the woman fondly. She had known Betty for years and Betty had always been the one who couldn't stop herself from ogling men, especially not fine men like Logan.

But this time it didn't make her jealous like it did, when Pam had kissed him. This time she just laughed and waved at the woman in front of her, who looked like she wanted to take a bite of his deliciousness.

Sorry Betty. Better luck the next lifetime.

"Oh yes, he is." When he doesn't open his mouth. "And Betts, eyes on me. My man is off limits, okay." She meant it, too. She could look, alright, but she couldn't touch.

Oh, so now you are the one who can decide who he can touch and can't.

Yes. For a year, you pesky little voice. If you are me, why are you so annoying?

I am you and that is why!

"Ah, I get you. So how may I help you, milady?" Betty gave her a theatrical bow.

"A dress, madame. Something simple, A-line maybe, and fit for charity gala." Alex counted her fingers before she returned the bow. "If you may."

"Oh darling. I have just the right thing for you. Wait here. Don't move a muscle." Betty said.

"Umm, can I breathe?"

"You Shush. Hey Marie, bring me the new one from Paris. You will look amazing in it. I am sure. Purple or ocean blue? Wait, Marie, bring it both." Alex shook her head as the mousy little assistant, Marie, sighed at Logan before she walked away.

Oh God.

But he looked like he didn't notice the look he was receiving. He was just standing there shuffling his feet, and even then, he looked effortlessly hot. How could anyone look that hot doing nothing, Alex didn't know.

He looked at her and gave her a nervous smile when he saw her narrowing her eyes. Good.

"Hello there handsome, you can sit, you know." Betty pointed to the comfy white chairs and he slumped down with a sigh.

Alex glared at him. He looked down at his shoes.

After they had left Pam's boutique, after the episode of epic teasing, the car ride was silent the whole way, except that time when Logan had tried to put on a song and it was a song about kiss and lust and his cheeks flushed before he changed it to other station and this one was way worse than the previous song. And he turned it off with a curse.

"Hey." He said, looking up at her.

"What?"

"I am sorry, you know for being a jerk back at the restaurant."

"For which time? The time you spat at me when I was talking about my daddy or the time when you poked your pretty nose in when I was talking with Johan?"

He stared at her with a sheepish look. "Both?"

"You are asking me? Huh? Jerk."

"Hey... Okay, really, it was for the time when we were talking about your dad. I mean, I don't think I did anything wrong with the Johan guy. He was kissing you and I didn't like it." He looked grumpier than apologetic.

And somehow the way he said it made Alex's heart feel so weird. The heck!

"Oh, for God's sake, it is just my cheeks. I didn't do anything when Pam was kissing you, you know." She rolled her eyes.

"You didn't? Uh, huh, what about this one. Lets hear it. 'I will cut your hands off for you?' Was it not you? Were you possessed or something?"

"Such an arrogant, pretentious, smug little--"

"Whenever you can not find a retort, you go back to calling me cute names." He shook his head, looking so smug.

"Cute name? Bah!" She threw her head back.

"Alexandra, over here, girlie." Betty called and she walked over to her. "Which one do you think?"

Both were beautiful. Alex tried the first one, the blue, and it looked like it was made for her. The crisscrossed back, the tiny ruffles at the edge and sleeves...

"That one." Logan said and Alex nodded her head. Exactly.

"Yes." it was love at first sight.

"That is that?" He asked with a doubtful look. "You see two dresses and select one? You are not going to..."

"What? I like this one. So what is the need to look around?"

"Ok." He shook his head with a smile. "I like it."

He paid for the dress before they walked out, after Betty kept asking them to come anytime they wanted.

"Do you want shoes? Anything else?" Logan asked as they walked around for a while, just killing time. She didn't want to go back, and it looked like he didn't want to, as well.

"I need shoes. Yes." They walked inside the shop and Alex picked out one with blue straps, with a closed back.

When they walk out, Alex saw Baskin Robbins and she couldn't help it. "Ice cream?" Alex asked with wide, imploring eyes. No one could resist those eyes. But it looked like he could.

"Nah. Don't think so." He shook his head at her, looking stern as her tenth grade math teacher. "You ate that for lunch, remember?"

"Party pooper." She pouted before they walked towards the car. He opened her door for her and she snickered at him.

"What?" He asked.

"I hope you mess up more often."

"What?"

"What?" She imitated him with a mock accent. "I mean, you are being chivalrous, amicable and not being an arrogant jerk for the first time in your life. So..."

"I am always--" She cut him off with a snort and entered inside and closed the door in his gaping face.

He grumbled before he entered in. "So rude."

"Hah. Look who is talking?"

He sat there for a minute, without trying to start the car and drive away.

After another five minutes, he cleared his throat

"The thing I really wanted to say when you were talking about your dad-" He looked at his fingers.

Alex looked up at him and he looked sorry. Really sorry. By this time, she knew he said stupid things he didn't mean when he was angry, but she still didn't know how she made him angry with that talk. He was so confusing at times. Like a big book written in German or something.

"-what?" She looked at him with a small smile. It was just easy this way, to forgive him. She didn't like the feeling in her stomach, whenever they fought.

"Your dad was the first one who believed in me, you know?"

"Umm Logan, what are you talking about?"

"Yes. It was just after I finished MBA and opened my construction company. No one wanted to work with a newbie. You know how they can get, right? So I was looking and looking and heard from rumor mill that GS textiles' owner was going to build a small outhouse in his garden. So I followed your dad, more like stalked-"

She was speechless. The young man her dad had talked so much about. The one he had talked about right before she walked inside her first day of the college. The one who was the reason she didn't get her car because her father had wanted her to work for it. Was it all Logan?

She had heard those stories so many times that she had felt she knew the man without even knowing how he looked.

That man was Logan!

"Until he gave me the job. I built it and he liked it --"

"Loved it." She muttered.

"Yes, he loved it and then he handed over to me a big project. It was everything I needed to find my footing. And I had never forgotten that. He was the only one who chose to take the risk of working with--"

"You built my house."

It was a small guest house at Alex's backyard. Actually it was for Alex. Her dad had built it for her as a surprise, when she graduated from high school. They were on a vacation, when it was built and when she came back, there it was-- an empty house, just the way she had liked and beautiful and waiting for her to decorate it. Her dad had then said, "you wanted to be an interior designer, right. Let us design this one, Allie girl. Let us do this together."

They had both worked on it the remaining summer, shopped for furnishings and lights and arts and filled that house and made it another home. It was a beautiful memory that still put a smile on her face.

It was one of Alex's favorite places in the whole world, it was hers and whenever she'd feel sad or alone or feel like giving up, she would walk to the small house and sit there until all she could feel was the magic of that small space.

She would sometimes lie in the roof and stare at the stars until she was filled with the beauty of them. She would imagine she was in them, jumping from one point to another, until all her sorrows burned down.

When her dad died, she was curled up in one corner of that same house and again, when she found out that she was going to lose her house, it was this place --Logan's place-- that gave her the confidence to stop herself from crying to sleep and get up. To not break down.

She wondered if this was coincidence or destiny.

How could it be a mere coincidence? How could it be?

"Yes. And I owe you, Alex. I owe you everything. So if you want to-" He stopped and pressed a hand to his face. "If you want to void the contract and back off, you can." He looked pale as he said that.

Alex jerked back. She didn't expect this. Not at all.

Yes. She had wanted to back off on many occasions, but as he said that, she realized she despised the idea of it. She didn't want to back off. If one year was all she could get, she was going to get that.

"You can owe me for something else. This- I think you are stuck with me for a year."

He smiled. His smile was full of relief. She looked at him with her heart in her throat and she was this close to blurting out everything she had wanted to say. It was like an itch at the back of her throat. She just wanted to tell him how much she loved him.

God. It was painful to keep it all buried. The feelings were like hot lava, volcanic, and they wanted to explode out of her.

But she knew he didn't love her, he didn't want to love her.

Maybe after this year was over, she would tell him about her feelings. She would tell him how much he had come to mean to her in such a short time.

And she would walk away. From him.

"Okay then. Anything you want." He said, pulling her back from her thoughts. Looking at him made her heart constrict. He was so beautiful. Yes, so annoying, too, but still... He was hers.

For a year. And she wanted to enjoy that year, she wanted to fight with him, kiss him senseless, eat with him, make cookies for him, banter with him, do stupid things with him. She wanted to make every moment with him a memory.

Because that was all she had for a lifetime. Without him.

"Anything?" She gave him a wicked smile. "Remember that."

"Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?!" He said as he started the car.

"Better you don't know that." She said as she turned towards the window and leaned against it with a small smile.

~~~

(Logan)

The gala was on full swing when he walked in with the beautiful woman by his side. She was like the brightest of stars among the candles flickering.

Her ocean blue dress contrasted with her lake green eyes, making them look like magic. Her silky brown hair fell back in lose curls and he wanted to plunge his fingers inside them and put his mouth against her cherry painted lips and get lost.

She smelled like cherry blossoms, and honeysuckle. She smelled like Alex. And he wanted to bottle that scent and keep it with him forever. He could sell it for a fortune, but he didn't want to. He wanted it all for himself.

Such a selfish thought. The inner voice snickered. He ignored it and took in the woman next to him.

She glittered in the muted setting of the room. She wasn't wearing diamond, except the ring he gave her. And earrings. Must be a gift from her dad. It dangled down her cheeks, teasing it.

She looked magnificent. She took his breath away, by just being herself.

He grabbed her hand in his and she looked up at him with surprise in her eyes.

He wanted to say something like it was for others, that it was just a part of their acting, but he didn't say anything. He couldn't. This was for himself and for once, he was going to accept it and not tell lies about it.

Just this once.

She didn't say anything back, as she squeezed his hands. He let his fingers drew circles on her skin and it felt so nice.

They walked in, talking about the art pieces stacked around. Alex looked like she was enjoying it as she talked and talked about paintings.

"Oh God, this is marvelous. The underlying meaning of life, the deft hand in which the paint is applied... Wow. I can't take my eyes away."

"I can't, too." She looked up at him and blushed and looked away. She was marvelous and he could not take his eyes away from her.

"Stop staring." She muttered under her breath, her voice husky.

"Why, I am allowed to appreciate beauty. It is called Art appreciation."

She shook her head with a gentle smile.

"Want to sneak away and make out with me?" He gave her a gaudy wink and she giggled.

"Now I knew how you seduced young Annie to cop a feel."

"God, it is just her hands. I was just telling her how soft they were. My sisters are known for their exaggeration."

She smiled. "I don't believe you." She said as she grabbed a finger sandwich and took a bite.

"I have always been a courteous gentlem--" He stopped when he saw the familiar blue eyes and blonde hair and she was coming in his direction. Oh No. Here it comes.

He didn't want to confront or talk with her. He didn't want to introduce Alex to her. He just wanted a moment alone with Alex. He just wanted to spend every moment alone with Alex.

But she is the reason Alex is here.

Before he could warn Alex, Stacie was there. Her eyes we're calculating as she looked Alex up and down.

"Won't you introduce me to your new friend Logan?" She asked with a smile, but he didn't miss the flash in her eyes.

"I can introduce myself." Alex said. "I am Alexandra. His fiancé."

"Oh God, Logan, you work fast. Play faster." Stacie gave him a smirk as she shook her head. "And I am--"

"Stacie. His Ex-girlfriend. I know."

He looked at her with surprise. How did she knew? She hadn't seen Stacie, at all.

"Hmm. So you must also know he proposed to me just weeks ago." Her voice was shrill and so full of anger. She looked like she wanted to kill them.

"I know. You said no."

"And still you wanted to be his wife? You are obviously his second choice. Or he is rebounding. Because his ego is hurt." Stacy said with malice. Her eyes we're narrowed as she looked at Alex.

"What the--" Logan started, but stopped when Alex placed a palm on his mouth.

"Why don't you let me talk, Logan?"

"Yeah, why don't you? She is not a baby. But then, she still has some baby fat left to lose."

Alex wasn't thin like Stacie. She was exactly the way he wanted her to be. Perfect.

"You clearly look like you are vexed. You said no to him, didn't you? So why are you so angry?"

"I-I-" Stacie sputtered before she gritted her teeth.

Alex smiled as she took a profiterole from the tray and cut it into half before feeding him the half. It was clearly for the show, but he loved it when her eyes stared straight at him as she fed him the piece of sugary sweet chocolate pastry and she licked her lips when she ate hers. "You have something there." She said to him before she leaned in and pressed a kiss on the side of his mouth and leaned back. "Done."

God. She was so sexy when she was being confident. He loved it. He also loved the way her lips felt against his and he wanted more.

He blinked when someone coughed.

Stacie. Uh, yeah! It was all for her and now he was forgetting she was here.

"Hey Stacie, I must thank you for saying no. You know, I owe you one. But don't ask him back. Except that one." Alex said in a cheerful voice.

"I don't want him back."

"Could have fooled me."

"He asked you because I said no, you know? How does that make you feel?"

"You don't know our full story, so why don't I enlighten you?"

What story, Logan thought. But he didn't say anything as he watched his ex-girlfriend and his future appointed wife talk. Stacie looked more like she was ready for a cat-fight, but Alex was still so cool and composed.

That is my girl.

"What story? As if you have any decent story! You are just a sleazy one who fell for his money and he is just using you. There. Your story. Fairytale romance." Stacie laughed as she threw her hair and gave him a look.

"Darling, it is impolite to make assumptions. But I will forgive you of your bad attitude. You are just sorry you let him go, aren't you? I know how it would feel. After all, I had to let him go because he was your boyfriend way before I knew him."

"What are you blabbering about?"

"Easy there, tiger." Alex said and he chuckled. Stacie threw him a glare.

"His meeting, you remember. We both met there. We clicked."

Oh. This story.

"We kissed. And it was like magic." It was magic, too.

"He wouldn't do that--" Stacie looked indignant. "He wouldn't cheat on me."

"He didn't. We went out fir dinner. As friends. I kissed him. I wanted him. I knew he wanted to kiss me back, but he didn't. You know why, because of you. He had this ring on his pocket and he wanted to ask you, and he could not do that to you, he said. But I knew I saw it, the way he looked at me, the way his eyes would shift away when I noticed him looking. He felt for me whatever I felt for him. It was all..." Alex took a breath. "You won't understand unless you were actually there. But yes. We said goodbye. He asked you and you said no. How awesome is that?" Alex looked really animated as she warmed up to her story.

The way her voice was like a song, the way her eyes glimmered, he almost believed that story, himself. He almost believed that she was really ecstatic that Stacie said that no.

"And then he called me. The moment you left, he called me. You know. He was happy, too. I was angry, yes, of course, but he was more than apologetic. He told me how he felt for me, and tada..." Alex waved her ring in front of Stacie and Stacie blinked.

"This ring- it is, it is... God Logan, how could you? You said you are buying it for someone else. For your dad. To give it to your mom. And it was all a lie."

Alex looked at him and then at Stacie, her eyes full of questions.

Logan looked at his shoes. God.

Logan had bought this ring when he went on a business trip to England. It was platinum and it had a pure cut diamond at the top with two vines curving downside in gold, with small diamonds all over it. It had stole his heart away and he bought it on impulse.

The next morning Stacie had found it in his baggage and when she had asked him about it, he had lied to her.

"I don't know." He said. Stacie shrugged, and then the cold look on her eyes we're back.

"So when is your marriage?" Stacie looked at them as if she knew something they didn't. "Did you set the date?"

"Yes, we will send you an invite."

"When?"

Alex blinked. Once. Twice.

"Or is it all some ruse?" Stacie asked, looking so self satisfied.

"July 20th. Save the date." Logan said and pressed a kiss to Alex' forehead.

She blinked up at him before looking down.

He couldn't wait to get fake married to her.

~~~

Alex: *sarcastically* Whoo! We are getting married.

Logan: Don't sound too happy.

Alex: What, I am marrying a romantic at heart, and a handsome gentleman, who gave me documents instead roses. Why can't I be happy?

Logan: You're so annoying.

Me: So, can I plan your wedding? Cakes? What flavor?

Logan: Vanilla

Alex: Boring like you.

Logan: I didn't ask you.

Alex: Yeah, we didn't ask you. Goodbye.

Me: Hey guys, what about the venue, flowers, dresses??? I am so excited.

Alex: Well. Keep it bottled. Because it is not a real wedding.

Logan: It is. As far as everyone is concerned and we are doing it the right way. Understand?

Alex: Whatever.

____

A/N: If you like This story, give my other story a try... #An interview with Mr. Ex. It is available on Dreame (pen name: Fathy Light) and I have entered it to a contest. So reading and commenting and hearts help. Do check it out if you got time.