28. Mistakes, feuds and wrong kisses

What will I do, after this year passes and then you will only be in my memories, not in my life. - Alex

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28. Mistakes, feuds and wrong kisses

Months until the contract become null? Four months!!!

(Alexandra)

Petitions were filed. Court hearing dates were set. Michael was almost sure that they would be winning the case.

It was a good month for Alex.

She had finished working on Mathilda's mansion --which was so beautiful at the end, if she so say herself-- and she already had a new job to decorate Emma's new house -- Emma and Mark had been living in a rented house before.

Working with Emma was almost like a vacation. Often times, Andy and Brian would follow her around, pretending to be her assistant. Sometimes Beth and Eliza stopped by, with food and lemonade and they would talk about the silliest thing that would always make Alex feel so damn happy. She would miss them. They were already her family and she was still lying to them. It felt like a rock, but she couldn't break her promise to Logan. Logan always came first. It was how it was and she couldn't do anything about that.

She had also signed a contract to start working with one of Mathilda's good friends, Avery Carlos. He had seen Alex's work when he visited Mathilda's house and he had asked for her and contacted her to work for him on his daughter's house, which coincidentally enough, Logan was building.

It was a good month all in all, but right this moment, it wasn't going exactly good for Alex.

"Oh, come on Dan." Alex sighed as she leaned across the kitchen slab. They were back to baking -- he had been trying to do that for months now, trying be the key word-- and he was making a bigger mess, a much bigger mess this time. And Logan was enjoying her misery as he sat there without moving a finger and watching his best friend torturing her. "Dear Lord. Save me." She groaned dramatically.

"Alex, you are a very impatient woman. You do know that practice makes perfect." Daniel said, looking like a hot mess. His chin was covered with flour and he smelled like burnt butter.

"I do. But what you are doing is not practice. It is practically murder." She said as she watched him took out a very burnt, very black cake out from the oven.

"Keep dissing me, but one day you will see. I will be better than you. I will be." He looked determined. She didn't know how he did that, keeping up with his optimism about baking. She had promised that she would bake for him every day, but he was adamant about making his own damn cakes, which never come out anywhere near to being edible.

"In your dreams, Dan." She poked her tongue out as she whipped another batch of batter. "Watch and learn, amateur."

"Every great Baker started with a charred cake."

"Where did you read that, Smart guy?" Alex frowned as she poured the batter in the tray and pushed it inside the oven. "They use timer because it is easy to keep track of time. They don't just turn it all the way and forget about it." She said as she stared at Dan , who was now peacefully licking the bowl clean.

"This is yummy. Hey Log, you want some?"

"No thanks, and Dan, what the hell is this thing? If you can make a million dozens of it, I can probably build you a house with them. And I promise it will hold." Logan said as he inspected the brick like cake.

"Haha. You are a funny guy." Daniel said with a grumpy scowl and Alex snorted.

"It can be lucrative business opportunity, Dan, if you can't become a better Baker than me." Alex poked her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, you two, you are the funniest people I have seen." Dan rolled his eyes and the oven dinged. "Now, take that out." He said as the oven dinged.

"Taking."

"Now this is a cake."

"Alright. Alright." Daniel grumbled.

"Are you leaving yet?" Alex asked as she gave him a piece.

"What? What are you gonna do?"

"You don't want to know." Logan winked and Alex blushed.

"You two, you are disgusting. I am kinda single, you know, and you keep rubbing it in my face. Ugh!"

"You are always kinda single." Alex laughed as Daniel gave her a look.

"Bye guys." Daniel said.

"Don't you want the brick?" Logan asked as he played with the thing.

"Nah, keep it. It is yours."

"Yeah? Thank you."

As soon as Daniel was out the door, Logan was on her, like a hungry predator or something.

"What?" He asked as Alex chuckled inside his lips.

"You look hungry."

"Damn yes."

"How will you live when I am gone?" She asked with a small smile and he pulled back from her with a look in his eyes that made her stomach hurt.

"So why don't you stay?" He looked serious. Her heart thundered. Was he for real?

"What are you saying?" She looked into his eyes and he looked away.

"Nothing. I was just joking around with you."

She didn't answer. She just kissed him again. Until she could forget everything, everyone, except him.

***

Months until the contract become null? Two months!!!

(Alexandra)

Alex was staring at the calendar like every day when she felt Logan moving next to her. He stretched and she avoided looking at him.

Two months. And then it was time for goodbye. A goodbye she wasn't ready to say to him. But then she would never be ready for it. Even if Logan would give her ten years and forever, she would never be ready for that goodbye.

But you have to be.

Yes. I have to be.

Or you can tell him, you know.

She pushed herself up and he grabbed her hand and she fell over his chest. His arms went around her as he nuzzled her neck and then placed a kiss.

"Hey, you ready for today?" He muttered. She nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. It is Fabien's gala."

"Yes. So what are you going to wear?" He asked as he stripped his blanket with a yawn and she jerked up. Her eyes widened.

"Um-uh-" She stuttered as he stood up, and he was so naked, and he didn't mind. He was the most confident man she had seen -- not that she had ever seen anyone naked, but...

"You can take a picture, you know, if you want to keep looking." He said with a wink and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Smug little jerk." She muttered under her breath. He laughed boisterously and her heart became a mushy boiled potato.

"Have you seen me?" He pointed to down below, and her eyes, her traitorous eyes, followed his fingers before she shook her head. "Want that?" He asked with an arrogant smile on his face.

"No thanks." She muttered.

"You didn't say no thanks the previous night." He looked like he was gloating.

"Shut up, and go away." She said with a frown. His body shook in silent laughter as he walked away from her, leaving a smile on her face.

Later that evening, as Alex was getting ready in her room, she heard the familiar sound of Logan and Daniel arguing about something.

They always argued about the stupidest things possible, but Alex always enjoyed it. She smiled as she applied a peach lipstick before she looked herself in the mirror. This was as shiny as she could get.

Her long gown was peach and it fitted her beautifully. One long sleeve with a slash on the side ruffled along as she walked and the crisscross across the back was studded with stones.

And it was beautiful. She had spent an hour shopping with Eliza for this dress.

When Alex descended the stairs, Logan was staring, his eyes hooded and secretive -- and she loved that look he sported whenever he liked what she was wearing -- and Daniel whistled. "You look delicious." Dan said and Logan glared at his friend.

"You aren't allowed to call her delicious." Logan said with a frown and Daniel chuckled. Alex watched in amusement as they continued to fight why and why not.

"As long as Alex didn't have a problem with me calling her delicious--"

"You have a problem, right?" Logan looked at her and she smirked.

"Nah. It is just Daniel."

"What do you mean?" Dan asked offended.

"That means you are the same Daniel who makes a mess on my kitchen everyday in the hope that you will one day make a cake instead bricks. You are the same one who sits with me and talks about why Cristina shouldn't have married Owen in Grey's Anatomy. You are the one who watches reruns of the office with me. So... "

"Ah." Daniel shrugged as he hooked his arms through her and they walked out, much to the displeasure of Logan, who wouldn't stop grumbling as he followed them.

"She is my wife."

"So she is. And? What is your point?" Daniel asked as he opened the door for her.

"You have your own car." Logan said.

"I don't want to drive alone."

"Where is your date?"

"Alex had agreed to be my date?" Daniel said with a smirk.

"This is outrageous." Logan burst out and Alex snickered. "She is my wife. She is my date." He said as he placed a possessive arm around her. She snuggled a little closer with a satisfied smile on her face.

"You can have someone else for tonight." Alex said with a straight face and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You two think this is funny. Huh?" He asked as he grabbed the keys from Daniel. "You are sitting in the back if you want to drive with us."

"You are no fun, Logan Adrien Forte." Daniel grumbled before he stepped in the backseat.

"I know."

The gala was on full swing when they walked in, Alex's hand inside Logan's -- she didn't know if it was for the show or he really wanted to hold her hand, but she didn't question it. She liked it too much to question it.

The moment they walked in, though, Logan and Daniel were instantly surrounded by hoards of people, mostly women, talking about things or telling jokes Alex couldn't understand.

She felt too alone, and she would have probably wandered off, if his hand hadn't been holding hers. She felt like a strange concept in her husband's life, but then what else could she feel - they were saying goodbye, the one that was pre-stamped, in two months. And that was that!

"Hey Logan. Alex." It was the unmistakable voice of Stacie Weston. She was draped in an ankle length A-line dress in deep purple, with a slit on the side that showed sneaky peeks of her legs as she walked and she looked like a woman. And Alex felt like a school girl in her peach dress.

"Stacy." Alex said in the way of greeting back. She didn't want to, but she was above the pettiness, wasn't she?

Maybe she really wasn't, but...

"You look nice." Stacy said as she looked up and down at Alex.

"Umm, what are you up to?" Daniel frowned at Stacy.

"Oh, hello to you too, Daniel. You are still the same." Stacy frowned as she took in Daniel.

"Yeah, and you are still bitching, I see."

"Daniel." Alex hissed and he gave her a shrug.

"What? I don't like her."

"Well. You have never known the idea of subtlety, so..." Stacy said as she walked away.

"Daniel, be civil." Logan chided him and he gave a pout.

"I don't want to be civil with the devil, Logan."

Alex couldn't help but chuckle at that. Looked like she wasn't that above pettiness.

"Logan. God. Haven't seen you in so long." A woman hurled herself at Logan —why couldn't people see she was right beside him?— and Alex stiffened.

Now she was really angry, and this time her pettiness showed in her pout.

"Pamela. Do you only greet handsome men?" Alex asked as she watched Pam stepped back before she gave a smile to Dan. Dan smirked at Alex as if he knew what was going on in her mind.

"Oh, it is you."

"Yes. Mind stepping away from my guy?"

"Your guy?"

"Do you live in a hole or something, Pam? I thought your boutique is going good. We got married." Alex said, tasting every word of it. Alex didn't know why, but she had never liked Pamela.

"What the hell?" Pam screeched and Alex closed her ears. On her side eyes, she could see Logan's handsome smirk.

"Ouch. Stop." Alex waved a hand at Pamela and she heard someone chuckling at the side. When she turned, she could see Stacie shaking her head.

"You want anything to drink?" Logan asked and Alex nodded.

"I will be back. I am going to the restroom."

"Okay."

Alex stared at herself in the mirror before she shook her head. It was stupid to resent Stacie because Stacie had been Logan's girlfriend and Pam, because Pam didn't have a sense of boundary. But Alex could not help it.

She hated the thought of Logan with other women, even when they were his past.

One day she would be past, too. One day, she would be watching in the sidelines as someone else walked in with Logan in her arms. The image was like a sharp cutting knife.

Alex pressed a hand against her cheeks when the door to the restroom opened and Stacy walked in, like she owned the damn place.

"You are not as spineless as I thought. This will be interesting, now." She smirked as she applied bright red coat of lipstick over already bright lipstick. She smacked her lips at herself before applying compact on her cheeks.

"What will be?" Alex looked at a smirking Stacie. "What are you talking about?" Alex asked with doubt in her voice.

"This game. Of who is going to win Logan." Stacy said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Logan is not a prize to be won, but if he is, I already did win him. I am his wife, so?" Alex challenged.

"A very unimportant and legal nuisance and I don't care for it. I still believe he was not really himself when he married you." Stacy looked so self-assured and it was the truth in her sentence --even though Stacy didn't know the half of it-- that made Alex feel empty. And sad.

"You said no. And then he went and married me and your ego can't take it, huh? Logan is not a doll that you can pry away from my fingers and I am not a kid who will easily let go. Even when I was a kid, I never let go of MY things." Alex said as she washed her hands. "If that is all..."

"You sure are very egoistical. You are not such a grand prize, Alexandra. Next to me, you are probably very cheap sausage."

"And you are? Duck? Pig?" Alex said with a dry chuckle as she took her bag and walked out, seething.

The woman was very irritating, and she didn't know how Logan could date a woman like that for a year and then decided to get married to the same one.

As she first thought, there must be really something wrong with Logan's brain function.

When she walked out, Daniel was there with a plate of chicken fingers, waiting for her.

"Thanks." She said as she took one. "Where is Logan?"

"Logan is talking with some very boring people." Daniel scrunched his nose.

"And you are just eating. Why don't you go help your dad out?"

"Don't you start too. I already have too much people telling me how I am wasting my time. I am not. I do help my dad."

"Whenever you please. That is not how you--" She was stopped halfway when Daniel shrugged.

"Ssh. My ears are bleeding. See you later."

"You aren't leaving me alone. I don't know anyone here."

"Get to know some people. Not all of them are bad wolves. Some of them are only bad pigs, so..."

"That is very reassuring." .

"Go on. I think I have just seen an angel. So... I am going to be non-single for a while."

"Shut up, and go away already." She waved him off.

As she wandered alone in the long halls, she kept looking for Logan, who was missing for a while now. And then she found him and he was --

He was kissing Stacy.

Or maybe Stacy was kissing him.

*

**

(Logan)

Logan pushed the woman away with a frown.

"What the hell are you doing?" He narrowed his eyes at Stacy. She stood there, cool as cucumber with a smug smile on her reddish lips.

"What? You have always enjoyed kissing me."

"I am married."

"So..."

"And you are delusional. We are over. We were over long before I married Alex. So? What the hell are you trying to achieve here?"

Her eyes looked nervous for a second before it went back to cool indifference.

"I know your ego was very hurt when I said no, Logan. I also knew you married Alex to get back at me."

Somehow everything she was telling him was almost right, yet, nothing of that mattered now. Nothing.

"Stop writing scenarios in your head and making up fiction. Alex and I -we are-"

Not real.

Stacy cut him off. "I don't know about that. I am still not sure about this."

"What are you not sure about?" Logan jerked back as he heard Alex asking Stacie.

Did she see it? What would she think?

"This is-" Logan pointed between himself and Stacy. "It is nothing."

"Kissing her is nothing?" Alex looked peaceful. Calm. She didn't look angry, not like she looked when Pamela had once kissed him, way before.

"It is nothing."

"Ouch." Alex winced. "Ouch, Stacy." She said again.

Stacy stared at them both and shook her head. "So he says. We will never know what he thinks."

"Wait. I will show you." Alex said and as Logan watched with befuddled wonder, Alex grabbed him and kissed him on the lips.

He was instantly lost inside the familiar taste of her lips. He loved the taste of it, addicted to it.

He protested when Alex pulled away. Alex gave him a smile.

"Now you know."

Stacy's face went dark as she stared at Alex.

"Don't be too smug about it. He once kissed me like this. He couldn't get enough of my kisses in the past, too, so who is to say that he won't get bored of you soon? We will see." Stacy said to Alex and Logan wanted to cut in, but Alex stopped him with a wave.

"Right. But right now we are here and that is that." Alex said as Stacy turned and left.

"I am sorry."

"Whatever." Alex said before she walked out.

He was staring at Alex the rest of the Gala that he missed making business contacts, but Alex wasn't looking at him. If he was being honest with himself, it almost felt like she was avoiding him.

And whenever he looked, she was talking with Leo Shine or laughing with him or smiling and he hated it.

"You are angry!" He said to her as he finally found herself alone. Without damn Leo.

"I am not."

"You are."

"It is nothing." She said as she averted her eyes away from him.

"It is not nothing." He said as he grabbed her hands.

***

(Alexandra)

She was angry, of course, but it wasn't because he had kissed Stacy. She knew he hadn't. She knew it was Stacy and she knew Logan had pushed Stacie away without a moment of hesitation. So it wasn't that.

But yes, she was angry and sad, because, what Stacy said was true.

Everything is true. We are fake and after two months, I would be a past. And I don't want to be. I want to be his future, as well. But how can I tell him? How can I contest his contract?!

"I know your ego was very hurt when I said no, Logan. I also knew you married Alex to get back at me." Stacy had told Logan and every word of it was true.

Alex was a pain medicine to soothe his reputation and ego. Maybe she had become a friend, a lover along the way, but she knew there was no way in hell she could be anything more. It just wasn't in their cards. Her cards.

And then Stacy had told her that he would get bored of kissing Alex and it made Alex feel cold all over. Like her heart was frozen.

Previous year, it was Stacy. This year it was Alex. And the next year, it would be someone else.

Logan Forte would not mind. He would move on, like she didn't matter. And she would be stuck in a place, going nowhere.

And that thought alone felt like a hammer slamming against her heart.

"It is nothing." She said as Logan stared at her.

"It is not nothing. I want to-"

"Please." She said. "I want to go home."

"I can drive you."

"No. Leo is here. He said-"

"Leo again?!" Logan looked angry.

"I am sorry, but I really need to be gone now and I don't want you to come with me."

"Lex, don't be an idiot. Whatever it is, you can talk to me." His eyes were pleading with her, but she couldn't listen to him.

She was still hurting all over. Throbbing from the pain. She didn't want to look at him.

"Not now." She said.

"Tomorrow?"

"Just-just let it go. Bye." She said and turned away from him.

"Don't go like this. If this is because I kissed Stacy- I mean, she kissed me and it was-"

"It is not that. I saw you pushing her away."

"Then what the hell is this, Alex? Why are you running away?"

"Because I feel like I am going to suffocate if I stood here any longer. I need to get out. Get away."

"Then let me come with you."

You are the reason I want to get away. So...

"No. Please."

He looked angry as she saw Leo stepping next to her. "You ready to go?" He smiled at her, the smile that made her feel calm.

"Yes."

"Alex..." Logan called and then his phone rang. "Wait." He said to her as he answered the phone.

But she didn't wait. She was too tired to wait. She walked away.

Leo drove around for a while and she say there unmoving.

"Don't look like that." He said after a while. "Wanna go eat something?"

"No." She muttered.

"Please, stop."

"Shut up, Leo."

"I can't shut up. Logan is a jerk, but..."

"Let us go eat. But promise you won't talk."

He stopped the car in front of a small, obscured place.

"What is this?"

"I am not kidnapping you. I am just giving you some authenticity." He said as they walked along a narrow walkway before it opened into a spacious place. It looked cozy and warm as they stepped inside a small wooden door.

The place was lit and bustling and people talked over each other and ate their food. Leo took a table at the side and she sat down.

"Order whatever you want. Fatty, oily, greasy food. It is good for heartbreak."

"I am not heartbroken." She said, but even as she said that, her heart ached.

"I saw Logan. Kissing-"

"Oh. It wasn't Logan. It was-" Alex looked down at the scarred wooden table where her hands were resting.

Leo took her hands in his.

"So, why are you so sad?" He asked as a single tear escaped her eye. She tried to wipe it, but she couldn't.

Leo pressed a finger against her cheek and then...

She couldn't believe her own eyes.

She couldn't believe his lips were on hers.

~~~

Me: Damn. Uh-oh! Is this really happening?

Alex: *looking confused* what the hell is happening?

Me: I don't know. Do you know Leo liked you.

Alex: He is my friend.

Me: And you are Logan's friend. This is... Um, messy. Bye bye.

Alex: Don't leave me alone here.

Me: It is just a kiss. Bye.

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