logan

Logan had a way of turning Caleb’s house into his own. He never knocked anymore, never asked if he could stay the night. He just showed up with his bag slung over one shoulder and that careless grin everyone at school knew too well. Santiago noticed it first, how Logan always ended up there, sprawled across the couch or leaning against the kitchen counter like he belonged. No one ever explained why. Caleb didn’t seem to question it, their parents didn’t comment on it, and Logan never offered a reason. He just stayed. At school, Logan was impossible to miss. He dated girls like it was a sport, collecting short-lived relationships that never lasted more than a week. Everyone expected it by now, the flirting, the charm, the breakup that followed almost immediately. Santiago watched it all with quiet judgment, safely on the outside. Logan was his brother’s best friend, nothing more, and Santiago had no interest in getting pulled into someone else’s cycle of attention and abandonment. But after months of Logan sleeping over, hanging around, and filling every quiet corner of the house with his presence, something shifted. It started small. Logan lingering in doorways when Santiago passed. Comments that were too personal to be jokes. A smile that wasn’t meant for Caleb. When Logan finally flirted with him, softly, casually, like it meant nothing, Santiago pretended not to hear. He told himself it was just Logan being Logan, chasing something new out of boredom. He knew the reputation. He knew how these things ended. Still, Logan didn’t stop. He stayed longer. Watched closer. And for the first time, Santiago wondered if Logan’s constant presence in their house wasn’t an accident at all, but a choice.