Story Of A Teenage Nothing: Chapter 15 (Finale)

I had done it. The torture was finally over. It was bittersweet. I had sat in class with Logan, knee next to knee, calmly, without any anxiety, worry, or stress in any way. It was solidified- we were back to being acquaintances, and I was ready to accept that we weren't going to go beyond that ever. Whether it was his fault, or mine or a compilation of both our errs, whatever we started was irrevocably over. We discussed in class what we wanted to do for our story project but in the end we couldn't come to an agreement. Being that this was the final project and all, it was kind of big deal. Even though we both had A averages in the class, we still wanted to do well.

"Hmm. I want us to do something unique." Logan said, pushing his glasses up the crook of his nose in an adorable way. Another time, I would've commented on that, but not any longer.
"I agree. Though I do think it would be cool to show a flower wilting." I respond, tapping my pencil on the top of our shared desk.
"True, but I think we could conjure up something better than dying vegetation. Perhaps something less depressing?"
I huffed, shaking my head.

"I just don't know. We have time to figure it out though, don't we?"
"I guess. It needs to get done today though. My house?"
"As usual." I complied.
"Need a lift there?" He asked, looking at me intently through those lenses that don't t mare his looks at all.
"Uh no. No. I have something I need to do, so I won't be there 'till five." I gushed, not wanting to be in a small, enclosed space with the guy I was forcing myself to stop drooling over.
"Fair enough." He said after a moment, though I could tell that he was not buying my story. Then again, he didn't have too. He wasn't required to comment on anything I did anymore.
"I'll be there around five I guess."

He nodded his head in assent, and then effectively ended our need to continue talking to one another. I sat back in my chair, looking around the room, let the silence stretched between us. We were just like two non-friends should be; awkward, and non-confrontational. It was discomforting- no lies there. I mean I still did yearn for his clever comments, and our interesting discussions about whether or not one could dig their way to china. But it was better this way. That's what my head said anyway. If only my heart could catch up.

Luckily, Jenny bounded over to us just as the awkwardness was shifting away from a tolerable level. I said my hello to her, and then let Jen dominate the conversation, doing anything to dispel the tension. At the bell I hopped out of my seat and was off, making my way through the throng of students, chattering, and bickering at the same time.

I took a deep breath. One official day of not being friends with Logan. That wasn't so bad. I figured I could probably withstand the few more classes that we would be sharing together. Right?
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By five o'clock it was basically dark. Stupid daylight saving time. My mom dropped me off at Logan's house, and I walked up his long driveway to the door. I could hardly make out the assortment of gnomes that I knew were lounging around on the grass. I rang the doorbell, and it was promptly opened by Mrs. Carter, with a cell phone to her ear, just like the first time I'd seen her.

"Kim! Come in, come in! Logan told me you were going to come by to work on your photography." She said all this as she was ushering me into her house. "Though you can pop by once in a while just to say 'Hi!' you know! I like to see Logan's friends, and I'm sure Logie would appreciate it too."
"I'll do the best I can to be less of a stranger." Lies. Blatant lies. But I don't think it would go over well were I to tell her I didn't want to befriend her son anymore.
"Please do. Now is there anything I can get you before you start hammering away at your project?" She said, taking my coat from me and hanging it up in a closet, seamlessly blending into the wall.

"No thanks." I answered politely, trying to minimize the amount of conversations we were sharing. It wasn't like I disliked Logan's mom, but maybe if I talked to her less, it would be easier to slip out of his family's life.
"Oh well then, before you come, meet my husband, Rick." She placed her hand on my back and guided me past the kitchen, and to the family room, where a man with nearly all white hair sat on one of the plump couches.
"Rick, honey, this is Kim. She's one of Logan's friends." She pushed me in front of him, and he looked at me being glasses, just like his son.
"Nice to meet a friend of Logan's. I'm Rick as you know, Logan's dad. He doesn't often bring back folk here, so it's always nice to see a new face. I'm sure that Marianne would agree that you're free to stay for dinner, if you'd like."
"Uh..." I sputtered. "I'll think about it."
Damn it. What? Are they trying to make me into their daughter-in-law or something?

"Sure. Now skedaddle. Go educate yourselves." He said with a laugh, and Mrs. Carter took her seat besides him, offering me a warm smile. I hightailed it out of there, wanting to avoid any talks about whether or not I was going to give them grand babies. Now perhaps that's a slight exaggeration...
I bounded up the stairs, and headed to Logan's room. The room was ajar, and I slipped through the opening quietly. Logan was sitting, his back faced towards me, picking at some contraption on his bed.

"Uh... hi." I whispered.
He swiveled in his seat, surprised at my unknown presence in his room.
"Oh. Kim. You scared me. I didn't know you were here. Have a seat." He gestured towards the bed. I made my way towards it, and sat down.
"So, have you come up with any brilliant idea yet? 'Cause I sure haven't." I said.
"Well sorta. It's probably cliche, but... well it's telling the tale of a love story."
"Erm..." That's all I could say in reply.
"Now I know it sounds strange, but it'll work out. Promise."

"Do you think you could elaborate as to how we're going to go about this." I said, having a hard time understanding what he was getting at.
"Well, I have these." He reached behind him and held out two mini cardboard robots. That must've been what he was working on. They were both the same size, around the length of his palm, and plain, asides for their faces that had two dots for eyes, and a triangle for a mouth. One of the robots was made to look like a girl though, with a little warn wig, red lips, and a teeny tiny pink bow atop her boxy head.

"What are these things?" I asked.
"Their Danbos. Cardboard robots from some anime show or something. Cute, eh?"
"Mmhm." I held out my arm, and he dropped the pair into my open hand.
"Basically, the story will be that the girl robot is going to be on a little make shit island, and the guy is going to be looking over at her from his own island. That can be the still life shot. To get over to his girl, he's going to make a helicopter out of some parts, and fly over to her. That can be the motion piece. Finally, they'll be reunited on the island, together. We can introduce some bokeh there."
"Now how are we going to get him to fly?"

"Glad you asked."
Logan stood up then, walking over to the wall, where all his gadgets, and dorky things resided. He picked up a helicopter off the shelf, one that I hadn't noticed before.
"This is a helicopter my dad bought me for Christmas one time. It's remote-controlled. I can attach him to it, and we'll capture the propelling of the wings."
I sat there, thinking over the whole idea. It wasn't bad, and I told him that. He nodded his head vigorously, his smile indicating to me that he was pleased with my approval.
"I knew you'd get it. That's why I took the pleasure of setting it all up in my basement." He said with a lopsided grin. I too chuckled, bemused by this silly boy.
"You're lucky I agreed with then, huh?"
"Yeah... but... if things happen the way I want them too, I'll be even luckier."

He said softly, staring me dead in the eyes. I was puzzled by that statement, but before I could think anymore about it he was leaving the room, and I got up quickly to catch up with him. I'd never been in his basement before. The entrance was in a hallway somewhere in a part of the house I'd never explored before. We went down a narrow staircase into a darkened room that I expected to be moldy, dusty, and packed with discarded items (like most basements are). I was surprised to see that it was not only finished, but furnished almost as brilliantly as the house above it. The only thing strange was the little, for lack of a better term, movie sets that were set on the floor. In one corner there was blue cellophane on the floor, with two little mounds (complete with palm trees, rocks, and monkeys) were placed on. The island scene I assume. Near that set up was another one, quite similar, except for that it was a larger mound, designed for two robots, I assumed.

"When did you get all of these things?" I asked him, kneeling to observe the mini landscapes.
"Around my house, to be honest. I'd been toying with this idea for a while now, and luckily all the materials were at hand. The toy animals are mine, along with the plastic trees and what not. The cellophane was left over from one of my mom's art attempts, and the islands, well those are just Styrofoam balls that I cut in half, and painted to look sandy."
"You did all of this while I was away?" I pet a tiny monkey.
"Yeah. It didn't take long though."
"Still. I feel like I didn't contribute much to this project at all..." Maybe he was trying to speed things along so that I'd get out of his life quicker.

"Are you kidding? You're the most essential part to all of this." He said cryptically.
"I'm not sure what you're getting at."
"You will. Promise."
"If I had a penny for every promise you'd made today."
"As of today you'd have two pennies. I don't think that'd make you into a very rich girl."
"Cheeky." I replied, the corners of my mouth forming a smile that I really didn't wish to have. We looked at each other than, unmoving. I'm glad that my feet were firmly planted on the ground then, for if they weren't, I'm sure I would have glided across the floor, and into his arms.
Logan broke his gaze first, faking a cough.

"Let's get started then."
I agreed, and we set up the two little metal people onto their designated homes for the first shot. Logan reached into the pocket of his jeans, and pulled out paper clips, twigs, bottles caps etc., to use as scrap metal. That was placed at the foot of the guy robot.
"Oh I don't have my camera!" I remembered.
"That's alright. We can just share my own." He said, nonchalantly. Now I'm going to be holding his prized possession? This whole distancing thing is not working out the way I'd like.
"If you're sure." I replied, unsure.
"Of course, it's fine."
"If you say so."

We began to get the ball rolling, so to speak. It was one of our most interesting photo shoots, I must admit. Logan offered that I have the honor of the first scene (the easiest technically). I didn't fault him for giving me the easy part, seeing as how I was definitely less skilled than he when it came to photographing. I laid down on the floor, to get a good shot of mister robot man with his arms out in longing, gazing at his love across the cellophane sea. It was endearing actually. Next came another still life, where the robot was made to look like he was rummaging through the scrap metal by his feet, with miss robot woman in the background, out of focus. Logan took control for the last two sets. It took a little ingenuity to attach mister robot to that helicopter, but we managed with a paper clip, and thread.

Logan allowed me to maneuver the robot through the air, and have it hover, while he tried to get a good blur going on. It took a while, with him striving for prefect ion and all. Plus he had to stop to assemble the helicopter when I flew it into a wall by accident. I don't think I have a career as a pilot. The cutest scene was the last, where we positioned the two robots next to each other, their little cardboard arms touching each other, the most they could do without hands. To make a bokeh effect, Logan hung up a jumble of Christmas lights on the wall behind the set up. The lights twinkled in the background, red, blue, and yellow blurs.

I stood back, out of his way. Logan laid flat on his stomach, so concentrated on taking the perfect picture, with his tongue pushed against the side of his cheek . His hair had grown longer, and was unbrushed, strands sticking up every which way. I sighed, my shoulders drooping. I liked seeing him this way-disheveled, and just totally endearing. He began to get up off the floor, and I shook myself out of my reverie.

"Well that's it then. What do you think about it all?" He asked, wiping the lens of his camera gently.
"It turned out better than I expected." I admitted.
"Glad to hear it. I'm just going to edit it a tad on the computer."
"You're making me feel worse. I seriously barely lifted a finger."
"No, not true you helped out. It's my fault, really. I just had the idea, and ran with it, so..."
I smiled slightly then, looking down at my sneakers, and scuffing them up on the carpet.
"I have an idea. How about you name them?"
"Name who?" I asked, curious.
"Well since we're supposed to write a paragraph for the assignment, you should pick a name for the two."

"Haha. Wow. Now that makes me feel involved." I remarked sarcastically.
"Come on. Every little bit helps."He said, his eyes twinkling in merriment.
I huffed, and walked over to the little set up. I bent over, and picked up the little pair, holding them up, at eye level.
"Maybe Romeo, and Juliet?" I suggested.
"Hmm... perhaps a tad bit less cliche."
"Sunny, and Cher... or John Lennon and Yoko Ono?"
"Mmm... not those either."
"Logan! How about some compromise here!" I said irritatedly.
"I have an idea but I'm not so sure how you would take it." He said timidly.
"Just shoot."

"I think for her," he said pointing to the girl robot I still held in my hands, "she should be named after the girl who inspired her creation."
"And who would that be?" I asked quizzically.
"Well... her name should be Kim."
It was silent for a moment, my eyebrows deeply furrowed as my brain connected the dots. It finally recognized the picture.
"Errrm... what?"
"Yeah... Kim would be the perfect name. And the guy, well I think Logan would fit."
"I don't understand. Is this some kind of joke?" I rose to my feet then.
"No. Not at all. It's simply the truth."
"What are you talking about? You know what, I can't deal with this right now. I'm done here." I said, holding out his toys.

"Kim..." He said, not taking them. I growled and stuffed the toys into my pocket and made to walk off, and out of the basement. Logan grabbed a hold of my arm, stilling me.
"Logan. Enough."
"No. It's not nearly enough, Kim. Can you just hear me out?" He pleaded.
I turned around to face him, and we were standing so very close.
"Logan, I'm tired of your bullshit."
"I know. I know. And I'm tired of myself, even more, but you gotta give me this chance to just set things straight."
I stared up at him, into his dark brown eyes, little flecks of green peeking through. I was surely done for.
"You have five minutes."

"Kimmy Barrett. I've liked you since the first day I ever saw you."
"In photography class?"
"No. Long before that. You probably don't remember the day. It was rather insignificant for you I guess, but not for me."
He drew in a shaky breath.
"The first time was years before. In eighth grade. It was the first day of school. The air was rife with the excitement, and fear of jittery prepubescent kids. I was one of them. I was sitting in the desks next to the windows in Mrs. Dodges room, our science teacher. I was looking outside at the trees, and I just turned my head, and then you walked into the room. A girl with her hair in braids, a purple dress, and matching sandals. I thought to myself, 'She's gorgeous.'"

I stared up at him in disbelief. I faintly remembered that day; only recalling bits, and pieces. I was in Mrs. Dodges room for science that year, and I guess Logan was there too. I never paid him any mind then though. I thought he didn't think much of me either.
"I know this sounds weird, but it's the truth, and nothing but. I mean, I never got the chance to really know you, but I never got you out of my head. Then, then you showed up, out of the blue a couple of months ago, and I knew, I knew God was giving me a second chance..."
"A chance at what?" I asked dumbly.
"A chance at having you." He said.
I was motionless, trying to digest his words. My heart was thawing, and it was telling me to just fall in his arms right then, and there, but my brain wouldn't let me, still too wary.

"If all of this is true, then what was with that stunt you pulled, Logan? Not talking to me. Giving me the cold shoulder. You say you have these feelings for me, but that was hardly friendly conduct!"
"I screwed up, okay? That's my best talent." He laughed dryly. "I thought I could handle being just friends, and I couldn't. I took it badly, I know. I was a sore loser. It was wrong to treat you like that. I'm sorry, though? Alright, I'm sorry. Perhaps I don't deserve to ask for your forgiveness, but I am." He simpered. He looked so forlorn, that I couldn't help but give in. I held his arm gently, trying to be comforting.
"Logan, it's alright. I'm not mad anymore. I didn't handle the situation very well either. Both of us are to blame." I admitted.

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire you, Kim." He said, holding onto me as well.
"I-I, I just don't know what to tell you, Logan." My throat felt like it was constricting, and my heard was pounding vigorously, making my face heat up.
"Tell me the truth. Whatever it is, I'll accept it. Even if it isn't what I want to hear."
"Why?" I asked.
He backed away from me then, and looked down at the ground, tongue to cheek.
"Because... not talking to you... it tested my limits, Kim. I couldn't continue the pretenses anymore. I'll take whatever you can give me, even if it means I'm left staring across oceans at you."
His sentence then brought me back to the robots that were in my pocket. I took them at, and inspected them once more.

"The story's ending depends on me then, huh?"
He nodded.
"I can't say that I remember all that you just described. Eighth grade... it is kind of fuzzy."
"I didn't expect you too. Take my word for it, though."
"You haven't lied to me yet. Do you remember when I was in your shoes not too long ago, apologizing about me running away?"
"Sure...."
"Well I said that I didn't know what I felt for you. That was true, but I guess, I can say that my feelings have matured since then."
His eyes gleamed expectantly upon hearing that.

"I-I." I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, knowing that I was about to reveal something I tried hard to keep hidden. "I guess I sorta... kinda... like you too."
His smile could've lit up half of North America, but I needed to get my point across.
"I have had feelings for you for a while now, but I never wanted to admit it."
"Why not?"
"I'm afraid that if I open up the door, you'll just come into my house and drag mud all over my carpet." I was wringing my hand together as I spilled out my feelings.
"Kim," Logan approached me, grabbing me, and pulling me closer towards himself. "I can assure you that if you let me in, I'll be the most respectful guest... and maybe, I could become a permanent resident."
"How do I know that's the truth?"
"How do you know that it isn't?"

I looked at Logan, and thought about how I never had expected that Logan- the kid who never went a day without overalls- would be in front of me now, saying all that he was. A year ago I would've thought it impossible. I supposed that if something this unlikely came to be... anything could happen.

"Do you think you could build me a helicopter." I smiled up at him, telling him all I needed to say without using any words. He pulled me tight against his body, his hands on my back, and me enclosed in his arms. I lay my head on him, fitting right underneath his jaw, my hands clutching his sides. The steady thumping of his heartbeat like a metronome, unwavering, just like him.
"Definitely. A model one at least. I hope you don't mind not being able to fit in it."
"I'll make due." I laughed. "You don't really wanna name the robots after us do you? Mr. Whoever might question that."

"Mr. Whoever?"
"Our photography teacher."
"Mr. Dankesh. That's his name." He chortled.
"How am I supposed to know?"
"You've only been in the class for months now."
"I knew who you were as soon as I entered the class." I said to pacify him.
"I can say the same about you." He loosened his grip on me, moving away slightly.
Before I could react, he took hold of my chin, angling my head. His head moved forward, but he stopped inches from my lips, hovering.
"May I have the pleasure of kissing you?"
"The pleasure will be all mine." I responded.

He gave me crooked grin before closing the distance. My eyes shut when I felt his lips on mine, warm, and plush. He moved them gently, yet skillfully over mine. As he deepened the kiss, I moved towards him. He answered my pleas by holding onto me tighter, pushing my front against his chest, playing his hands against my lower back. My arms wrapped around his neck, he lead dance our lips were doing. I eagerly followed the steps.
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Note:

Daww. Finally, eh? My masterpiece... came to an end. I'll be having an epilogue though, but that will be the official ending. Now I know this has taken way too long, and I'm sorry for that. It isn't fair, but forgive me Please. I'll miss this story... but from its ashes will rise another. I promise y'all that. This song I recommended goes great with this story, if you'd like to take the time to listen.

By the way, the picture I posted is of Danbos. The little robot things I mentioned in the story, and also I put a quote from a book I really like "Jane Eyre" by Jane Austen. It's one of my favs.