Logan grinned and hugged me tighter. I squashed the urge to tell Caleb the grin meant he should run. “Since you covered my benefit for teachers a year ago, Caleb, I’d say you probably know this issue has been important to me for some time.”
Caleb’s eyes widened. Logan winked. “I remember you were enjoying the open bar that night. And did I hear something about you and the NBC 17 anchors doing karaoke after? Something about a video?”
“Uh—” Caleb did not like Logan’s receipts.
“With that said—” Logan waved a hand “—all credit does go to Alexis. She’s the reason education has become so central. In fact...” This time, he directed his smile down at me. I looked up in time to catch the mischievous glint in his eyes. “You could say she’s the entire reason we’re here today.”
All right. Logan thought he was very smart. It was obvious from the delighted look on his face. But two could play this game.
“Logan’s being modest,” I said, and Caleb jerked the microphone in my direction. Beside me, Logan tensed. “He’s constantly expanding his platform to include important new issues.” I pulled back to grin up at him. His returning smile was forced. “In fact, because of his lifelong commitment to protecting animals, Logan just agreed to appear in a commercial to promote a new no-kill animal rescue called Happy Homes. He told me he felt it was only right to put his name and face on the line.”
I’d finally stumped him. Logan’s face was so frozen that when this clip went online, people would check their buffering.
“He’s so excited he barely has the words,” I told Caleb, whose eyes darted back and forth between us.
Logan finally unpaused, giving the camera one of his patented grimace-smiles. “I’m always happy to support a worthy cause.” Each word sounded like it cost him.
“Well, viewers, you heard it here first!” As weird as we were being, Caleb at least seemed happy to get a scoop for the five o’clock news. “Logan Arthur adds animal rights to his long list of causes. We’ll watch out for what’s sure to be a star-making turn in his Happy Homes commercial. Back to you in the studio, Roger!”
The lights in the camera went off and the grizzled cameraman spun away. I could tell Logan wanted to have some choice words with me, but he was hampered by the fact that Caleb had pounced, begging him to reveal the location of that karaoke video.
“Got to go,” I called, and Logan’s eyes widened. “Caleb, thanks for the time. Logan, see you later!”
“No, Alexis—” Logan bit off what he was going to say with a quick glance at Caleb. I winked, spun, and started pushing my way through the crowd. Ante upped, Logan.
Just as I spotted Muriel and her family in the madness, my phone flashed with a new text. It was my mom in all caps, followed by a string of heart-eyes.
LOGAN’S GOING TO STAR IN MY COMMERCIAL?!!!
22
Ask Not What Your Boyfriend Can Do for You
“Flirting with each other via live interviews is a brilliant idea,” Carysaid, tilting back in his conference chair. He gave me an appraising look. “Kudos, Rudy. I love the drama. Really spices up the local news.”
“We weren’t flirting,” I said, jiggling my own conference chair. It seemed to be broken. I couldn’t get the seat to rise, so I was stuck with my chin only slightly higher than the conference table, like a child wheeled in to sit with the adults. I suspected Cary was behind it. It was making it hard for the other members of the campaign to take me seriously—I could see it in their eyes. Luckily, Nora had gathered a small crew this evening: just me, Logan, Cary, and a nervous woman who’d been introduced as Anita’s research assistant, Gail. Poor Gail, to have Anita as a boss. I kept shooting her sympathetic looks, despite the fact that I was the one who’d been called in to get my wrist slapped for throwing Logan under the bus on live TV. With all my transgressions, it was starting to feel like I was a rebel instead of the rule-abiding nerd I’d always been. I was surprised to find I liked it.
“Even if we were flirting,” Logan said from the head of the table, “that’s the point of our arrangement, right? Alexis and I are putting on a show. Not to be confused with real flirting, even if...” He shook his head and cleared his throat. He had an ink stain on his oxford shirt, his dark hair was fluffier and messier than normal, and he had dark circles under his eyes. The man looked frazzled. Granted, wewere only six weeks out from election day, a period of time known as “The Final Countdown,” aka “Welcome to Hell,” aka “This Campaign Owns You Now,” according to the messages scrawled across the whiteboard. Yes, his stress had to be due to that, and not the fact that I’d volunteered him to star in a last-minute commercial.
Though Logan had directed his remarks at Cary and Nora, his eyes drifted to me. When he caught me studying him, he dropped his gaze quickly and clasped his hands together on the table. Under the table, I could hear his foot tapping the floor.
Yeah, on second thought, the source of his stress might be me.
“Cary may call it flirting, but I call it playing chicken with my campaign.” Nora pointed a long nail, today a stylish gray, between me and Logan. “You better be glad the two of you one-upping each other on TV is aligned with my action plan. Just take your performances down a notch, okay?”
I nodded contritely. Logan crossed his arms and kicked back in his seat. “Of course, Nora dear. Anything you say.”
“Don’t ‘Nora dear’ me in your little accent. I’m not saving you from doing the commercial. I think it’s brilliant.”
I snapped to attention. “You do?”
Logan frowned. “You do?”
“Watch.” Nora got up and sauntered like a fashion model to the whiteboard. She uncapped a marker and wroteGrew up on a farm, loves animals.Then she drew a plus sign, scribblingDonates shitload of personal money to rescues.
Huh. I’d assumed any donations Logan made to rescues like my mom’s were tied to the campaign. But it sounded like he gave to shelters quietly, not for the publicity.
Nora was still going, scribbling,Fifty-eight percent of Texans own pets, then a plus sign,Star in animal shelter video, then a big fat equal sign, ending withHuge-ass optics win. She circled that last part twice and spun to face us. “Do you follow?”
