Challenge Accepted Read online

  I gently rubbed the back of her neck. “Trust me.”

  She had no reason to, but she did. Prying her eyes back open and tearing them away from mine, she turned her head and looked at our surroundings. She inhaled sharply again, but this time I could tell it was for a different reason.

  “Oh my God,” she breathed.

  I grinned. “Pretty awesome, huh?”

  She stared in awe at the view surrounding us. “Wow.”

  “Look over there.” I pointed past her. “The ocean. You can see the curvature of the earth. How freaking amazing is that? And if you look over to the other side, you can see the mountains.”

  Emma turned her head to where I was pointing now, her eyes wide with wonder.

  “You can’t get these views from the ground,” I said. “Look at all you’ve been missing out on this whole time.”

  She returned her gaze to mine. Her eyes were welled up with tears, but this time it wasn’t from fear. She opened her mouth to say something, but we started moving. Gripping the bar again, she turned back to stare straight ahead as we started going down.

  Without thinking, I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to me. “Are you going to be okay to go around a couple more times? Otherwise, I can have Beck stop the ride when we get to the bottom.”

  “No, I think I’ll be okay,” she said softly, pressing herself into me.

  I swallowed hard as we rounded the bottom. Beck caught my eye, grinned and gave me the thumbs-up. I smiled weakly at him as we started going around again.

  Despite the fact Emma had calmed down, I still couldn’t help but feel like a dick. I had traumatized her—to the point where she was nuzzled up against me and not making any snide comments or pushing me away. I’d ruined her.

  Suddenly, this whole idea of mine didn’t seem so great anymore.

  Chapter Fourteen

  EMMA

  Words could not even begin to describe how badly I wanted to murder Logan.

  What the hell was he thinking? He not only put me on a Ferris wheel, knowing full-well about my fear of heights—but then had his stoner cousin stop it at the top just to torture me even more. I mean, yeah, I got on the Ferris wheel willingly—it wasn’t like he forced me at gunpoint or anything—but I only did it because I knew if I hadn’t, he never would have let me live it down. And that was just as much a threat as a gun would have been.

  As soon as we exited the ride and were out of the way of the other people piling out of the gate, I turned to him and gave him a shove. He must not have been expecting it because he stumbled backward a step or two.

  “Hey,” he grumbled. “What was that for?”

  I gaped at him. “Are you serious? You know I’m afraid of heights!”

  He held out his hands in front of him to ward off another attack. “In my defense, I didn’t know you were that afraid of heights.”

  “Yeah, right. You just wanted to laugh at my reaction and make fun of me.”

  Logan tilted his head to the side. “But did I?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “N-no,” I stammered. He had a point. He hadn’t laughed or made fun of me. In fact, he’d been almost…sweet. Trying to comfort me. Calming me down. Holding me close…

  But that was just as infuriating because now I was confused. Logan Reynolds was not known for being nice. Well, not known for being nice to me. So, something was up. He was playing some sort of game. A game I had no interest in playing.

  With a huff, I turned and began to stalk off as fast as I could away from the jerk.

  “Wait, Emma!” he called out. It took him no time to catch up, and within seconds, he was falling into stride beside me. “Emma, stop.”

  He took a step in front of me, causing me to crash into his chest. Reaching out, he placed his hands on my shoulders to steady me and lowered his head so we were eye-to-eye.

  “Emma, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice sincere. “I didn’t know how bad that was going to be for you, and I regret it. I’m a stupid jerk. But, you have to admit, it was pretty cool. That view up there was beautiful.”

  He was right. It was beautiful. And after I managed to stop freaking out for a second, I got to enjoy it. Deep down, I knew Logan had good intentions. I knew it wasn’t a malicious attempt to traumatize me. But still. I couldn’t forgive him that easily.

  “What can I do to make it up to you?” he asked, letting go of me. “You want some cotton candy? Want me to play some ring toss and win you an oversized stuffed animal? Talk to me, Dawson.”

  My lips betrayed me as they began to curl into a smile. “Those games are all rigged. I doubt you could win me anything.”

  “Oh yeah?” he said, eyebrows raised. “Is that a challenge?”

  “No, it’s not. I’m mad at you and I’d kind of just like to go home now.”

  “Emma, you’re always mad at me,” he pointed out. “You should be used to it by now.” He started backing up. “I’m going to win you a stuffed animal.”

  “No, you’re not,” I said, placing my hands on my hips and standing my ground.

  “Yes, I am. And there’s nothing you can do about it, because I’m your ride, and I’ve got the keys. You’re stuck here.”

  “I have a phone, I can call a taxi.”

  He stopped. “That’s an empty threat. The taxis around here are sketchy at best. You’re afraid of everything, and I assume that includes getting rides in junky cars from strangers that—for all you know—could be serial killers.”

  I furrowed my brow. He was right.

  With a sigh, I threw my hands up in defeat. “Fine, whatever. Try to win me a stuffed animal.”

  Logan clasped his hands together and grinned before turning on his heel and heading in the direction of the carnival games.

  I took my time following him and when I made it to the ring toss booth, he was handing a dollar bill to the college kid behind the counter.

  “My friend here doesn’t think I can win her a stuffed animal,” Logan said to the guy while motioning to me.

  “I’m not his friend,” I informed the kid, who looked like he couldn’t have cared less about what either one of us had to say.

  He stared at me blankly for a moment before turning to Logan and saying in a lifeless voice, “Okay. Well, good luck, I guess.”

  Logan held up one of the rings and winked at me. “I’ll bet you I’ll be able to get one of these six rings around one of those bottles.”

  I laughed. “I’ll take that bet. What do I get if I win?”

  “If you win, you get the satisfaction of rubbing it in my face that I suck at something. If I win, I get your forgiveness for the whole Ferris wheel thing. You’ll also get a stuffed animal, so you’ll win either way.”

  “Sounds fair,” I said with a smirk.

  He tossed the first ring and it bounced off the top of one of the bottles, and fell to the ground.

  “I’m just rusty,” he mumbled as held out the next one. “Haven’t done this since I was, like, ten or so.”

  “Mmhmm. Likely story,” I teased. This was fun. I was so used to seeing Logan excel at everything and it was annoying. But apparently, tossing rings onto bottle tops wasn’t one of his many strengths.

  He tossed the second ring and missed again. And again. And then again, three more times.

  Grinning from ear-to-ear, I clapped my hands joyously at his misfortune. “I win!”

  Logan scowled first at me, then at the kid behind the counter, and then finally at the rows of bottles in front of him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out another dollar. “I’m going to try again.”

  “That wasn’t the deal.”

  “Well, we didn’t shake on it, so…” He shrugged and exchanged his money for more rings.

  I rolled my eyes as I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. The picture on the screen indicated it was either Chloe, or Sophia calling from Chloe’s phone. I thought about letting it go to voicemail so that I could continue to enjoy witnessing Logan’s mon
umental ring toss failure without interruption. However, I didn’t want to lose out on the opportunity to speak with the girls, since I was missing them terribly.

  I swiped to answer. “Hello?”

  “Hey, girl!” Chloe’s voice chirped through the phone.

  “Hey, Chloe, what’s up?”

  “Not much. Sophia and I just wanted to check in on our favorite bookworm. How’s the book organization project coming along?”

  I was about to answer when I heard Logan swearing at the bottles and I looked over to see he had gone through his second set of rings with no success. I giggled and declared, “I win again!”

  He glared at me as Chloe said on the other end of the line, “Huh? You win what again?”

  “Oh, sorry, I was talking to Logan.”

  As usual, I was met with silence. “Emma, where are you?”

  “I’m at Funland Park with Logan,” I replied. “I’m currently watching him suck at the ring toss game.” I gave him a toothy grin and a wave.

  He flipped me off as he started his third round.

  “Emma…” Chloe’s voice trailed off, like she was trying to figure out how to say her next words. “Are you and Logan dating?”

  I snorted. “Gross, Chloe. No, we’re not dating.”

  Logan’s head whipped over in my direction. “Hey, please inform Chloe that I’m just as disgusted by that prospect as you are.”

  “Logan wanted me to inform you that he wishes we were dating,” I said to Chloe. “In fact, he’s trying desperately right now to win me a stuffed animal because he thinks that’s going to win my heart.”

  Logan shook his head as he concentrated on his next throw. “You suck, Dawson.”

  “Hey, I’m not the one who can’t get a simple ring over the top of a bottle.”

  He stepped back and held out a ring. “Here. You think it’s so easy, why don’t you give it a try?”

  “Emma, are you still there?” I heard Chloe say.

  “Yeah, I’m still here,” I replied, taking the ring from Logan and tossing it aimlessly over the counter.

  It landed right over the top of one of the bottles.

  Logan’s jaw dropped. So did mine. My hand flew up to cover my mouth as I started laughing. “Oh my God, that was so easy!”

  I could tell Logan was having a hard time deciding whether to be impressed or pissed. I think he went with a little of both.

  “Hey, Chloe, can I call you back later? I have something I literally need to rub in Logan’s face right now.”

  “Um…sure?” Chloe said.

  “Cool. Love you guys! Talk to you later!” I put the phone back into my pocket and turned to the kid behind the counter. “I get to pick out a stuffed animal, right?”

  He nodded unenthusiastically. “You can pick one from that section over there.” He pointed to the far corner of the booth.

  “Hmm.” I tapped my upper lip with my index finger. “I’ll take the fuchsia monkey.” I glanced over at Logan. “I love fuchsia monkeys.”

  Logan sneered in response as the monkey was handed to me. I gave it a good squeeze before thrusting it in his direction. “Here, I want you to have this.”

  He shoved it away from his face. “I don’t want your stupid monkey.”

  I pouted. “What’s wrong? Are you upset that I won on the first attempt without even trying, when you couldn’t do it in thirteen tries?”

  Logan tossed the remaining rings in one big heap over the counter and sighed. “We’re done here.”

  I smiled as we walked away from the booth and clung tightly to my monkey. I was glad Logan didn’t take it. I kind of wanted to keep it for myself.

  “Okay, even though I didn’t win that for you, do you forgive me now?”

  I pretended to think about it for a minute. Truth was, there was really nothing to forgive. Yeah, I was mad at him for that little stunt, but something told me that he really didn’t do it to be a jerk. I think he was truly trying to help me.

  “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

  Logan’s face lit up. “Excellent. Okay, now for our next adventure—”

  I stopped walking. “No more adventures today, Logan. I don’t think I could handle it.”

  “Relax,” he said as we began moving again. “I’m not talking about today. I’m talking about Thursday.”

  I glanced at him curiously. “What’s Thursday?”

  “Another party. BUT, this one is way different than the last. It’s at Justin’s parents’ camp on the lake. There’s not going to be a whole lot of people there, so it’ll be more…intimate. Matt’s going to be there, of course, and this time I’m making sure you get a chance to talk to him. This is sort of an all-day event, so we can go late in the afternoon and stay for however long you’d like. I’ll leave it up to you.”

  The thought of attending another party made me feel queasy. The last one didn’t go so well, although we were only there for a few minutes. That fact was the only decent part of the whole night. Still, something about this one sounded like it would be more tolerable. Maybe even enjoyable, if I could spend some time talking to Matt.

  “Yeah, okay,” I found myself saying.

  He blinked at me in surprise. “Cool. It’s a date.” He paused for a moment and crinkled his nose. “Well, not an actual date. That would be terrible.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. “Yet another thing we can agree on.”

  We exchanged smiles, and for a split second, it almost felt like we were friends—like actual friends who were just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.

  It was weird.

  He must have thought so too, because he cleared his throat and said, “So, what do you have planned for me next?”

  That was a good question. I hadn’t yet made a list of things for us to do that were super lame and boring. Although, even if I had, I wouldn’t have told him.

  “All I can tell you is that it’s going to be a doozy,” I said.

  “A doozy?” He raised his eyebrows. “Did the stress from riding the Ferris wheel age you about sixty years or something? Who under seventy years old still uses the word ‘doozy’ these days?”

  “I do, thank you very much.” I playfully bumped his shoulder with mine and instantly regretted it. That was a little too flirtatious for my liking. Moving a couple steps sideways to put more space between us, I said, “Can we go home now? I’ve had enough of you for one day.”

  “Ouch, Dawson. Tell me how you really feel.”

  I chuckled as we began to head in the direction of the parking lot. “Can you honestly say you feel any different about me?”

  A small smile played at his lips. “Nah, I’ve reached my daily Emma quota too, I suppose.”

  We walked the rest of the way to the car in silence, and less than half an hour later, Logan was pulling into his driveway.

  “I’ll see you on Thursday?” he said, turning in his seat to face me. When I nodded, he added, “Just think, you get to spend the next couple of days without me. How cool is that?”

  I wiped an imaginary happy tear from my eye and said, “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

  Logan rolled his eyes and we exited the vehicle.

  Lifting my fuchsia monkey’s hand, I moved it back and forth in a waving motion. “Bye, Logan.”

  He just smiled, shook his head, and gave me his own wave before turning and heading inside his house.

  I glanced down at my watch. Both of my parents were still at work, so I had the house all to myself. I wasn’t a huge fan of being home alone, but it wasn’t so bad in the middle of the afternoon…especially considering Logan was right next door. Not that he would ever come to my rescue if somebody broke into my house and tried to kidnap me.

  He’d probably assist them.

  As soon as I walked through the front door, I pulled out my phone and dialed Chloe’s number.

  She answered halfway through the first ring. “Okay, Em, you’ve got some serious explaining to do.”


  “I’m doing well, thanks, and you?”

  “Cut the crap, girl!” Chloe exclaimed. “You’re dating Logan!”

  I removed the phone from my ear so that I could glare through it at Chloe. “I am not. You take that back.”

  “Give me the phone,” I heard Sophia’s muffled voice say in the background. A second later, it came through loud and clear. “Emma, Chloe’s accusation is legit. It really does sound like you and Logan are dating.”

  “I don’t care how it sounds. We’re not.”

  “No?” Sophia said. “Then what are you doing? Besides shopping together, going out for lunch together, going to parties together, going to art museums together, going to amusement parks together. For crying out loud, Emma, you and Logan have done more date-like activities in the last two days than I have done during the entirety of all my relationships combined.”

  I had broken down the night before and told the girls all about what Logan and I were doing, and I was seriously regretting it at the moment. I had to admit, to an outsider, I could see how that would all look like dating. Still, Chloe and Sophia knew how much I’d always hated Logan, and how much he’d always hated me. They also knew how much I liked Matt, and how I was doing all of this to get him to like me.

  “Guys, will you stop it? Please? Logan and I are not dating.”

  “It would be okay if you were, you know,” Chloe said, and I could tell I was on speaker now. “Soph and I would support it one hundred percent. Logan is a total hottie and we’ve always thought there might be some underlying sexual tension there between you two—”

  “Oh my God, I’m hanging up now!”

  The girls giggled. “Sorry, Em,” Sophia said. “We’ll stop teasing you. In all seriousness, we really hope this all works out the way you want. You know how much we support the idea of an Emma and Matt relationship.”

  It was true. The two of them had been shipping me and Matt for years now.

  Intent on changing the subject, I went on to ask them how their vacation was going and if they’d met any new boys since the last time we spoke. We talked for close to twenty minutes before we ended the conversation and hung up.