No. No. No. Anyone but Brett.

With a mouth as porous as a sponge, he had to be the one to find out. Murphy had struck again, and as my breathing turned shaky and my heart skipped every other beat, I realized there was nothing and no one to blame but my carelessness (and Logan Two).

"Would you stop shining that light in my eyes?" Logan spat, and Brett turned off the flashlight on his phone.

"My bad," Brett apologized, and instead, his tone brightened the room. "I didn't know you two were a thing."

"We're not. We're both a little drunk, and—" Logan began, but I interrupted with a plea for mercy.

"Please don't tell Darrell, or anyone else. Friends stick together, and we're bestest friends, right?"

"Oh, is this one of those things where the guy isn't into the girl like she's into him, and it's really sad because it always ends in heartbreak for the sweet girl who just wants to be loved?" Brett asked. "I've seen this movie. Always makes me cry."

"It makes you cry?" Logan asked.

"Sometimes. Not usually, though," Brett replied, then put his hand on my shoulder. "As your bestest friend, I think you can do way better than him. He's not even that into you."

"He's not?" I asked.

"What the fuck, Rea? Why are you even listening to him?" Logan asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. He seems really trustworthy."

Logan let out a loud sigh. "Just don't tell Darrell, okay? For some reason that only makes sense to her, Rea doesn't want anyone to know about us."

"My lips are sealed. But what if I told Jia? Would that be okay?" Brett asked.

I shook my head. "No, because she might accidentally lead Darrell onto our track, which absolutely cannot happen because I want him to think that I'm perfectly competent. I want him to think that I'm good enough and that I'm completely submerged in my work, because otherwise, he'll just think that I'm worthless."

"Can I tell Carter?"

I stared at his shadowy figure for a moment before replying. "No."

"Rea, you're the only one who doubts that you're good enough. Everyone else knows that you're the smartest person here—" Logan began, but I interrupted.

"Except for Darrell."

"—except for Darrell, but he's an asshole, so who gives a shit?"

"I give so many shits," I mumbled to myself.

"What the hell is going on down here?" Hailey's voice asked from somewhere in the dark, and another flash of light hit Logan and me straight in the eyes. I squinted and turned away from the burn.

"Poor Reagan's realizing her man ain't shit," Brett replied.

"Brett!" I whispered.

If Brett couldn't even keep his mouth shut about our situation to Hailey, I had very little confidence that he'd be able to keep a secret from his actual friend Jia. Jia knowing wasn't the worst thing I could imagine, but if it was avoidable, it couldn't hurt to keep her in the dark, just so there wasn't another chance of the word getting out.

"You have a boyfriend?" Hailey asked.

"Don't say it so loud. She doesn't want to be associated with me publicly," Logan said.

"Oh," she said, then sat down on the opposite arm of the couch. "We can be friends now."

"I—I don't think it's going to work out," I said.

I wasn't exactly sure how having a boyfriend suddenly made me a worthy candidate for her friendship, but no matter her logic, we were two very different people with very different ideals.

"Your loss, bitch," Hailey said.

I guess I had that one coming.

Even with the minor distraction, there was still an uncertainty looming in the air. Did I trust Brett as a person? Yes. Did I trust him to not say a word to anyone about it, not even by accident? Absolutely not.

He wasn't exactly crystal clear on the fact that Logan (One) was not just trying to get whatever he could out of me before moving on and breaking my heart, and although I didn't want to enlighten him any further on our situation, maybe it would be better to fully disclose. He was a sweet guy who filled his heart with good intentions poorly executed, and all he wanted was to help me out.

Once I told him Logan and I were perfectly fine, hopefully, his kindness would stay right where it was still good: in his mind.

A light rain began to patter against the roof of the roughly constructed wooden house, and at the end of the day, there was the reassurance that there was a whole different world that still existed off the island. One where it didn't rain every day.

"Well, now that you've all shut up, I'm going back to bed," Hailey said.

"Before you go, what time is it?" I asked.

"One thirty," she said as she headed back up the stairs.

In a few short hours, the sun would be up again, and we'd be thrown back into the cycle of normality at Paradise City. Wake up, seal watch, eat breakfast, whale watch, eat again, do another seal watch, identify the whales, spend time with Logan, and if I had time, sleep, otherwise, coffee and repeat.

I was in the coffee and repeat phase.

***

"So, I know that I'm not supposed to tell anyone about you and Logan, but it's kind of beginning to bother me that I know something no one else does," Brett said the next morning after all of our visitors had left.

"You can't tell anyone. I'm not trying to be mean and put a lot of pressure on you, but my happiness depends on you keeping quiet," I replied.

"What's the big deal? You two are kind of cute, now that I think about it, but for the longest time, I was convinced you guys hated each other."

"We spend two hours a day together watching seals. I don't do that kind of stuff with people I hate, even though we didn't get along at first."

His eyes widened. "Oh my god, you're right. I don't know how much more obvious you two could have been."

"You think it's obvious?"

He nodded. "Absolutely. The only reason I didn't figure it out earlier is because I'm really stupid."

I let out a breath. But the seal watch was one of my favorite parts of the day.

"Now you look upset," Brett said.

I frowned. "I am. I love the seal watch, and I don't want to give it up to keep the secret safe."

"Then don't. Darrell's stupid too. Even stupider than me."

I didn't respond for a moment. Brett had a point.

"If you want, I'll help you figure out how he'll respond to an island relationship. I mean, you're a scientist, so you like experiments, right?" he asked.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" I asked.

"I'll just flirt with you right in front of Darrell. I promise I won't go too far, but you at least have to pretend like you're okay with it. That way, no one suspects anything about Logan, and the only one who looks like an idiot is me."

"That's very kind of you, but his anti-relationship stance comes from personal experience. His last project was ruined by his girlfriend, so I don't know if we can somehow change his mind."

"Well, something tells me you're a little nicer than that girl. Darrell always said he likes the evil ones, and you're not evil. Neither is Logan. He's cold, but not evil," Brett said.

"You really think that this won't hurt anyone?"

"Darrell's not a psychopath. It'll all be fine, so just trust me. You called me trustworthy last night."

Once again, he had a point. Even though cooking was his niche, if he wanted to, he could definitely learn everything that I knew.

"Or, you know, we could just kill him. We have the sword in the game room at our disposal, and he'll never see the assassination coming," Brett said.

I rose an eyebrow. "That sounds more like a Jia plan than one you came up with."

"Ha, yeah, she did come up with that one." Brett laughed.

"You didn't tell her, did you?"

He shook his head. "That one's from earlier this summer. I'm pretty sure she wanted you to help with the murder. You remember?"

I did remember; that was back when Darrell first began to irritate her and Brett. We had really come a long way, from contemplating killing each other to all hating the next generation of Paradise City-goers. I smiled.

Darrell had mellowed and become slightly less controlling, so maybe this experiment could gauge his progress.

I looked up at Brett. "Thank you. You're a genius."

He blinked a couple times. "What?"

Oh, right. He hadn't been listening to my thoughts.

"For this idea. I was so worried, but I guess I had no reason to be. Thank you," I said.

He smiled. "I just got called smart by a smart person. Also, I may have accidentally told Logan Two about you and Logan One before he left. I hope you don't mind."

I took in a breath. "I would prefer it if you didn't do that again."

"Sorry. That was my bad."

At least it'd clear things up for Logan Two. Or, at least, I hoped it confused him enough that he thought I was crazy and therefore wanted nothing to do with me. Either one was fine, really.

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Hey everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful week. Thank you so much for reading!

This chapter was a shorter set-up one. So do you think this plan is going to work out? Or is Reagan just sleep-deprived and placing her faith in a worthless cause?