More Than Her by Jay McLean Page A

something about an asshole sucking a dude with my balls."
    "What!" I laughed out. "You made no sense! Also, I don't think I was meant to say that out loud."
    Then we both laughed.
    Once we settled, Lucy sighed, "Are you thinking about her, Logan?"
    "Who?"
    "Amanda."
    "Pshh." I knew she knew something. "Amanda who?" I played dumb.
    "Cam told me about the diner — how you paid Lachlan to force her to go out with you." She giggled.
    "Cam has a big mouth."
    She sat up abruptly, gasping, her eyes huge. She was staring at me with her mouth hanging open. She whisper yelled, "Dude! Cam says the same thing about me!"
    "What?" I got out through a chuckle.
    "Yeah," she said, nodding her head frantically. "He says I have a big mouth, too. You know? When he puts his-"
    "Lucy!" I shouted, stopping her from saying what I think she was about to say. I pulled her back down. She laid her head on the crook my arm. "Way too much information," I told her.
    "I love Cameron," she informed dreamily, her head getting more comfortable.
    "I know you do. He loves you, too."
    "No Logan. I mean I love him." She sat back up and looked down at me. "I love him so fucking much it hurts sometimes." Her voice broke. "The good hurt, you know?"
    I didn't.
    "Seriously, if he asked me to marry him right now and have his babies, I'd do it. Instantly. I love him that fucking much."
    I smiled at her.
    She went back to lying on my arm.
    "Also," she continued, "this girl in one of my classes keeps wanting me to warn you that her brother's after you."
    I rolled me eyes, "What girl? What do you tell her?"
    "I tell her to fuck off. And that she needs to learn to control her hormones. Get it, Logan? WHORE-MOANS? Oh my god. I'm so fucking funny!"
    Her laughter made me laugh. "You're my favorite people, Luce." I held on to her tighter.
    "Yeah yeah. I have a boyfriend. Don't even try it."
     
    ***
     
    An hour or so later, the party died down. Cam came out looking for us. We spent the rest of the time mainly in silence. We stopped drinking though, so we were a bit more clear headed now.
    "Hey, babe. We're crashing here. You ready for bed?" he asked.
    She didn't move from next to me. She'd fallen asleep. I nudged her. "Lucy, your boyfriend's here."
    She slowly woke up, confused, and then saw Cam. "Hey, baby," she cooed. She started to get up but swayed from the motion of the trampoline, or maybe the one too many beers we had.
    "How drunk are you, Luce? You drunk enough to let me do that thing you never let me do to you?" I could tell he was only half joking.
    She snorted and got off the trampoline and onto his back. He piggybacked her towards the house. "Yo!" Cam yelled out, "You crashing here too?"
    I nodded.
    What else was I going to do?
     
    ***
     
    I was outside on the back deck having a smoke when Lucy walked out. I don't smoke often. Actually, I barely do. Just when I drink. I don't even know why I do it; it's a shitty habit.
    Lucy walked out in her pajamas. Purple with pink hearts, like she's 10 or something.
    She waved her hand in front of her face to clear the smoke and exaggerated a cough. She pulled the cigarette out from between my fingers and put it out on the railing, then threw it in the bushes in front of us.
    "Smoking kills, you know that right?" she said.
    I looked away. Lucy's mom died of lung cancer a few years back. I stayed quiet.
    "You know how Cam and I met?" she asked out of nowhere.
    I leaned my elbows on the rail and looked out to the yard. "Kind of." I shrugged.
    She stood next to me and copied my position.
    "Cam used to help coach Lincoln and Liam's little league team."
    "Yeah." I knew that much.
    "Yeah, it was a few years back, before Mom died." Her voice ended in a whisper.
    She sniffed once. I don't know if she was crying, or about to, but I didn't look at her. "After Mom died, Cam just started coming around to the house. Every day after school he was there, helping out however he could. I mean, he must've known that we'd be struggling. The