Five Things Sam is Better at Than Logan

I. Art

"Logan, why don't you explain what happened today to your mother," said Principal Richards sternly.

Logan crossed his arms tighter. It wasn't fair! It hadn't even been his fault! He kept his mouth shut and looked at the ground. The carpet was dirty underneath the chair on the other side of the room. It was probably also dirty under his own chair.

"Logan, sweetheart," Mama prompted gently. Mama wasn't as strict as Mommy. She might understand. Probably.

"Sammy said he was better at art than me," Logan finally blurted out angrily, "And it's not fair, 'cuz I tried really hard and he didn't try at all, and Miss Katie still said his was amazing and mine was pretty. Mine was a dragon. Dragons aren't pretty, they're amazing."

Mama sighed and ran her hand through Logan's hair. He liked it when she did that. Maybe that meant she wasn't mad.

"So you pushed him down on the blacktop," she finished softly, "And does doing that make you better at art than Sammy?"

Logan fidgeted. "No… but it still isn't fair!"

"Sweetheart," Mama said, kneeling down to look Logan in the eye, "It's okay if Sammy is better at art than you, even though you tried harder than him. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I am 100% sure there are things that you are better than him at, even when he's trying his best."

Logan's eyes widened. He hadn't thought about that. Just because Sammy was better at art didn't mean he was better at everything. In fact…

"I bet I'm better at bike riding than Sammy! I ride it to school every day and I've never seen him ride a bike! I bet he doesn't know how!"

"Well, there you go," Mama said, ushering him out towards the car, "Just remember: pushing Sammy doesn't fix the problem at all, so there's no good reason to do it."

II. Biking

"Thanks for inviting me," Sammy told Logan, smiling, "I had a lot of fun!"

Logan couldn't believe it. He had asked Sammy to come on a bike ride with him and Mommy so he could prove that he was better at bike riding, but Sammy was better than him at that, too!

"Yeah, whatever," he mumbled, "Where'd you learn to ride?"

Sammy frowned a little, looking down at where his hand was clenching the handlebar. "My dad taught me. We used to ride on a dirt trail every weekend."

"Why'd you stop?" Logan asked.

"Dad left," Sammy said simply, "And Mom doesn't like biking because it reminds her of him. So I haven't been in a while. But I like that it reminds me of Dad."

Logan considered this for a bit, watching Mommy start to load the bikes into the back of the minivan. He'd never had a Dad, but he'd be really sad if Mama or Mommy left.

"You can come with us when we go on bike rides if you want," he allowed. It was okay if Sammy was better at bike riding if it was a special thing between him and his Dad. Besides, there were other things that Logan could be better than him at.

III. Eating Ice Cream

"Oh my god, dude," Sam laughed, "You look like a two-year-old!'

He leaned forwards, a napkin in his hand, and tried unsuccessfully to wipe the melted ice cream off of Logan's shirt. Logan kept licking at the side of his cone, desperately trying to catch all of the ice cream before his soggy cone completely caved in. Sam was leaning in close as he wiped at Logan's shirt, his eyes flicking between the stain and where Logan was licking his ice cream.

"I bet I had more fun eating mine than you did eating yours, though," Logan said, before giving up and shoving the rest of the treat into his mouth. Most of it was smeared on his face, hand, and shirt anyway.

"Maybe, but I actually ate all of mine," Sam snickered, leaning away "Every time you eat anything vaguely messy you need a trip to the bathroom to wash your face and change your clothes afterward."

Logan grinned, stealing the napkin to try and wipe his hand off. "Or we could just go on the water ride again."

Sam rolled his eyes, but he was smiling and standing up. "I should've known. It was all a devious plot to go on the water ride again. We'd better hurry; we told your moms we'd meet them at 4 and it's already 3:20."

The two boys started towards the entrance to the ride, Logan practically bouncing in place with his face still covered in drying chocolate. There wasn't much of a line because it was a school day. Their school had the day off for a teacher meeting day or something, so they'd taken the opportunity to go to the nearest amusement park. Logan had actually gotten the idea from Julie, one of their classmates. She'd asked if Logan was available to go with her alone. Logan had told her he couldn't go.

"How are you so good at eating ice cream?" Logan wondered as they reached the back of the line, "Yours never spills at all, even when you get two scoops!"

"I just eat mine too fast for it to melt," Sam replied, shrugging, "The trick is to constantly rotate it, so nothing's dripping down the back of your hand while you're too busy cleaning up the front."

"But if you eat it too fast you can't enjoy it!" protested Logan. It was mostly just for the sake of arguingー they'd had this conversation before.

Sam may be better at eating ice cream than Logan, but that didn't mean Logan's way was less enjoyable.

IV. Fighting

"Shut the fuck up!" Logan shouted, curling his hands into fists, "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Oh, please," sneered Sam, "I know exactly what I'm talking about. You're just too stupid to see it. What grade are you in again? It can't be the same as meー not with those three classes you failed last year!"

Logan screamed in anger and charged at Sam. Sam knew he'd tried his hardest in school, but no matter how much he studied he always seemed to fall behind. And now he was letting the whole school know just how stupid Logan was, even though he knew how embarrassed it made Logan.

When he collided with Sam, the two were knocked to the grass, and for a moment Logan was worried he'd hurt Sam, but then he was violently shoved off, and the back of his head smacked into the dirt. In a flash, Sam was on top of him, his knee digging into Logan's stomach.

BAM! BAM! A fist slammed into Logan's cheek rapidly twice in a row, stunning him into going limp. He could taste the metallic taste of blood flooding his mouth, and it was all he could do to gasp for breath.

What had they been fighting about again? Whose fault had it been? Did this count as breaking up when he wasn't even sure if they were technically dating? He still hadn't found any answers by the time a teacher had pulled Sam off of him.

V. Gift Giving

"Hey, man,"

Logan looked up. It was Sam, and he was holding a small rectangular present. Logan took the present, but didn't open it. His eyes dropped back down to the scuffed white tiled floor.

"Hey."

After a moment, Sam took the chair next to him. The chairs in the hospital were hard and uncomfortable, but Logan almost preferred that. He didn't know what he'd do if the hospital chairs were comfortable. He wondered if he'd get used to them. He hoped not.

"I'm sorry about your Maー" Sam began, but Logan cut him off.

"You know Ma's the only reason we became friends?"

Sam paused. "What do you mean?"

"When we were kids, and I pushed you over and got sent to the principal's office. She said I should try to find something I was better at than you. So that's why I invited you to go biking. And then we kept hanging out and became friends. So. It was because of her."

Logan was speaking more to the floor than he was his best friend. He spun the small package in his hands. It felt like a book. It was probably one of those self-help books, like the pamphlets he'd been given by the nurse: The Stages of Grief; What To Do When Your Ma is Dying. That sort of thing. It was expected, really. Logan had no idea what else he'd get Sam if something like this was happening to him.

They sat in silence for a little while longer, before Sam checked his phone and winced.

"Uh, I gotta go. My mom's out front. You want a ride, or…?"

"No."

"Okay. Lemme know if you need anything. Anything at all."

Logan didn't say anything, and Sam left. Once he was gone, Logan ripped open the cheery wrapping paper, shredding the happy little pastel zig zags. He was rightー it was a book. But it wasn't a guide or a self-help book. It was a photo album.

As he flipped through the album, Logan felt tears burn in his eyes. The pictures were all of his Ma, starting from some older black and white ones where she was a little girl and progressing all the way up to one they'd taken just a week ago, right before the diagnosis, of her posing in front of some store mascot.

Logan hugged the album to his chest as he started crying.

+ I. Proposing

"Logan, will youー uh, I mean, can youー" Sam stuttered, staring up at Logan with the most pathetic expression Logan had ever seen on him. He had to give his boyfriend a little creditー he'd been confident all through the bike ride, and had gotten down on one knee smoothly, before abruptly freezing up.

Logan gazed down at Sam fondly. Their bikes had been chained to a pole, and they were about to walk down the street for ice cream. There weren't too many people around, so they didn't have a large crowd gawking. Sam had timed it perfectly. The problem was, so had Logan.

Sam's expression had grown into more of a pout as Logan continued to stare at him in silence. Then, with a loud sigh, Logan reached into his own back pocket.

"Let me show you how it's done," he said grandly, dropping to a knee and pulling his own ring out, "Samuel Anthony Harris, you have been the best friend I could ask for since I first pushed you down way back in kindergarten. I have had the honor and privilege of watching you do everything better than me without trying for the majority of our lives. I am not done with you though; I plan to take the rest of our lives to show you up. You're the one for me, and I'll be by your side whether you like it or not. Will you marry me?"

Sam gaped at Logan for a moment. "Holy shit. I swear I had a real speech too but I forgot it. Can I just say ditto? And yes? And then we get ice cream to celebrate?"

Logan laughed and grabbed Sam's hand, pulling him up as he stood.

"Of course."