You Lie – The Band Perry
The tall teen ran after him.
"Carlos!"
"No, James. NO."
"But-"
The small Latino boy turned around suddenly, making James stop mere inches from his face. He gave the pretty boy in front of him a glare.
"You lie like a rug, James. I know you ate my last FreezPop!"
James put on his best pair of puppy dog eyes and his natural smile. "Sorry, babe. I'll buy you another one. Right now, even." He fished his wallet out of his back pocket and waved it in front of the other teens face.
Carlos contemplated this.
"…It better be raspberry, or you can just move all your skinny jeans out of the closet now." He said haughtily as they walked towards the snack bar.
Big Night – Big Time Rush
"Come on, wake up!"
"Urgh?"
Carlos rolled over on his fleece sheets to groggily stare at his roommate.
"You're gonna miss it, Carlos!" James got up on the Latino's bed and started jumping up and down.
"Madre de Dios…por favor le hacen detener!" Carlos grumbled into his pillow.
"Holy Mother Mary- *jump* -in heaven- *jump* -cannot- *jump* -make me- *jump* -stop.*jump*" He stopped after about another minute and flopped down on top of the small boy. Carlos, waking up entirely, flipped over with the surprise, sending James flailing to the floor.
"…Ouch."
"…Lo siento." Carlos stared at James for a moment. "…When did you start brushing up on your español?
James blushed. "No importa. Se va a mover o no?" The pretty boy asked, his tongue rolling with the effort to pronounce the words just right.
The small Latino boy was shocked. "Si, un minuto…"
Carlos grabbed a pair of crumpled jeans from the floor and started to put them on. "So...Estoy hasta a las dos de la mañana porque...?" He smirked at him.
James scratched his head and gave a sheepish smile. "I couldn't fall asleep, so I clicked on the news. They said there's supposed to be a comet shower tonight, and…I don't know, I thought maybe you'd want to watch it…with me."
Carlos was even more impressed. So James had been listening to his astronomy essay. The Latino thought it was sweet he remembered. "I didn't think you'd actually be able to understand…Nevermind. El techno?"
James gave his toothy grin. "Si."
Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not – Thompson Square
"Unicorns, dude, common. Their BA."
"Nuh-uh, badgers, all the way."
There was one tense moment, and then the two broke into hysterical laughter.
"How about we settle for narwhals and call it a night?" James asked, shifting around on the hard roof tiles of Carlos' house
"Deal." Carlos grinned. He looked up into the clear Minnesota night. A lone car putted slowly down the empty street below. Out the window wailed a few lines of a country song-
…mama's roof, talkin' about everything under the moon
The smell of honeysuckle and your perfume
All I could think about was my next move
Oh, but you were so shy, and so was I
That's why it was so hard to believe
When you smiled and said to me-
"Are you gonna kiss me or not?" James sung wistfully, staring up into the pucker-faced moon. "We gonna do this or what? I think you know I like you a lot, but you're about to miss your shot…"
Carlos liked the husky tone in James' voice. Country was his favorite genre right after pop, and hearing Thompson Square pour out from James' mouth was…kinda mind blowing.
"So?"
The Latino looked at him, startled. "What?"
"Are you gonna kiss me?"
The tall teen looked at the smaller one next to him expectantly. Carlos just gapped.
"Well-"
"You're about to miss your shot."
Carlos couldn't help but smile at how corny this was. "Dude, don't play around-"
"Don't be so shy!" James teased as he slid right up next to Carlos, a giant grin plastered to his face.
"This is hard to believe…" Carlos relented, playing along.
"I don't see how…I think you know I like you a lot."
It sounded completely different when James just said it like that. "G-guess you're not so shy after all."
James shrugged. "The smell of honeysuckle…I'm allergic to honeysuckle," he said thoughtfully, "Gives me fake courage and makes me say crazy shit." He gave the most adorable lopsided grin.
"What about perfume?"
"Smells all the same to me."
Carlos leaned in, making James feel intimidated for the first time this whole evening.
"Do you mean what you said then?" Carlos whispered.
James face blanched, and then he said, a bit breathless, "Do you see any honeysuckle or a bottle of perfume just lying around?"
Their lips met in a sloppy kiss, their teeth clicking together on impact. James' lips tasted like the spices Mrs. Garcia had used in their dinner, and Carlos thought it was fantastic.
They had been 'mackin' out' for perhaps thirty minutes on Carlos' roof, thoroughly screwing up James' 'man mane', when the taller of the two finally broke away, the pretty boy leaning his forehead against the Latino's. Carlos shuttered at the intimacy, and his mouth went on auto-pilot.
"You are so freaking beautiful, James. And I think I like you too. A lot. You are, like, the greatest, funniest person I've ever known."
James placed both hands on either side of Carlos' head and pulled him forward, the Latino's further praises dying on his lips as James sealed them together.
"…I…you are so…thank you." James stuttered out shakily, eyes closed when he pulled away again. "Thank you so much, Carlos. I…don't think you know how much that and you mean to me."
"You mean that?"
"We've been best friends since pre-K. I've loved you one way or another since, like, forever."
"Good. I was starting to think there was some honeysuckle lying around…"
Misery Business – Paramour
Carlos watched with a twinge of annoyance as a voluptuous blonde flirted with James by the snack bar, squishing her arms under her boobies to give herself cleavage.
This is unbearable, the Latino thought, his smooth brow furrowing with unexpected hatred. He hitched his pool towel higher on his muscled arm and walked down the paved poolside walk, the pool separating him and James. He choose a random beach chair and was about to sit down when someone called his name.
"Hey Carlos!"
Turning, he saw James waving at him franticly from across the pool. The blond turned to look as well, and now she was staring daggers at him. Great.
James turned back to the blonde and said something disagreeable, because her face screwed itself up even more in disgust. James then bent down and grabbed his towel. As he tried to walk past the girl, she scribbled something on a napkin and tried to force it at him, but he pushed it back gently, murmuring something to her. She finally relented and sped off in a fury, purposefully pushing over a potted plant as she walked back into the lobby.
As James approached, Carlos let his eyes wander briefly over the brunette's washboard abs and prominent pecs, then glanced back down at his bottle of Gatorade. Why does he have to look so good in swim trunks? Carlos' inner voice whined.
"Hey dude, what's up?" Carlos asked, making small talk and tossing a second bottle of Gatorade to the approaching brunette.
After last night, he wasn't exactly sure what James and he were anymore. As much as he hated the thought, he guessed they were the definition of 'friends with benefits'. He could still taste James on his lips, just a hint of mint and strawberries…
"Getting rid of bimbos. You?"
James flashed a smile that nearly made the Latino's heart stop. Carlos returned it, albeit not meaning to.
"'Bout to suck up some sun. Care to join me?"
"Sure." The tall teen spread out his towel on the chair next to Carlos'. He glanced up for a moment and seemed to scan the short teen across from him with his eyes.
"Wanna catch a bite later?" James asked suddenly, "Prying girls off makes a man hungry."
Carlos laughed steadily, though his insides were jumping around in a nervous bundle of excitement. "I hope you mean for food, because I doubt I could help you if you meant otherwise."
James leant back on the pool chair next to Carlos', watching the other teen's rump as Carlos bent over to straighten his towel.
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that, Carlito…" he whispered.
Sing it Back – Moloko
"Look…Carlos…If you really don't feel the same, then just forget it. I never brought it up."
"No, James, I…" Carlos gulped back a groan of guilt, his Adam's Apple bobbing up and down, "I would do anything for you, too…but, I don't know-"
"Don't say it if you don't mean it, dude."
The Latino rubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. "But I do! I don't know why it's so hard to say it when I mean it so much…"
James seemed unimpressed as he leant against the door jam.
Carlos starred at his hands. "I think it's because of my dad."
That surprised James. Carlos rarely talked about his dad. When he did, which was maybe seven times total in the entirety that they'd known each other, it was late at night when the moon was reaching its peak, and Carlos was wrapped in James' arms and they were talking about life or plans for the future. Heavy topics they only ever wanted to discuss with each other.
"What?"
"My dad. He used to say that sort of thing to me and mi madre all the time. And then he…left. He always promised to be there, and then times got hard, he lost his job…" The small teen trailed off, staring out the window to his right.
Mr. Garcia's suicide was a topic that rarely saw the light of day. Carlos didn't like to talk about it for some obvious reasons. He felt it tarnished what people thought of the man he had known as a small boy. He also held a great hatred for what liquor had done to help his late father to his death. At parties and celebrity events, he never touched a drop of liquor. He once started a full out brawl with a random guy who'd tried to force some beer on him. Not that James had helped by jumping in, either, but still.
That was sure one night in Juvy James'd never forget.
"I was only nine," Carlos started to sob quietly.
James remembered it. The wake, the service, and the awkward little hug he'd given Carlos because he wasn't sure what else to do. James started to inch towards the small, hysterical teen.
"He just-he just…" Carlos gave another racking sob. "For what?" Carlos punched his pillow. "He always promised, and I'm just scared, so fucking scared…" His own tears cut him off.
James scooped Carlos up into his arms, holding him against him as he started to sob uncontrollably. James knew these tears were far overdue.
"Let it out, babe, I got you."
Carlos sobbed again. "I love you, James, I'm s-sorry-"
James held him tighter. "No, no, no, don't be sorry, please don't be sorry. I love you, too, Carlito…with all of my heart, all of it."
The Latino hiccupped. "Please, please, don't ever-" He hiccupped again.
"No, never ever. I will never leave you. God, never, Carlos…"
Carlos hiccupped once more, this time into the crock of James' neck. James started to speak, and Carlos echoed him.
"I love you."