"You have to sit still for this to work, Carlos."
"I can't help it," the boy whined, opening his eyes despite Logan's instructions to keep them closed. "I'm restless!"
"That's why we're doing it in the first place," Logan said, trying not to let the exasperation he was feeling creep into his tone. "Now try to relax. I'm gonna start the timer over."
"Alright, alright."
Carlos closed his eyes again and lay back down on the grass, remembering what Logan had said about concentrating on his surroundings. He listened to the leaves rustling in the breeze of the warm Los Angeles day, to the far-off sounds of cars honking their way through the traffic of downtown, and to the voices of people nearby walking through the Palmwoods Park. He took time to feel the blades of grass beneath his fingertips and to breathe in the scent of the damp earth from the light spring shower that had recently fallen. He could hear Logan breathing softly from a couple of feet away, and knew that the sniffles his friend was trying to suppress were caused by the pollen allergy that had started bothering him recently. Carlos reminded himself that Logan was sitting out here suffering for his benefit, and even though the genius had rolled his eyes and said it'd be doing himself a favor as much as Carlos, the baby of the group knew the truth.
But that was the funny thing about Logan, Carlos thought. He was always putting everyone else before himself. If Kendall needed help with Chemistry, Logan would put aside his own studying in order to help him out. If James misplaced his lucky comb, Logan always knew where to find it… And if Carlos got yelled at one too many times by Gustavo for continuing to lack direction (The exact words, in fact, were, "Learn how to behave before I kill you and make it look like an accident!"), then Logan would have an idea on how to get Carlos to focus his extra energy into something constructive. He had decided to step in before any homicides were committed.
"Time's up," came Logan's voice.
Carlos opened his eyes and blinked a few times before sitting up. "That's it?"
"That's it," Logan confirmed, smirking amusedly down at Carlos. "You made it through fifteen whole minutes of sitting still."
"That wasn't so bad," the helmeted boy remarked.
"Good. Now maybe when you get fidgety in the studio, you can reign it in before Gustavo threatens to murder you. What were you thinking about, anyway?"
Carlos shrugged. "You, I guess."