Happy. That's what Carlos was at the beginning of the week. Then he was sad. Then he was happy again. And now...now he was sad again. This week had been like a rollercoaster and not the fun kind of rollercoaster, either. More like the horrible, emotional kind of rollercoaster. He hated those.

Carlos sat on the floor next to a booth and looked down at the two corn dogs he held in his hand. He had bought one for his (now ex) girlfriend Sasha just a few minutes ago. He liked her well enough, until she confessed she hated corn dogs. What's the fun in being with someone who hates the very thing that makes you happiest? Well, that was only part of the reason he dumped her.

Truth was, Carlos wasn't very keen on getting a girlfriend just now. He was fine being alone. He was, well, happy. He didn't even really want a girlfriend, and seeing how it had gone and how much work it was, (even though it wasn't real) he didn't want one even more now. Carlos was okay being with just his friends. Kendall and Logan had girlfriends now, so he didn't get to spend so much time with them, but James always made time to hang out with him and play lobby hockey or some other kind of weird sport they'd made up as kids.

He sighed and contemplated eating both corn dogs at once. Not that that was a huge deal in itself; he usually ate them that way anyway. Now, though, he wasn't so hungry anymore. Losing Sasha herself wasn't the problem, the problem was that now he was alone again, while his friends went off and had their fun little dates with their girls, including James, who had two now. Granted, one of them was a palm tree but still. At least if the palm tree was alone, he could've ranted to her; she was a good listener.

Carlos let out a small groan before bringing one of the corn dogs up to his mouth to take a bite when James appeared around the corner of the milk ring toss booth directly across from him.

"Hey!" he said with a smile, "Where's your girl?"

Carlos said nothing and groaned again.

"Oooh. Ouch," James whispered as he joined Carlos in sitting next to the booth.

"Nah," Carlos responded, not looking up from the now lukewarm corn dogs in his hands, "I dumped her."

James tilted his head and gave his friend a look of confusion.

"But I...thought you liked her. You were gonna give her a second chance, right?"

"Right," Carlos replied as he turned his attention to James, "except..."

"Except?"

Carlos thought about telling James the truth. About how he didn't really want this relationship in the first place and just felt pressured to be in it but decided against putting such a heavy weight on his shoulders during a carnival, of all things.

"Except," he said with a sigh, "she hates corn dogs."

James looked appalled and let out a loud, dramatic gasp. He knew Carlos loved corn dogs more than almost anything in the world, though still less than his helmet...and possibly his friends.

"Well," he said as he gently snatched the spare corn dog from his friend's hand, "I for one, love corn dogs."

Carlos chuckled quietly as he flashed James a smile that he hadn't smiled in days.

"Wait," he said, a sudden though occurring to him, "what happened to that girl you were with?"

"Oh, her?" James said between bites of the now cold, but still tasty, corn dog, "Guess it just wasn't working out."

"Oh," Carlos responded. He didn't have much else to say, but he was enjoying James's company. It was nice to be with someone he actually wanted to spend time with for once this week. He sighed and leaned his head against James's shoulder. The other boy turned his head and smiled at the sight of his friend resting against him.

"Hey!" he said suddenly, "Wanna go ride the spinny thing again?"

"Yeah!" Carlos exclaimed, standing up as quickly as humanly possible. He grabbed James by the hand and started to pull him along when James suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Uhhh...on second thought, let's go try and win some giant frogs," he said as he grabbed Carlos by both shoulders and pushed him along the opposite direction.

"...you forgot to tell her you were leaving, didn't you?"

"Yep."

Carlos reached back and grabbed James by the hand again pulling him toward a small blue car.

"Get in," he said urgently and began driving without looking where he was going, "we need a place to hide you!"

"Uh, Carlos," James said as he lifted his head and read the sign above them, "the Tunnel of Love?"

"We're hiding, okay?" Carlos responded defensively.

James threw his hands up in defeat and accepted his situation. He figured he might as well make the most of it and placed his arm around Carlos who had begun to drive furiously and most certainly not to the approval of the guy in charge of the safety of the riders.

"Don't try anything funny, Diamond."