CARLOS'S POINT OF VIEW
"Hey guys! Good news!" Kendall called, running onto the pool deck.
"What?" we asked, sitting up in our folding chairs.
"My cousin Karen is coming to stay with us!" he replied enthusiastically.
"Cool! What for?" Logan asked, standing up.
"Acting. She's been acting in plays ever since we were four and she finally convinced my aunt and uncle to let her come live with my mom, Katie, and us," Kendall explained, slowly walking towards the lobby.
"Sweet. When does she get here?" I asked, following the guys into the lobby. Kendall looked down at his watch.
"Any minute now, actually."
"KENDALL!" a girl voice shrieked. We heard the thud of a dropped suitcase and saw a blur of dirty blonde hair as a girl tackled/hugged Kendall.
"Hey Karen!" Kendall laughed, spinning her around in a big hug. He set her down and smiled. "Welcome to the Palm Woods! Let me introduce you to the guys." He turned her to face James, who was standing next to Kendall. I was behind her now, so I still didn't know what she looked like, besides the dirty blonde hair.
"This is James Diamond," Kendall introduced. Karen shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you," James said.
"This is Logan Mitchell," Kendall said, turning her towards Logan.
"Welcome to the Palm Woods," Logan grinned, shaking her hand.
"And this," Kendall said, turning her around to face me. "Is Carlos Garcia." Oh. My. God. I must've died and gone to heaven. This girl was freakin' hot! She had dirty blonde hair, beautiful hazel eyes, and a shining smile. She was wearing a pink tank top that said "Big Time Rush" on it over a lacey black one, jean shorts, and athletic sneakers. I could already tell she was loving and energetic from the way she tackle-hugged Kendall, and since she was Kendall's cousin, she had to be smart. I think I'm in love.
"Uh, Carlos? Hello? Earth to Carlos!" Karen giggled, waving her hand in front of my face. I snapped out of my trance and grabbed her hand and shook it.
"Hi! Welcome to the Palm Woods! You'll definitely have fun here! I'm Carlos, and uh…hi!" I rambled. Karen giggled and smiled at me. I stopped shaking her hand but forgot to let go.
"Uh, Carlos? You can let go of Karen's hand now," Kendall said.
"Oh! Sorry!" I exclaimed, quickly letting go.
"It's ok," Karen said.
"Here, let's go up to our suite. We'll show you where you're staying," Kendall said.
"Alright, let me just get my bags," Karen said, turning to go towards where she'd dropped her suitcase.
"I'll get them!" I volunteered. I ran over and picked up her two suitcases and rolled them over.
"Thanks Carlos!" she said. We all went over to the elevator and rode it up to our floor. After Kendall unlocked the door, we showed Karen around the apartment before showing her to her room.
"This used to be Mom's office," Kendall said, opening the door to the room. "But she cleared it out for you. She left you the desk for homework and stuff, and moved Katie's trundle bed in."
"And she took away my extra dresser!" James cried, staring at the dresser placed against the wall.
"You didn't need it!" Mrs. Knight said, walking in holding a box. Katie was right behind her, holding another box.
"It was holding my extra hair care products and pretty clothes!" James protested.
"You had plenty of room in your other dresser. I put the clothes in there and your hair stuff on top."
"Ugh," James groaned.
"Well, enough about James' pretty clothes and hair," Karen laughed. "I need to unpack. Will you help me Carlos?"
"Sure!" I smiled. I followed her into the room with her suitcases as Mrs. Knight and Katie placed the boxes by the door.
"You want our help, too?" Logan asked.
"Sure! I was gonna ask, but Carlos looked ready to jump out of his skin if I didn't ask him to help!" They all laughed as I blushed like crazy.
"Shut up, guys!" I grumbled.
"I'm just messing with you Carlos," Karen giggled, squeezing my shoulder. "Alright, let's get unpacking!" For the next hour, we helped Karen put away her clothes, make her bed, hang her posters, set up her laptop, and put away whatever else she had.
"Hey, nice poster!" James laughed, putting up a framed poster. When he stepped back, I could see that it was the poster of us that ended up being on the back of Dak Zeibarth.
"I'm surprised you chose our side instead of Dak," Logan said.
"Why would I choose his side? I hate his music," Karen grimaced, wrinkling her nose. "You guys are so much better."
"Hey, what's that?" I asked, moving closer to the poster. "Is that a heart sticker? And why is it on my body?"
"Oh, no reason," Karen replied a little too quickly. "I just stuck one on there because I like you guys. Gotta support my cousin, you know?" She giggled a little and rubbed her neck. Was she blushing? Oh my gosh, she was!
"Hey kids," Mrs. Knight said, poking her head into the room. "All set up in here, Karen?"
"Yup, all set up Aunt Jen."
"Good. I was thinking we could order some pizza and you all could watch a movie. Sound good?"
"Yeah!" we all cried.
"Great," she laughed. "What do you all want on your pizzas?"
"Cheese!" Logan cried.
"Onions!" James hollered.
"Ham and pineapple!" Kendall said.
"Pepperoni!" Karen and I shrieked. We looked at each other, stunned.
"You like pepperoni too?" I asked in disbelief.
"Duh! It's like the best pizza topping ever!"
"Totally!" I cried. We slapped high-fives and laughed.
"All right," Mrs. Knight laughed. "I'll order a medium cheese, onion, and ham and pineapple for each of you," she said, pointing to Logan, James, and Kendall. "And I'll order you two a large pepperoni. Now go pick out your movie!" We all ran out after her and scrambled over to the TV.
"Alright, I think since it's Karen's first night here, she should pick," Kendall stated, standing by the DVD rack.
"Agreed!" we all said.
"All right, Karen, step on up and pick," Kendall said, gesturing to the DVD's.
"Okay!" Karen bent down and started scanning the DVDs.
"Pick something sci-fi!" Logan said.
"No, with guys who are not as good looking as me!" James said.
"No, a comedy!" I said.
"Guys, calm down!" Kendall laughed. "Let Karen pick."
"How about this one?" Karen asked, picking out a DVD. She held up Iron Man.
"Perfect!" we all cried.
"Awesome!" she laughed. She popped it into the DVD player and flopped down between me and Logan. Awesome!
About thirty minutes after we started the movie, the pizza arrived. As we chowed down on pizza, a piece of pepperoni fell off and slapped against my chin. Karen laughed and picked it off and gently put it in my mouth. After we finished our pizza, we all had ice cream sundaes. Karen sprayed my nose with whipped cream and laughed as I went cross-eyed trying to look at it. That's when things got really interesting.
We were about halfway into the movie when everyone started dozing off. James fell asleep with his head in his hand, Kendall had his head thrown back with his mouth open, and Logan was leaning over on an empty cushion. I look over at Karen and she looked so cute. Her eyes were closed but her mouth was slightly open. She was leaning towards me, her head on her shoulder. I had my arm draped over the top of the couch when Karen yawned, stretched, and basically threw herself on me. Her head flopped onto my chest and her arm wrapped around my waist. When she'd stretched, her arms had knocked my arm off the back and it was now around her shoulders. Oh. My. Gosh. She yawned quietly and snuggled into my chest, squeezing my waist. I tried something and wrapped my tan fingers around her shoulder and squeezed. I felt the sparks fly as she sighed and soon, she began to breathe contently. I rubbed her arm up and down and gently brushed her hair back with my hand. I tried something even bolder and kissed her forehead. She gasped in her sleep but smiled a little smile and snuggled even deeper into my chest. I wrapped my other arm around her waist and squeezed it tightly. I kissed her nose and her cheeks. I buried my face in her hair and inhaled. She smelled like coconuts and cream. I rested my cheek on top of her head, and soon, I was asleep.
"HEY!" a loud voice screamed. We all screamed and woke up. I looked down at Karen and her face was buried in my neck and her lips were dangerously close to my pulse point. We both realized this and jumped apart. We all turned to see Katie standing before us in her pajamas with a glass of water and her hand on her hip.
"What do you want, Katie?" Kendall groaned.
"It's three o'clock in the morning. The TV is blaring. I can't sleep. And shouldn't you guys be in bed?" We all mumbled agreements and scrambled around cleaning everything up. We all then trudged off to bed. Before I went into my room, Karen tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and she gave me a big, warm hug.
"Thanks," she whispered in my ear.
"You're – you're welcome," I gulped. She let go and went into her room, softly shutting the door. I smiled and went into the room Logan and I shared. He was already in his pajamas and in bed. I quickly changed into mine and dove into bed, turning my bedside lamp off. That was the first night I dreamed about Karen.