Logan awoke that morning to a tan elbow in his face. He was puzzled at first, but then proceeded to recap last night's events. He sighed at the sight below him. A very nearly naked Carlos was sprawled across Logan, and his bed. Groaning slightly, he began to shake Carlos awake.
"Carlos...wake up." He shook the boy. "Jeez what do you do bathe in lotion? Your skin's soft as a baby's." Logan paused realizing how weird that comment was, but shook it off and blamed it on morning delirium. He looked over at his cell phone on the bedside table. It was 7:30 in the morning on a Sunday. Logan couldn't even fathom why he was up this early on a Sunday, but he decided to go with it and get up. God knows he didn't want Carlos laying on him for another few hours. He attempted to wake him up again. "Carlos...if you don't get up right now you're going to regret making me wake you up." Logan warned. He gave Carlos a minute to comply, after receiving no response he quickly rolled over, causing Carlos to slide off of the bed and with a high pitched 'squeak' he slid to the floor. As quickly as he was on the floor he was on his feet.
"Huh? Wah, what happened? Where's my helmet, gah what's going on?" He babbled with his lids half closed. He looked like a mess and Logan couldn't help laughing at the sight before him. Clad only in his reindeer patterned boxers, a sock somehow stuck to his left cheek, and just a slight bit of drool hung from his lip. Logan reached for his phone, staring intently at the time. After a few seconds he began counting down. "Three...two...and...run." As if on cue, Carlos ran straight to the bathroom and could be heard vomiting. Logan cringed at the vulgar sound. "My lord is your esophagus alive?" Logan asked, his only response another strong heave from Carlos. He got up lazily and walked to the bathroom to make sure his friend was okay.
"Want me to hold your hair back sugar?" Logan teased. Carlos' voice echoed, his head practically inside the toilet bowl. "Not funny Logie." Carlos sighed. "I said stop calling me that, and don't get mad at me because you decided to be an idiot and drink everything in sight in the span of an hour." Logan snapped. Carlos gave a weak chuckle. "You're just jealous because you're too uptight to drink. Think it's belooooow you eh?" Carlos bit back. Logan's features became hardened. "Call me whatever you want, I'm never going to become some hammered sleaze just to boost my low self-esteem. You've seen first hand what it does to you." Carlos flinched, the words might as well have been daggers, each word feeling like a cut. He didn't even respond, just stared at Logan baffled as to why he reacted such a way to a simple joke. Logan could see the hurt on his best friend's face but was too angry to care. He left the bathroom quickly, put on a random shirt that was lying on the floor, a pair of shorts he swiftly grabbed from the drawer next to his bed, slipped on his sneakers and left the apartment. "I'm...sorry..." Carlos muttered before heaving once more into the toilet.
Logan realized he overreacted, but he felt as if he had every right to. He kept arguing with himself, one minute defending Carlos yet at the same wanted him to be as hurt as he looked. "He didn't know about the crap that went on when I was a kid...but even so you should know that's something that can be a sore subject for someone! Well..I mean, it's not...totally obvious...but still! He's always known I hate drinking, yet he keeps doing it, almost rubbing it in my face for some reason!" He kept volleying excuses and reasons back and forward within his mind, until he was suddenly snapped back to reality as he ran into Kendall and James. He looked them both up and down, confused at the sight before him. They were wearing the same clothes as yesterday, their hair was a wreck, (which is something very rare to see on James) and they had more baggage under their eyes than Logan carried emotionally. He laughed silently at the dark poke at himself. Before he could even ask what happened, Kendall summarized the night's events.
"Girls wanted an encore. We did a duet. Crazy drunk chick trips over a wire that was near the stage and at the same time conveniently spills a drink she had in her hand. Electrical fire starts. Panic ensues. Gustavo owes Club Anivia a lot of money. Gustavo mad." It was all said in under five seconds which impressed Logan for some reason. He replied with a simple "Ah"and the other two boys nodded in unison. "We go bed now." Kendall groaned and continued in the direction of the apartment as he lazily 'waved' bye to Logan.
"Jeez I think Logan had the right idea, these after parties are kind of unnecessary and insane." James complained as he waited for Kendall to open the door to the apartment. Kendall paused for a moment, almost dropping his keys, then slapped James right across the face. James stared blankly at Kendall, then smiled. "Yeah what am I talking about? Thanks, I needed that. But never touch the face again if you want to live past this year." Kendall nodded with a smile and entered the apartment. Kendall looked around trying to see where Carlos was. He's usually up watching cartoons at this time. He made a beeline for the bedroom where he found an unusual sight.
Carlos lay silently in his boxers on Logan's bed, looking very upset. Kendall's eyebrow raised up in curiosity. "Uh...Carlos...are you alright?" Kendall asked, every word sounding like a question in itself. Carlos didn't look at Kendall. "Logan's a buttface..." Carlos pouted. Kendall sighed and sat on Carlos' bed. "Why is Logan's face a butt?" Carlos paused and looked at Kendall, then with the fire of a small child who had been put on time out began babbling. "I just made a stupid joke and he got insanely pissed for no reason. He called me a hammer sneeze who wants to boost his real-estate..." Kendall's face was scrunched with confusion. He quickly broke out his mental Carlos to English dictionary and after a moment of pondering understood what he meant. "You mean he called you a hammered sleaze who drinks to boost his self-esteem?" Kendall translated. "Yeah that..." Carlos was absentmindedly playing with a hole in the quilt beside him. Kendall laughed and then patted Carlos on the shoulder. "Dude why is your skin so soft it's kinda creepy." Kendall wiped his hand on his jeans. "I like to be soft, is that a crime sheesh..." Carlos rolled his eyes. "Look," Kendall began. "None of us know why, but Logan gets very touchy when the subject of alcohol arises. It's almost as if someone flips a switch and he becomes Not-Logan. You've been his friend longer than any of us, why don't you talk to him about it?" Kendall suggested. Carlos pondered it for a second, and then smiled. "Yeah, you're right." he agreed and got up. "I'm gonna shower and go find Logan. Hopefully he's not too pissed and we can talk." Kendall gave Carlos an enthusiastic thumbs up and flopped back on the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Logan was lounging by the pool. He gave a sigh and sank back into the chair he was laying on. He was still pretty angry and was trying to relax, but so far it wasn't really working out. He kept running this morning's events in his head over and over again and the more he thought about it the angrier he became. He was just in the middle of re-capping the memory once again, when out of the corner of his eye he saw the one person he didn't want to see. Carlos flopped on the chair next to Logan's. He stared at Logan with a gigantic smile on his face, to which Logan was not amused. He rolled his eyes and looked away from the tan boy, but was suddenly greeted with a corn dog in his face. "Coghdhong?" Carlos asked, his mouth full of food. Logan's eyes narrowed. "...this time without your mouth full?" Carlos smiled and swallowed. "I said, corn dog?" He shook it in front of Logan's face. Logan rolled his eyes and turned over, his back now facing Carlos. "C'mon dude, I'm sorry. I don't really know what I did wrong, but whatever it was must've been pretty bad for you to treat me like that." Logan scoffed, turning back over to face Carlos. "You...don't get it. And you know what, that's not your fault, so for that I'm sorry, but I'm still pissed and I think I'm liable to some away time, alright?" Logan quickly got up and left, not saying another word nor looking in Carlos' direction. "What the hell did I do?" Carlos mumbled, and took another bite of his corn dog.
Logan arrived back at the apartment late, it had to be passed twelve. He gave the security guard a weak nod and called for the elevator. A few seconds later he was greeted with the elevator's 'chime' announcing that it had arrived. He stepped inside, pressed the number corresponding to his destination, and after a few seconds arrived at his floor. He made his way down the hallway and as he reached the door of his apartment, he could hear noise coming from inside. He was confused, usually everyone's asleep by this time, especially when we've got rehearsals in the morning. He inserted the key and opened the door. He couldn't see anyone but he definitely heard a commotion coming from the bathroom. He decided to investigate.
"Woah, OK, good you're here." Kendall ran up to Logan before he could see inside the bathroom. He gently pushed Logan back so that he could speak to him without being heard. "What's going on?" Logan asked. "Carlos had way too much tonight, he's in there puking his brains out. We're just making sure we don't need to go to the hospital..." Kendall pushed his bangs back, looking exhausted. Logan rolled his eyes. "So what else is new..." Kendall sighed. "Look, he's all down because he swears you hate him." Logan scoffed. "Honestly? I don't hate him, sure he pissed me off but that doesn't mean I hate him..." Kendall shrugged. "He needs to hear that, not me." he turned around and headed to his bedroom, motioning for James to leave the two alone as he passed the bathroom. Logan sighed and entered.
It definitely wasn't a pretty sight. The bathroom looked as if it was hit by a Tornado. The floor was drenched, the shower curtain was barely hanging, the mirror was broken, and a whole bunch of toiletries were scattered all over the bathroom. "Carlos...are you alright?" Logan placed his hand on his shoulder just as he gave a strong heave. Carlos took a breath then responded. "S'ok Logie...you duneed ta be here. I know ya hate me so you can juss go t'sleep..." Logan sighed. Pissed or not he definitely didn't like being seen in that light, especially not by his best friend. He knelt down beside Carlos, ignoring the fact that his knee was now soaked with what he hoped was just water. "I told you to stop calling me that, and I don't hate you Carlos. I hate the stupid stuff that you do, but I definitely don't hate you." Logan rubbed Carlos' back as he spoke, trying to soothe him. Carlos looked up at Logan, and it was evident that he had been crying for a while. Logan felt a tug in his chest when he saw his friend's face. "You're juss sayin' that. You're juss tryin' ta calm me down so dat I'll juss go ta bed 'n leave you be..." Logan rolled his eyes. "No, I'm trying to get these silly thoughts of me hating you out of your head. I don't hate you Carlos, honestly. You just need to stop being such a slow-mo all the time and these things will never happen." Logan gave Carlos his winning 'half-smile'. "I'm sorry. I've juss been drinkin' so much 'cuz..." Carlos looked surprised for a moment, then heaved into the toilet once more, yet nothing came out. Good, there's nothing left in his stomach. Logan thought, and he began lifting Carlos onto his feet. "Look, I'm going to run you a bath OK? Will you be able to take a bath by yourself or are you gonna drown?" Logan teased. Carlos just nodded, which Logan assumed meant that he could handle a bath. He ran the water and while the tub began filling up he helped Carlos get undressed to his underwear. Once everything was set, he got one of the few clean towels left from the closet and placed it next to the bathtub, along with a change of clothes. "I'm gonna leave the door open just in-case you need anything OK?" Logan asked. Carlos nodded and Logan stepped out of the bathroom to get ready for bed himself.
Forty-five minutes passed and Logan decided it was time for Carlos to get out. He walked to the bathroom to find that Carlos had fallen asleep in the bath tub. He took in the sight for a moment, mentally commentating on how adorable he looked. He walked over to him and shook him awake. "Carlos, c'mon let's get you to bed." Carlos groaned in protest. "C'mon man, comfy warm bed is greater than wet cold bathtub." Carlos smirked. "Even when I'm drunk your math analogies aren't funny." Logan laughed. "Better than what you come up with, alright? Now c'mon bed time." Logan handed Carlos the towel. "Fine...but only if I can sleep with you again tonight." Logan was taken back a bit. "I feel calmer when I sleep with someone else, and the calmer I feel, the less uneasy my stomach gets which means the less vomit you guys have to endure." Carlos explained, he had obviously regained some of his speaking skills back. Logan was silent for a moment, then simply said "If you puke in my bed you are so dead." and with that, Carlos magically sprung up accepting the towel from Logan and began drying up. Logan, having seen more than expecting (a LOT more), quickly covered his eyes and turned beet red. "Oh uh...yeah sorry. You can leave while I dry off and get dressed." Logan gave Carlos a thumbs up while his other hand kept his eyes covered. He turned around to exit, still having his eyes covered and as a result ended up banging into multiple things on his way to his bedroom. Carlos could be heard laughing the entire time.
A/N: OK there's chapter 2! I'm very glad that you guys are enjoying this story so far and I hope you guys are liking the pace/what I'm doing with it. As always, r&r, and constructive criticism is definitely welcome!
