A/N: 7:30am- Oh good, another time for a final where I have nothing to do… typing time!

~5:10pm- …and now it's more than 9 hours later and ready to go!

Disclaimers: Still rated M for language (which actually hasn't been very bad… just wait till Chapter 7 ;) ). I still own nothing, if you say I do then you're sadly mistaken.

I hope you all remember the rules, cuz I don't. And now, on with the show/story!


Chapter III- Dreams of Possibility

I just sat on the floor of the bathroom for about five minutes, thinking and trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I mean, Logan can be happy for me, but I don't quite understand the crying… did I yell too much back there?

My mind kept on going in confusion as I turned on the water. It quickly became hot in the room as steam drifted over the shower curtain and began to fog up the mirror so that I couldn't just stare at my reflection anymore.

'Stop thinking and just get in the shower, you're wasting water,' I heard Logan's voice say in my head. Of course it would be his. He was a tree-hugger, he was a voice of reason, and I couldn't get the guy out of my damn head anyways. 'Get a move on, fresh water is a valuable commodity that…' I heard Logan ranting in my mind about the merits of saving the precious resources of the planet as I quickly stripped my pyjamas and jumped in the shower.

At least it was nice and warm in there. The warmth enveloped my body and I felt much more comfortable all of a sudden, like a weight taken off of my shoulders by the water sliding down. It was washing away something… my stress from the awkward air surrounding Logan and I this morning, maybe. I felt my mood lighten and I smiled at a quick thought of what was coming up next: breakfast.

'I hope we have pancakes… or French toast sticks… or waffles… even cereal sounds good, I'm starving!'

I quickly washed my short hair and shut the water off. I toweled myself dry and grabbed my clothes, a pair of dark jeans and a very tight, thin, gray and blue t-shirt. 'When did I even get this shirt?' The tag was still on it… I had never worn it before but it looked as though it had been in that drawer for forever. Maybe I have seen it before but just passed it over…

My stomach growled loudly. 'Breakfast, right.' I slipped the shirt on (it was actually really comfortable) and looked in the mirror. 'I look hot today,' I thought with a smirk crossing my face, admiring the thin shirt hugging my thick chest and sleeves accenting my biceps. I then opened the bathroom door, a small amount of steam entering the bedroom. I walked over to my nightstand and grabbed my watch and necklace, leaving my hockey helmet sitting on the dresser. It wasn't the time for a shell.

I came out of the bedroom, trying to get the ends of the little strings on the necklace to meet. I sat down at the table, still fidgeting with the strings.

"Let me help with that," I heard as two warm hands lightly took the strings out of my own.

"Thanks Logan."

"No trouble at all," he replied, a grin dancing on his words. I felt the strings of the necklace loosen against my neck and I tilted my head back to see his face. That adorable grin was plastered there still.

Adorable… I didn't freak out over calling Logan "cute" like I had only thirty minutes before. It just kinda felt right now.

"Good morning Carlos, you look nice," Ms. Knight said with a quick smile at me.

"Thank you Ms. Knight," I returned with a smile of my own. I watched her set a plate of pancakes down on the table as we continued to make idle conversation. My stomach grumbled again, but Ms. Knight never let us start eating until everyone was at the table. She, Logan, Katie, and I just sat and chatted while we waited for Kendall and James to do whatever the hell they were doing to take so long.

"So Carlos, Logan says you have some big news to tell us," Ms. Knight said with a smile and wink. It bugged me that Logan had told her that, but I smiled weakly back at her. She rolled her eyes and beckoned me closer, forcing me to lean over a bit. "I'm happy that you finally figured yourself out, I've been sensing it for a while now," she whispered.

I was taken aback by that statement. How could she know who I was better than I did? And that was almost the same thing that Logan had said earlier… was I really the only one who didn't know that I was… well, I'm still pretty sure that I didn't used to be gay… even though I never really hung out with any girls, or talked about them even if I was dating someone.

Logan poking my shoulder interrupted my musings. He grinned warmly and seemed like he was about to say something before turning his head and looking down the hallway. We all followed suit as two sets of loud footsteps came down the hall. I could hear some light whispering and chuckling as Kendall and James came into view, Kendall's arm around James' shoulder.

They seemed like they were being a little more than just buddy-buddy, almost like they were flirting, but I took nothing from it; just two friends talking or gossiping or telling stories. Probably nothing more. The fact that they had been spending a lot of time together lately also meant nothing. And neither did the two of them huddling together on the couch the night before…

'Okay, so maybe I'm just a little bit oblivious to everything lately, maybe Kendall and Jo broke up because of James, but how should I know? They still could just be really good friends…'

Kendall leaned over and kissed James on the cheek lightly before they sat down and entwined their fingers.

'More than friends.'

"Now that you two are finally here, we can eat," Ms. Knight said. Katie, Logan, and I cheered as we dug in.


Breakfast was amazing. Kendall's mom had to be the best cook EVER. We started to clean up the table. I had finished my duty of moving the dishes off of the table and into the kitchen to be clean.

'I think Ms. Knight may have forgotten about-'

"Hey Carlos, Logan told us you had some news," I heard Kendall call to me from the kitchen where he and James were doing the dishes.

"Oh yeah, he came barging into our room to wake us up for breakfast and said something like 'It'll be the highlight of the morning'," James said with fake enthusiasm. I just glanced over at Logan sitting on the couch, a deep red blush covering my face. I gave him a look that asked "You told them too?" He just grinned, offering no help or apology at all. That normally would have made me angry, but in this situation it calmed me down a little bit.

James and Kendall finished their job and went to sit down on the opposite part of the couch from Logan, who was closer to me. Ms. Knight had taken Katie off to the pool even though Katie wanted to know what was going on. Kendall forced his and James' hands together, and after a little bit of whispering, Kendall looked up at me.

"So what's your big story Carlos? Everything chill?"

"Guys, this is really important, so I want you to listen and not get distracted by each other," I said with a sigh. James pulled his hand out of Kendall's, who gave a huff. James leaned forward, clearly interested, and Kendall leaned back and put his arms on the back edge of the sofa.

"You have the floor Carlos," James said, eyes fixed on me, seeming determined to find out whatever secret was being kept. "What's the gossip man?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at Logan with a pleading gaze. He just stared into my eyes calmly. Feeling the others staring and waiting, I straightened my back, and took a deep breath.

"It's not gossip James. It's something much more important. Last night I had a dream unlike any I've ever had before. It helped me realize just who I am. I am proud of myself for being able to admit to everyone… that I'm…"

I choked on the word in my throat. Logan looked concerned. James and Kendall looked at each other, Kendall seeming to understand what was coming next and James looking flat out confused.

"…that you're what?" Kendall asked, trying to get me to say what was on my mind.

"That I'm," I tried to continue, but seeing the two of them lean forward discouraged me. "I'm… hungry?" I lied, turning to hurry into the kitchen. Kendall and James just got even more confused, and I heard Logan's footsteps follow me into the kitchen.

"Carlos, just tell them," I heard him whisper sternly.

"I can't!" I returned, kneeling down, tears starting to fall down my face. "I just can't…"

"If you won't then I will. It's your choice."

"Logan," I started, looking up at him. I was going to protest, but he silenced me with a finger on my lips.

"If they don't accept it, which they will, then I promise I'll protect you," Logan said calmly, coming down to my level and wiping away the tears rolling down my face. "You mean a lot to me Carlos, and I wish you'd just understand that."

'I mean a lot to him? Does that mean… that there is a chance that I could be in his sights?' The thought got me excited. I hadn't been excited like that since… since… okay, so I hadn't ever been that excited. His words warmed me up. I stopped crying, wiped away the droplets on my face, and nodded to him. He then took my hand and led me out to the couch, sitting down and leaving me to face myself.

"Carlos," Kendall tried to start talking.

"Kendall, I can handle myself. What I wanted to tell you was that I realized through a dream that I am gay, and I'm damn proud to have realized it."

"Carlos-"

"I really think I've grown up in just the past few hours, and if you don't like the way I've proceeded in my life then you can go to H-"

"CARLOS!" Kendall said right in my ear. I was so focused on getting the words out I must've closed my eyes at some point, because Kendall and James were standing on either side of me instead of sitting on the couch. James wrapped his arms around me, giving me a deep hug, and as soon as he let go it was Kendall's turn to lean down and embrace me.

They looked at each other, mouthing a couple of words before turning back to me. James started. "Carlos, we both support you of course. We've been friends far too long to fuck it up over something like this."

"Since you didn't seem to notice that we're together, I guess you didn't think we'd be okay with gays" Kendall added with a signature Knight smirk punctuating the sentence. "And James was the language necessary?" he scolded.

"What, don't you watch Spongebob? It's just one of those 'sentence enhancers'," James shot back. We all took a quick laugh at that.

After another quick set of hugs they left Logan and I alone. He glided up next to me and poked my nose before I pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

"Carlos, you're going to kill me," he wheezed as he strained for breath.

"Oops, sorry Logie," I giggled as I relaxed my arms a little, letting him slip down onto his feet.

"See? That wasn't hard, silly," he said playfully. I smiled at him, but that smile quickly disappeared with his next question. "So is there anyone you have your eyes on?" he asked nonchalantly.


A/N: Ooh, a cliffhanger, I'm so mean.

And that makes the third chapter all but done, the only thing left is to have people read it!

*Also, just a quick question for those of you who would happen to answer for me, could you imagine Carlos wearing a pink long-sleeved v-neck? I mean, nothing else girly, I just envisioned him in that and a pair of jeans (no helmet, I don't really like the helmet…) and thought it was adorable. I was thinking of possibly putting him in that outfit somewhere in this story since he always seems to wear either dark or bold red/orange-ish colors.

I can't think of good fun facts for every chapter. Which isn't very fun because I want to have one at the end of each chapter and no fun fact means no fun. Or at least not as much fun.

Anyways, please review and answer that question up there for me (it has a * next to it). Thankees errybuddy!