It had almost been a week since that day at the diner with Lo and James. It was Friday afternoon and I was sitting in Public Speaking. Lo was giving his speech about taking chances, he had been lucky enough to be one of the last people to go. As he spoke, I noticed how he would catch eyes with me more than he would anyone else in the room.

"Taking a chance isn't easy." He said as he gave small chuckle, "But what would life really be without them?" I noticed him glance at me quickly before continuing, "One smile, one friend, one gesture can mean so much to someone, and while you may be nervous to be the one to be strong and male the first move, it doesn't go unnoticed." Logan sighed a little before looking down at his note cards and finishing his speech. "If the chance you take involves someone else, once you make that first move you've handed the ball to them, you've shown them what you wanted them to know, and then it's up to them to be ready to take a chance with you. Your answer might not be immediate, but in time you'll get it." Logan paused again before smiling, "Thanks everyone."

Lo made his way back to his seat and sat next to me, the class clapped like they were supposed to and told Logan he did a great job. Lo simply nodded and began packing up his backpack. A few more students stood up and gave their speeches and shortly after that the bell rang. However, informed us that we would all need to give another speech the following week about regrets.

I tried to avoid the thoughts clouding my mind that this time next week I might regret admitting my feelings to Lo...or kissing him.

"Los? Losss? LOS?"

I shook my head as I looked up at Lo who had a confused look on his face. "Are you okay Los? You were really spaced out.."

I shook my head as I grabbed my backpack and walked out of the classroom with Logan, "There's a lot on my mind."

"Oh." Lo simply nodded his head and then he suddenly wouldn't make eye contact with me as we walked towards his biology classroom.

"Your date with James is today, isn't it?" My heart broke all over again just saying his name and it didn't help that I know how an image in my head of how flawless he was to go with my thoughts.

Logan looked down at the ground as we stopped in front of his classroom, "Yeah...it's today. He's picking me up around five."

I nodded as I put on my best smile and patted Lo on the shoulder, "I want you to have fun, don't be worried about me the whole time."

He looked up at me with sad eyes, "I just want to be sure..."

I shook my head and pulled Lo in for hug. I whispered in his ear, "If he turns out to be the one you think you should be with. I'll be fine Lo. I really will."

When I pulled back I noticed Lo was blushing, then I realized I had given him a hug in the middle of school. I mentally cursed at myself, I didn't mean to mess with his bad boy image. Hugs definitely didn't fit that at all. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to hug you in front of everyone...I'm just gonna go to class now, I'll talk to you later?"

Logan nodded his head and turned and went to his classroom. I sighed as I watched him sit at his desk in the back before walking toward my own class. I was very aware of the fact that I would not be fine if Lo picked James, but I didn't want him to go out with me because of that. I would want him to pick me because he really thought I was right for him.

I absentmindedly went through the last few classes of the school day. Trying to focus and remind myself that before Lo had shown up my goal was to get good grades so I could be like my Papi. Now I tried to gain refocus on that goal. I still wanted that, I wanted to make my Papi the proudest father.

I promised myself that Monday would be a new beginning for me, and I would try my hardest to get back to that place where I felt safe and like nothing could go wrong.

After school, I managed to avoid Lo and walk home alone. I used the time to continue to clear my head, or well, at least try to clear my head. Most of my thoughts consisted of me trying to convince myself that I would be happy for Lo even if this date did end with him going back to James. James was a good guy, right? I mean, minus that whole part where he let the whole school know Lo was gay when Lo wasn't ready yet.

I sighed as I entered my house and greeted the girls before heading to the kitchen and pouring myself some juice. I didn't quite feel like doing my homework yet, it would remind me too much of Logan. So I texted someone who could distract me, Hortencia.

We still hadn't hung out yet and I did miss my best friend. He agreed to come over and help me and Tomas watch the girls, and he promised he'd bring a few movies.

About half an hour later he was knocking on my door wearing a huge grin on his face, "Los! I miss you." He stepped in and gave me a hug before heading to the kitchen, "My mom made me bring these cookies she made, she said we had too many left over." Hortencia chuckled and I followed him to the kitchen.

"Tell her we said thank you! I know they'll be delicious." Hortencia and I grabbed a few for ourselves after giving the girls each one cookie and Tomas came in and grabbed his own. We headed out to the living room and plopped down in front of the tv and sat in silence for a while. It wasn't even an awkward silence, it was the kind of silence you could experience with your family. Even though Hortencia and I had gone through a few differences in the past month and a half, we were still like brothers. He had still been there for me for most of my life.

Tomas and I caught eyes and he immediately understood I wanted a few minutes alone with Hortencia to talk some things out. He grabbed his plate and glass of milk and said, "I'll be back in a few minutes, the girls are unusually quiet and I want more of these cookies."

Hortencia chuckled and watched him leave yelling, "Don't spoil your dinner, your mom will kill me!"

I chuckled at the two of them interacting and soon Hortencia were focused on the tv again, we had fallen into another comfortable silence I waited a few minutes before beginning, "Um Hortencia...are we gonna talk about the past few weeks?"

Hortencia looked over and caught my gaze and he nodded, "Of course, I just didn't know if you wanted to. I don't want my brother getting mad at me again. You're family Los."

I nodded my head at him, "You're family too Hortencia, you know that. But Lo- I mean Logan, he's becoming family too, relatively quick. I want you guys to get along..."

Hortencia nodded his head and looked at the floor, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "I really am sorry for how I treated him. He still kind of gives everyone a bad vibe, but if he hangs out with you so much he must be alright."

"He's better than alright, he's really friendly and sweet. He has his reasons for how he is at school, and they aren't mine to share with you. But he's a great guy, and a great friend. Just promise you won't make him feel like any more of an outcast than he already does."

Hortencia looked up at me again, nodded his head, and opened his arms up for a hug. It was rather quick as our hugs always were, much different than those I normally shared with Logan. "I promise Los. No one deserves to be treated that bad...I don't know what got into me. I think I let everyone else rub off on me because they just don't like him very much at all."

"They don't know him either though Hortencia. Everyone just assumes he's a bad guy, and I know that's what he wants, but he isn't."

"He's really had some sort of affect on you, hasn't he?" Hortencia raised an eyebrow at me as we sat on the floor.

I tried to ignore the blush I knew was coming to my cheeks. "He's just a good friend and you know how I am. I'm friendly. I don't like to see people treated like crap."

Hortencia smiled at me, "You're going to be a great police officer like your Papi Los. I know it."

I simply said, "Thank you." Before focusing on the tv again. This time I was silent because I was thinking of my Papi. I hope he's proud of me. I hope he'll always be proud of me. I could almost feel him give me a pat on the back and give a little chuckle before saying, "You know I love you Los. Always will, always have." Before the feeling was gone. I shuddered a little but smiled.

I looked over at Hortencia and threw a pillow that was on the couch at him, he squealed and looked over at me, "Oh you're gonna get it Los."

I laughed and rolled over onto my feet before getting up and running a bit to the backyard, "You'll never catch me Hortencia!"

I heard the girls giggling and Tomas chuckling as they all came out back with me. Hortencia ran after me for a few minutes before giving up, "You;ve always been faster than me! It's not fair Los." He leaned his hands down on his knees and took a breather while I stood a few feet away laughing.

"If that's what you have to tell yourself man." The girls ran out and jumped into my arms.

"Awe Lwos you're so fast!"

"Yeah we wanna be fast like you!"

I kissed both their foreheads before heading back inside, "You both will be! You just have a bit more growing to do first."

Lia huffed at me as I sat them down and put her hands on her hips, "But we are growing up! We're big girls Lwos."

"Yeah Lwos!" Lali copied Lia and I shook my head.

"One day you guys will understand! I promise."

The girls nodded their head before sitting at the kitchen table, "Will you, Hortencia, and Tomas make us something to eat?" Lali pouted.

Lia nodded her head, "Pwease, we're hungry after running so much Lwos."

I gave a small chuckle before walking over to the fridge. "I guess I could make you somethingggg." The girls giggled and began swinging their legs impatiently.

Tomas and Hortencia walked in chuckling and sat down at the table with the girls, Tomas spoke in his best Lali voice, "Lwos what are we having?"

Lalit stuck her tongue out at him and I shook my head, "Hm, how does mac and cheese sound?"

Every gave a small cheer and I pulled two boxes of mac and cheese out of our pantry before

We stayed in the kitchen until the food was done and I served everyone before sitting down at the kitchen myself. The girls were telling me about how excited they were for the weekend because me and Tomas would be home all day instead of being at school where they couldn't hang out with us. I promised them we'd do something fun since it had been a while since I had been home the whole weekend and they held out their pinkies so we could make the promise official.

Hortencia and Tomas giggled a bit but stopped when they were both given orders that they had to pinky promise too.

Everyone finished their food and I left a plate out for mom for when she got home. Hortencia and Tomas washed the dishes since I cooked. While they were busy the girls pulled me outside with jars so they could try and catch the lightening bugs. I sat down on the edge of our backyard porch and after a few minutes Lali came and sat next to me on the porch.

"How come Lwogan didn't come over with Hortencia Lwos?" She laid her head over on my shoulder and I wrapped and arm around her as Lia came over and sat on the other side of me and copied Lali.

"Yeah Lwos, we miss Lwogan. He makes good sandwiches." I laughed a bit to myself at Lia's mention of sandwiches before pulling them a little closer.

"He'll come over soon, he''s just hanging out with another friend of his tonight! But I know he misses you girls too."

Lali smiled and snuggled in closer to me, "Lwos I'm sleepy, will you put me to bed."

"Me too Lwos."

I nodded my head and stood up and took both girls by their hands and we walked back into the house together. I asked Tomas if he could help me with the girls and Hortencia said he was leaving but he would text me when he got home so I knew he got there safe. We gave each other a quick hug before he walked out the front door and I followed the girls to their room.

Thirty minutes later Tomas and I were walking back downstairs and mom was walking in the door looking exhausted from work. She greeted us both with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"We saved you dinner madre." I pointed to the kitchen and she gave me a huge smile.

"Thank you both so much. I'm glad the house is still in one piece, I didn't think I'd be at work so long today."

Tomas heated up her food and brought it to the kitchen table where she sat down, "It's okay, Los, Hortencia and I kept the girls in order." We all chuckled and mom looked over at me.

"You and Hortencia are back on good terms?"

I nodded, "Yes, we talked everything out, he's sorry that he was so mean to Logan and I believe him. He's like a brother."

Tomas and mom smiled at me and Tomas spoke up, "Logan is like a brother too already, although he feels like a brother in a different way...like a potential broher in law."

Mom choked on her macaroni and I felt my face heat up, "Tomas don't embarrass Los like that."

Tomas gave us both a huge smile and a chuckle, "Hey I'm just saying, you guys know it's true too. There's something special about him, I don't care what he tells Los about Jamaames," Hortencia purposely drew out the name of Logan's ex, "He likes Los a lot. I think he's just scared of the pull they have for each other. Even Lali and Lia see it."

I nodded my head, very aware of the twins' fascination with Lo, "They asked me when he was coming over again tonight.."

That caught mom's attention and she looked up at me, "What'd you tell them, Los?"

"Just that I know he misses them too and I'm sure he'll visit again soon. I was going to text him in the morning to see if he wanted to come over and hang out with us."

Mom nodded and Tomas spoke up after staying quiet for a few, "So what do you know about this James guy? I know you came home upset last weekend...but you haven't really filled me in on what you learned." I sighed and mom glared at Tomas. He looked over at her before looking back at me, "Los you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

I shook my head, "No it's fine. He's a hockey player, he's smart enough to keep Logan's interest, but apparently need Logan's help a lot during school, he's a really nice guy, and honestly I think he really regrets hurting Logan in the past. He sees me as competition for Lo. But I don't think he's the type to flat out say that." I sighed, "I know Logan will pick him over me. He's already too scared to kiss me again because he doesn't want to hurt him."

Tomas walked over to me and gave me a hug, "Remember what I said big brother, if he won't be your boyfriend, he doesn't see how special you are. You're the best. We all know it. I swear he does too, but he's just scared."

"I was scared too you know...to kiss him..I thought that would be enough-" I started to cry a little and Tomas hugged me tighter and soon I felt my mom's arms around me as well.

"It'll be okay sol, sh nino." She rubbed circles into my back for a few minutes before I pulled away wiping the tears out of my eyes.

"I don't know why I care so much. I've never liked someone this much before madre.."

She smiled, "You're just growing up, you're feelings are going to grow for people."

Tomas gave me a tissue and gave me a small smile, "Come on bro, I'll put you to bed like Lali and Lia."

At that I smiled and stood up and followed Tomas to my room after giving madre a hug and kiss goodnight.

Tomas stayed true to his word and let me change into my pajamas and brush my teeth and when I came back to my room he had fixed my bed so I could get into it and when I laid down he covered me up. He leaned down and kissed my forehead before laughing uncontrollably. "It's really funny but really weird to put you to bed like Lali and Lia."

I stuck my tongue out at him, "No one said you had to kiss my forehead doofus." Of course he only laughed a little harder.

"Want a bedtime story Los?" He was smirking and I shook my head before reaching out and punching him.

" I think I'll survive without one tonight Tomas."

He grinned and walked to my door before turning off the light, "Goodnight Los. I hope you feel better in the morning."

He smiled before walking down the hall to his own room and shutting the door. I rolled over to my side and pulled out my phone, I had two texts, one from Hortencia and one from Logan.

I decided I would open the easier one first and pulled up Hortencia's message:

Hey Los, I made it home! Thanks for inviting me over today. It was nice to hang out like we used to.

I pulled up a new message and texted back to him:

Yeah it was really fun, if you want to, you should come back tomorrow, bring your backpack though, Saturday is homework day haha

After watching the message send I looked at the un-open message from Lo!:) I was too scared he would say he had an awesome date with James. I finally got my courage together and pressed 'view message':

Hey Los...can I come over tomorrow? I want to talk to you in person..

I sighed, this was going to be bad news I could feel it in my bones.

Yeah, Lali and Lia miss you. Bring your backpack, Hortencia and I are planning on doing our homework.

A few minutes later Hortencia responded saying:

H: Alright I won't forget my bag! Can't wait bro.

And a few seconds after that I got the response from Lo:

L: Oh. If Hortencia is there maybe I should wait.

C: You could just tell me now Lo..

L: :(

C: Are you guys going on another date or something?

L: I don't want to hurt you..

C: Lo, please, what happened?

L: We kissed...and it brought back a lot of feelings..