Once Evie and Jay had been assured that Mal wasn't actually going to kill anyone, they allowed her to leave the room after she gave them cryptic instructions to meet her in front of Al's room in half an hour. Until then, they were to go find Carlos.
Jay and Evie stared at each other for a few minutes after she'd left, but Evie finally shrugs. "She's Mal, she's got something planned. Best just to go along with it for now." Jay nods and stands up, helping Evie to her feet. He shoves his hands into his pockets.
"So…we're really going to go find Carlos then?" He looks down at the floor and scuffs his boot on the ground nervously. Evie places her hand under his chin and lifts it gently to make him look at her.
"Yes, you are going to go find Carlos and explain to him what you just told us. You are best friends, Jay. You can't let something like this come between you indefinitely. The sooner Carlos knows that you're sorry and what really happened, the better."
Ethan comes out of the bathroom at that moment and clears his throat to draw their attention. Evie notices with relief that he'd put some clothes on.
"Yeah, you guys might want to hurry." He tells them with a frown, holding up his cell phone. "I just got a text form Ben…Carlos quit the team." He bites his lip.
Evie and Jay look at each other with wide eyes before hurrying for the door, Jay yelling out a quick thanks to Ethan as the door shuts behind them.
"Where would Carlos go?" Evie asks Jay as the speed walk down the hallway. Dude sprints along beside them, annoyed at having been forgotten. Jay glances down at him and frowns.
"He's got to be missing Dude by now, maybe he went back to our room."
Evie and Jay set off down the hall towards their room quickly, frowns on their faces.
/
Meanwhile, in Carlos's room, Al sits on the edge of Carlos's bed with his arm wrapped around the younger boy's shoulders.
"How are you doing?" Al asks quietly. Carlos had been strangely silent, which worried him. Al had been against going back to his room at all, not wanting the other boy to have to deal with Jay, but Carlos had wanted his silly mutt and so they'd come back. Carlos, distraught at not being able to find the stupid animal, had sat down on the bed and not said a word since, despite Al's promptings.
Carlos shrugs listlessly beneath his arm, staring at the ground in front of him. Al rubs his shoulder slowly, hoping the motion will soothe and relax him. He creeps his other fingers up his arm slowly, up his forearm and over the bulge of his shoulder to rest just before his neck. He brings the other hand up as well, and beings massaging Carlos's shoulders. The muscles are incredibly tense beneath his hands.
Al leans forward slowly, keeping his eyes on the other boy's face for any change in expression, and rests his chin gently on the edge of Carlos's shoulder. Carlos jumps slightly and glances down at him out of the corner of his eyes, his eyebrows pulling down.
"What are you doing?" His voice is confused, and Al resists the urge to laugh at his innocence. He had thought of another way to make the boy relax, and also scare Jay off in the process.
"Just trying to get you to relax." Al whispered, his breath tickling against Carlos's neck. Up close Al can make out a thousand individual little freckles on his blushing cheeks. He runs the tips of his fingers slowly down Carlos's spine, eliciting a shiver from the other boy.
"Umm..." Carlos stutters. However, before he can say anything, Abby lets out a loud chatter from the doorway, where she'd been watching out the small crack Al had left, and then hops up onto the bed, tugging frantically on Al's sleeve.
Al lifts his head slightly off Carlos's shoulder to glare down at the monkey. "What?" He hissed.
Abby chattered again and pointed her tiny hands towards the door, and Al widened his eyes. Then he narrowed them and jerked his head towards the door. The monkey hops off and Al turns his attention back to Carlos, a warm smile taking over his face. He traces his hand back up Carlos's back, this time with more pressure, and cups the back of his neck.
"You know, darling, I know just the thing to get you to relax. You just have to trust me." Al purred gently, twisting Carlos's face towards him.
"I don't think..." Carlos stutters once more. Al shushes him with a finger over his lips, leaning towards him and deftly making Carlos lean back with a slight pressure on his neck, guiding the other boy down without him even realizing it.
"Then don't think." Al whispers, his eyelids drooping down. Then Carlos is aware that suddenly his back is on the mattress, and he scoots up a little, away from Al. Al smiles at this, as Carlos has just allowed him room to crawl up onto the bed after him, and does just that, putting one knee on either side of Carlos's legs. Carlos's eyes are wide, and just as Al begins to hear the barking and footsteps outside the door, Al seals his mouth over Carlos's, cutting off whatever wide-eyed stammer Carlos had been about to elicit.
/
Jay and Evie's feet pound down the hallway, their eyes wide at Dude's sudden burst of speed and barking. Jay's heart pounds heavily in his chest when he sees Carlos's door hanging slightly ajar, and he doesn't think before he bursts into the room, the door banging off the wall with a loud crack.
Jay doesn't hear it; in fact, he doesn't hear anything but the blood rushing in his ears as he takes in the sight on the bed: Carlos on his back with Al over top of him, straddling him, one hand caressing Carlos's hip and the other his face. Their lips sealed together in a kiss, Carlos's hands on Al's shoulders. Then their faces looking up at him; Carlos's eyes round with surprise as he pulls his face away from Al's, who's eyes hold only a glare.
Jay turns and pushes his way past Evie, striding out the door. His breath seems to come in uneven pants, his chest feeling constricted. He has no words to describe what he's feeling, and he sees nothing but blackness and Carlos kissing Al as he stumbles down the hall, as far away from Al as he can. At the base of the main stairs in the foyer, he falls to his knees and sobs.