It happened like this:
It was the weekend Jay had found out Carlos had been lying about everything. The weekend that they avoided each other like the plague and Carlos had been sure that their friendship would never recover. Looking back on it, Carlos had been acting a little dramatic, but at the time it had seemed like the world was ending.
Carlos had been, sitting, not moping, in the library, flipping pages of a book in a manner that he hoped convinced onlookers he was thoroughly engrossed in the book. He must've not been doing very well, since he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see Aziz smiling at him. His dark hair was pushed behind his ears, and he had a brown book bag swung over his shoulder, resting on his grey T-shirt. Carlos let his eyes roam a little because, hey, he was only human.
"Dude, are you okay?" Carlos huffed at the question. "Because you've just been flipping the same two pages back and forth for like the past five minutes." Aziz's eyes crinkled as he laughed lightly, emitting a spark of happiness that Carlos wished he could have.
Carlos rubbed at the back of his neck, slumping down into his chair. "Great, you caught me." Aziz smiled again, taking this as an opportunity to scoot into the chair across from Carlos'. "Yeah, I'm okay, just distracted by some things happening in my life right now."
For a moment, the only sound in the air was the screeching of Aziz's chair as he scooted up to the table, and threw his bag onto the floor. Carlos let his eyes dart down to his book, avoiding eye contact, hoping that the bout of awkwardness in the air would signal for Aziz to say his goodbyes and leave.
Once he had himself adjusted, Aziz nodded as if he understood. "Mm, gotcha. Do you wanna talk about it? I'm not always the best at giving advice, but I'd like to try, if you'd let me?" He had bit down on his lip, willing Carlos to look up at him.
The gesture was kind, Carlos thought. Surprising, since it wasn't something that generally happened on the Isle. Then again, he wasn't on the Isle anymore. He doesn't think that's something he'll ever get used to.
"No offense, but we don't really know each other. I mean, we have one class together, where we maybe have 5 minute conversations a day, and I've tutored you once for Chemistry. Not that you're a horrible person, because Aziz, you're great, really. I just don't think I'd feel comfortable unloading all of my problems on you."
Aziz nodded in understanding, pushing his hands out in front of him. "Dude, no problem, I get it. But if you do ever need someone to talk or complain to, I'm here. Really."
This was weird. Carlos wasn't used to this open generosity and it confused him, because generally on the isle this type of generosity meant the person needed something. It was always an eye for an eye.
"Yeah?" Was all Carlos could think to say.
Aziz smiled, "Yeah."
The days passed, and things with Carlos and Jay got better - as expected. It was still complicated; a whirlwind of emotions and still an unstable relationship, but better.
However, as the days went on and Jay and Carlos bandaged their wounds, Carlos found a friend in Aziz. He found that Aziz radiated glee wherever he went, and it was intoxicating. He could lift anyone's mood in a second flat, and Carlos slowly realized he was someone he wanted to have in his life. Carlos had finally realized that he didn't have to be constantly surrounded by his friends from the Isle. He could have his own friends and his own life separate from the rest of them. He used to feel guilty about it, but he was slowly learning that it was okay. He wasn't replacing Mal or Evie or Jay. He was simply expanding his horizons.
From then on out, Carlos was greeted by Aziz in Chemistry everyday with a wide dimpled smile and warm eyes and he learned that there were differences between the people on the Isle and Auradon but that it want necessarily a bad thing. Aziz was slowly teaching Carlos of the good in the world, and that the negativity in his life didn't have to effect his future. He could be whoever he wanted to be.
One day, after a short unexpected heart felt talk after a tutor session, Aziz stated, "Fuck your mom."
Carlos had been surprised. Aziz didn't use profanity. He was a self proclaimed goody two shoes, which was ironic, considering who his father was. This caused a bubble of laughter to escape Carlos' lips and he found himself saying, "Yeah, fuck my mom."
Despite their separate and very different upbringings, Aziz seemed to understand Carlos in a way that not many people did. He didn't get looks of pity when he discussed his mother, and Aziz never belittled him like Mal sometimes did when he talked about his problems. Also, he was fucking hilarious.
With the amount of drama occuring between Mal, Evie and Jay, Carlos didn't get to see Aziz much. He didn't care, though. The times they did get to hang out, even if most of the time it was during a study session, he ended up feeling ten times better than when the day had started.
Then, rather abruptly, Jay and him decided to end whatever it was they had. It had been a bit of a shock. Carlos knew what was going on wasn't good, but he never thought they'd officially end it. He wasn't upset, necessarily, just a little confused, and maybe a little numb. He didn't want to talk about it, that was for sure. But despite this, everything was going good, until Jane had to open up her big mouth.
It had been a long day for Carlos. The day started off with him waking up late and having to run to class. Ben tried to intercept him at one point, which made him even later for class. Why Ben had wanted to talk at eight in the morning, Carlos had no idea, but he was going to make sure to complain about it later.
Then, he had gotten his math test back which had a giant C circled at top. Which, usually, Carlos would be upset but would go about his day because if he did bad, then he did bad. But Carlos knew he had aced it. He had spent hours studying and had looked over the test three times before he turned it in. There was no possible way he had made a C. Sometimes, Carlos thought that the teachers all graded him harder because of who he was and where he came from, but most of the time he didn't let himself think too long on that. Surely, his teachers were nicer than that.
He had tentatively raised his hand, "I think something is wrong with my grade." His teacher had just stared at him and responded back, "Meet me after class."
The meeting did not go well. Carlos had tried to prove that a few questions that had been marked wrong were actually right, but his teacher wouldn't have any of it and strictly told him that he would give him a detention if he didn't drop it.
So, he dropped it. And of course, the stupid argument made Carlos angry for the rest of the day. Once he had angrily shoved all of his things into his backpack and slammed the door out into the hallway, he was met with a squeal.
"Carlos!" Jane shouted, running up and grabbing his shoulder. Carlos huffed and lightly shoved her back, stomping his way down the hallway. God, he was glad he had a friend, but what did she want now?
Carlos grunted in brief acknowledgment. "Carlos!" Jane exclaimed again. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"You'll never believe what Aziz just told me!"
Carlos twirled around, snapping, "Look, Jane, I'm not in the mood. Just get to it? What is it?"
Jane visibly deflated, taking a step back. Carlos realized she did this a lot. She had the tendency to get over excited and was like a newborn puppy exploring the world for the first time. And when she was greeted with any bit of hostility, she immediately turned herself off. Carlos was trying to help her with it. So far, it didn't seem like he had helped much.
"Sorry," She muttered before lowering her voice, "But, Aziz just told me that he likes you." She squealed again. Carlos' brain seemed to short circuit, and it took him a moment to respond.
"Okay?" He didn't know what else to say, because, what? This would change everything, wouldn't it? And Carlos didn't know if he wanted anything to change.
"Okay?" Jane repeated, baffled. "I just told you Aziz said he likes you and that's all you can say?"
Carlos looked up, to make sure nobody of importance was around before he spoke. "What do you want me to say? He likes me? Okay, cool, I'd hope so since he's my friend."
Jane had let out a sharp laugh before she banged the back of her head on the locker next to her. She didn't know if Carlos was that dumb, or if he was playing dumb, but God. She sure hoped he wasn't this much of an idiot, even if in a way it was sweet and endearing.
"You're not that dumb. He likes you. Like he has a crush on you, you moron, he told-"
"Okay, before I even get into that mess, I'm pretty sure that he probably told you this in confidence and didn't want you to tell me, of all people?" Carlos had cut her off, feeling a wave of anger and resentment building towards Jane. He was too upset at the fact that Jane had broken Aziz's trust that he barely had any room to process the fact that Aziz likes him. Aziz was one of the most trustworthy and kind people he'd ever met and the fact that Jane had just ignored that, had a layer of protectiveness building in Carlos towards Aziz. He didn't deserve this.
Carlos' statement didn't seem to bother Jane. If anything, the fact that he cut her off seemed to bother her the most. "Ok, yeah, you're right, and I'll try to work on that, but it's out now so, I can't do much. But, as I was saying before you rudely interrupted me. He said he would tell you he liked you and would try to date you if he knew you weren't dating Jay. So like, yay for a non cheater with good morals friend?"
Carlos' mouth seemed to move before his brain could fully function, so before he knew it and really without his permission he let out, "Me and Jay aren't dating anymore."
Carlos heard Jane suck in air through her teeth and her eyes went wide as she grasped his arm. "Wait, so does that mean you'd want to date Aziz?" Carlos noted she didn't seem too surprised that him and Jay were no longer dating. Had their relationship really appeared that unstable to everyone else?
Carlos visibly startled as he pushed himself off of his locker and motioned for Jane to follow him. He did not want to have this conversation on his way to class, but here he was. Could he ever get a break? That's all he wanted.
"No!" He shouted too quickly. "It just means what I said. I'm not dating Jay anymore."
"Okay, but the fact that was the thing you responded about first makes it seem like you might want to date Aziz." Jane elbowed him in the side, giving him a slight smile. Despite how annoying and terrifying this situation was, he couldn't help but smile back.
Luckily, they made it to his next class, and he quickly said his goodbyes. "All I'm going to say is ok. I'm no longer talking about this. Right now, my head space needs to be for Chemistry. Not my relationship."
"Okay," Jane muttered, fake pouting. "See you later?"
"Yeah," Carlos responded as he walked into his class, grateful that it was still nearly empty. This meant he had a little time to gain his composure and rearrange his thoughts.
No, he had thought then. No, he didn't want to date Aziz. Aziz was starting to become a great friend, and he didn't want to ruin that.
However, when Aziz walked into class with his bright smile, whooping "Caaaarlossss!" dramatically, Carlos couldn't help but laugh as his heart seemed to stutter. Suddenly he realized, he didn't know what he wanted. He didn't know at all, and this was a big problem.
