I Hate You

(Day 135: Monday Afternoon)

"Must be hard," Carlos comments, as he and Chad sit on the bench. "What happened with you and Audrey."

"Yeah," he raises he eyebrows. "It sucks." He takes a sip of Gatorade, "I mean, everyone's got someone, and now I don't."

"Not everyone," Carlos denies.

"Are you kidding?" Chad disbelieves. "Everyone on the team's dating someone, half of them cheerleaders, and the ones who aren't dating are getting plenty of action on the side."

"So, this is about not getting any action," he surmises.

"No," Chad huffs. "It really isn't."

"Then, what?"

He lets out a breath, "It's just, I've always had someone is some way. And now I don't, and yet everyone else does. Hell. Some people around here even have more than one person."

"You're talking about Mal," Carlos realizes.

"She already had Evie," he fumes. "I really don't get why she needed Ben too."

"So, this is about Ben now," Carlos assumes.

"No," Chad asserts. "This is about how there's some people who are involved with multiple people, while I have no one at all. And it's not just her. There's also Jay with you and his girlfriend." He shakes his head, "What is it about you VKs that makes you do that kind of thing? Trust issues or something?"

"You mean hookup," Carlos corrects, and Chad offers a confused look. "Jay doesn't date. He just hooks up with people."

"You sure?" Chad raises an eyebrow. "'Cause I saw them at the dance together." He recalls, "And at the theater once."

Carlos's mouth gapes, before he sternly asks, "Are you sure?"

Chad nods, "Yeah." and then Carlos huffs as he stands from the bench. "Hey. Where're you going?"

When Carlos enters back into the locker room he strides towards Jay and pushes him, but Jay is only forced back a step. "When were you going to tell me?"

Jay frowns, "Tell you what?"

"That you have a girlfriend," Carlos yells.

It takes a moment for Jay to say, "That's not a secret."

"No. Of course, not," Carlos furrows his brows. "You just decided that everyone should know but me."

"I didn't think it was important," he excuses.

"You're dating someone," Carlos counters. "How is that not frickin' important?"

"Would you just calm down?" Jay calmly replies.

"No." He widens his eyes, "You should have told me."

"I've never had to tell you about my hookups before," Jay retorts.

"Well, she's not a hookup, is she?" Carlos asserts. "You have a girlfriend."

Jay shakes his head, "I don't get it. Why do you care so much about this?"

"Because, I," Carlos strongly begins, before he notices the crowd of eyes watching them. "I—" He meets Jay's brown eyes and sadly breathes, "I hate you."

It takes a minute for Jay to respond, "I didn't know you felt that way." before he thinks. "I guess I've always kind of hated you too." He lets out a breath and places a hand on Carlos's shoulder, "But we're in Auradon now. We have a clean slate here."

Carlos takes a step back, Jay's hand falling back to his side, as he bares his teeth, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," he slowly answers, "that maybe we should spend a little less time hating each other and start finding our own happinesses."

"What if I don't want to be happy?" Carlos shakily breathes. "What if I just want to hate you?"

"It wouldn't change anything," Jay concludes.

Carlos shakes his head, "You've been with girls before." He furrows his eyebrows, as he tries to keep the tears at bay, "You've never asked for us not to be friends before."

"I've never had a serious relationship before."

After a few seconds Carlos yells, "I hate you."

"I know," Jay continues to frown, before Carlos shakes his head, turns around, and paces towards the hall.

When he enters the dimmer space he hears a voice say, "Wait. Carlos." before he feels the hand on his shoulder turn around, he glimpses the black hair and brown hairs, and moves forward to kiss him.

"Whoa." A hand is placed on his chest to stop him, before Aziz comments, "I understand you're upset, but you can't just kiss the first person you see."

Carlos gulps, shutting his eyes and shaking his head, "Sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." before he hurries to the metal, double doors.

"Carlos. Hold on," Aziz shouts again, but he ignores him and leaves instead.

When Evie opens the door she notices the black backpack straps over his shoulders, "Carlos?"

"Hey." He hesitates, "I was wondering if I could crash here for a couple nights?"

Evie looks back into the room, "M. What you think?"

"Sure. Why not?" Mal answers. Evie smiles and steps aside, before Carlos enters the room and she shuts the door. "So. What happened?"

Carlos notices Mal doing homework on the bed, "You seem better."

"Getting there," Mal immediately responds before hurrying on. "Now. Are you going to tell us what's up or not?"

Carlos glances down at the blue carpet, "I think Jay just kind of broke up with me."

"You two weren't really together in the first place," Mal reminds him.

"Hence the kind of," Carlos frowns.

Evie goes to sit on Mal's bed, "Do you know why?"

Carlos looks off, "Probably because I found out he has a girlfriend." before he faces them. "Did you guys know?" Evie and Mal give each other a look. "Oh." He pauses, "Okay."

"He just didn't think you would react the greatest," Evie explains.

"And I'm guessing he was right," Mal adds on.

"They've been going out for weeks," Carlos sadly defends. "This entire time, and he just hid it from me. Purposely."

"I told him he should tell you," Evie lets him know, "but I didn't want to say anything if he wasn't going to."

Carlos slightly nods, "I get that." before he meets her eyes. "It's fine."

"Was he supposed to tell you?" Mal wonders. "Like, is that a rule you guys have?"

"No," Carlos slowly mumbles. "But this wasn't just some hookup. He should have."

Mal mulls it over, "Yeah." before she faces him. "He probably should have." She looks at Evie, "Since they made it official and everything."

"Do you know where Carlos is?" Jay questions when Mal opens the door.

"He's here," she frowns. "He's staying for a while."

"He skipped practice," he lets her know.

"Hmm," Mal's eyes shift. "I wonder why."

"He told you," Jay frowns.

"Of course, he did." She shakes her head, "One minute he was fine and the next— just a complete mess." Mal gives him a stern look, "You hurt him Jay. And not in a good way."

"That thing wasn't even supposed to turn into a thing in the first place," he huffs.

"Maybe not," Mal agrees, "but he obviously thought of you as more. It's your fault you completely ignored it, gave him his every desire, and then completely dropped him."

"He said he didn't care if it was a casual thing," Jay reminds her. "This isn't my fault. If he'd just been honest—"

"People lie," Mal shouts, "and they especially lie when they know the alternative is not getting even a remote amount of the thing they want." She attempts a calming breath, "You gave him pain. That kind of thing creates a bond, good or bad. You should've known that."

"He thought the other stuff was boring," Jay counters, "and it's not like I wanted to."

Mal's quiet for a minute, "I think you need to stop taking this so personally."

"Stop taking it personally?" Jay fumes. "How can I when it's about me?"

"Because it isn't about you," she argues. "You have a girlfriend, you're the best player on the tourney team, and you've made friends other than him. You have a hell of a life right now. His is the one that got completely torn apart when the only person he spends any real time with said they could no longer be a thing."

"He spends time with Jane," Jay softly disagrees.

"The headmistress's daughter?" Mal raises an eyebrow. "Do you really think he'd actually be able to tell her about you? Why he's sad? That little mouse would squeak to her mother the moment she heard about you two."

Jay's quiet for a minute, "I didn't mean to hurt him."

"Well, you did," Mal continues in sternness, before she lets out a large breath. "I think we're done here."

"What about tonight?" Jay softly questions.

"I think I'll pass," Mal stares him down. "There's no time to drink anyway. I have to clean up your mess."

Jay nods, "Okay." and they face each other for a long moment before she shuts the door.

- This is one of those chapters I've had planned since about the beginning, and I'm so glad I was finally able to write it. It's just so sad, and I love it.