A/N: Yay, an update in less than a week! It's not long; it's sort of a part 2 to the previous chapter, picking up right where it left off. I love how you guys are loyal to this story no matter what, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks everyone!

EXPRESSING MY LOVE

- 6 -

It Only Takes a Minute

There had been so many of the so-called flashes between Logan and Kendall, and each one had been bigger and more meaningful than the one before it, but they all culminated in one big, passionate flash as the two young men stood sandwiched between the bathroom door and sink.

"Kiss me," Logan gasped. "Kiss me again."

And so Kendall did, and their mouths were once again joined in a pit of wanting. All of the pent-up insecurities and anxieties that they both had been facing ever since their first meeting were now released into the air like turtle doves, where they flew high amongst the clouds. Kendall had control of the kiss, biting and nibbling at Logan's taut lips and moving his tongue over the flesh bridge that connected their bodies as they were both getting intoxicated from the faint taste of whiskey that still hung around. Down below, Logan's hands no longer needed Kendall's guidance as they swept over his torso by their own volition. They came to a rest with the palms flat against Kendall's bruised abdomen, the tiny little hairs that had been on his arms also being present there.

The passion and ecstasy reached their zenith, and Logan and Kendall slowly came down from the high. Gone were the attempts to look away from each other, for they couldn't break the eye contact even if they wanted to. Kendall's arms, which had tightened around Logan's waist, began to loosen, and Logan's hands withdrew from Kendall's body.

"Please...tell me you wanted that," Logan suddenly begged. "Tell me it wasn't a mistake."

"I wanted it," Kendall said, eager to please this boy who, for this very moment at least, was his. "It wasn't a mistake. It could never be."

Logan waited for his belief to sink in, and it did, and he nodded, still unable to break free from the hypnotic spell they were both under.

"Why didn't you tell me something?" Logan asked, his bearings easing their way back to him.

"I don't know," Kendall answered, his slight confusion causing him to look to the side and down. "I was scared," he then said, facing Logan eye-to-eye again.

"No, you don't have to be scared," Logan told him with compassion, and he pulled Kendall closer, their mouths almost touching again. "Not anymore," he whispered, and they shared their third kiss. It didn't last as long as the others, but within its short length rest just as much emotion and power.

"We should talk," Kendall said.

Logan nodded, and they forced themselves to leave the comfort of their snug position. While Kendall put his shirt back on, Logan put away the first aid supplies. They turned off the lights, and Logan led the way as they ventured down the short hallway, pass Kendall's closed bedroom door, and into the living room/kitchen area. Walking allowed them to regain their senses and to fully process what had just taken place.

Once they were in the living room, Logan stopped, and he spun around, staring at Kendall as if he was an endangered species.

"What?" Kendall asked, reaching for the bandages that were on his forehead.

"You're still here," Logan replied. "You haven't kicked me out yet..."

"Why would I do that?" Kendall wondered, ready to take this boy who was his back into his arms.

"Because!" Logan exclaimed. "I just...I just violated your manhood! I just made you do something that you didn't want to do, and I...I just-"

"No, you didn't! I swear, you didn't."

There was not an inch of Kendall's face that didn't show how honest he was, and still, it bewildered Logan. He does want me to stay. He's not mad.

"Come on, sit down," Kendall suggested, and they found their previous roles reversed. Whereas Logan had helped the wounded Kendall into the trailer and into the bathroom and tended to him, it was now Kendall who helped Logan sit on the sofa. Logan rest his elbows on his knees, rubbing his temples as it all sank in.

"We didn't do nothin' that I didn't want to do," Kendall softly twanged in his ear. "I think you already know that, though."

Logan started to nod, a smile coming across his face as he turned to Kendall. "I didn't think it was true at first. I thought it was impossible, really. I mean, you really don't expect a guy like you to be...well, you know."

"Yeah..."

"I, um...I started wondering yesterday, when you kept talking about me finding someone in this town."

Kendall blushed a little. "That was stupid of me, and I'm sorry."

"No! It wasn't!" Logan assured him, and he almost put a hand on Kendall's thigh, but some force of self-control and uncertainty stopped him. "I just wish you would have told me something. I mean...how did you even find out that I'm gay?" That word stung just a little bit, only because, even after their kiss and Kendall's honesty, there was still just a tiny portion of residual fear in Logan.

Kendall gulped. "I kinda wondered about it at first...not for any real reason, just...well, I guess you could say I was kinda hopin' you was. And then...Thursday night. I, um...that message you got from your ex-boyfriend..."

"You read it?!" Logan accused, his eyebrows scrunching together.

"No! No, I swear I didn't! I only looked at it for a second on account of I thought it was my phone, not yours, but when I remembered, I...well, I didn't even touch it! I just...looked at it enough to see the name. Ethan. And then I remembered what you'd said about keeping 'my love' by his name, and...well...I just put it all together."

Logan connected the dots in his own head and realized it was a plausible story. "But why didn't you say something?" he asked, echoing the first time he'd asked the question back in the bathroom.

"I told you already," Kendall replied, getting a little afraid of the way Logan was reacting. "I was scared."

"Scared of what?" Logan interrogated impatiently.

"I don't know, okay?" Kendall said defensively, but he knew. "I just don't know."

But it wasn't hard for Logan to figure out, or so he thought. He just shook his head, saying, "You're scared of people finding out about you and what they would say."

"No!" Kendall denied. "That has nothin' to do with it. I don't give a damn 'bout what anybody says 'bout me."

"Then what are you scared of?"

"I'm scared of you, okay?" Kendall finally admitted, getting up from the sofa and pacing around the living room, looking at Logan every time he addressed him. "We talked about it today. You're different. You're different from everybody in this town...includin' me. You live in a big ol' city, and you can probably get anybody that you wanted, and you're even still gettin' messages from that Ethan fella. If I told you that I thought you was cute 'n sweet 'n that I was interested in gettin' to know you better, what woulda been the point? Huh?"

You're interested in me? Logan thought in the intervening silence. He again went to rubbing his temples as Kendall stood panting with his hands on his hips, both of them feeling their aggression turning into understanding.

"Did you ever think," Logan began, wetting his lips (and tasting Kendall in the process), "that maybe I was interested in you?"

"Heh," Kendall chuckled. "You're not interested in me."

"That's not true!" Logan expressed. "Look, I know it's only been a week and that it's really no time at all, but from the second I met you, you've been...you've been runnin' around in my head. Maybe it was the fact that you paid for my breakfast, maybe it was the fact that you changed my tire...hell, maybe it's because I think you're cute, too. Whatever it is, it's had me thinking about you, and this whole time, I've been telling myself that A, it's stupid for me to be hung up on someone I barely know, and B, it's stupid for me to think that anything could ever happen between us."

"And now somethin' has happened between us."

"Yes," Logan said, his high-speed speech slowing down upon recollection of the feeling of his hands on Kendall's body, his mouth on Kendall's mouth. "And I liked it," he added, with his eyes on Kendall's eyes. "It's crazy, but I liked it."

"It's not crazy," Kendall said, squatting down in front of Logan. He tried to continue his thought, but then, "Okay, yeah, it is crazy. It is. But what's wrong with that? You've been runnin' 'round in my head, too, and...well, I like it, too. I don't want it to stop."

Suddenly, Logan's face went real serious, and he looked right into Kendall's eyes. "Do you mean it?"

"Yes! I do!"

Logan started shaking his head. "If we're gonna go any further with this - whatever this is - I have to believe you mean it."

"I mean it!" Kendall exclaimed. "I don't know what else you want me to say."

Logan placed his hands on his face and breathed as a pang of remembrance shot through him, conjuring up memories of a not-so-distant past, of a not-so-healed heartbreak. This scene with Kendall was playing out around him now, but it was like a movie remake, for he'd felt these things before, and he'd heard those words before as spoken by another actor. The memories made him cling to himself, depending only upon himself for affection, but Kendall was soon sitting next to him on the sofa again, and though he was unsure of himself at first, he put his arm around Logan's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he quietly apologized. "I shoulda told you somethin' the second I knew 'bout you."

"No, it's not your fault," Logan said, removing his face from his hands. Kendall nodded, making himself accept that it wasn't his fault, and they sat like that in silence for almost a full minute, both making amends with the mild tempers they'd just displayed.

Kendall held Logan close to him, and Logan absently placed a hand on his thigh. The touch sent a shockwave through Kendall's body, and it made it all feel so real to him. I'm holding a guy in my arms.

"You're the first boy I ever kissed," he said smoothly, though there was a contained excitement and relief right beneath the surface of the words he spoke, "or ever did anything with. Lord knows I been thinkin' 'bout it for a while, least since I was goin' to Autumn Junior High. Just never had anybody to try anything with."

Logan turned and looked at him, the compassion and the sympathy oozing from his pores and smothering Kendall, but the apprehension born from the past trying to squeeze through. "You wanted to experiment. What happened in the bathroom was heat of the moment," he decided.

"Maybe," Kendall considered. "But it was what I felt in that moment...and I think you felt it, too." He paused, regarding Logan's eyes and knowing that yes, they both had felt it, just like the both of them had felt everything together in the previous few days.

"It is crazy, and it ain't been any time at all," Kendall continued. "And you know, maybe this ain't gonna amount to anything in the long run, but...well...all I know is that I like what I know about you so far, and I wanna get to know more. That's all I'm askin' for. I ain't askin' you to feel sorry for me or to pity me or anything, I'm just askin' you to be my friend. And then we can see where it goes."

Logan started to nod, and the tension that had consumed him released itself. He patted Kendall's thigh. "I'd like that. I'd like it a lot."

"Good, then. 'Cause I like you a lot."

Logan eased out of the warm embrace, and looked at his watch. Well, he certainly hadn't imagined that the night would end this way. Of course, he'd hoped that something would finally give between Kendall and himself, but he had figured he would have been much cooler about it. Memories of a past he wasn't quite ready to talk about loomed, though, and as much as he could wrap himself up in the fantasy of being with a tough, blue collar farm boy, his guard was up.

"It's getting late," he said, and at about 11:20pm, this was an accurate statement for a Saturday night in Autumn.

Kendall wanted so much to protest, just so that he and Logan could continue to explore each other - emotionally...physically? - but he knew better than to be forceful. He let Logan stand and followed him to the door.

"You should be fine," Logan prognosed in regards to Kendall's injuries. "Just keep the wounds covered and clean. Change the bandages when you wake up in the morning and again tomorrow night. Take it easy."

"I will," Kendall promised to Logan's back. "Um...I wanna see you again."

Logan hit one beat - He wants to see me again. - and turned around with a smile. "I want to see you again, too."

"Come 'round some time, then," Kendall told him.

Logan nodded, and Kendall nodded, and soon Logan was out the door. Kendall stood on the porch and watched him until he got into his Mustang and drove away, and then he went back inside, where he would lie down for his night's rest, tossing and turning all the way through as he contemplated things to come.