Hi I didn't neglect this story for Untitled and Beauty and the Geek or anything psh. :P
Anyway I had half of this typed out so I finished it. :)
I wanted to fix something. I was working on my summer college apps for USC and NYU for the first half and I got confused LOL. Then when I started working on it again, I didn't catch the typo. Thanks Hipsterboot. It is set in LA though.
"I'm sorry," Carlos whispered. "It's just…"
"It's just what?" Logan asked.
"I was jealous."
Logan raised an eyebrow.
"Of what?"
Carlos grimaced and said, "Of you and Camille."
"What, why?"
Because I love you, you idiot, Carlos thought.
"Because… you found love and were taking the next step and I didn't have anything," Carlos said instead.
Logan sighed and pulled his friend into a hug, nuzzling his nose in the damp hair with affection.
"Carlos, you had your friends. You had me."
Logan released Carlos from his embrace and looked at him with caring eyes, corner of his lips lifted into a small smile.
"Yeah, for how long? Kendall and James had each other, and you were getting married. I was scared you wouldn't need me anymore."
Logan looked at Carlos like he was crazy.
"What? I wouldn't need my best friend anymore? Carlos I tried to reach out to you every single day for the past year and a half."
"I know." Carlos bit his lip.
"I thought you hated me. I thought I had said something or done something that wronged you."
Carlos shot an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry, Logan. I didn't know."
Logan was angry now.
"How could you not know? Carlos, you ignored me for five years!" Logan suddenly bursted, tears collecting at his eyes.
Carlos lunged forward and threw his arms around the married man, hugging him tightly. He kept repeating, "I know, I'm sorry" over and over again into Logan's ears. He wanted to tell Logan how he really felt, how that even though years had gone by, he still loved him more than a friend. But he didn't want to risk upsetting Logan further. He didn't want Logan to hate him.
Logan pried Carlos' arms off of him, sniffling and wiping his eyes.
"Logan, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me," Carlos whimpered.
"You know that I never could, Carlos. I never ever could stay mad at you," he mumbled. "No matter how hard I try to hate you, I can't bring myself to."
Carlos reached and entangled his fingers with Logan as a friendly gesture. He squeezed it and Logan squeezed back.
"You should stay for dinner," Logan suggested. "Camille's a great cook."
"No, I don't want to impose…"
"Don't be silly. Plus you owe me," he reminded, chuckling.
Carlos nodded.
"Alright, fine. I will, just for you."
Logan led Carlos downstairs still connected by their hands, and found Camille nowhere in sight. Hailey was in the living room on the floor coloring in her coloring book.
"Oh right, she's probably getting groceries," Logan remembered.
Carlos walked over to Hailey. She unfixed her eyes from her activity book and squealed when she saw him sit down next to her.
"Does Uncle Carlos want to color too?" she asked, handing him a pink crayon.
Carlos laughed and shook his head.
"No, it's fine. What are you coloring here?"
She explained to him that the coloring book was a story about a magic rainbow unicorn and a princess. Or something along the lines of that, Logan wasn't sure. He was too busy observing the developing bond between his best friend and his daughter. It was so cute he couldn't help but smile to himself as he watched Carlos read the story out loud to Hailey.
"I want to be the princess!" Hailey giggled.
Carlos fake-pouted.
"But I wanted to be the princess too! You can be the unicorn."
Hailey shook her head.
"No, Uncle Carlos looks more like a unicorn!"
Carlos pretended to think about it, finger on his chin as his eyeballs rolled upwards.
"Hm, Princess Hailey is right. I guess I'll be the unicorn."
She clapped and flipped the page. Logan walked up to the two and knelt to the floor.
"Hi, honey," Logan grinned, "Your unicorn and I need to chat. Can I borrow him?"
Carlos' let out a small laugh that sent questionable tingles down Logan's body. Hailey joyfully nodded.
"Thanks baby," Logan said, kissing her on her brunette head and ruffling her hair.
He pulled Carlos out of the living room and into the kitchen, closing the door behind them.
"Is this a unicorn-napping?" Carlos joshed, leaning on the island with a smug expression.
Logan gave him an eye-roll and stood across from him.
"Yes. Now Carlos, I never knew you were so good with kids!"
Carlos beamed at the compliment.
"I love kids. I hope I can have some of my own one day," he admitted.
"So have you been dating recently, or anything?" Logan curiously asked Carlos.
"No," he sighed. "I haven't found anyone that I really had chemistry with."
"Logan baby, food's here! I brought you—oh, hey Carlos."
Camille stood at the doorway with bags of take-out in her hands.
"I don't know you were gonna stay," Camille said, forcing a smile.
"Um, no, it's okay. I should probably go—"
"No, that's silly. How about we go out to eat?" Logan offered the Latino.
"But I brought food home," Camille snapped.
Logan held his hand up to his wife.
"Okay, calm down honey. I know you brought food and I appreciate it, but I really wanted to catch up with my best friend. Is that alright with you?"
"Look, it's probably better if I left so…" Carlos said, taking a step towards the doorway.
Logan pulled him back by the shoulder.
"No, Carlos. Come on, I miss you. Please?" Logan pleaded.
Carlos refused to meet Camille's piercing gaze, and so he stared at the ground as he answered, "Okay, fine."
Logan pumped his fist in the air and grabbed his coat and car keys.
"Let's go! Bye Hails, and bye Camille."
Camille gave an unenthusiastic wave as the two of them left the house and into the cold air of Los Angelos. They got into Logan's car and sped off onto the streets.
"So where do you want to go?" Logan asked Carlos over the rather loud hum of the car heater.
"Don't care. But are you sure we should do this? I mean, Camille doesn't seem like she wants me to go."
"What is up with you and Camille anyway? There's some weird hostility between you two," Logan noticed.
"I don't have any issues with her, but she evidently has issues with me. Don't ask me why, because I'm just as clueless as you."
"Well I don't care about what her issues are. You're my best friend, and nothing's going to change that."
Carlos' lips curled into a small smile as he looked out the window, staring at the blur of trees passing by. He was startled by Logan nudging him in the thigh.
"Hey, remember that pizza place we used to eat at a lot?" Logan reminisced, wearing a grin on his face. "Let's go there. We had some good times there, huh?"
Carlos agreed with a slight nod. He could distinctly remember the very first time him, Logan, Kendall, and James had eaten there. Logan had just won the National Science Quiz Bowl and in celebration, they were going to take him to Logan's favorite Italian restaurant. Carlos had forgotten to make reservations at the fancy restaurant, and so they couldn't get a table. After apologizing for the millionth time, he proposed that they ate at the pizza place next door. The other three didn't mind and so they walked into the unfamiliar pizza place and ordered a large pepperoni. The pizzeria became their designated hangout spot.
"We're here," a soft voice interrupted Carlos' flashback and the car stopped.
Carlos opened the door and stepped into the chilly air, admiring the flashing sign that read 'Pizza Pizzeria.' Creative name.
Logan guided Carlos into the restaurant and got them a table for two. The waiter led them to a nice, secluded booth.
"Thanks," Logan said, taking the menus from the young waiter's hands.
Carlos' heart warmed up, a large smile beginning to form. Logan was always so polite, so kind towards everyone. Logan was really the nicest person he has ever met. Not once did he get stay mad at Carlos, nor was he never there for him when he needed someone there. His friend looked up from his menu, an eyebrow lifted.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
Carlos immediately picked up his menu and opened it, focusing his attention on the pictures of different pizzas instead. Logan set his menu down and grabbed Carlos' out of his hand.
"Hey!" Carlos protested.
"Answer me! Why are you looking at me like that?" Logan laughed.
"I missed you, that's all. And you seem so different… so dad-ish now."
Logan handed back the menu he snatched.
"I am a dad."
"Things really can change in five years, huh?" Carlos murmured.
Logan sighed.
"It really can."
He fixed his eyes on the Latino and tugged at his jacket sleeve to capture Carlos' attention.
"So you know some stuff about me. What about you? What's new in your life?"
"What do you wanna know?" Carlos asked.
"Everything. Come on, you ditch me for five years. You must have something to tell me," Logan urged. "Anything you want. How's working for James? I don't know, you can talk about anything you want."
"Alright," Carlos chuckled. "Let me first start off by saying working for James can be quite a handful."
You'll find out Camille's problem in a while.
But I'm curious as to what you guys think... Why do you think Camille's acting like a little butthole? :)