Sorry this is a day late, I lost my usb yesterday, where all of this is conveniently stored.
Anyway, I do have few things to make note of before I let you wonderful people read this chapter and those things are:
1) I apologise for this chapter being a bit shorter, this was more for plot development I guess
2) Please, please, please take note of the novel exerts, they actually are important to a degree (I also don't own Carrie, that's all Stephen King. I wish I could write like that.)
3) Next chapter shall be a Kendall chapter! Anyone excited? I am! He is villainous for a reason, but that shall be revealed later!
4) Oh, and if you guys are interested I posted a new story, called Fragments, its a mystery but focuses on Logan's relationship with Carlos and others, tell me what you think :)
Now, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Seven
"Hey mum, Logan's going to stay for dinner!"
Logan trailed in behind Carlos as the two boys entered the house, Sylvia's voice ringing out in a singsong tone.
"Okay, I'll call you when it's on the table!"
Carlos turned and grinned at Logan before leading him into a room that was left off the hall.
"This is the den" said Carlos, gesturing to the room at large with his arms, "did you maybe want to watch a movie?"
When he didn't receive an answer Carlos turned to find Logan staring with wide eyes before a bookshelf stuffed with worn paperbacks.
"They're my mum's" Carlos said, "you like reading don't you?"
Without turning around Logan simply nodded, eyes gazing up at the spines of each book.
"She has everything" Logan breathed, "To Kill a Mockingbird, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Castle Dor, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Pride and Prejudice and Emma…" Logan trailed off, lapsing back into silent marvel.
"You know," began Carlos treading towards Logan, "mum has read all of them, if you want she wouldn't mind if you borrowed one."
Logan spun, face illuminated with a smile.
"Really? Are you sure?"
Carlos, smiling himself nodded at the brunette, who was now looking ecstatic. In only a matter of seconds Logan had slid a book from its place on the shelf and thrown himself down on the couch, opening it eagerly.
"Are you seriously going to read it now?" Asked Carlos, coming to take a seat next to him.
Logan looked up from the yellowed pages, giving him wide eyes, "it's Carrie, I lost my own copy and I never got to finish it, I can read it out loud it you'd like?"
Carlos shrugged his shoulders, "sure why not?"
With a wide smile the brunette's eyes flicked back to the book as he began to read out.
"When the buckets fell, she was at first only aware of a loud, metallic clang cutting through the music, and then she was deluged in warmth and wetness. She closed her eyes instinctively. There was a grunt from beside her, and in the part of her mind that had come so recently awake, she sensed brief pain.
(Tommy)"
"Wait," Carlos interrupted, holding up a finger, "what's going on?"
Logan pursed his lips, mulling it over for a time.
"Don't worry about it" he finally decided, "just enjoy the story."
Carlos raised an eyebrow but let Logan continue his reading, enjoying the sound of the brunette's voice.
"The music came to a crashing, discordant halt, a few voices hanging on after it like broken strings, and in the sudden deadness of anticipation, filling the gap between event and realization, like doom, she heard someone say quite clearly:
'My God, that's blood.'
A moment later, as if to ram the truth of it home, to make it utterly and exactly clear, someone screamed.
Carrie sat with her eyes closed and felt the black bulge of terror rising in her mind. Momma had been right, after all. They had taken her again, gulled her again, made her the butt again. The horror of it should have been monotonous, but it was not; they had gotten her up here, up here in front of the whole school, and had repeated the shower-room scene only the voice had said
(my god that's blood)
something too awful to be contemplated. If she opened her eyes and it was true, oh, what then?
What then?"
Logan stopped reading and looked up at Carlos, who managed a forced and queasy smile.
"That was, um, certainly graphic…." Carlos smiled again, "yeah, graphic…"
"Boy's dinner!"
Carlos jumped up from his place on the sofa and grabbed Logan's hand,
the smile coming to his face naturally now, Logan himself smiling at the feeling of the Latino's hand against his own, a feeling he could certainly get used to.
Dinner was a casual affair in the Garcia house, Logan soon realised as banter between Carlos and his mother began the moment the three of them took their seats.
"So Logan, how long have you and Carlos been friends for?"
Logan gave Carlos a sideways glance before answering, somewhat meekly.
"Well I guess we've been friends since, well, today…"
"Really?" asked Sylvia with genuine surprise, "you two seem awfully close though."
"What do you mean?" Asked Carlos, "you haven't seen us since we got here."
She answered his question with a wink.
"A mother always knows my dear Carlos, a mother always knows."
The Latino sat back in his chair was a light blush, staring down at his plate of massacred food to let Sylvia continue her interrogation.
"How do you perform at school Logan? My Carlos here isn't overly fond of school, he gets distracted quite easily."
Logan allowed a small laugh at the Latino's expense before answering, "I do well enough, nothing special though."
"That's not true!" Interjected Carlos, "Logan is like the smartest kid in the entire school, he knows everything about everything, his lowest score on a test is like ninety five precent!"
"Carlos, don't be ridiculous, I'm not that smart…"
"But you are!" Insisted Carlos, "you're the smartest person I've ever met!"
Logan didn't reply only smiling shyly at the Latino's insistences.
"Well I could sit here and listen to you two bicker all night but I have paperwork that needs doing so if its alright I'll leave you two to clean up?"
"Yeah, that's fine, me and Logan will clean up."
"Thank you" Sylvia said with a friendly smile before departing the room.
"You done?" Carlos asked, looking at Logan for an answer. The brunette nodded and the two stood, collecting dishes and carrying them into the kitchen.
Logan had no idea what had happened. He really didn't know how the situation at escalated to this point.
"I'm going to get you for that!" Threatened Carlos, glaring at him, "just you wait."
Before Logan could manage a retort a fistful of white, velvety bubbles was smothered into his face, causing him to splutter.
"Carlos!"
"What? I warned you!"
It had begun as only an accident. Logan had been washing up some of the dishes and accidently splashed Carlos with some of the bubbles, but Carlos, who seemed to find it funny, had retaliated by scooping a handful of bubbles from the sink and running them through Logan's hair. And now, five minutes later the two were almost covered in soapsuds, neither refusing to back down.
With a conniving grin Logan scooped a handful of water from the sink, flinging it in Carlos' direction, watching as it soaked through the thin cotton of the Latino's shirt.
"Logan!"
"What?" Logan answered, grabbing a dishtowel from the counter and heading towards Carlos to hand it to him, "I warned you!"
"Did not" retorted the Latino with a half-hearted glare.
The floor beneath Logan was slick with bubbles and water and as he took a step he lost his footing, sliding forward haphazardly. Leaning forward Logan overbalanced, stumbling as he rushed to meet the ground. Logan raised his arms to his face, eyes screwed shut tight, ready for impact but that impact never came, two firm hands had caught him. He struggled up into a standing position but still the hands held tight, Logan meeting Carlos' eyes with a blush.
"I know, I'm clumsy, sorry."
Carlos, with a gleam in his eyes pulled Logan to his chest, a laugh escaping from deep within him, "I think it's cute."
As muscled arms wrapped around the brunette's waist and held him tight it was all Logan could do to stay standing. Every muscle in his body had locked up, as if someone had turned the key and the cogs had stopped turning. Logan simply stood; slowly melting into the embrace he didn't dare question.
"Um, Carlos-"
Abruptly Carlos pulled away and turned to give him mother a sheepish grin, who was stood in the doorway, eyes wide.
"Yes mum?"
"I was just going to suggest that you take Logan home, its getting late, but if you two are busy…"
Sylvia spoke slowly, as if trying to comprehend the situation herself.
"No, no!" Answered Carlos, too quickly to be casual; he blushed a deep crimson, "yeah, I'll take him home."
The first leg of the drive was mostly silent, Logan flipping through the worn and wrinkled pages of the Carrie book lent to him.
"Sorry about earlier, I mean, it was a little random."
Logan didn't dare raise his eyes, staring down at the book as he replied,
"don't apologise, I had fun tonight."
"Really?"
The hope in his voice was almost heart wrenching and Logan couldn't help but look up with a timid smile,
"the most fun that I've had in a very long time."
"I feel the same."
The words jolted Logan, having heard them a million times before in his dreams but in a different context, he could only wish.
"Where the hell have you been!"
The words rung out from the kitchen, shattering Logan's positive demeanour like a stone would a mirror. He didn't answer, opting to creep up the stairs and hope his father didn't repeat the question.
"I said, where have you been?"
The words were fierce enough to splinter ice; Logan gulped.
"I-I was just at a f-friends, working on an assignment."
"Bull!"
With a quaking heart Logan dashed up the stairs as he heard the scraping sound of chair legs against the floor.
"Don't try and run from me you pathetic shit!"
Logan managed to reach his room, but not fast enough to lock the door behind him; his father was upon him before he could take a breath.
"Don't you lie to me, I know when you're lying!" He had Logan by the collar, shaking him fiercely.
Logan shook his head, eyes shut tightly against his father's sour breath.
"I'm n-not lying! I promise I'm not lying!"
The plea wasn't enough; the punch was so forceful, the brunette lost consciousness.
Logan awoke with a groan, he was in his room, it was dark, it was silent; his parents were sleeping. Tears were falling before Logan could force them back, opening that reservoir of raw emotional pain. He collapsed onto the bed, choking back a strangled sob.
In only a matter of moments the best night of his life had turned into one of the darkest. Never before had his father hurt him to such an extent. The pain was only a dull echo of what if must have been but Logan knew there'd be a large bruise there.
"Why?" He asked the silence around him as he let out another sob,
"why me? What did I do to deserve this?"
He could almost hear the darkness laughing back at him, mocking his pain, taking pleasure in his misery.
Carlos couldn't sleep, adrenalin still pumped through his veins.
The afternoon had been the best the Latino had ever experienced, the short time he'd spent with Logan easily one of the best moments of his life. Carlos, that afternoon had come to a somewhat welcome revelation as the two had been washing up. It was a revelation he was glad to have had. He liked Logan Mitchell; hell it wouldn't even be a stretch to say he loved Logan Mitchell.
The thought brought a giddy smile to his face; he found it funny that in such a short time he was so sure about what he felt but Carlos had never felt surer about anything in his life; he, for lack of better words, loved Logan Mitchell.
Yay, Carlos has feels!
I hope to have them together soon, because I'm starting to get impatient with myself...
Anyway, review and stuff, I'll love you for it!