Chapter17

Carlos took off his helmet and put it in his hands. He nervously played with the straps, staring at the ground. Here he was, alone in a room with Logan. He was so excited yet so scared. He couldn't even hear Kendall and James's conversation outside the door through his beating heart. He didn't know what to say.

"Hey Logie." Carlo looked back up and gave Logan a weak smile. Logan just stared back with those dark brown eyes, as if he were trying to look over every single part of the Latino's body.

"What's wrong, Logan?" Carlos asked quietly, noticing something strange in Logan's eyes. It was like he was angry and sad and confused all at the same time.

"Are you serious? I'm in a hospital bed and all you can say is 'What's wrong'?" Logan's voice rose louder and louder. Carlos blinked, feeling taken aback. Logan never snapped at anyone, especially not his friends.

"I'm sorry, Logan, I didn't mean-" Suddenly, Logan made this strange sound in his throat.

"I hate you." Logan stated simply, still staring at Carlos. Carlos felt his heart break in half. Logan hated him?

"W-what?"

Logan smirked. "I hate you. Simple as that. This is all your fault, you know that., right?"

Before Carlos could open his mouth, Logan continued. "If you weren't stupid enough to dare me to go into that cave, Carlos… I'd be fine, Carlos. I'd be happy right now."

Carlos bit his lip and looked down. Logan was just stating what he'd been thinking about the past few days. This was his fault. He had hoped that Logan would forgive him, but now, Logan obviously wasn't doing any forgiving any time soon.

"All you are is a stupid idiot. All you care about is yourself, Carlos. You did that all for entertainment, and you didn't care about me at all. I'm just saying, Carlos, that no one cares about you. I don't, Kendall doesn't, James doesn't, and no one else does."

Carlos blinked back the tears in his eyes. "No, they care about me." He protested, feeling his throat clog up.

Logan laughed. A cruel, mocking laugh. "No, they don't. The only reason I was ever friends with you was because Kendall and James were. The only reason Kendall and James ever seemed like they cared about you was because they're good actors. They felt bad for a worthless idiot like you, Carlos."

Tears streamed down Carlos's face when Logan finally finished talking. He knew Logan wasn't Logan anymore, but he couldn't help thinking that what he said was true. No one cared about him at all. They all felt bad for him and faked caring about him. He sniffled and started to exit the room. He couldn't just stand and listen to Logan tell him the horrible truth.

"You're such a crybaby, Carlos." Logan said in a high-pitched mocking tone. Carlos sniffled twice, and started running out of the room. Right when he opened the door, he crashed into Kendall and James, who looked worried.

"What did you do to him?" Kendall glared at Logan, who didn't even look affected by what was happening.

"Logan, what happened to you?" Kendall asked once more. He and James pulled Carlos out of the room, and into one of the chairs outside the door.

"Carlos, what did he say?" James asked gently, already knowing that it wasn't good. What Logan had said to Kendall was hurtful, and what he'd said to James hurt him, too. But Carlos was so sensitive, so gullible. He'd believe everything Logan told him.

"No one cares about me." Carlos whimpered, sniffling and wiping his face with the sleeve of his white and brown shirt.

James winced. "That's not true, buddy. Kendall and I care about you." James told Carlos, trying to get his youngest friend to stop crying.

"But you're o-only ac-acting." Carlos sobbed into James's shirt. For once, James didn't care. How dare Logan say that? First he called Kendall a bad leader, then he called James ugly, and now he told Carlos that James and Kendall weren't even his real friends? This wasn't the Logan he used to know. James hated Logan now.

"Buddy, we care about you. And I promise you, we're not acting. I promise, Carlos. We love you more than anything in this hospital." Kendall assured Carlos. The Latino looked up, his eyes red and puffy.

"R-really?" He squeaked, and Kendall and James smiled back at him.

"Definitely." The two said together.

Carlos sniffled and then smiled. "I love you guys." He said softly, leaning on James's shoulder and quickly falling asleep.

"Well, that takes care of everyone, doesn't it?" Kendall laughed at James's statement. With nothing else to do, Kendall and James quickly fell asleep, too.

Line line line line

Kendall woke up when his phone started ringing insanely loud. He groaned, and prevented himself from falling off of the chair he was sitting on. James and Carlos were startled awake, too, and Kendall wondered who might be calling.

"Dog!" Kendall winced at Gustavo's harsh voice, leaning away from the phone.

"Sup, Gus?" Kendall retorted, smirking.

"I told you not to call me that!" Gustavo yelled into the phone. Kendall heard Kelly saying something that sounded pretty important. Gustavo sighed and stopped arguing with Kendall.

"Dog, Kelly, Griffin, and I were thinking that since Logan isn't getting better anytime soon…" He sighed. "... we're gonna have to hire someone new for the time being." He concluded.

"WHAT?" Kendall yelled into the phone, possibly even louder than Gustavo had before.

"We're getting a new dog, Dog." Gustavo repeated, sounding satisfied. Kendall sucked in a deep breath.

"Gustavo, wait for a minute, k?" Kendall stopped talking to the phone and turned to James and Carlos.

"Now what?" James asked, him and Carlos knowing about the situation from Gustavo's loud noise already.

Kendall looked up and thought about it. "Well… Logan really isn't getting better anytime soon…. And he hasbeen pr-etty mean to us the past few days…" Kendall trailed off, letting the thought linger in the air.

James knew Logan's behavior wasn't acceptable. Logan shouldn't be like that. He had hurt all of them, and James wasn't going to forgive Logan anytime soon. Maybe this was how they could move on for awhile. Maybe this could take their minds off of Logan as he… healed.

"I think we should do it." James stated. Kendall nodded, and Carlos just looked confused.

"But… we're just leaving Logie behind?" He asked softly.

"Not exactly. When Logan's back to, um, normal, and he's out of the hospital, then he can rejoin the band. The fans need us, Carlitos. We can't let them down." Kendall explained. Carlos looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, if Logie's gonna come back, then I guess… okay." Kendall and James glanced at each other and smiled. At least things were going well with the band, right?

"Gustavo? Ya there?" There was a pause. Gustavo said something muffled on the other side.

Kendall took a deep breath. "Bring it, Gustavo."

A/N-So,plottwistthere,eh?Andtheboys' bemeetingsomeonenewnextchapter!I'vealreadygottenanamefortheguy… it'llbeweird….ButIthinkyou'llkindalikehim.

ILOVEallthereviews,seriously!Pleasereview?

Peace, Love, and GIRAFFES!

Anonymous Skrtle