A/N: Okay, it's gonna be a long authors note.
***Most important!*** Hooked will most likely NOT be updated next Saturday, and probably next Wednesday/Thursday. I have a lot of stuff going on this week and I know I won't be able to write, so sorry :/ But don't get crazy, cause the final epilogue will be posted more than likely soon after the next chapter. There is only one chapter left in the story, plust the epilogue! I know I have been on a strict updating schedule, so I do apologize, but I promise you the ending will be great.
As you know, my dear friend waterwicca is my inspiration for writing on here. Her story Past The Sorrow does indeed share many similarities with Hooked, and we are both well aware. I make sure to talk about anything that might seem too familiar too PTS with waterwicca and she okays everything I feel is too similar in the story. I want to give her a special author's shout out for all her help since November and all the wonderful things she has done for Hooked and for me. Send her message to show her the love :D
And here is yet another snippet from the wonderful Past The Sorrow:
"Read another one," Kendall's voice rang out brightly between fits of laughter from where he sat on top of the fence surrounding the backyard.
He had a large oak tree behind him to press his shoulders into so that he wouldn't fall, and his feet rested against the horizontal support beam of the wood. His long arms stretched out as he reached to the right to catch a ball that Logan threw, nearly sending him off of the fence, but he didn't seem to mind or notice. Logan sat on the ground a few yards away from him with his legs folded beneath his body. They both smiled and tossed the green ball back and forth, glancing occasionally at James, who was situated in a lawn chair at a picnic table on the patio with his ankles crossed on the tabletop and a magazine in his hands.
"Why do you want to hear more? This stuff is ridiculous," Logan giggled, despite his words, and leaned all the way back until his shoulders touched the ground when Kendall threw a fastball. He caught it with a heavy breath and then tossed it back to his friend at the top of the fence.
"Logie, you only think it's stupid because you're a virgin," James insisted teasingly, smirking as his eyes left the men's magazine in his lap and met those of the brunette on the ground.
"Whatever. Where do you even get these magazines, anyway?" Logan asked, chuckling as he tried to keep his focus on Kendall, who was grinning and faking him out by threatening to throw the ball twice before actually releasing it into the air.
"My dad leaves them on the coffee table," James responded with a nonchalant shrug, leaning further back in his chair so that the legs rose slightly off of the ground.
"Yeah, because that's exactly the type of thing you should leave out to entertain company," the smart boy replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes and gesturing to the magazine, which had a picture of a tan and scantily clad woman on the cover.
"I find it entertaining," Kendall commented randomly, smirking at Logan when he received a disapproving glare.
"What a coincidence. Me too! It's two against one, Logan. So, just listen and absorb the knowledge I'm offering you. This way, you'll be prepared when you finally decide to forget about your chastity," James teased him with a fake look of authority, which Logan chose to ignore while the tallest boy began reading from the article they had been perusing for the last few minutes as they waited for Carlos. "It says here that 'premature ejaculation can thwart a man's sex life. In a recent survey, nearly one third of all 18 to 29-year-old men say climaxing too early is a problem'… What a bunch of losers! Only inexperienced, nerdy virgins would bust before even getting to the best parts," James declared arrogantly, snickering as he turned the page of the magazine.
Kendall rolled his eyes at his friend's attitude and shared a knowing look with Logan as the brunette threw the ball up to him and addressed James. Carlos grinned softly, loving how healthy Kendall appeared compared to only a month earlier. He was engaging openly and smiling without seeming to be in emotional pain. Although he was relatively quiet, the Latino suspected it was only because a conversation between Logan and James could be as entertaining as any movie they've ever seen. Sometimes it was a comedy, and sometimes it was a drama, but, usually, it was a mixture of both.
"Premature ejaculation is not a laughing matter, James. It's in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It's a serious issue that people suffer from," Logan insisted sternly, taking on his role as future-doctor and already sounding sympathetic to an invisible patient. The pretty boy just gave him a smug smile and raised a sharp eyebrow at him.
"Oh, did I hit a soft spot?"
"Shove it, Diamond! It's not like you're perfect in every way," Logan seemed sure of himself as he turned his attention back to Kendall. He was ready to keep tossing the ball back and forth, but James wasn't going to let the conversation go.
"I've never gotten any complaints," James spoke without a single trace of humbleness.
"How would you know? You don't even stick around long enough to learn their last name, let alone what they'd rate your performance," Logan was snide as he commented on his friend's promiscuous behavior, but James' personality always stayed as bright as his smile.
"Doesn't matter. I already have the answer. I'm always a ten."
Before Logan could respond with another comeback, Carlos decided it was time to step in and stop hiding in the shadows. He was hoping that his own mood, which had been dampened by his discussion with his father, would liven up with the high energy surrounding him and the boys. He walked quickly across the lawn and sat down between Logan and James on the moist ground.
"What are you guys up to?" he asked, praying that he sounded more cheerful than he felt as he pretended to have no idea what they were discussing.
"Hopefully something else now that you're here," Logan sighed in exasperation, smiling thankfully at him before turning to catch the ball thrown by Kendall, who slumped his shoulders and softened his smirk.
"James was just teasing Logan," Kendall explained to Carlos shortly and then turned to Logan. "We know you're perfectly capable of satisfying your partner, Logie," Kendall spoke diplomatically, coming in between the rising tension with an easygoing smile of encouragement. His friend opened his mouth to thank him, but was cut off by James.
"You can't satisfy what doesn't exist," he declared in a sing-song voice, not even looking up from the magazine in his hands.
Carlos ducked right before Logan chucked the ball at James with all of his strength and then wore a smug expression as he watched him let out an unmanly squeal. He fell from his chair when the ball connected forcibly with his chest, and his ass hit the patio beneath him with a satisfying thud. Carlos giggled and watched James jump to his feet hastily, wiping the nonexistent dirt from his outfit almost as soon as he was upright.
"Nice!" Kendall announced his approval with a chuckle as he hopped off of the fence with a high amount of energy.
MAKE SURE YOU READ THIS. It's so worth it.
And without further ado, I present Hooked. I really feel that this chapter wraps some of the themes and ideas that are loosely bound in here, and I hope that you agree!
Chapter Thirty-One: Maybe We Should Try
James and Logan walked in silence to the large, central, bustling open area of the airport from the gate they had entered. Kim and Katie followed close behind them, the two boys nearly running out of the plane to get to the airport and see Kendall, needing the third side of their square to be alright. Kim had told them that Kendall was going be picking them up and then taking them right over to the hospital where Carlos was, and the boys understood that the faster they got there, the better it was. Luckily, Carlos' father had made the night, but it still didn't look good. It was nearly six in Minnesota, and the sun was beginning to turn the May sky a bit pinkish and orange.
James and Logan again had almost taken a vow of silence towards each other, not speaking out of some weird respect for the situation and each other, their minds full of what if's about Carlos, his father and their own problems here. They were about to lose another one of their parents, and after the death of Kendall's father, the boys didn't know what was possible. Sure, Carlos and his father weren't as close as Kendall and Kris, but what if that meant that he would regret all the times he didn't spend with his dad? Carlos could be filled with guilt and suffer from extreme regret his entire life and who knew how the bubbly, happy member of their group would take that? Carlos was still one of the most innocent boys that James and Logan had ever seen, and the fact that it could be taken away from him made their skin crawl.
"Do you see him?" Logan mumbled with a hoarse, unsure voice. He craned his neck around the busy airport, eyes scanning the seats for the mop of blonde hair he felt he hadn't seen in days. James sighed and hoisted his bag up more on his back, expecting Kendall to be there right front and center.
Then, as if the red sea was being parted, James saw an attractive blonde girl point to her and Logan as if she had just won a million dollar prize. James could see her big blue eyes from across the people that walked in front of her, a smile on her face. He cocked his head to the side, looking at her like he recognized her. The girl took a step forward and reached her hand out to the side of her, pulling a boy in her path.
It was Kendall.
"Logan," James said, hitting him with his hand. Logan turned around with confusion, and looked at the blonde girl and Kendall holding hands tightly, as they came up to them in a rush and myriad of emotions.
"I-is that…" Logan started off with wide brown eyes, almost not believing what he was seeing.
"Stella," James finished for him in a tight, whispery voice. As they approached the two boys standing in the airport, Kendall and Stella were breathing heavily with expressionless faces and sad, pouting eyes. Kendall immediately took his hand from Stella's and rested a hand on each of James and Logan's shoulders solemnly, his green eyes cast with a translucent tinge. It was as if he had forgotten Stella was there completely for a moment, and just focused on James and Logan, and that they had gotten here alright.
"Kendall, is this…her?" Logan said in a surprised voice, watching as Stella's face dropped with the 'her'. Logan immediately felt horrible for the words that had come out of his mouth, but he hadn't meant it that way at all. "I-I didn't mean it like t-that, I-I'm sorry," Logan said nervously, looking from Kendall, to Stella, to James and then back at Kendall, fearing that if he stared at the blonde too long that she would feel upset about his words. Stella smiled awkwardly and looked up at Kendall who seemed unaffected by all of this.
"Logan, James. This is Stella," Kendall said platonically, his mind obviously on other things right now. Stella nodded and Logan and James looked at her in awe, almost not believing she was real. It was like they could've painted her in their minds with all the spot on details Kendall had given them, from her eyes, to her smile, to her nose and hairline. It was all exactly like he had told them. They knew they had recognized her from somewhere.
"Kendall!" Katie exclaimed from behind the group, pushing past Logan and James to get to her big brother. Katie dropped her bag and immediately hugged Kendall's legs tightly, the boy trying his best to create a relaxed, safe environment for his little sister. Kendall leaned down to his legs, and grunted as he picked up Katie in his arms with a smile, kissing the side of her cheek.
"I missed you, Baby Sister," Kendall told her, the girl's brown eyes locking on the blonde girl to her right. Her eyes lit up and she had a confused face on, smiling at Stella with everything she had. She hadn't expected to see the blonde girl who had captured her brother's heart ever again, and her presence made Katie feel a bit safer than she had in a while.
"Kacey?" she asked softly, as Stella looked at Kendall with a chuckle, and then back at James and Logan. She obviously hadn't been filled on the details of Stella and Kendall's relationship.
"Hey, Katie," Stella said with a big smile, gently touching the girl's shoulder. "How are you?" she asked. Katie had obviously been crying a bit on the plane, especially since she had basically forced on her the fact that Mr. Garcia, someone who Katie had known her whole life, was dying. It was even worse that James and Logan weren't really talking and that Kim had been crying the whole flight, trying to unhinge her nerves with anything she could find.
"Okay. How are you? How are you here?" she asked the blonde curiously, as Kim appeared in the same path Katie had. Her weepy, red eyes were locked on Stella and Kendall, the entire group of six awkwardly confused and all asking questions in their heads. Kendall looked around at all of them with a sigh, knowing that while Carlos and his father were their main concern right now, the two Knights, Logan and James couldn't be more bewildered unto how Stella was back by Kendall's side again.
Kendall awkwardly dipped in his pocket for his car keys and took them out with a sympathetic smile, looking at all the faces he was so glad to see again.
"Why don't we just get home," Kendall told them with a nervous, shaky voice, not wanting to explain everything that had happened to him since being in Minnesota. Everyone else agreed silently, as they followed the boy and the blonde girl whose hands were tightly enclosed to the exit of the airport terminal, and out to the car, confused as they could possibly be.
Logan walked into his house, and the familiar smell immediately hit his nose, the delicious smell of his mother cooking his favorite meal, chicken noodle soup. Logan sighed and put his keys down on the table, closing the door and kicking his bag aside when he heard his mother's footsteps begin to come closer with anticipation and excitement.
The car ride home from the airport had been anything but settling. With seven people in the Knight's red mini-van, it felt more than cramped and not even space wise. The arrival of Stella at the airport had put everything in a glass jar sealed shut, creating the most awkward tension there possibly could be between all the people involved. Katie, who still knew Stella as Kacey, was the most talkative the entire trip home, speaking every few seconds or so. Luckily the trip from the terminal to central Duluth wasn't long. Kendall kept his eyes on the road the entire time, hands tightly on the wheel as Stella sat next to him, trying her best to disappear from the view of Kendall's friends and family. From the moment she had looked at them in the airport, things began to sufficiently awkward. It was if the boy was ashamed she was there, and Stella felt it. But then why did he bring her? Logan and James just exchanged looks the entire time, wanting to talk about all of this but not having the heart, as Kim continued to wipe her tears with the tissue she had been holding onto the entire flight. Right now, it seemed as everything in their lives was pure chaos, and they had to deal with one thing at a time. Logan was luckily the first to be dropped off, and he bid a silent "see you in twenty minutes" to the rest of the car, knowing that he could only stay home for a short while and then jet right over to the hospital.
Finally, Logan saw his beautiful mother begin to come towards him with a smile of pure joy on her face, her dark hair surrounding her face messily, wearing sweat pants and socks with a button down shirt. She looked relaxed and at ease, and Logan noticed it. She looked happier than he had seen her in a while.
"My baby," Kelley said with a weary voice as she moved closer to him, extending her arms out with joy. Logan, not caring that his mother was treating him like a little kid immediately fell into her embrace with a smile and chuckle, standing the same height as her, nuzzling his face into her hair. Logan loved the feeling of his mother's arms around him, knowing he was safe, and that he was able to protect his family. Ever since he had left for Los Angeles, there was a helpless feeling in him that he wouldn't be able to keep her safe from how many miles away, but now as she reveled in her arms, Logan felt alright.
"Hey, mom," Logan whispered to her, hugging her frame tightly, making sure every ounce of pressure he hugged her with made up for the month that he was gone. Right now this was what he needed. When everything else didn't make sense in the world, his mother's arms were something Logan could come to for security and stability. Kelley chuckled as she took in the smell of her son, which was still the same. The clean, freshly showered, cottony smell of Logan that he'd had since the day Kelley and John had brought him home from the hospital.
"I missed you," Kelley told him, not ready just to let go yet. Logan laughed, and squeezed his mother one last time before letting her go, seeing her eyes begin to get a bit glassy.
"I missed you too," Logan told her with a big a smile, the first time the boy had remembered being genuinely happy for a while. Kelley sighed and looked up and down her son, biting her lower lip in excitement.
"Look at you, Logan. You look all grown up," Kelley told him with an excited chuckle, her eyes shining in glory and happiness.
"Ma, I was only gone a month," Logan told her, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He sighed and looked in her eyes, as she touched his shoulder lovingly. It was as if suddenly the realization to why Logan was here in the first place came back, crashing on the mother-son pair like a tidal wave.
"Are you…alright?" Kelley asked her son. Logan took a deep sigh and looked at her sadly, not knowing how to answer the question. His best friend's father was dying, and it didn't make it any better that he wasn't talking to his own father, who was still alive and well.
"I guess. Things are just kinda…sucky right now," he told her honestly, his eyes small and weak, looking at his mother helplessly. "I just wish I was back here on better terms," Logan told her upset, nodding his head slowly. Kelley reached out to hug him again, her fingers touching his black hair gently and soothingly, her son melting into her soft caress.
"I know, me too. But we're all gonna be there for Carlos and his mom," Kelley told him gently, hearing Logan's soft, slowed breaths in her ear whenever she spoke. "And you boys are going to help him get through this, alright?" she told him with a smile, parting from him and touching the soft stubble on his chin tenderly. He nodded and leaned down to fasten his bag in his hand, ready to go back upstairs to his room and unpack for the night.
"Put that down Logan Mitchell, don't you dare think you are going upstairs in that room to unpack," Kelley told him softly taking the bag from him roughly and putting it back down on the floor with a slam, rattling some of the figurines in the china closet next to the front door.
She did her best to try to change the mood from one of somberness to cheerfulness and excitement. Her son had been through enough the past few months, he didn't need anything else to draw him out, especially seeing as he was home, back in his own house for a few days. Logan gave his mother a raised eyebrow as she took his hand and brought him to the kitchen, sitting him down in his chair as he chuckled totally confused by his mother's sudden anticipation. Logan looked down at the place setting in front of him, as his mother went over to the stove. Kelley took the big pot of soup with two hands and placed it on the big hot plate in the middle of the table silently with a smile, as she nervously set it down, and instantly began to ladle it into Logan's bowl. Logan had never seen his mother so anxious to take care of him before, and he figured it was because she had been the only one in the house the past month. He had noticed how much freer and happier she seemed without the shackles of a deadbeat husband beating her to death. It was like Kelley was no longer in the plastic Barbie doll box of being a high school sweetheart, and a mother to a perfect, straight A son. Quite frankly, at this point, Logan though she might enjoy hearing that he had done something spontaneous…or illegal.
"T-thanks, mom," Logan said unsurely and confused, looking up at how each second of the woman's journey seemed to be planned out, going from the stove, to the table, taking Logan's glass, filling it with lemonade and then bringing it back before sitting down next to him, a bit out of breath. It was like she had practiced the routine, trying to get it spot on for when he arrived home. "I'm—a little scared, but thanks," he chuckled, taking a long drink of lemonade before setting it down next to his bowl. Kelley sighed and smiled, as if she had something on the tip of her tongue that she wanted to talk about, something Logan had no idea of. "Whyyyy are you…looking at me…like that?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow, picking up his spoon and beginning to divulge into the soup.
"A little birdie told me something," Kelley said to him with a sly smile, the wrinkles at the corner of her mouth and under her eyes showing with glee, as she reached her hand out to hit Logan's playfully, as if she was a teenage girl again. Logan looked at her confused and took another helping of soup, instantly feeling the warmth from his mother's home cooking coat his entire body.
"W-what are you talking about?" he asked her confused.
"I think her name was…Camille?" Kelley told him. Logan's eyes got wide, and he slowly lowered his spoon down into his soup, his face already beginning to turn red, his insides burning. How the hell did she know about Camille?
"H-how do you know about that?" he asked her, logically realizing that lying and denying he knew anything about his brunette sweetheart would only give him time to stall whatever he really had to tell her.
"Kim may have mentioned her to me," Kelley laughed at him, watching at how closed and uncomfortable her son grew with the mention of the girl's name. Logan quietly went back to eating his soup, wondering the barrage of questions his mother was going to ask about her.
"Oh," he said softly.
"Tell me about her, Logan," Kelley encouraged the boy with a smile, hoping that he would open up a bit. Logan had never been one to really hang out with the girls and truthfully, Kelley didn't know anything about her son's history with them…since there really was one. She had no idea if Logan had had his first kiss yet, or how far he had gotten with a girl. Those were things that only her husband knew, and John had never been one to blab out secrets. "What's she like?" she asked him.
Logan sighed and looked up at her with a sad, embarrassed and tired face. "Mom, do we have to do this right now? I gotta get back to the hospital, and unpack…can't we talk later?" he begged her with a sad look on his face, wanting to avoid the topic of Camille at all costs. As much as the brunette made him smile every day he had known her, the idea of talking to his mom about the girl who had given Logan quite a few interesting nights made him a bit uncomfortable.
"Oh come on, I just wanna know what she is like, Logan. You've never had a girlfriend before, she must be special," Kelley told him. Logan looked up at her with dark chocolate eyes and sighed, a bit annoyed at her phrasing.
"Are you saying that she's special because she's stupid enough to go out with me?" Logan asked her with a sigh. Kelley looked a bit confused and shook her head no, wondering why Logan had taken her out of context.
"No, not at all. She's lucky to have you. Look at you," Kelley told him with a bright smile. Logan blushed a bit, and took another mouthful of soup, twisting the glass of lemonade in his hand awkwardly as his mother sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get any answers from him. "Okay, fine. Never mind," Kelley said sitting back in the chair and crossing her legs. "All I wanted to know was if my little boy was falling in love," she joked out. Logan looked at her with wide eyes and let out a small, nervous laugh of disbelief.
"W-what? Love? Mom, I'm barely sixteen!" Logan told her with wide, confused eyes. It wasn't like he and Camille would be another Kendall and Stella. Kelley looked at Logan with a raised eyebrow and a chuckle.
"And how old do you think I was when I met your father?" Kelley said to him, watching her son's face immediately change with the drop of his name. Things instantly got quiet between the two, as if Logan's anger silently filled the kitchen, becoming more and more abundant by the second. Kelley sighed and looked at him as he looked straight down in his bowl, wanting to forget that he almost ever had a father. "Logan, you can't ignore him forever, alright?" she told him. Logan looked up at her with a sigh, nodding his head, his eyebrows still perched oddly.
"I know. I won't. Just…just not now," he told her, as if he was shrugging off some household chore.
"I think now would be the perfect time, baby. Look at Carlos," she told him easily, as if she were trying to guilt trip him into talking to John. No other words needed to be said for Logan to understand what his mother was talking about, which was one of the best things about their relationship.
"I-I know, believe me I know," Logan said with wide eyes, nodding down at his half-filled bowl. "That's the first thing I thought about when we heard the news," he whispered out to her. "I wanted to call dad up so bad and tell him I love him, and that I wish things could go back to the way they were but…but I just…I can't, mom," he said, closing his eyes with a sigh, and licking his lips. "When he called last time, I-I freaked out on him," he told her, even though Logan knew his mother had been there to witness it. "He was talking about visiting, and how he was proud of me, and it just…he made everything seem like it was alright. Like I had already forgiven him, and it—it just made me so angry. It was like I had to convince myself that he didn't care, just so I could get angry at him," Logan told her with sad, heavy brown eyes. Kelley sighed, feeling the turmoil inside her son in the deepest chambers of heart, watching as he tone and mood took a complete downfall. "And I know he cares about me, I know he loves me," Logan said to her.
"He does, Logan. Your father loves you very much, and he knows what he did was wrong to you, wrong to me, and wrong to our family," Kelley said, gently rubbing her hand over her son's with tenderness. "But do you know why he did what he did?" she asked him. Logan looked up at her and nodded no, very curious unto where this big answer had suddenly come from when Logan had been rhetorically asking it for months. "It was because he was bored, baby. He was bored with his life, bored with living the same thing every day. It was wrong of him to go out and do whatever he did with that girl, but he was stuck in this life he couldn't live anymore," Kelley told her son, trying her best to explain it.
"B-but you don't even sound mad at him, mom. I mean, h-he cheated on you. He was with another woman, a-and it doesn't even seem to bother you," Logan told her with a confused sadistic laugh. Kelley sighed deeply, and closed her eyes.
"I had my suspicions, Logan. Your father kept secrets well, but he wasn't totally stealthy," she told him, biting her lower lip awkwardly. Logan's eyes got wide and he looked at his mother in awe.
"Y-you knew?" he asked her. Kelley sighed and shook her head no.
"No. I didn't know. I had an idea of, and that's not the point," she told him. "Your father hurt me, he hurt us, and there is no way that I would ever even consider taking him back, baby. We're going through with the divorce civilly, everything is going to be alright, because I accept it. Your father wasn't happy, and quite frankly, neither was I," she told him. Logan swallowed hard and looked down at his soup, and then back at his mother. It was like she revealing some big bombshell to him and expected a bigger reaction, but Logan already kind of figured that she wasn't happy, seeing what true happiness was the past few minutes as he walked into the house; his mother cooking him dinner in sweatpants with loose, untamed hair and a big smile across her face.
"But, I mean, you guys were a legacy. You went out for so long, you…you were so in love, and then…everything got ruined. You got hurt by someone who loved you, mom, someone who made you unhappy for so long," Logan told her with a deep, confused sigh, "and I don't know how I would ever be able to bounce back from something like that," he chuckled out in disbelief. Kelley moved closer to him and nodded, resting her hand on his knee, making sure his chocolate brown eyes were locked with hers.
"Listen to me, Logan," she started off firmly, preparing to give her son a life lesson. "I want you to fall in love someday, alright? I want you to meet a beautiful girl, and get married, and have lots of kids," she told him, the corners of her mouth moving up with the mention of grandkids, "and I want you to love with everything you have inside of you," she said proudly. Logan looked at her, trying to soak up her words as best as he could. "I don't want you to be skeptical about love just because of what happened between me and your father. That was one situation, and there are plenty of high school sweethearts out there who are eighty years old and still holding hands at the dinner table," Kelley joked out with a laugh. Logan gave her a small smile, but it soon faded as an immediate question began to jump into his mind.
"T-then what happened with you and dad?" Logan asked her.
"We didn't take risks, baby. We didn't try anything new, we didn't explore other options. We thought we were meant to be because we had been together so long…but we weren't," she said in a soft voice, causing Logan's head to scream Kendall and Stella. It was if it was the same situation that they were repeating, and Logan had no idea how Kendall was going to handle it. He just hoped he did it better than his mother. He didn't want his best friend to be miserable his whole life, and only find happiness within the release of a lover.
"Is anyone meant to be?" Logan asked her with a furrowed brow. Kelley shrugged.
"I don't know. I still think that even though me and your father didn't get the fairy tale ending we wanted, that we happened for a reason," she said. Logan looked up at her quizzically as she smiled down at him, running her fingers through the back of his black hair. He softened his eyes and bit his lower lip with a smile, looking down and then back up bashfully.
"Me?" he asked her. Kelley nodded and leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on his forehead.
"You're so smart, Logie," she told him. Logan nodded and studied his mother's eyes for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath.
"Mom, did Mrs. Knight ever tell you about…Kendall and Stella?" Logan asked her out of the blue, as if he were reciting the name of some age old love story that everyone should've heard of by now. It was like the two were a legend, at least to the people who knew the entire story. Kelley nodded a bit confused, knowing that Kim had told her something about Kendall and this girl that he had been seeing, but she really didn't know the details.
"Not much, but that's Kendall's…girlfriend, right? The one that he met on vacation?" she asked him unsure. Logan nodded, deciding to keep to the easy version of the story, not telling his mother about the sex, the lies, and the screaming that went on between the couple. He just wanted a basic opinion, nothing more.
"Well, they said they were in love after 3 days of meeting each other, and then a bunch of stuff happened, and…and Kendall is so adamant that she is the one for him, it's sick. He thinks that his father sent Stella to him, to let him know that everything is going to be alright, b-but I just…" Logan said half laughing, "it doesn't make sense. I mean, you and dad knew each other for so long before claiming that you were in love, and then Kendall goes off and does everything and anything for this girl he doesn't even know, a-and it just doesn't seem right!" he told her with a sigh, not knowing where to turn with his words. "It's just this big mess I don't understand," Logan told her sadly, getting it all off his chest. He'd never talked about Kendall and Stella to anyone but James and Carlos, but it was if his mother's story was screaming the same echoes as Kendall and his blonde lover. "I don't see how he could love her so quickly! His brain can't even capacitate love at such a young age, and he met her on a whim, a-and after all they've been through with fighting and whatever he is still just so stubborn in thinking that she is meant for him! It's not logical!" Logan told her with short breaths, the fire for intellectual meaning in his heart coming through his speech. He took a few deep breaths and slowed his speech down with a sigh. "How can any love even be real when a legacy love story like you and dad crumbles down in the worst way imaginable?" he told her in a short, whispery voice.
Kelley took a deep sigh, wanting to find the right words to explain things to her son the easiest way she possibly could. His eyes looked as if they had been pleading for answers for months, and Kelley instantly felt a pang of sorrow for him, and the feelings that must've been churning inside of him.
"I don't know what to say about Kendall and his girlfriend, Logan. Maybe Kendall loves her, maybe he doesn't love her," she told him sternly. "Like I said, you don't know how he feels about her, and you can't assume things. Love isn't logical, Logan. That's what's so great about it," she said with a small smile. Logan sighed and scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"It doesn't even matter if it's logical anymore, mom. That's why I didn't believe in Kendall's claims the first time around, but then after everything happened with you and dad, I just…I mean, how can love exist after two people have loved each other just…stop? I always thought love was supposed to be forever and now it's just as if it's not a promise. Like it's all a lie," Logan said furrowing his eyebrows, finally reaching the complete apex of his arguments all these months. It was if a door opened to Logan's thoughts, all logic pushed aside, and emotion breaking its way through into the smart boy's brain. Kelley looked at him adamantly, biting her lower lip.
"Love exists, Logie," she told him softly. "I will always love your father, just like Carlos' mother will always love his father, like James' mother will always love his father, and like Mrs. Knight will always love Kendall's father," she told him with a gentle smile, touching his hand comfortingly. "But sometimes love isn't strong enough to hold two people together. But the people who fit just right, and stay together until the end," she told him with a raised eyebrow and small smile, "those are the true examples of what love is all about."
Logan nodded and smiled to himself, looking down at the soup on the table that was half gone. He sighed and looked up at his mother smiling brightly knowing what he needed to do to fix this. He needed to clear his mind before going back to Los Angeles. He didn't want this guilt, this irrational feeling inside of them that ate him apart whenever he thought about his father. As much as he knew things would never go back to normal, Logan couldn't help but think this was anything but ordinary.
James sat down at his dining room table, anxiously playing with his phone in his hand, just waiting for it to vibrate. After not talking to Lianna for mostly the whole day, he had decided to text on the way over to his house from the airport, needing that comforting, "everything is going to be alright" from her that didn't suffice from Kim, or his own mother. It was if James was in the room totally alone, not even realizing that his mother right across from him, looking at his every move since he had walked in the door.
James had been greeted by an array of hugs, and kisses, his mother telling him how much she missed him and how much she loved him. James just stood there, happy and overjoyed to see his mother, but with too much on his mind to feel completely at ease. He only had a little while home, seeing as he and the boys were going to the hospital as soon as they possibly could to be there for Carlos. James had expected to go home, talk a few words with his mother, throw something down his throat and take off to be by his best friend's side. The entire situation dampened the lives of all the boys, since in essence, they felt like they were all losing a father all over again.
James sighed uneasily, looking down at his cell phone which was totally clear of messages, making the boy upset as to why Lianna hadn't responded. The fact that James was so dependent on only hearing a few words from her made him cringe on the outside, but he couldn't help it. For some reason, the only way that he was going to feel any better was to hear from the beautiful brunette who had unexpectedly captured his heart, and the more James thought about it, the more scared he got to fall any harder for her.
"Sweetie, what are you looking at?" Lucie asked her son, seeing the heart wrenching upset look on his face. James sighed and gently brought his hands to the table, letting his phone drop on it carelessly and upset.
"My phone," he told her with an upset groan, crossing his arms over his chest. Lucie gave him a sympathetic look and sighed, reaching out and touching his hand from across the table.
"Waiting for a text from Carlos?" Lucie asked him knowingly, the boy shooting up a look of surprise at her. At this point James almost wished he was waiting for a text from Carlos but he wasn't. He was waiting for the words from a girl to make him feel better, to let him know that he had someone to count on besides his friends. Someone who liked him because he was James Diamond, not because he was family, or best friends with since pre-k.
"No, someone else," James told her with a sigh, running his hands through his sleek chestnut locks, arching his head to the kitchen doorway, wondering when his ten-minute oven meal would be finished. Lucie of course had offered to cook James something and felt foolish that she had nothing prepared for him when he walked in the door, but she had been busy most of the day doing chores, doing grocery shopping among other things. James had opted for something quick anyway, seeing as he wanted to the hospital to be with Carlos as soon as he possibly could.
"Kendall, Logan?" Lucie asked with a chuckle, hoping to raise her son's spirits a little, knowing that he was down because of all the drama that was happening right now. James looked up at her and nodded no somberly, Lucie taken aback. She knew James had a bunch of other friends, but to be so adamant about receiving a text from someone that wasn't Carlos, Kendall or Logan made her a bit uneasy to who he was talking to. "Then who?" she asked him.
James sighed and looked in her eyes with a small half-smile, nodding his head as he stared at the phone with searing eyes. "Someone from L.A. A friend," he told her swallowing hard, not wanting to give his mom anything to swoon over him with. The word girlfriend was something James had barely ever used, and he knew the first mention of it his mother would completely berserk.
"A…girl?" she asked him with a suggestive smile, wondering if her boy had met a nice girl in Los Angeles. Lucie and James talked a lot on the phone, but anything to do with girls usually went right to Jason, seeing as how James' father had an understanding of where James' whole love life was, where Lucie probably still thought her boy was an innocent little virgin who liked to give girls pecks on the cheek.
"Yeah. A girl," James replied a bit bitterly, wanting to know why Lianna hadn't answered any of his text messages. He thought about perhaps texting her again, but decided against it, not wanting to bombard her any more than he already had. He didn't want to be one of those annoying boys that bothered their "girlfriends" every chance they got. James wasn't even Lianna's real boyfriend, and the fact that he was thinking of all of these things was just making him more and more reserved about making it official. The fact that he was waiting patiently for a text from a girl, and was upset about getting it was just messing with James head even more. Right now, he just wanted to pick up his phone and text Lianna that he was tired of waiting for her, and to never talk to him again.
"What's her name? What is she like?" Lucie asked her son animatedly, as James rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, his eyes narrowed on his phone with anger. It seemed as if just everything was pissing him off today, including his mother's questions about Lianna.
"Her name is Lianna. It's not important mom, she is just a friend, alright?" James told her with venom laced in his voice, Lucie picking up on it easily. She looked taken aback by her son's bitterness, and began to question it, wondering if she should probe him, knowing what a fragile state he was in right now.
"Brune, she doesn't sound like just a friend to me," Lucie told her son affectionately, trying her best not to gush and dwell on the fact that James had something special with a girl. James looked up at his mother with sad eyes, and bit his lower lip annoyed. He was being irrational, and he knew it. Lianna was probably busy eating dinner, or taking a shower, or at an audition and that's why she wasn't texting him back. But James needed something to set him off, something to push him away from her like it had all the other times. "Did something happen between the two of you?" she asked. James sighed annoyed and looked at her with upset.
"No. She's just a friend, alright? Just a friend. Nothing more. I don't even want a girlfriend," James told her angrily, fire beginning to blaze in his eyes. Lucie looked at him, furrowing her brow with upset and annoyance. "Can we not talk about this now? I have a hundred other things on my mind right now with Carlos and his father," James snapped at her angrily.
"You listen here James Kennedy Diamond. Don't you use that tone with me. I'm asking you a question," Lucie told him sternly, James looking at her with a confused expression on his face. His mom wanted to know what was going on, and she knew better than to believe James' side of the story. The way he stared at his phone, how his heart looked affected and the lack of sparkle in his eyes gave it all away. He didn't look heartbroken or miserable…just conflicted about something.
"I like her, okay? Does that answer your question?" he told her with a slight attitude in his voice, cracking at the apex of his phrase. "I like her, and I don't know what to do about it. It's messing everything up," James told his mother annoyed, puffing and crossing his arms across his chest. Lucie looked at her son with a smile and sighed, hating that he was conflicted and annoyed with himself but happy that it was something worthwhile to be upset about.
"What is it messing up?" Lucie asked curiously, not knowing if she understood her son's point. James sat more forward and shot his phone one final look before looking up at his mother, wondering how she could not understand his point.
"Everything! Look at me, mom! She's all I think about lately! I've never felt this way, and it's scaring me! I don't wanna be sitting here at the dinner table, wondering why she hasn't texted back, or being some desperate boyfriend who caters to his girlfriend's needs and that only. I'm independent, I'm gorgeous, I'm successful, and I don't want to ruin it with something like love!" James chuckled out annoyed, furrowing his brows and looking at his mother like she was stupid. How could she not understand all of this? James had been the one to tell her he didn't want love, and how he was so against it ruining his dreams. It wasn't as if he had some miraculous change over the course of his month in Los Angeles. "You know this about me, ma. I don't—I don't like love," James joked out ridiculously, picking up his phone and checking if there were any new text messages on his phone, finding out there were none. He slammed the phone back down and pulled at his hair, taking a large whiff of the nauseating dinner that was awaiting him in the oven.
Lucie did nothing but chuckle and smile, looking at her crazed son. "Listen to me, Brune," she said to him softly, locking her eyes on his. "You think you haven't changed, but you have. You just don't know it," Lucie said. James looked at his mother like she had two heads, not wanting to play games anymore. He sighed and slumped his shoulders annoyed, just wanting her to stop with her philosophical quotes and tell him straight out.
"Tell me how, mom. Please, enlighten me," he said agitated by this whole conversation, biting his lower lip in awkward annoyance.
"James, the fact that you even admitted to liking her is a change. The fact that you haven't completely pushed her away yet is a change. The fact that you can't stop thinking about her is a change. You think that you are going to push her away, but you won't," Lucie told him softly, looking into his eyes.
"And why is that?" he asked her.
Lucie sighed, hearing the ding of the oven, James' meal finally being finished. "You would've done it already," she told him, getting up from the table and waltzing into the kitchen. James sat up more erect in his chair, eyes following his mother as he looked down at his phone. He swallowed hard and sighed. It was true. It was all true. He would never be able to send that "get away from me text" that he thought he would want to send. Conversations with Lianna, spending time with her, and looking at her smile were things James enjoyed. He didn't want to have to throw that all away, just because he was scared of love. He didn't want to continue on this path of self-destruction, and wait till love found him when he was a forty year old actor, trying to make his way in Hollywood. He was only sixteen. He didn't have to fall in love with Lianna, but he didn't know if he would. It was all a game, some twisted form of fate that sank into James' mind as he thought of it. Maybe he was supposed to knock her into the pool that day, and maybe she was meant to push him back in. Maybe things in this world were meant to be.
Maybe Kendall Knight had been right.
James' thoughts were struck aside by a thunderous vibration of his phone against the table. He instantly picked it up and looked at the name, seeing Lianna's name pop up with a new text message. He opened it quickly, his eyes not being able to read it fast enough.
From: Lianna
Sorry, I fell asleep. You okay, babe?
James' smiled immediately spread across his face at the slightest hint at the nickname. Babe. He had never been called babe before, and actually found it quite fitting, seeing as he was very attractive. His fingers gently tapped the buttons of his phone, trying to come up with a response that matched that in any way possible. He wanted the smile that was on his face to pop up on Lianna's. He took a deep breath and bit his lower lip, typing back.
To: Lianna
Now I am :) So I'm a 'babe' now?
James pressed the send button, the words of comfort from his almost girlfriend flowing through his body, not even realizing that his mother had come back in the room, serving him the dinner he was about to partake it. Suddenly the oven macaroni and cheese seemed more delicious than anything James could've smelled as he looked up at his mom.
"I guess she texted back," Lucie told him, setting a glass down of soda next to him. James nodded up at her and looked back down at his phone, receiving another text from Lianna.
From: Lianna
Good. And only if you want to be? :)
James chuckled at the text and nodded, typing back quickly on his phone as his mother planted a kiss on his forehead and sighed, walking back into the kitchen with a smile on her face.
Carlos Garcia sat in the waiting room alone, looking around at all the sad, upset people who sat around him. It was the only thing getting him to keep from bawling.
He wasn't alone.
There was a wife of an elder man who was down the hall from Peter, tears streaking down her face as he brittle hands did their best to text message on a cell phone. Who Carlos assumed was her daughter, was trying to help her, her own eyes red and bloodshot from crying. He sunk back in the plush waiting room chair, his eyes swollen from crying so hard. He didn't want to be around his mother, he didn't want to be around Gabriela, or her son Greg, he didn't want to be around anybody but his best friends.
The past few hours seemed endless for the boy as he sat down in his seat, wondering how and if his life was about to change. He had seen what had went on at Mr. Knight's funeral last year, and how Kendall acted during and after it. He didn't want to have to go through the emotional and physical stress that came along with losing a father, he didn't want to have to deal with it. Carlos didn't want his father to die, not now, not while he was still so young. Carlos felt he wouldn't be able to handle having this empty spot in his life where his father was, when the man still had so much life to live. He thought about how it would affect Gabriela and Greg, his own mother, his friends, their mothers. Peter Garcia's death would affect so many people, all because of a stupid man with a gun.
Carlos took a deep sigh and crossed his arms across his chest, sinking into the seat even more as slippery tears fell down his cheeks.
"What room is Peter Garcia in?"
"Just down the hall. But I'll only allow two visitors in at a time. Mr. Garcia is very weak in his coma."
Carlos picked up his head a bit at the familiar voices he heard in the hospital and swallowed hard, wondering if he was just hearing things. He heard a barrage of footsteps squeak on the linoleum floor and bit his lower lip holding back a smile when he saw everyone come into view. Logan and James stood in front with somber, upset faces on, Kim and Katie behind them, the older woman grasping her daughter's hand. Kendall and Stella weren't following.
"Carlos," James said with a smile, as his eyes locked with the Latino's. Carlos immediately stood up, his face starting to scrunch with emotion, as he tried his best to hide his tears. James immediately fast walked to his best friends, throwing his arms around him in a big hug. Carlos immediately felt ten times safer in James' arms and sighed at the mutual embrace. James patted him on the back twice and they parted as he looked into his best friend's eyes.
"I can't believe you're here," Carlos told him with a small chuckle, totally dumbfounded how his best friends came halfway across the country just for him.
"We're a team, Carlitos. We're all here for you, your mom and your dad," James said just above a whisper, nodding his head and smiling. Carlos nodded and smiled as his gaze was directed to Logan. Logan opened his arms up and gave Carlos a tight hug, going to his ear with a smile.
"We missed you too much, buddy. We had to come and see you," Logan joked out awkwardly, trying to find the best words for this type of situation. He knew that if it was anybody else, Carlos would be trying to cheer them up to the best of his ability. Carlos smiled a bit and nodded as Logan stepped out of the way next to James, letting Kim and Katie have their turn to bid hello to the Latino.
"Hi, Carlos," Katie said awkwardly, not knowing what to say to him. She could see that he was crying, and while she knew Carlos was the most emotional out of the four boys, she had never seen him really cry like this. His eyes were puffy, the stubble on his chin dark and his body looked tired and achy. Carlos kneeled down to the little girls level and gave her a tight hug, struck by her innocence. This was not the Katie Knight he had left at the apartment a few days ago. Katie seemed much more reserved and quiet, as if she didn't know what was going on, but knew it was a bad. She was like a dog when a storm approached with her body shaking in fright, her eyes big with wonder and confusion.
"Thanks for coming, Katie," Carlos whispered in her ear, giving her a quick kiss on the hair and standing back up. He blinked his eyes a few times, and sucked a breath in, trying to remain as strong as he possibly could. But now he faced his ultimate demise…Mrs. Knight. Kim's eyes were red, and she bit her lower lip white with upset. Carlos didn't know if it was the fact that she had known his parents so long, or if it was the fact that she had been through this situation before.
"I'm s-so sorry, swe-etie," Kim barely got out with her voice cracking in half. She extended her arms out to Carlos and hugged him tightly as his mother would, rubbing his back soothingly as Carlos blinked his eyes, a few tears falling down his cheeks. "It's gonna be, o-okay, Carlos. Your dad is a fighter," she told him in a whisper. Carlos nodded as Kim gave him a kiss on the cheek, and one last squeeze before letting him go.
"I know," Carlos responded to her weakly, not sure if he really believed anything anyone was saying. He turned to James, Logan and Katie and sighed with a small smile on his face. He stuck his hands deep into his pockets and smiled at his family.
"Thanks for coming you guys, you didn't have to though," he told them shyly, scratching the back of his neck feeling a bit over loved at the moment.
"Of course we did, Carlos," Logan told him with heavy eyes and a small smile. Carlos nodded and took his seat back in the chair with a sigh, his hands on his knees pensively. Now that his friend's were here, hopefully he'd be able to get his mind off his father and return his mindset before learning the terrible news.
"Carlos, where is your mother?" Kim asked him, wiping the last of her tears from her eyes. She looked increasingly uncomfortable in the hospital, holding Katie close to her as if she didn't want her to touch anything. Carlos suspected because she hadn't been in a hospital since she had to come here for Mr. Knight the day he died.
"Uh…cafeteria," Carlos told her sheepishly with a nod. Kim nodded and looked down at Katie who was quiet and sad.
"Why don't we get something to eat, sweetheart," Kim told her with a smile. Katie looked up at her mother with a smile, as the two began to walk away from the three boys sitting down, leaving them to be in their own conversation. As soon as Kim and Katie were gone, Logan and James instantly got more comfortable with their best friend, wanting to know exactly how to fix this for the time being. They both expected Carlos to break down into tears, and tell them how much he would miss his father if he died, but he didn't at all. Carlos had cried enough, and with the arrival of James and Logan, he couldn't help but want to know something.
"Have you guys seen her?" Carlos asked with a sigh, wiping the last of the sniffles from his nose with a sigh. James and Logan looked at each other a bit confused, not knowing what he was talking about in the slightest. Logan was about to say something about Carlos' father's girlfriend, but he knew that the boy had already met her upon first arriving here. That's what Kendall had told his mother. Logan swallowed hard, cautious to talk and he bit his lower lip with a sigh.
"Seen…who?" he asked Carlos.
"Stella," Carlos responded, as if it was just any other conversation. Logan and James looked at each other and then back at Carlos, who apparently knew about the girl and had met her from the way he sounded.
"Uh, Carlos, don't you think we should be talking about…more important things?" Logan told him with a chuckle, awkwardly trying to get off the subject. Why would Carlos wanna talk about something like Kendall and Stella when his father was slowly dying down the hall?
"I wanna be normal, guys, alright? Please? Can we just talk about something normal?" Carlos asked with pained, closed eyes as James chuckled a bit and sat back in the chair.
"Well I wouldn't call Kendall and Stella normal, but alright," he told the boys. Logan and Carlos each smiled a bit at James and then sighed. Carlos looked down at his hands and then up at his friends again.
"So, have you?" he asked them. Logan looked at James and James at Logan. They then both looked at Carlos and nodded.
"Yeah," James said shifting in his chair with a sigh, "and she is actually like how Kendall described her. Down to every detail," James told him. Carlos' face lit up a bit and he nodded.
"That's exactly what I thought," he said. Logan nodded and chimed in.
"I'm guessing, you've seen her? Talked to her?" he asked the boy quizzically. Carlos nodded and sat back a bit. He had the opportunity to spend all of yesterday with them, seeing as when Carlos found out the news his father might not make it, Stella and Kendall were first at the hospital.
"It's a long story, but I met her in Sherwood's when I went to pick up some stuff for my mom, and we talked. And then I brought her to see Kendall at his house," Carlos told them with a sigh, looking at his best friend's with a stern face. He swallowed hard and nodded, rubbing his hands together anxiously. "I was wrong. We were all wrong," Carlos said with a chuckle, feeling a bit proud at his admittance, wondering if the other two boys felt the same.
"Wrong about…what?" James asked.
Carlos took a deep sigh and licked his lips. "Wrong about how they weren't in love. Wrong about how love like that didn't exist," he told them in a whisper. He locked eyes with them with a small smile on his face. "You know, my parents…hated each other," he said with closed eyes, feeling the force of the word inject his heart with sorrow. "And now, my dad is…," he said, not being able to finish the sentence, "and my mom has been right by his side the entire time, like they never left each other," he told the boys. James and Logan listened intently as Carlos came to a realization. "My father loves me, and my mother loves me. And even though they don't love each other anymore, I-I know that my mom would do anything for my dad and vice-versa. They'll always be something between them, even if it isn't love," Carlos told them. "Just because it didn't work out for them, doesn't mean it won't work out for me," he whispered. "And when I saw the way Stella and Kendall looked into each other's eyes when they were reunited, I-I saw it. I saw what my parents used to have, and it was…mind blowing," he chuckled out, biting his lower lip. "They really are in love. I don't know what they plan on doing about it, but they are in love," he finished up.
James and Logan sat there, wondering if Carlos was just like this because of the circumstances, or because he really though Stella and Kendall's feelings were true. After Logan's talk with his mother, and James' talk with his mother, the two boys couldn't help but feel the same way as Carlos did.
"I know what you mean, Carlos. My mom told me some stuff about her and my dad today, and…" he continued, "it just made me think. My mom loved my father so much, but…they didn't explore other options. They both got bored with it, and the love they had wasn't enough," he explained to the boys with a sigh. "But I look at her now, and she's so much happier without him. She still loves him, she always will, but it wasn't enough. Things just kinda faded out between them, and it happens. But she'll always have something for him in her heart, because she was happy at one time," Logan explained to them, trying not to sound over logical or over emotional. Logan looked up at Carlos and chuckled. "I guess maybe we should try to find love, instead of just depending on one another the rest of our lives. I mean, look at Kendall. He may be fucked up, but at least he got laid and was happy for a while," Logan said trying to lighten up the mood. "Heck, maybe he still is happy."
James nodded. "Exactly. That's why I'm going to ask Lianna to be my girlfriend when we get back to LA," James announced proudly, looking at the two boys with a smile. The boys' jaws dropped at the 'g' word, and each of them looked like they had just witnessed a murder. James Diamond…with a girlfriend?
"Shut up," Carlos exclaimed more excitedly than the boys had heard him all day with a smile on his face. Logan looked at James like he was crazy, as the brunette smiled at Carlos, loving how he put a smile on his face.
"Did he just really say that?" Logan asked them with a chuckle, as if he was addressing a crowd in a stage production. James nodded sheepishly, looking at the boys' disbelieved faces. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
"But this doesn't mean that you can start making ball-and-chain marriage jokes, alright? It's just a girlfriend, okay?" he warned them with a stern finger. Carlos and Logan each put their hands up in surrender as the boy shared a laugh, Logan looking at James with a smile.
"What…brought this on?" he asked confused. "I mean…since when do you not sleep with girls and-and actually text them, and talk to them?" James sighed and looked from the boys eyes with a smile. He knew he deserved this after so many years of being the "school slut" and he would have to deal with it in the best way he could.
"Lianna is different, guys. I can't keep pushing away things because I'm afraid it's gonna screw up my dream and I'll be a man working a regular job like my dad, coming home to wife and a kid. I wanna be happy. Kendall was right, I can't keep doing this and cheating myself out of things. It's gonna take some…adjusting," James said a little antsy that he knew he wouldn't be having sex for a while, "but I want this. I want her," he told them softly, shaking his head in disbelief. "And if I didn't want her, I would've pushed her away already," James told them, echoing his mother's own words. Logan and Carlos both smiled and nodded, looking at each other with happy, excited faces on.
"Good for you, man," Carlos told him.
"Yup. So is it a black tie wedding?" Logan asked with a grin, James giving him a hard punch in the arm, causing the boy to grab at it in pain.
"Ouch! That really hurt!" Logan told him with furrowed brows and an upset look, rubbing his arm tenderly. James shrugged.
"I warned ya," he told him. The three boys' chuckles all died down within seconds, as they sat in the waiting room which had emptied out over time, and just looked at each other in silence. They hadn't realized that they were the only ones in here now.
"So I guess we all kinda changed our opinions about all this stuff," Carlos said. "About love and shit like that," he added on to clarify. Logan and James both nodded with a sigh.
"I guess…now we kinda understand why we didn't believe in Kendall and Stella," Logan joked out, running his hands through his spiky black hair. "Between my cheating father, Carlos' angry father, and James' loving, conventional parents," Logan joked out sadistically, studying the design of the floor tiles in the hospital waiting room, "it seems we were all a little messed up in the head for one reason or another."
"Agreed," James said softly, nodding his head. Carlos swallowed hard and sighed.
"Is she nice?" Logan asked awkwardly, breaking the silence that hung between them. Carlos raised an eyebrow and looked at Logan confused, before it hit him who he was talking about. "Stella, I mean. She showed up at the airport with Kendall, but didn't talk to anyone. I think we were all just more concentrated on being here, and I also think it was surreal that she…actually existed you know? Like we never saw a picture, or text messages from her or anything like that," Logan clarified.
The Latino's eyes carried up to the corner Logan sat by. As if on cue, he saw the gentle face of Stella and the determined face of Kendall Knight round the corner with sad, sympathetic smiles on their faces. Kendall's green eyes shone as soon as he laid eyes on his best friends, holding Stella's hand tightly as could be. Their footsteps seemed silent as they approached the group slowly, looking happy to see them.
"Well, why don't you find out yourself," Carlos told them, motioning his chin to the pair, as Logan and James turned around in their seats, looking up at the star-crossed lovers who had entered the hospital and approached them slowly, their love hanging over their heads on display for everyone in the world to possibly see.