The next morning I awoke to the sound of a groaning Logan and an alarm clock ringing. I also felt very warm. I opened my eyes slowly and instantly began to blush at the sight in front of me. Logan was curled up on my chest rubbing his eyes gently.
"Uh...Lo.." He looked up at me quickly and instantly jumped up out of his bed.
"Oh my God Carlos I'm so sorry, I'm a bit of a cuddler. I guess I should have warned you last night huh?" Logan chuckled and he looked down at the floor and rubbed the back of his neck before turning and going to turn off his alarm.
"It's-it's alright. Lali and Lia do the same thing at night..." I paused before sitting up and swinging my legs over the bed carefully. I watched as Logan grabbed a change of clothes and his toothbrush.
"If you want Los, you can change in here and then meet me in the bathroom to brush your teeth too, then we can go grab some breakfast." Logan gave me that grin that made my heart go crazy and I smiled and nodded at him. He turned and left the room and I sat on the edge of his bed fr a moment, trying to get over the fact that I missed cuddling with him already. It probably explained why I had slept so well the night before. I shook my head, still uncertain of what I was feeling and grabbed my bag and pulled out my clothes for school. I put them on quickly before making my way to Logan's bathroom. I knocked gently, not wanting to walk straight in just in case he was still changing.
I heard a muffled "Come in." and when I walked in the door Logan was pulling his shirt over his head and grabbing his toothbrush.
I smiled at him and joined him at the sink. After putting the toothpaste on his toothbrush and beginning to brush his teeth Logan's eyes met mine in the mirror and he began speaking to me, "Wha do youwan fo breakfast?" Logan asked and I chuckled as I leaned down to spit out the toothpaste.
"I'm not picky, whatever you usually have is fine." I smiled at Logan and watched as he repeated my actions and wiped his face.
A few minutes later we were downstairs in Logan's kitchen his mom smiling at us while making us pancakes and eggs, "Normally Logan does this for himself, because I;m at work and his father is already gone, but I managed to get out of working so early today so I can see the two of you off to school." His mom smiled at me. "Logan says your mother is a very sweet woman Carlos, I'll have to invite her over some time."
Logan gagged a little on his pancakes and I looked over at him with an arched brow, "You okay buddy?" I patted him a little on the back like I would do Tomas or one of the twins and he smiled and me but quickly shot a look at his mom. I didn't understand why he would do that, but she stood smiling at her son before going to get a plate of food for herself and joining us.
"I'm fine Los, thanks for asking. Mom you don't have bring his mom over here, she's a very busy woman and I'm sure she has better things to d-"
"My mom would love to come over for lunch one day .." I cut Logan off and ignored the look he was giving me, mostly because I didn't understand it. "I'm sure she'd have to bring my sisters and my brother along though...if that's okay." I looked down at my plate and started to push my food around, scared Logan's mother would think I was trying to intrude on her home.
"Carlos honey that's fine, the more the merrier. This house doesn't see many visitors. Right Logan?"
He looked up at his mom, and I noticed his face was a deep shade of red. I don't know why he was so embarrassed all of a sudden. But he nodded at his mom before stating he needed to run to the bathroom again before we left for school.
When he left the room I looked up at his mom and smiled, and she smiled back. I took this opportunity to ask her a question, "I don't mean to pry, but Lo always wears such dark colors at school and I don't understand why. He's such a nice guy and I'm sure people would love to be his friend once they got to know him."
At this his mother frowned and as soon as I opened my mouth to apologize she spoke first, "Carlos, honey, some things happened at the last school Logan went to, and while I don't fully understand it, this is his way of somehow making sure he doesn't have to go through it again." I nodded my head and looked out of the kitchen window at the clouds that were forming, "But Logan does have something here that he didn't have there.." She paused and I looked up at her, wondering what she meant, luckily she answered my question. "He has you. A real friend."
Before I could respond Logan was walking back in the room with his backpack on looking back and forth between his mother and I, clearly wondering what we had just been talking about since the talking stopped as soon as he entered the room. He shifted nervously, "Uh mom, it looks like it's about to rain, so I think it's about time we leave."
His mom smiled and got up from the table, sitting all the dishes in the sink before slipping on her shoes and grabbing her keys, "Well then I guess we should head out then."
In the car, Logan had sat with me in the back and he didn't speak much. He just listened to the morning talk show that was playing on the radio. I didn't understand why he was so quiet but I respected his need for silence. His mother glanced at both of us in the rearview mirror and offered me a smile when we caught eyes. I smiled back and looked out my own window. I had hoped Logan wasn't mad at me, and I couldn't help but think he had somehow overheard his mother and I talking about him. I knew I shouldn't have asked about his clothes, but I couldn't help it. I didn't want him to feel like he should keep things from me.
I also couldn't help but think about how his mother said he had me, a real friend here. Did Logan not have any friends in his last town? That didn't make sense though, because he was such a nice guy. I sighed out loud as we pulled into the school and when we got out of the car I thanked and watched Logan give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek before walking with my into the school.
I took the opportunity to speak to him, "Lo, are you alright? Ou haven't talked very much since breakfast.."
Logan looked over at me apologetically and played a little with the straps on his backpack, "It's fine Los. I've just got a lot going on in my head."
I nodded at him as we reached my locker, "I understand Lo, but you should know I make an excellent oyente [listener] and I'll be here for you no matter what." I gave Logan my best smile and surprisingly he returned it.
"There's a lot you don't know about my life back in Texas...I just don't want you to think any differently of me."
I gave Logan a reassuring smile as I shut my locker and began to follow him to his own, "Don't worry Lo, I wouldn't be able to think very differently of you anyways...I feel like I've known you for years already." I smiled at him and he smiled back, his dimples began to drive me insane.
Suddenly Logan was looking at something behind me and he frowned, "What is it Logan?" I turned to follow his gaze and my stomach immediately dropped, it was Hortencia and a small group of my friends. He was glaring at us and shook his head at me.
Logan sighed, "Maybe you should go talk to your friend, I'm just going to head to my first class. See you at lunch?"
Logan's voice sounded unsure, but nervous. I'm very good at picking those things up when people are speaking, how their moods shift, but they're trying to hide it. I decided not to ask him about it but only nod my head in his direction and sigh. I turned to face Hortencia, and soon I felt all of my friends looking at me like they were disgusted with me. I could hear them whispering as I got closer.
"Es amigo de ese tipo Logan." [He's friends with that Logan guy.]
"El que todo el mundo tiene miedo?" [The one everyone is scared of?]
"Hortencia dice Logan está en la casa de Carlos mucho últimamente." [Hortencia says Logan is over at Carlos's house a lot lately.]
"Tal vez Carlos Logan hace pasar el rato con él." [Maybe Logan makes Carlos hang out with him.]
I tried to ignore what they were saying as I walked over and I put on my best smile. "Hola chicos!" They took me off guard when they all just scowled at me and walked away, Hortencia was the only one who stayed behind.
"Realmente Carlos, vas a pasar todo su tiempo con ese hombre que apenas conoce sobre todos los amigos que he tenido durante años? ¿Qué tiene de especial?" [Really Carlos, you're going to spend all of your time with that guy you barely know over all the friends you've had for years? What's so special about him?] Hortencia looked hurt and angry. I didn't know what to say so I just looked at him with a blank expression. He shook his head at me and kept going, "Sólo han pasado unos pocos días, pero ya me siento como que he perdido a mi mejor amigo." [It's only been a few days, but I already feel like I've lost my best friend.]
I sighed and just as I was going to apologize to Hortencia the bell rang and he turned and walked away from me before I could speak again. I didn't want Hortencia to feel left out. He had been my best friend for most of my life. I spent most of my first class trying to figure out a way to show Hortencia that Logan wasn't a bad person at all, but that he was only pretending to be bad. Halfway through the class it hit me, I could get Logan and Hortencia to hang out with each other and then they would have to like each other. They both like me and I like them, so it only makes sense that they would want to be friends too. I couldn't help myself from smiling uncontrollably until lunch, when I would try for the first time to get them to be friends.