Author's Note: Whoo! I've finished the chapter I was working on. There's so much fun in this story, but I'm so happy to be able to smile and laugh while writing this rather than on the verge of tears. I still hope you all are enjoying this!
Long over due, but a huge thank you to sum1cooler, who has reviewed every chapter and who's comments never cease to put a smile on my face.
Thanks to his permanently set alarm, Logan is awake at 7am. He groggily rolls over and surprisingly falls onto the floor. He's sure that his bed isn't that small, but then remembers what happened the night before. He and James had stayed up until three and passed out on the couches.
He pushes himself off the floor and back onto the couch. He rubs his face, trying to wake up, when a beeping noise catches his attention. Looking around for the source, he spots his phone and sees the notification light flashing. He reaches for it, turns on the display, sees the battery low, and a notification of an unheard voicemail that is now completely moot. He gets up, goes to his room and plugs the phone into the charger.
He is halfway to the door when he remembers that Carlos had called and texted incessantly yesterday and he never answered him. Slightly panicking, Logan rushes over to the nightstand and immediately calls Carlos.
It had been a tough night for Carlos. It's been less than a day away from each other and Logan's already ignoring him. Well, that's what it felt like. After the fourth unanswered phone call and the ninth unanswered text message he gave up. Carlos just hoped that Logan either forgot to charge his phone or left it on silent and couldn't find it.
He rolls over and closes his eyes, trying to get back to sleep. On the threshold of sleep, Carlos is startled by a buzzing sound. He waves his arms crazily swatting at the bug that somehow entered his room. It's crazy, but no matter how hard he tries he misses completely, even though the bug is right in front of his face. Eventually the bug lands on his cheek, still annoyingly buzzing. As much as he doesn't want to, he smacks his cheek.
Carlos sits bolt upright, rubbing his cheek. His room slowly comes into focus and he realizes that the bug swatting was only a dream, but the buzzing continues. He looks around and then finally spots his phone jumping around the nightstand. He quickly reaches for it and hits the answer button.
"Hello?" he asks in a barely audible whisper. He clears his throat and tries again, "Hello?"
"Thank God! Carlos! I thought you were mad at me! Please don't be mad at me! I fell asleep while studying and somehow didn't hear my phone. I'm really sorry. Please don't be mad!" Logan begs all in one breath.
Carlos smiles but puts on his best scolding voice, "Uh-huh… likely story…"
"Aww… come on, hun! I'm sorry! I really am!"
The pleading, apologetic, and fearful tone in Logan's voice melts Carlos' heart.
"Relax, babe. I'm not mad. I know you had your hands full last night. James awake?"
"Wha… Ha… How… When…?" Logan clears his throat. "How'd you know?"
"He called me when he couldn't reach you," Carlos explains in a jokingly accusing tone, "and then he made sure to text me when he arrived at our place."
Logan huffs.
"James did mention that he was almost attacked by a killer pencil. Care to explain that one to me?"
Logan chuckles and knows that everything is good between them. "Well," he starts, "James did arrive at one in the morning…" He continues to explain everything that happened up until he fell asleep.
Once Carlos finished dying of laughter, he tells Logan of his chat with Kendall which seemed to have chipped away at the wall Kendall put up. They plan on getting together again after breakfast.
Three hours later, James wakes up a little disoriented. He pushes himself up into a sitting position and rubs his face. He looks around for Logan, half expecting him to be in the kitchen making breakfast or at the dining table scribbling away in his notebooks, but he's nowhere to be found.
Suddenly the sound of laughter wafts into the living room from the bedroom. James smiles and makes his way to the room. When he arrives in the doorway he sees Logan sitting on the edge of the bed with a glow about him. Knowing who is on the other line and not wanting to disturb the joy he sees in his friend just yet, he leans against the door frame watching him.
It's only been six months, but he sees just how happy Logan is and can only imagine how happy Carlos is as well. If the laughter is any indication, these two are going to make it. James only hopes that he can find that happiness one day.
James is brought out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, everything okay?" Logan asks.
"Hmmm… oh… yeah… just thinking?"
"Want to talk about it?"
"Oh, it's nothing. It's just great to see you and Carlos finally together." Logan's eyes narrow. "Okay, not literally now... but you know what I mean."
Logan nods and lets it go, but knows there's so much more behind that. When James is ready, he'll talk. "Yeah, it's everything I hoped it'd be and more," Logan says with the biggest grin known to man.
James smiles but there is a hint of sadness in his eyes.
Logan changes the subject, "You hungry? I'm making waffles."
Mrs. Knight is in the kitchen preparing breakfast when she hears loud thuds. Fearing the worst, she rushes to the stairs only to find Kendall sliding down them.
"Kendall, what the hell are you doing?"
Kendall arrives at the bottom of the stairs and looks up at his mom.
"This stupid cast won't let my knee bend and it was too hard to make it down the stairs, so I found another way," he responds with a cheesy grin on his face.
She couldn't be mad at him. She is just happy that he's feeling better and back to his old self.
"That you did. Now wake your sister, breakfast is almost ready." Mrs. Knight orders with a twinkle in her eye as she returns to the kitchen.
Kendall sits there confused for a second. He turns around and looks back up the stairs which seem to have gotten higher.
"Mooooommmm…" he whines, "… how am I going to do that?"
"I'm sure you can think of a way. You did manage to get down the stairs," she answers from the kitchen.
Kendall ponders that for a minute and then an idea dawns on him. He pushes himself up and turns to face the stairs.
"KATIE!" Kendall yells while hitting the wall. "KATIE!"
"KENDALL! I didn't mean like that!" Mrs. Knight yells from the doorway of the kitchen.
He turns toward her and shrugs.
A groggy Katie appears on the landing rubbing her eyes. "What do you want?"
"Breakfast is ready," Kendall smiles up at her and then hobbles away to sit at the dining table.