Author's Note: Well, here we are again. I know, it has been almost two year. I know you all were hoping for an update before Christmas of 2012, but unfortunately life gets in the way. I'm not saying this excuses me, but I do hope you all understand that sometimes schedules change and circumstances come up. As of now, I do not plan on abandoning the story. I'm trying to work on the next chapter as I type this. I hope I can get it up before another two year gap. To those who have been with me since the beginning, thank you. To all those who have just recently joined, I'm glad you're here. It's been a bumpy ride but now that my life has slightly settled, or gotten more hectic, I'm picking this story back up and strapping on my serious writing gloves.

-Chapter Seventeen-

"Where is Knight," Coach screamed through the locker room. I glanced around the room as I shrugged into my protective shoulder pads. "Does anyone know where my co-captain is?!"

"Here," Kendall called as he popped his head into the aisle of the lockers. "Sorry Coach, my little sister gave me a 24 hour bug. But I'm fine."

"You were absent today Knight! And you are the co-captain! Even Mitchell managed to show up today!"

I took a deep breath and rested my forehead against the locker door.

"Coach," James warned, his hand falling onto my shoulder and squeezing lightly.

Coach looked at me and winced slightly. "Sorry, Mitchell, just making a point. Knight, you are only in this game because all of the teachers want us to win this! So, when you get to class on Monday, you make sure you kiss all of your teachers' asses, understood?!"

Kendall nodded, grinning wide, "yes, sir!"

"Alright! Now we are going up against one of the toughest teams in our division! So, I don't want any slacking out there! Logan," Coach said, turning to me. "I know you have had a pretty rough couple of days, but I need you to be on your best game. You're the rookie and the other team knows it, so they are going to target you. You were great at practice so just remember that." He turned to the rest of the locker room. "As for the rest of you if I even suspect that you all are slacking off I'm going to make all of you skate laps after this game for two hours! Understood?!"

The locker room erupted in acknowledgement and I focused on getting my jersey on over my shoulder pads.

"What happened to your hands," Kendall asked, his voice pitched higher in worry.

I finished adjusting my shirt and looked down at my bandaged hands then up to Kendall and shrugged. "I just had an accident last night. No big deal." I looked back down to my gear and sat down moving to put my shin guards on.

"Who hurt you, Logan?"

I sighed and shook my head. "First off, you don't get to act all protective and concerned now when just yesterday you were completely ignoring me. And secondly, no one hurt me."

Kendall frowned as he watched me. "You have bandages around your knuckles and that usually means you got in a fight. I just want to know what happened, Logan. And yes, I know I've been a complete asshole to you recently but I was just…"

"Being an idiot," I supplied, looking up at him challengingly.

Kendall laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I was being a huge idiot. So please forgive me?"

I smiled at him briefly before shrugging. "Sure, I'll forgive you if we win this game." I smirked at him and he grinned back at me.

"Deal."

…

I sat on the bench as the rest of the team played. We were down by two shots but it was only the halfway point of the game. We could still win this. I looked back to the stands and searched the crowd for my parents. I found my dad first and waved at him. He seemed worried but returned my wave and smile.

I looked back out to the ice and saw James shooting past the other players before passing the puck to Kendall. Kendall slammed the puck into the opponent's goal. I jumped up and cheered with the crowd and Kendall shot a huge grin at James who tackled him in a hug. Carlos joined them and coach called a timeout making all the players come in to the bench.

"Alright, we are down by one point. We can make this. Just two more shots and we win this! Lewinsky, you're out! Mitchell you're in! Don't screw up and if you think you have the shot then take it!"

I nodded and put my helmet on. Carlos bumped his helmet with mine and grinned at me.

"Get back out there and win this!"

The team cheered and we moved onto the ice. I prepared myself, hunching low as I touched the hockey stick to the ice. The referee blew his whistle and let the puck go onto the ice between James and the opposing team's captain. They fought for the puck and James shot it to me.

I caught the puck and skated towards the goal but there was a player in my way. I looked around and passed the puck to another team member.

They took the puck down to the goal but the other team's player stole it from them.

The other team took the shot and Carlos sprang into action, blocking the puck from the goal. The crowd cheered and James skated for the puck, passing it to another member of the team. I skated with the team and got the puck again. I quickly turned and shot the puck at Kendall. He reacted fast and shot the puck at the goal.

The crowd cheered louder as the sirens on the goal went off. Kendall grinned wide at me and the team moved back to start positions. Kendall motioned to the team, telling us that the new plan was to play defense and not worry about scoring any more goals since we were in the lead. I nodded in understanding and readied myself to defend our win.

…

"Good job today guys," James grinned as he nudged my shoulder. "Get some rest, you all deserve it!"

I smiled as I turned back to my locker and put my pads away. I heard the rest of the team chatting as they left the locker room.

"Good game, Logan," Kendall said, smiling at me.

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks." I shrugged out of my undershirt, tossing it into my duffle bag. "Why weren't you at school today?" I glanced up at Kendall noticing him hesitating for a few moments before adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder.

"I was sick, didn't you hear me tell coach," he asked, smiling.

I frowned at him and pulled my new shirt on. "Don't give me that. The thing about 24 hour colds is that they usually last 24 hours. You seemed fine yesterday so if you caught it in the afternoon you should still be sickish. And you seem healthy to me." I raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to make something up again.

He sighed and leaned against the row of lockers. "Alright, the truth is…I just couldn't force myself to come today."

"Why," I asked rolling my eyes. "It's not like you were the one who was utterly humiliated by the biggest asshole to ever roam the Earth."

"No," Kendall agreed. "But I was afraid that if I came to class today, there would be an announcement about you….," he stalled, looking at me with a deep frown and sad eyes.

"You thought I was going to kill myself?"

Kendall nodded as he looked down at my knuckles. "I have a tendency to think the worst thing has happened now, so yeah I thought you were dead and I didn't want to be at school when I found that out." Kendall's voice broke before he continued. "I couldn't handle losing you too. I already lost Dustin and I couldn't lose you. I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I wasn't at school today the news wouldn't make it to me and I could just keep you around." His eyes started to water as he spoke, his voice getting shakier with each word. "I was the biggest ass to you all because I thought you were going back to Wayne and I didn't want to lose you to that douche but I couldn't think of the right way to handle it so I just ignored you and thought maybe that would give you the hint that I was pissed with you. And when that sound clip played in the gym I thought I had lost you because you ran out of there so fast I couldn't even grab you before you were just gone! And I didn't want that ass version of myself to be the last way I interacted with you!"

Tears ran down his cheeks as he stared down at the ground, his shoulders shaking as he cried and his fist clenching around the strap of his bag.

Without thinking, I stood and moved to him, pulling him into a tight hug as I rubbed his back. "Hey, it's ok. I know you were angry and I knew eventually you'd come around to me again. I didn't kill myself, and I don't plan on ever killing myself, alright? There's nothing to worry about," I whispered, petting his hair as I felt his breathing slow slightly.

He laughed against my shoulder but his arms wrapped around my waist. "I should be the one comforting you, Logan. Wayne made that tape and you deserve-,"

"Kendall," I interrupted, "my day was pretty sucky and I know everyone thinks that recording was real, but I know the truth and that's all that matters to me. I'm fine. I'm not the one who thought his friend killed himself, so I'm going to be the one comforting you. You don't always have to be the strong hero, you know?"

Kendall smiled against my shoulder and pulled me closer against him. "Thanks," he whispered.

I smiled and rubbed his back. "It's nothing," I said, smiling.

He shook his head against my shoulder and pulled back slightly so he could look into my eyes. "Logie, it's everything. You're just…you're perfect to me. You just went through hell and now you're standing here comforting me when I deserve for you to just punch me or something because of how I acted to you. You're amazing."

I blushed and rolled my eyes, "we're still friends right? Of course I'm going to forgive you."

He smiled slightly at me and took my hand in his, looking at the bandages again. "Tell me what happened?" His green eyes rose up to meet mine again, holding them captive.

I sighed and looked down at my hands, explaining everything to him. I smiled slightly, thinking about how supportive my father had become, and kept my eyes on our hands. "I'm actually really happy at the moment. I mean, I know school on Monday will be pretty bad, but it doesn't matter. They won't hurt me anymore."

Kendall gently put his finger under my chin, lifting my chin up until our eyes met again and his small smile hit me with its full force, making my heart speed. "You're incredible, Logan," he whispered, watching me for a moment before leaning in slightly. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

My eyes widened as I stared at him, a warm flush going over my cheeks. "You're not going to lose me, Kendall."

He watched me for a moment before leaning in closer. My heart was pounding. Was this the moment? Was he really going to kiss me now? In the cheesiest but adorable, I thought you were dead action movie way? He sighed softly pulling me into a tight hug. My heart was still jack hammering in my chest but I could compose myself enough to wrap my arms around his back and pull him closer to me. It felt perfect here, wrapped in his arms like this, and I tried not to let the disappointment get to me. I mean, after all, he did just let the dam break. Who would want to kiss someone for the first time after being a teary mess, right? Or maybe I should just be happy we were friends at all. I missed having Kendall near and I wasn't about to let my libido ruin this for me. No, sir. If Kendall Knight didn't see me in a romantic light then that was fine. I would just learn to grin and bear it because his friendship meant more to me than any sex he could offer.

"Loga-," my dad's voice stopped short and I heard a squeak as his shoes pivoted.

Kendall and I broke apart my face completely cherry red. "Dad," I asked, my voice coming out higher than normal in embarrassment.

"Your mother was worried about you being in here alone for so long," my dad said, his back turned to us and the back of his neck bright red from the blush that was probably covering his face. "She wanted me to come in here and get you but I see you're fine."

Kendall smiled at me as he looked between the two of us, his face becoming uncertain whenever he looked at my dad.

"Oh, sorry I was just…talking to Kendall."

"Kendall," my father asked, chancing a glance back at us before turning around to face us. "You're the boy who has been helping my son out when I was being too big of an idiot?"

Kendall nodded, "yes, sir."

My dad smiled and held his hand out to him. "Thank you, Kendall."

Kendall smiled and shook his hand. "It wasn't a big deal."

My father smiled before turning back to me. "We'll be waiting outside…don't take too long?" He glanced between Kendall and me again before nodding to Kendall and leaving.

Kendall laughed quietly and turned back to face me. "Your dad is getting better at not being an ass."

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah he's been doing really well recently."

He smiled at me and moved to sit next to me. His hands traced a design in the wood of the bench we sat on. The sounds of leaky showers resounded through the area. My eyes focused on his hand as they continued to hesitate before making the next line. "Do you want to go out with me tomorrow?"

I grinned and nodded, "yeah, that sounds great." I watched him for a moment, not sure if this was going to be a date or a friendly hang out session.

Kendall grinned wide and nodded. "Alright, I'll pick you up tomorrow around five?"

I smiled and nodded, "sounds good."

He watched me for a moment before his grin turned lopsided and turned to walk out, "remember, five alright?"

I wasn't sure what Kendall had planned for tomorrow but I couldn't wait for our could-be-but-may-also-not-be date.