"Logan, can you come help me with the dishes please?" Mrs. Knight called out from the kitchen. The raven-haired popstar put down his medical textbook and sighed.
"Yeah, sure," He said.
"Oh, I didn't know that you were studying. Don't let me stop you."
"No, it's fine," Logan responded. "The test is still a long ways away, so missing a little bit today won't hurt me. I can help you out," Logan said with a smile on his face as he got up from the couch and went into the kitchen.
He grabbed a washcloth from beneath the sink, then took one of the orange plates from the stack of dirty dishes, squirted soap on it, and began to scrub off some of the spaghetti sauce and stray noodles from last night under the warm running water. They had been washing the dishes manually since their dishwasher broke down two days ago. They had called Mr. Bitters about the problem, but seeing how Buddha Bob hadn't come to repair it yet, Logan guessed that Mr. Bitters had probably forgot all about their issue and hadn't called maintenance. Typical. And even if Mr. Bitters had remembered, he wouldn't willingly help out the hooligans who terrorized his building every day.
When he had first moved to California, Logan tried to be the one person that Mr. Bitters didn't hate, but that was hard to do when he was best friends with some of the craziest people in Los Angeles. Logan would try to keep them out of trouble and stop their crazy and almost evil schemes, but in the end they would convince Logan to do it right along with them. Eventually he accepted his fate. He was always going to be just another one of those crazy annoying boys that Mr. Bitters despised.
Once Logan got all the food off the plate, he added it to the clean pile, which Mrs. Knight was working on putting away. Logan picked up another orange plate, which had little sticky blobs of maple syrup on it. Logan smiled as he remembered the delicious waffles he and the guys had eaten for breakfast that morning. He started to recall the morning's events, which didn't vary much from what the usual morning routine they followed day after day.
They had all woken up around 10:00 that morning, later than normal. They would have been up earlier for rehearsals with Gustavo, but Kelly had called them the night before and told them not to come in. Apparently she was forcing Gustavo to take a break from the stress and anger that Big Time Rush had been causing him. The teenagers took this opportunity to catch up on their much needed sleep.
While they were eating breakfast, they shared the same conversation they always did. As usual, James and Carlos would play with their food, and they would eventually get into a food fight, which everyone would have to work to stop once it got too crazy. Kendall, Katie and their mom would discuss with each other their plans for the day, and Mrs. Knight would occasionally stop their discussion to tell James and Carlos to stop fighting, and then return back to her conversation with her children. Logan would mostly ignore all this and focus on his schoolwork and medical magazines, too fascinated and focused to care about what was going on around him. That is until he had to assist in breaking up Carlos's and James's food fight.
Two hours later, he and Mrs. Knight were the only ones left in the apartment. After breakfast, Kendall had left to work on his dance parts with their choreographer. Now that Gustavo wasn't in the studio to yell at him while he was practicing, Kendall took the chance to be able to practice in a calm environment, just the way he liked it. James had gone to the Palmwoods Pool, probably to flirt with some of the girls there and tan under the hot L.A. sun. Logan rolled his eyes. He swore the only things that ever occupied James's mind were his looks, girls, and singing. Logan knew that James was a really great guy who cared about others, but sometimes he got a little too full of himself. Carlos had gone to get Fruit Smackers from the vending machine in the lobby, and then he probably went to go join James at the pool. Logan wasn't exactly sure where Katie had gone off to, but he guessed that she was most likely annoying Mr. Bitters.
Logan finished washing all the dishes. "Thank you so much Logan," Mrs. Knight said as she put the remaining clean plates in the cabinets.
"No problem," Logan replied while he made his way back to the couch and his books.
"Oh, can you do one more favor for me?" She asked.
"What's that?" He said, turning back to her.
"Can you be a sweetheart and pick up our new keycard from Mr. Bitters? Carlos managed to lose it. Again," Mrs. Knight said as she rolled her eyes. Logan chuckled. It seemed like Carlos lost the keycard every time he got his hands on it.
"Sure," Logan headed towards the door.
"I'll let him know you're coming," Mrs. Knight called out.
"Alright," He said as he shut the door behind him, when someone bumped into him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Logan, I didn't see you there," The person said.
"Oh, hey Jo. And no, it's my fault. What's up?" Logan said politely.
"I'm just here to drop off this magazine for you guys. It was delivered to my apartment by mistake. And is Kendall in there by any chance?" She questioned hopefully.
"No sorry, he's at the studio for the day," He said.
Jo sighed. "Well, I was hoping to surprise him with an afternoon picnic but I guess I'll have it alone," She said, a look of disappointment appearing on her face.
"I'm sorry, and I would join you to keep you company but… Kendall might beat me senseless if he starts to think that I'm trying to steal his girlfriend. Not to mention Camille getting jealous. I do not want to feel how hard she'll slap me then," Logan chuckled.
Jo smiled. "Well, I'll see you around."
"See ya later," He said while he turned and headed to the elevators as Jo knocked on the door to his apartment.
When Logan reached the end of the hall, he pushed the down button, causing it to light up. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the metal doors of the elevator to open. As he expected, it was taking its sweet time. He wished Mr. Bitters would get better, and faster elevators. However, whatever money that Mr. Bitters earned went directly to himself. The welfare of his residents was not exactly Mr. Bitters's first priority. Logan would have taken the stairs, but as a result of Carlos being himself, there were crews in there today replacing the railings and painting over the marks on the wall. Logan smiled. As crazy as Carlos was sometimes, you still couldn't help but love him. His crazy fanatics were always fun to watch, but people enjoyed him more for his sweet and sensitive side.
"Finally," Logan sighed as the doors opened. He stepped inside the empty elevator and pressed the "L" button. The doors began to close slowly.
"Hold it," someone shouted. The voice sounded familiar, and for some reason it brought a feeling of uneasiness to him. Logan put his arm against the door and opened it. A man appeared in the doorway, and the moment Logan saw the man's face his jaw dropped in shock. He stumbled back against the wall, his eyes wide in fear. He let out a small, pleading whimper, which sounded more like a squeak. Standing before him was a face from his nightmares, someone that he had been sure was out of his life. The man stepped towards him, and Logan screamed.