A/N: I'm wayyyyyyyy overdue for an update…. Hope you like this, Caitee!
James woke up feeling fuzzy. And not the good kind of fuzzy, that you get from feeling loved and seeing your best friends and looking at your beautiful reflection in the mirror. The icky kind of fuzzy, where you see everything in a fog and get dizzy when you try to stand up and have jelly legs even though you haven't been at an absolutely exhausting
rehearsal all day.
Feeling a headache coming on, James made the decision then and there that he wasn't getting out of bed. The only small joy that he could think of was the fact that Gustavo hadn't given them rehearsal today.
"Hey James!" he could hear Logan's voice echoing inside his head as he called from the hallway. "Gustavo wants us at the studio now-surprise rehearsal!"
James groaned pathetically into his pillow, his temples throbbing at the mere thought of hours upon hours of nonstop harmonies and dance routines.
Extremely unceremoniously, James managed to roll himself out of bed and steady his legs long enough to take a shower. How, he would never really know.
After styling his hair perfectly, without a strand out of place, his heart lighted a little- I mean, who was better-looking then him? No one. Who had more style than him? That's right: no one. Who was smarter than him? Well...
He forced a prize-winning grin at his reflection, hoping that if he tried hard enough, he'd be able to convince his friends that he was fine.
Walking into the front room of the apartment, he was met with the concerned yet somewhat annoyed stares of his friends, who had clearly been kept waiting for a little too long.
"Okay, come on we have to go right now or Gustavo's gonna kill us!" Carlos squealed loudly, rushing to the door.
"Yeah, he's got a point. I bet Gustavo's itching to see our lovely faces." Kendall replied, smiling so that his dimples showed and following the little Latino outside.
When James took a deep breath and stepped towards the door, he felt Logan's hand grab his arm, preventing him from walking any further.
"Are you okay, James?" the young doctor asked worriedly, peering into James face with large brown eyes. "You look pale."
James sighed- leave it to Logan...
He pulled his lips into a tiny smile, hoping the little energy he could muster would make the action believable. "Yeah, Loges, I'm fine. You worry too much."
Reluctantly, he nodded, still not looking convinced, and removed his hand from James' arm, motioning for his tall friend to follow him out the door.
"NO! You're doing it WRONG!" Gustavo's yelling crashed like a tsunami through James' ears, as he tried the same dance sequence for about the twentieth time. He could feel the sweat trickling down the sides of his face as he pushed his exhausted body through another round of moves. Jump-okay, got it. Spin-he hoped that looked okay. Kick-his leg muscles were burning, but he completed the task. Pose-James was just happy to have stopped moving. He felt absolutely horrid. Hopefully, Gustavo would be satisfied enough to let him take just a small break...
"You are the single most HORRIBLE dancer I have EVER MET! Do it AGAIN!" Gustavo screamed.
No such luck...
Jump-he tried to steady himself so he wouldn't fall over. Spin-oh, God, should the world keep spinning like that even though he'd stopped? Kick- his energy lagged, his foot barely leaving the ground. Pose- he'd stopped. Why was everything still moving?
James was scared.
"Kendall?" he whispered. Kendall looked up in surprise, just in time to see his friend's legs give out.
James gasped as a terrible wave of vertigo tore through his body, the world spinning, the colors blurring into a dizzying psychedelic mixture. Falling to his knees and sinking onto the ground, he moaned, curling into a ball with his cheek pushed against the irritating carpeted floor.
The footsteps of his friends sounded as though they were coming from everywhere-why were they so loud?
"James? James calm down, everything is going to be okay..." Kendall had fallen to his knees beside his best friend, his bright green eyes wide.
As another wave of dizziness ripped through him, James could see the world blurring again, his friend's faces mingling together as he blinked rapidly, hoping it would help him stay conscious.
Kendall grabbed James' hand, and using his other arm, he moved James' head to rest on his lap, beginning to thread his fingers through James' silken strands of hair.
By now, Carlos and Logan were on their knees too, and Gustavo just sat staring from his perch on the other side of the room, shocked.
"James? James?" Logan's voice called from somewhere.
James tried to answer, but his lips didn't seem to be quite in sync with his brain-all he knew was the sickening spinning.
"James, we're going to take you home. Just try to relax, buddy, we won't try anything until you're ready, okay? Just squeeze Kendall's hand if you understand me."
Weakly, James gripped Kendall's hand tighter, but his fingers quickly loosened as the clench made him dizzy.
Kendall's other hand never left James' head as he turned to Logan, who nodded. Kendall turned back to James.
"James, I know you're fighting to keep your eyes open, buddy, but you don't have to. Logie says that it's okay if you rest for a little while." he murmured gently.
That was all James needed. He let his eyes roll into his head, welcoming the painless dark that came with unconsciousness.
"Jamess...Psst, James..."
"Carlos, shut up!"
"Sorry, I was worried..."
"Is it normal for him to be out this long, Loges? I mean, it's been a few hours..."
"Well, he overworked himself pretty bad out there..."
"Hey, I think I saw him move!"
"Great, Carlos, you woke him up!"
"Sorry..."
James blinked, reaching his hands up to rub his eyes, but quickly pulling them away when the pressure irritated his still pounding head.
He glanced at his surroundings. He was back in his bedroom, at the Palm Woods.
Moaning, he turned his head so he was looking directly into the worried faces of his friends.
"Hey guys..." he murmured, surprised by how rough his voice sounds.
"James! We were so worried!" Carlos squealed, lunging toward James and wrapping his arms around him, resting his head on James' shoulder. James gasped as the force of the hug knocked the breath out of him.
"Carlos, we talked about this; no hugging until James feels completely better, okay?" Logan gently pulled the little Latino off of their friend, reining him in.
"Right, okay," Carlos nodded, trading in the tackle-hug for a gentle pat to James' shoulder.
Despite himself, James had to laugh-Carlos always brightened the mood, even if he wasn't trying.
"How are you feeling, buddy?" Kendall asked. James could tell by the look in his eyes that he was still really worried.
"Better. Head still hurts a little, but other than that, I'm good," James replied, smiling a little.
"That's good," Kendall replied, his eyes wandering towards Logan, who was the only one who hadn't spoken to or even looked at James since he had woken up.
"Logan? What is it?" he asked innocently.
"Why didn't you tell me you felt sick? We could've just called and told Gustavo that you weren't feeling well," Logan replied, looking confused.
James thought for a minute.
"I just... I dunno... I didn't want to bug you guys..."
Kendall grinned, gently thumping James on the head. "Dude, it's not like we wanted to go to rehearsal! I mean, I would've much rather stayed here and messed with you. And I'm willing to bet that these cheeseballs agree." he finished, gesturing playfully to Logan and Carlos, who nodded.
"Yeah! We could've had a pajama party!" Carlos exclaimed excitedly.
In perfect sync, the three heads of his friends turned to face him.
"A pajama party? Really, Carlos?"
"Yeah, we haven't had one of those since we were eight...and a half."
"..."
"So you wanna do it?"
"I won't tell if you don't."
"You sure?"
"Does it look like I'm kidding?"
"Let's do this thing."
About twenty minutes later, four teenage boys wearing pajamas were snuggling in their sleeping bags on the living room floor, surrounded by large bowls of popcorn, candy, fish sticks, and tots. A bunch of cheesy children's movies were stacked in the middle of the room, and the TV was turned on, blaring the Disney classic 'The Lady and the Tramp'.
James giggled. "I forgot how cute these movies were!"
"Aww, James is letting his soft side show!" Logan cooed playfully, not bothering to mention the fact that he was enjoying the movie as well.
"Ha, don't pretend like you don't love it, Logan!" Kendall teased.
That was when it happened.
Logan, Carlos, and Kendall exchanged a sly look, nodding silently to each other.
"One... Two...Three!" Carlos mouthed.
Taking the cue, the three boys jumped out of their unzipped sleeping bags and tackled James to the floor, pinning him down.
"Hey-What are you guys-? No! No, I absolutely forbid-Stop. Stop! No one launches a surprise tickle attack on James Diamond! No one!" James squealed, trying but failing miserably to conceal his breathless laughter.
"Oops, looks like we just did!" Kendall yelled, poking James repeatedly in the ribs.
"You totally weren't expecting this, were you!" Logan added, as he struggled to attack James' flailing feet.
"We got you good!" Carlos giggled, holding down James' shoulders.
"Okay, I admit defeat! Please stop!" James yelled.
"Okay, I guess... If you surrender."
"Yes! Yes, I surrender!" James yelped, sighing gratefully as his friends pulled back their hands.
"What on Earth was that for?"
"Do you feel better, James?" Carlos asked, his puppy-dog eyes round and innocent.
James felt his heart warm. "Yeah. Thanks Carlitos." he smiled.
"Then it worked." Logan exclaimed triumphantly.
James grinned, wrapping his long arms around his best friends, cuddling them close as they laughed loudly, playfully trying to shove him off.
"I love you guys."
A/N: That was so fun to write! ^_^ Reviews? Suggestions?
