CHAPTER 4- BUNKING AT KENDALL'S

"What's up man?" Carlos asked James.

"My mom's coming to visit!"

"And you have to stay here because..." I asked him.

The four guys turned to me with fear in their eyes. "Oh god," Kendall told me, "you do NOT want to meet Brooke Diamond."

James shot him a glare. "I still love her. But yeah, she can get um...overbearing. I don't wanna be home for that. So...Kendall I'm staying here." He smiled.

Logan snickered. "Overbearing," he muttered. "Made me change my name god dammit." Michelle rubbed his arm.

Carlos snickered. "C'mon Hortense you know you secretly thank her for that now."

Kyra burst out laughing. We all turned to her. "I'm sorry," she laughed, "but I just thought about getting tickets to see Kendall, James, Carlos, and HORTENSE!"

We joined in on her laughter, all except for Logan. He sat there with his arms crossed, pouting.

Michelle covered her mouth with one hand to try and stop giggles from escaping. "I would have loved you anyway, baby."

He smiled at her. "Aw thanks, sweetheart." Logan kissed her sweetly and James groaned.

"What's wrong James?" I smirked. "Feel like you need a lady friend in your life?"

"Nah...I think I've got her." He winked at me and I smiled.

"Well now I feel awkwardly alone." Kendall mumbled.

Kyra shot me a look and I shrugged. Go for it I mouthed.

"Well Kendall," she told him, "looks like we're the two loners. We should totally hook up." She laughed.

He smiled. "Wait I actually like that."

She looked shocked. "I was...I was kidding," she stammered.

He smirked. "I wasn't."

Oh swoon. Yeah I'll be hearing about that all of tonight. After eating, Logan, Carlos, Michelle, and Brooke said good bye and left for South Valley.

All of a sudden Darth Vader's theme song started playing from somewhere in the house.

I looked at Kendall. "Is that Star Wars?"

James held up his phone. "Yup. That would be my mom calling."

I stifled a laugh. "Oh, sure. Right."

He walked into the kitchen to take the call. Kendall, Kyra, and I continued to watch reruns of Iron Chef. Don't ask me why, I have an obsession with Food Network.

James came back into the living room, a smug smile on his face. "I am an absolute genius!"

"Holy hell!" Kendall exclaimed. "You got out of going home? How?"

"Told her my girlfriend was over. She almost hung up on me." He laughed.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "And that worked because?"

He shrugged. "She doesn't like anyone being with her baby boy."

"Oh awesome," I muttered.

I went to take a sip from my water bottle when James casually said, "She wants to meet you."

The water I just drank came right back out and across the couch. "She wants to WHAT?!" I shrieked.

He pretended to wipe his cheek. I made a face at him and he continued, "Not now. But soon." He said it so nonchalantly as if it was no big deal.

"And that would be one of your beautiful blonde friends from the studio right?" I laughed nervously.

"Nope," He smiled. "You."

Kendall grabbed Kyra's hand. "Well...we'll just uh, go get stuff for you guys to sleep in. K bye!" He ran out pulling her behind him.

"Well, she's happy." I smiled. "But what are you talking about James?"

"Oh don't think I'm rushing anything. I just really like you. And I'm sure as hell not pushing that on you now. Just letting you know. In the near future." He winked and got up to go to the bathroom.

Well damn.

Kendall and Kyra returned downstairs with blankets and pillows. "You guys all good?" she whispered to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, fine. I'll tell you later." She smiled at me and helped Kendall pull out the couch.

"I'm sorry, guys. I only have one guest bedroom...is one of you ok with sleeping down here?"

"Yeah," I told him. "I'll crash down here."

"You sure?" Kyra asked me.

"I'll be fine," I assured her. "Couch is more comfortable for me than for you anyway."

Kyra explained to Kendall, "I screwed my back up a lot when I was younger doing gymnastics."

"Oh, so you're flexible," he said with a wink.

She blushed and I felt my own cheeks grow hot at his innuendo. "Good night, girls. Wake me up if you need anything." He returned upstairs.

Kyra let out a huge breath of air. "Wow...he really just said that. I'm just gonna, um, go to sleep now. Night."

"Guest room, darling!" I called out. She turned around and stuck her tongue out at me.

"See you in the morning," she said as she moved upstairs.

James came out of the bathroom then. "Oh no!"

"What?" He turned to me, alarmed.

"Sorry, I just realized Kendall never set up a place for YOU to sleep."

"It's fine," he said with a wave of his hand. "I always sleep on the recliner when I stay here."

"You sure you'll be comfortable?"

"Yup. I'll be fine." He went and stretched out on the chair and I tossed him a blanket. "Thanks. Night Kit-Kat."

I went to turn off the light and frowned. No one's called me Kit-Kat since...Travis.

I woke up at some time in the middle of the night shaking and in tears. I checked the clock on my phone: 3:42. I wiped my face. I had fallen asleep thinking about the nickname Kit-Kat. And Travis. I haven't done that since last year.

When I sat up, I noticed the recliner was in the upright position. "James?" I called out softly.

He came walking in from the kitchen with a glass of water. "I heard you and got up, but I didn't want to wake you. Figured you'd need this." He held the glass out.

I took it from his hand. "Thank you," I told him. "Sorry about waking you."

"It's fine, Kate. You wanna tell me what happened?"

"Oh um...I don't know." I haven't told anyone about what I went through with Travis except Caleb and Kyra. My mom wasn't even home that whole year. She was too busy working.

"That's ok," he told me. I put the glass on the table and laid back down on the couch again. James placed a blanket over me and kissed my forehead. "Sleep well, ok? And wake me up if you need anything, sweetheart."

He turned to go back to the recliner. "James?"

"Hmm?"

"I..." I shook my head. No, I told myself. You're not thinking right. You don't love him.

"Kate?" he asked. "You ok? You were gonna say something..."

"Oh yeah. Um...thank you. Just for being there."

"No problem." He smiled at me and curled up on the lounger.

I looked at his beautiful face and tried to organize my thoughts. My feelings for him were all messed up because of the sweet things he just did. I didn't really love him. That doesn't happen in just two days. Right?