Another chapter done. This story is proving to be a lot harder then I would've anticipated. But I'm gonna continue, and hopefully rise to the challenge. :) Enjoy!

James was walking. Just walking. Away from the Palm Woods. Away from Camille and Logan. Away from the memory.

It's what he had trained himself to do every time he felt like he just couldn't take it. Every time they were kissing or hugging and he wished it could be him. Because he had promised Logan that he wouldn't do it again. He wouldn't be this way. He would try to crush the feeling.

Except for the past month he hadn't been able to. And running away was all he could do.

So he pounded up that street, hoping he would find some kind of distraction.

His feet unintentionally took him to the studio. He hadn't been planning on it, but hey, it was something. He swung open the door, and walked inside.

First thing he noticed was how great the A/C felt. Next he noticed how very abnormally quiet it was. It was never this quiet.

So he walked along all the hallways, and up and down all the stairs, listening for any noise at all. For any person that might still be here. It wasn't even that late. Gustavo wouldn't be gone yet, which meant Kelly should have still been here. So where were they?

He got to the regular recording studio, and peered in. He shook his head. No-one. He almost walked away. Before he saw a small figure sitting on a chair in the corner, her eyes downcast, rubbing polish on a guitar she had lain across her lap. He saw the others leaning up against the wall, shining and so clean he could see his reflection.

"Hey," he ventured.

She raised her eyes. He found himself looking into the oddest combination of gold and brown he had seen in his life. Her eyes were large with long dark lashes, and she looked very tired.

"Do you know if Gustavo's here?" he asked.

"No. He left with Kelly about a half hour ago. I thought everyone had gone home," she said.

"I wasn't- I mean, I didn't... I wasn't here before. I just got here, I mean," he stuttered. She was staring him down in a most uncomfortable way. He found himself unable to look away from her.

"Oh. How'd you get in?"

"Um, the door? It was unlocked. Should I not have come?"

"No, it's fine. Was there anything I could help you with?"

"No, I'm just," he sighed. "No."

She surveyed him. "You're Logan's friend."

"Yup. And you're..."

"Ren."

"Oh right. Burger Girl."

She laughed. It was a little forced, but the smile stayed behind in her eyes after she had gone silent.

"Camille has dubbed you the most awesome fifteen year old she's met in her life."

"Yeah, well Camille is pretty much the most amazing person I've met in MY life. She's just so..." she pondered.

"She's so unpredictable. Which makes it interesting. But she's caring. And you know she's got your back no matter what. She's loyal," James finished for her.

"Yeah... She's great..." Ren clearly hadn't been ready for that detailed description of her best friend.

"You got that right."

"You seem like you know her pretty well."

"We erm... um, well she's Logan's girlfriend. So yeah, I guess I do."

"Is she just Logan's girlfriend? Or is she your friend?"

"She is! I meant that she's more Logan's than mine."

OK, he REALLY hadn't meant for it to come out like that.

"I get what you mean," she said, suddenly looking much more relaxed. She smiled at him, and James almost breathed out in relief. Something about the way her eyes just bore into him, made him kind of feel like she could look into his heart and see what he was thinking. It was unsettling, but strangely interesting.

He saw her eyes drift back to the guitar. Her fingers started dancing unconsciously. He smiled in spite of himself.

"You play guitar."

She looked startled.

"Yeah... How did you know?"

"Your fingers. They're, erm, moving."

She looked down at her hands. Her fingers looked as if they were itching to pluck at those newly cleaned strings.

"Oh. Yeah." She smiled a little weakly.

He returned it. "Here," he said, taking the only uncleaned guitar from the wall. He slung the strap over his shoulder, and positioned it across his chest.

"I don't know how to play really. Kendall's been kinda teaching me because Gustavo says the band needs another instrumental type. Carlos plays like puke, and Logan is mostly tone-deaf, so." He shrugged.

She laughed. Heartened a little bit, he smiled at her. He began plucking. He didn't really know the song. Something by John Mayer. He hummed along softly with the tune.

When he was finished, he looked to the girl. She was grinning.

"You're not bad."

"Haha. Thanks. Let's see you play now."

"Kay."

She pulled the guitar around to the front of her, and began plucking. Except the shock factor was multiplied by about a hundred.

First, he really wasn't expecting her to play their song. Second, he had always thought no-one could do it better than him and the guys.

But there she was. Blowing him away, with her version of Any Kind Of Guy.

She didn't sing, but she hummed a little along to James' parts. Which made him very happy for some reason. He listened to her until she had finished. Then he just stared.

"That's our song."

She looked a little surprised. He had said it rather loudly.

"Um, what the heck do you mean, 'your song'?"

"I mean, it's by Big Time Rush. That's US!"

"No it's not!"

He could see something click in her head.

"Oh yeah. It is,' she amended.

He rubbed his temples. "Where did you hear it?"

"On a stereo a while ago. A bunch of kids, listening to-"

"Big Time Rush?"

"Um, yeah."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, it's an awesome song."

"Thanks! You like it? We have a ton more now. Wanna hear them?"

"Shoosh yeah I do!"

"Well, let's go then!"

"OK! Wait, where are we going?"

"To the Palm Woods. We have a copy of the demos at our apartment."

"OK. Lemme finish and I'll meet you outside in a bit."

"Sure."

So five minutes later, he was leading her down the sidewalk back towards the hotel, chattering to her about their music. She seemed to be listening intently.

They reached the doors, and he held one open for her to walk through. She smiled at him. His knees turned rather gelatinous. He followed her in, and into the elevator, where he pressed the two quickly. They hadn't spoken for a little bit, and he was starting to feel awkward. But they made it to 2J with little or no delay, and he strode in.

Katie was sitting on the couch with Carlos and Stephanie, the former having his arm slung over the latter's shoulder. They were watching something on Animal Planet, which made James laugh. Anything where Katie could watch violence that wasn't rated R.

"Hey guys," he said walking over to the couch and sitting down. "Watcha watching?"

"I don't even know," Stephanie muttered.

"Whatever it is, it's awesome! Who knew Animal Planet could be so cool?"

"Carlos. It's a baby deer getting ripped to shreds by a predator. It's NOT cool."

"Yuh-huh."

"Nuh-uh," she retorted as a particularly loud crunch was broadcasted across the room. She hid her face in Carlos' shirt. He grinned. That may have been part of the reason why he was enjoying it so much. Meanwhile, Ren was no-where to be found.

"Where did she go?" James looked around.

"Who?"

"Ren. She was here, like, two seconds ago."

"I dunno. I didn't even see her walk in," Carlos shrugged. He sat up suddenly, his arm leaving Stephanie. "Wait, what were YOU doing with Ren?"

Stephanie glanced sadly at his arm, and pulled it around to rest on her lap, holding his hand. Carlos grinned stupidly. James rolled his eyes.

Why was everyone in this freakin' apartment so gushy?

"I was gonna play her some of our demos..." Carlos looked at him skeptically. "She asked!" James fired at him a little harshly. The back of his neck was burning.

He heard a laugh come from the kitchen. He glanced around, and saw the tip of a red ponytail swing around the corner. He stood up and walked over to the doorway.

"Yeah, I was just talking to Kendall-" He heard Logan chatting with her.

"Oh, hey James," Ren said, without looking back.

"How did you...?"

"I heard you. You don't have a very light step."

"I do too!"

"Oh yeah, James. Like a ballerina. If rhinoceros's could be ballerinas."

"I want a rhinoceros's for CHRISTMAS!" Carlos broke out into song from the living room.

"It hippopotamus, you doof," Katie said.

"I don't like hippopotamus's though..."

Ren laughed.

"Tough kumquats!"

"I don't like kumquats either! Who would like something that sounds like a foot disease?"

James could hear Stephanie dying from laughter. Even Logan chuckled a bit. The phone rang.

"Igotit, igotit, igotit!" Katie screamed, jumping up from the couch to dive for the phone. Logan plucked it up from the tray before she even got close.

"Hello, this is 2J, how may I help you?" he said professionally, grinning wickedly at Katie as she blew a strand of stray hair from her eyes and pouted at him.

"Yeah, hi Jo. Kendall's... out I think." He shrugged at James a little questioningly.

"With Mrs. Knight at the rink?" Logan said quietly to all in the kitchen.

Katie nodded. "New skates," she mouthed.

"Yeah, mhm, he's not in. Want me to tell him you called? You can come over if you want, to wait. Yeah shouldn't be more than a few minutes. They left like an hour ago. Alright, yeah. I'll let him know. Later."

Logan hung up.

"What did she want?" Ren asked. Some would call that rude. James called it spunk.

"Just wanted to know if Kendall's was here, and to call her back. She sounded happy about something." He shrugged again.

"Those two. They make me want to vomit," Katie muttered. "All happy go lucky with MY brother."

"C'mon Katie. They're happy," James said reasonably, although in this instance, he wished he could have high-fived her and most wholeheartedly agreed. His long established friendship with Kendall stopped him. Kendall deserved more than anyone to be happy.

"That doesn't mean I have to like her," Katie retorted.

"True. But it does mean you have to be civil," Logan chimed in.

"I am. I think I control myself pretty well around her."

"What do have against her anyway?" Ren said, hoisting herself up onto the counter and taking a seat. James walked up and leaned up next to her.

"I just don't like her," Katie shrugged.

"Because she's the first girl Kendall's been all confident with? Or because he just doesn't pay that much attention to you anymore?" Ren said, not looking up from a magazine she had pulled onto her lap.

They all stared at her. She flipped the page disinterestedly.

"Both," Katie said. Logan choked on his soda.

"I never knew that!" James said.

"I didn't want you to know."

"So why now?"

"Just came out. Does it matter all that much?"

"Not really, I guess," James said. "I think I've always kinda wondered though."

"Well wonder no more. And I don't hate her. I just don't LOVE her," Katie said to Ren, who was know staring at her quite stoutly.

"I know that," Ren said.

She walked away, back into the living room.

Logan looked a little surprised.

"Kendall pays attention to her. Why would that even matter? I thought she didn't care about what Kendall did."

"Maybe she makes you think that. He seems pretty important to her, if you ask me." Ren popped a grape into her mouth from a bowl on the counter.

"Yeah. Her only brother. I guess I've never really thought about it like that," Logan said.

"I don't think anyone would," James said. "She's Katie. You don't know she's got a shred of soft in her until something like this convinces you."

"Yup. Well, I gotta go get Camille from wherever she's trying out today. Her car got towed the other day, and she needs rides every five minutes." Logan drained his soda and tossed the can into the trash.

"What'd she get towed for?" Ren asked.

"Illegal parking. She gets it taken away for a week, since this isn't her first crime." Logan rolled his eyes.

"Who even bought her that car?"

"Her mom. She seems to think she's not a complete maniac on the road," he said.

"Well, her mom is way too sweet to think bad about anyone. Especially Camille," James said.

"I'm with you there," Ren said.

"Seeya later, guys."

They all said goodbye to Logan, who walked out the door, grabbing the keys from a hook by the door and popping them in his pocket as he went. James turned to Ren, who had handful of grapes in her palm. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"I didn't have lunch," she said.

"Me neither. You up for tacos or something, after we take care of... whatever it was we came here to take care of?"

"What were we here for again?"

James scratched the back of his head. "Demos!" he shouted suddenly. Carlos sniggered from the living room.

"Oh! Right. I forgot."

James laughed. "To the boombox!"

"Huzzah!" she laughed as she slid off the counter, and plopped down beside him. Only now did he see how short she was. She was barely shoulder level. And she had skater shoes with a few inches of wedge, whereas he had regular sneakers. He guessed she was about 5' 2". Maybe less.

They walked together to the one bedroom shared by the four boys. He walked over to the boombox and opened it. Kris Allen was in there. He popped it out, then looked around for the case.

"Where is that dang case?" he said, as he got down on all fours to look on the floor.

"What case?"

"The Kris Allen case!"

"Oh. I don't even know who that is..."

"Well, help me find it!"

"How can I help you if I don't know what it looks like?"

"Ren. It says KRIS ALLEN in huge letters on the front. It shouldn't be all that hard."

"Well, alright then, smarty pants." She got down beside him and combed the floor. After a few minutes of silence, he saw her pop up quickly.

"FOUND IT!" she said loudly. She surveyed the front. "He's hot."

James frowned. "Sure, yeah." He couldn't explain the feeling that had suddenly taken precedence in his mind. He felt kind of sick.

She held the case open for him as he clicked it in place. She shut it.

"So where are the demos?"

"Up here." He reached up to a shelf above one of the bunks. A rack of CD's was hung there. "We have to keep it up here, or else we would lose it. You've seen how hellish this place is." He plucked it from the shelf and opened it up. A pristine copy of their demos was inside. He took it out carefully, and placed it in the stereo, shutting the lid.

She looked around. It almost looked like the room was divided in half. One half was neat and clean-ish. The other half had dirty clothes and junk littering the beds and the floor.

"Why is it..."

"Divided? One half is Logan and Carlos', the other half is Kendall's and mine. Logan makes Carlos clean his stuff, and since Kendall doesn't really care..." He shrugged.

"Ah," she said, smiling a little. "You guys all share one room? Doesn't that get hectic and stuff?" She walked around, picking up a photo of Camille looking very pretty. It was on one of the dressers.

"Sometimes. We're pretty used to it by now." He walked up behind her. She was still looking at the picture. "That's Logan's," he informed her.

"I guessed. How long have they been, you know... together?"

"If you don't count the falling out, two weeks."

He hadn't meant to say that. It slipped out.

"Falling out?" she said quietly.

"Yeah." He didn't say anything. The feeling of guilt was coming back.

"What happened?"

James sighed. He walked over to the stereo and pressed play. Big Time Rush came out. Their first song. Back when things were so much more simple.

She walked over and fiddled with one of the baubles on his dresser. He didn't want to say any more. But she was putting an insane amount of pressure on him to explain. Maybe unknowingly. But that feeling of vulnerability came back when he met her eyes.

"It was my fault, kind of," he said. "No I take that back. It wasn't my fault "kind of". It WAS my fault. All my fault."

She shifted a little from foot to foot. "But they're back together now, so it doesn't matter," she said.

"It does. It matters a lot. Because I haven't forgotten."

"Don't talk about it. It's none of my business anyway."

At that moment, he honestly asked himself, "Can this girl get any more perfect?" He smiled at her. He was glad she wasn't staring at him like before. Because he really hadn't wanted her to be able to see that last thought. He was just glad his thoughts were still his own.

She smiled back. Then she turned her attention back to the stereo. "This your first one?"

"Yeah," he smiled fondly. "I remember the day we told Gustavo how it as gonna be. No more taking orders."

"Tell me," she said, sitting down Indian style on the floor.

So he did. He told her about how they got there, the making of the songs. He explained the feeling behind each, and all they had gone through. He told her about how they got the apartment, about The School of Rocque, their mansion sitting adventures, everything that happened with Jordin Sparks, and the heat wave, and the dance. He told her about everything he had treasured, and how he felt about them, something he rarely did. And she listened, and they laughed and talked until it got dark. Then they got tacos, and by the time they parted at her apartment door, James didn't even remember the reason he had gone looking for that distraction in the first place. He just knew he found it. And he couldn't have felt better.

Chapter four, yippee! I think I like where this is going, eh? :D I got nothing really more to say, except review, and tell me how you think it's going from a non-writers point of view. Thank you all!

xoxoxoxox

~Starbucks