Disclaimer: It's mine, all mine! MY PRECIOUS! Omg, I'm losing it. Is this what happens when you become addicted to writing?
So, I really wanted to thank all my reviewers! You make my day, and make me keep wanting to update, not to mention make me want to update more than once a day. I have to restrain myself, or I look desperate, haha. I like to update daily, because, I remember when I was at college, I'd rock up an hour early, cos of my bus, and then I'd have nothing to do til class started, but there was this one story, that was updated every day, not long before I got to college, and so I'd have a new chapter to read. Haha
I'd also really really like to thank DemiLenaJonasBTR! I love reading your reviews cos they are so full of detail and you give awesome ideas!
Also, I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to the song Lux Aeterna for giving me inspiration through every chapter. Seriously, if it wasn't for this song, I'd probably have given up on writing altogether. For anyone who doesn't know this song, it's one of the songs from Lord of the Rings, and Requiem for a Dream.
Forgive my rambling.
Without further Ado, Chapter Four :]
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Logan was yelling for him to get up. Kendall groaned something unintelligible and rolled over. Getting up this day was not on his list of things to do. In fact, he would quite like to stay in bed for the rest of eternity, nice and warm and comfortable.
But nooo, because the next thing, his mother was in, yelling at him to get up.
"Kendall, it's nine. Get up and soak up this sunshine," she said happily. He was pretty sure his mother was asking for an early death, head pounding, he just wanted someone to shove a sock in her mouth.
"I'm up, I'm up," he grumbled croakily, licking his lips, trying to moisten his parched mouth, throat scratching. As he sat up, he realised just how much like death he himself felt. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around his room, discovering it empty. He shook his head, but quickly decided against it, as it made his head ache even more.
"Oh, no," he groaned, feeling the first signs of what he was positive was the flu. His week was just getting worse and worse. Sighing dramatically, he slowly stood up, stretching his limbs, cracking his back, before shuffling his way out of the bedroom and straight to the bathroom. A long hot shower couldn't hurt, so, slowly undressing, he then climbed into what he suddenly deemed the 'gift of the gods'. The water was scorching and he was sure he'd never felt more relaxed.
He relished in the warmth, rolling his head around, letting the spray massage tense shoulders, he felt he could fall asleep standing up. He decided against it, however, because he didn't need to hit his head. He did that enough in hockey.
In what felt like minutes, but he was soon informed was more like half an hour later, he was climbing back out of the shower, refreshed and ready for another day. The moment he wrapped his towel around narrow hips, the pounding in his head returned. He let out another frustrated groan, heading for his room and his clothes.
After dressing in silence, he checked his phone, dreading it when he found it flashing, alerting him to an unread message. He closed green eyes as he opened it, and quickly peeked out. A relieved sigh escaping as he saw it was from Jo.
Breakfast at the pool?
'Well, how about that!' He thought, well aware that he had missed her breakfast invitation by an hour or so, surprisingly, he wasn't too bothered by that fact, glad for the extra hour or so sleep he had managed to get, even if it meant missing out on seeing his girlfriend.
He left the apartment, banana in hand, and walked down to the pool. Jo was sitting by the pool, next to Camille, on the beach chairs. Her long blonde hair was falling over one shoulder and she was reading a script intently.
He walked over to her, leaning down and giving her a quick peck, standing back up, and trying to ignore the dizziness that overtook him. Glad when she didn't notice, he stepped back when he saw her glare.
"Thanks for the reply," she said, blue eyes narrowed. He frowned at her in return.
"Come on, I was asleep. It was early. You didn't really think I'd be awake at that time did you?" he asked her.
"You could've replied and said so," she said, her eyes hadn't lost the glare. It was like she didn't understand what sleep was. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, glancing around the pool, looking for any one of his mates. He saw Katie over near Buddha Bob; they were always thick as thieves, those two. She high fived the old man, and he roared with laughter.
Kendall looked back at Jo.
"I was sleeping. Me and the guys had a busy night. We had stuff to sort out. Didn't get to bed 'til late. I didn't reply cos I was sleeping. I'm sorry, Jo, I have to go. See you for lunch?" he asked, praying she would either say no, or be over her mood by then.
"Yeah, ok," she said reluctantly. Kendall took off for Katie. His sister watched his approach. Hands on hips, smirk gracing her tiny face.
"You're up late. Mum and Logan were yelling at you to wake up for hours. Logan was almost sure you were in a coma. We had to convince him you were just playing dead, to get him to leave you alone. But, seriously, you wouldn't even respond,"
"Uhh, okay," he said, nose twitching as he could only remember his mum yelling once, and the small possibility of Logan trying to wake up. He shrugged. Ancient history now.
"Where are the guys?" he asked instead, looking around for them again, but not seeing them.
"Dude, they're at Rocque Records, which is where you really should be. James was saying something about harmonies and dancing?" his little sister's smirk just grew larger as a look of dawning terror appeared on his face.
"Oh, no!" he exclaimed, smacking his face, "I'll see you around, Katie," he said, rushing off with a wave over his shoulder. He was just running through the lobby doors as Freight Train was coming in the front entrance.
"Gustavo sent me to get you. I think you're in trouble," the huge man said, picking the boy up, bridal style, and carrying him to the car.
"Yeah, I slept in. With everything to do with the stalker and such, I completely forgot about today," he sighed, staring at the back of the man's head. Freight train chortled with amusement.
"Yeah, the boys were telling Gustavo and Kelly about it. Bitters huh? Glad it's all sorted out, kiddo," the man said, glancing over his shoulder at Kendall.
Kendall sighed again.
"It wasn't Bitters. But you absolutely cannot tell anyone. I don't want the others to know it's still going on. I got a message when I went to bed, telling me I was wrong. I still don't know who it is," he stared out the window, hearing Freight Train sigh.
"Look, kid, it would probably be best if you did tell the others. But, I like you, and I want you to be able to trust me. So, I won't tell the others,"
"Thanks. But, why do you want me to trust you?" Kendall asked, actually curious. Confused as to why the man that worked for Gustavo wanted to earn his trust.
"Because, I'm looking after you and your friends. It's my job to protect you. And I can't protect you properly if you don't trust me. See, you boys don't actually need to know if there is a threat against you, as long as nothing actually happens to you," the big man explained, his deep voice soothing.
Kendall nodded his head, seeing the logic in that statement. He climbed out of the car when they arrived at Rocque Records, and slowly made his entrance, not really wanting to be there, especially not so late.
"You're all doing dance now. Sorry kid," Freight Train said, patting his shoulder and walking off. Kendall sighed and made his way to the dancing.
The three boys were sipping on their water, as Mr X babbled something about how they were still X-tremely bad dancers. James, Logan and Carlos were all busy rolling their eyes. But they all straightened up when Kendall walked in.
"X-kay!" Mr X exclaimed when he saw the blonde boy. "We can get X-started!"
And so six hours of vigorous dance practice began. While the other three got to stop for a few breaks, Kendall had to keep going through the first few ones, to make up for his missed Harmonies. But through the majority of the practicing, there were lots of yells and shouts of pain, a lot of falling on backsides, and a lot of proof that they really weren't dancers.
When Kendall was finally allowed a break, he just collapsed onto the floor, spread eagle, not even bothering moving from where he was standing. Sweat was pouring down his face and he was positive his headache had gotten worse.
He pulled his phone out to see two missed messages.
Thanks for lunch. He groaned as he remembered the promised lunch date with Jo, and opened the second message.
Three… Four… Lock your door 3
He felt his head thump against the floor. Closing his eyes in dread. He pocketed his phone, raising himself back to his feet awkwardly, and returned to dancing. His world feeling like it was on the brink of exploding, eyes narrowed in deep concentration, hands shaking and head thumping, he refrained from yelling and pretended everything was okay.
When dancing was finally done for the day, the four boys piled into the car, exhausted. None of them had the energy to talk, or even look at each other. There were a few grunts from each boy, but no words.
The walk up to their apartment was slow and they stumbled frequently. Kendall was the first one to get to their door, which was open.
His mind flashed back to the earlier message and he flew through the doorway, and saw nothing out of place, and no one home. He ran to his room and still couldn't see anything different. He sighed in relief. He flopped back on his bed, and felt something under his pillow.
He pulled out a black and white picture of him sleeping with writing on the back.
I like you on your back.
His heart plummeted, headache turning to migraine, he screwed the image up. Never had he hated his own image as much as he did then.