.:Chapter Six:.
"Is it illegal to get homework that lasts more than an hour?" Kendall asked, drumming his fingertips against his laptop. He stretched out his arms to rest face-first on his bed. He stretched all the way from his head to his toes before leaning back on his elbows once more. Oh how his muscles ached. Gustavo had practically run them into the ground with their choreography that day.
Of course, he didn't do any of the dancing for them, but continued to make them run through it over and over until things were 'perfect'. But with Gustavo, 'perfect' didn't exist. Kendall was able to tune out his screaming from time to time but throwing it in when he was trying to get the steps right, that was another story. He wasn't a good dancer, he knew that from the beginning. Just like Carlos wasn't the best singer and knew it. But unlike Carlos, Kendall couldn't just put it off with a smile. He had to work hard to get better.
So much so that he didn't mind having extra practices with Rhuben to get better with his choreography work. A part of him, the competitive part of him, needed to be the best he could be and that extended all the way to being the best band he and his friends could be.
Even if that meant having to endure Gustavo's lack of tact when trying to help them.
"Well, you are going to school, Hockey-Head, I don't think that's illegal," Riley said. She sat on his bed next to him, legs stretched out so her feet rested on his lower back, knees brought up to rest a sketchbook against her thighs. "It's a bit dodgy, but legal."
"No." Kendall shook his head and twisted to face her. "Miss. Collins assigning homework is normal, this is homework from Gustavo. He wants us to research why repetitive work makes for better quality of content when it's finished."
Riley's eyes narrowed. She lowered her pencil and gave him a surprised look. "You're telling me he wants you to do homework on why he's basically turning you lot into trained monkeys?"
"Yep."
"He's always been a drongo, but that's dumb even for him, yeah?"
Kendall smiled and rested his cheek in his palm as he gazed at her. "You must be really excited to go home."
Riley tilted her head to the side, eyebrows quirking upwards. "What makes you say that?"
"I haven't been able to understand half of what you've been saying for the past hour," Kendall pointed out. "And that usually only happens when you're about to go home or when you've just gotten back."
"Taking a well-deserved break after years of writing, recording, touring, appearances, and everything that goes along with it? Yeah, I think I'm excited." She turned her attention back to her drawing. Every few seconds, her eyes would shift from the paper to Kendall. "But it sucks that we'll have to miss your guys' tour."
"Yeah, it would've been fun if you guys were coming along."
Kendall's gaze swept over the clothes and bags all over his side of the room. He was messy as it was, but now that there was packing he was putting off, a bomb may as well have exploded. Massive piles of clean clothes sat gathered around the foot of his bed, some spilling over the edge of an empty suitcase, easily contrasted by the one suitcase, sports bag, and backpack that sat neatly by Logan's bed. Of course he had been packed ever since the tour had been announced to the boys, adding more climate specific things when a new tour date was added.
So far they were going around the United States after a trip to the UK and Europe, and more and more dates were continuing to be added as shows sold out. It was going to be their first international tour and they were excited. But, Kendall noted, it would've been much more fun if the Jacksons and their band were coming on the tour with them as they had done for their first US tour with Big Time Rush returning the favor during their own tour.
Their bands had done everything together since he'd arrived in LA and now they were going their separate ways. "It was bound to happen," Patrick said to them, after they'd publicly made the announcement of their year-long break. "We can't do everything together."
Too bad they'd hoped so. Kendall rolled onto his back and crossed his arms behind his head, making Riley pull her legs back to cross them. "It would've been fun to go to Europe and stuff together."
"And have to rescue you lot from all of the dumb things you get into? Sure." Riley laughed, running a hand through her hair. "You can't even get packed when you're supposed to. I can't imagine what would happen." She lifted her hand and moved it in an arch through the air. "American Boyband Destroys Music Hall."
"Ha ha." Kendall rolled his eyes. "If anything, Gustavo's own screaming would do that."
"And who'd get him that mad?" She tapped his stomach with the top of her pencil and Kendall brushed it away. He frowned, realizing it certainly would be something he and his friends would do. Probably when they would want to go sightseeing rather than do soundcheck. "Exactly, Hockey-Head. You're the thorn in his side that'll never go away. And I know that first hand, you never. Go. Away." She gave him a teasing smile as she punctuated each word.
Kendall sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees. "You definitely tried hard enough."
"Yeah, and you didn't take the hint, mate. I guess I'll have to try harder to get you to leave me alone."
"Yeah, like the three months on tour isn't going to be bad enough," Kendall said. He closed his eyes as soon as the words left his mouth, knowing exactly how she was going to react to it. It only took a few seconds for the smirk to come to his face for him to know for sure.
"Aww." Riley uncrossed her legs gently dug her toe into his side. "You're going to miss me."
Kendall returned it with a smirk of his own. "I can't miss you if you don't leave."
Riley tilted her head to the side. "Seems to me you're the one who's leaving, Hockey-Head," she pointed out. Comfortable silence stretched between the two for a long moment. That was something he really liked about their friendship. Normally when he was around his friends, he felt he had to have something to say, to add to a conversation so there wasn't any boring moments. But around her he found the silent moments to be as meaningful as the ones where they were constantly talking and laughing.
It hit him then, how much he was going to miss having her around. Their friendship had started off rocky and a bit antagonistic, he couldn't quite understand why she didn't like him. They seemed to have enough in common to start that rapport and they had to work together. Not only was she their stylist but was also 'assigned' to him to be his mentor in a way as their band wen ton. To learn the ropes of the industry and everything that went along with it. They finally got their once he and Logan found out she and her siblings were being abused by their foster father.
But to know he was going to miss her that much.
Maybe I should tell her? The thought crossed his mind before he could stop it. Tell her how he really felt about her. That he liked her as more than a friend, that he liked her the same way he liked Jo. Maybe even more, if it were possible. But was it the right time to do it? He'd only told Jo he liked her when he thought he was moving back to Minnesota for good. It's just a tour, he reminded himself. Just a couple of months. It won't be that long.
And what if he did say something and then left? Would running away like that make her hate him? No, he doubted it. They could always talk to each other about everything. Even something as big as this? And what if he waited too long and she found someone else while she was at home? Or got back together with her ex? Or what if he felt he needed to get back together with Jo?
"Hey." Riley placed her hand atop of Kendall's and gently rubbed it, grabbing his attention. He blinked and turned to look at her, finding her blue eyes filled with concern. The warmth of her hand radiated up his arm, shot through his entire body like lightning. "You alright, mate? You looked like you were really thinking about something."
Kendall shook his head. "I just can't wait to go."
For a moment Riley didn't look like she believed him. She did have a habit of seeming to know what he was truly thinking or feeling without having to say it. Instead of questioning him about it—maybe she could sense the reason for his anxiety—Riley removed her hand and said, "Then maybe you should start packing. You leave tomorrow, you know." But her voice sounded flat, almost...sad.
He smiled sheepishly, watching her eyes move over the mess on his side of the room. "Help?" He asked.
"Of course," Riley replied immediately. No questions asked. "What are friends for?" She turned her sketchbook around and Kendall burst out laughing when he saw a quick sketch of Gustavo screaming with smoke coming out of his ears with a sketch of Kendall standing to the side, smirking. She ripped it out and put her signature in the corner before handing it over to him.
Kendall took the drawing and continued to look over it—taking a moment to grunt in pain when Riley stepped on him to climb off the bed—before watching her gather his things to put in his suitcase. She stopped and looked back and forth between the pile in her arms to the one on the floor and asked, "Which one's clean."
"I don't know," he said honestly.
Riley sighed. "Mate, you're going to be so lost without us around."
She didn't know how true her words were.
Riley had been making breakfast with her siblings when the house phone rang early in the morning. Tha made her and her siblings take pause, no one called that early. Everyone in Australia knew they'd more than likely be at the beach at that time. Their wet hair certainly proved it. How many times had they had to be dragged in from the water to race to answer a phone, to get to a meeting on time, to go to a concert? More than enough to count.
Still, it was strange to have the phone ring when the sun was barely rising over the horizon. Sydney leapt up onto the counter to answer it, having a short conversation with the person on the other end of the phone before handing it to her.
"Three guesses of who it is," Rhuben teased. "And the first two don't count."
"Hmm." Patrick pretended to think. "Does he share a similar nickname with Barbie's boyfriend?"
Riley laughed along with her siblings as they gently teased her. Noah laughed too before nodding over to Rhuben and saying, "It could be worse. He could be her stalker." Rhuben frowned and glared at Noah while the others laughed harder.
"He's not a stalker, okay," Rhuben insisted, now rapidly and viciously peeling apart oranges.
"Dak's not a stalker," Riley said sarcastically. "He just don't know how to take 'no' for an answer, only ever talks about you, and knows your exact measurements for gifts that 'just so happen' to remind him of you. He wouldn't be our first thought if you ended up dead. Not at all."
Rhuben shot her sister the middle finger while their brothers laughed harder.
Riley wiped off her hands, which she had been using to chop potatoes, on a dishtowel before taking the phone to press to her ear. "Let me guess, you need to figure out some sort of outfit or something, yeah?" She could tell he rolled his eyes at the nickname for him.
Was it her fault it was just so easy to come up with them? It wasn't like James, Logan, and Carlos didn't get a nickname either. Well, she reminded herself, not as much as he gets.
"No," Kendall said with a quiet laugh when he finally answered her. "You said we could choose whatever we wanted for casual, remember?"
"And yet, James is constantly sending me pictures, asking for my opinion. The other says 'hi' by the way." She held the phone away from her ear so Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney could all shout their hellos for Kendall to hear. He said it back and Riley backed away from the counter and flashed her open palm at her siblings, signaling she'd only be five minutes, and went to the living room where she sat in a leather chair. For a brief moment she thought about getting a towel to sit on, knowing Ronan would be upset about her wet clothes being on the chair then thought better of it. It wouldn't take too long. "So what's up with the tour? You have to tell me everything."
"You're not going to believe me," Kendall trailed off.
"Try me." Riley started to pick at her nails, wondering if she should change the polish color from black to a new one. They were supposed to be starting over soon and a new look was always good.
"Well…" Kendall paused. For a moment Riley wasn't sure if he would actually tell her. He had said she wouldn't believe him. But that was the thing about Kendall and Big Time Rush; they were pretty unbelievable. "While in London, we got wrapped up in this scheme with MI6 and we became secret agents to save the world."
Riley pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it for a moment before putting it back to her ear. "You're right," she said after a second. "I don't believe you. You're lying through your teeth."
"I swear to God, I'm not!" Kendall cried. "It really happened. Ask any of the other guys." He was laughing now.
"Like you lot have the best track record for this sort of thing. Please."
"I swear on my mom's grave."
"Your mum's not dead, Hockey-Head. I mean, unless you have a plot to get rid of her, I don't think she'll be kicking the bucket anytime soon."
"On my dad's grave then."
Riley was about to point out that his dad wasn't dead either but decided against it. Kendall hated his father enough for him to have mentioned, 'I wish he was dead' or 'He may as well be' when the conversation topic came up. "Okay, so you got wrapped up into MI6. What was it that this guy wanted."
"The usual, to take over the world." He paused. "You don't believe me."
"Mmm. Not really, mate, no. They'd have to be desperate to want to use you lot to stop someone from taking over the world, yeah?" She laughed at her own joke. "Other than that, if it really happened, how's it going?"
"Well, we started in London-"
"No, tell me everything!"
Kendall chuckled. There was a groaning and squeaking sound in the background, letting Riley know that he was stretching out on his bed. They were probably in a hotel room if not on a tour bus. No, she thought. I don't hear a bus engine. Not to mention that she'd been on enough tour buses to know that sound carried and there was never enough privacy to make phone calls. She would've heard the boys trying to butt in if he were on the bus. "The story's kind of boring. Traveling from place to place, performing. It's the same thing every day."
"Maybe, but I'd be more entertained," Riley remarked. "You know that I don't like to miss anything. All we do here is eat, sleep, and go to the beach."
"Poor you," Kendall teased.
"Shut up," Riley replied.
"I'm just saying, you're in the lap of a vacation and you're complaining about being bored." Riley could hear the smile in his voice. "You must miss us a lot."
Riley pressed her lips together, suddenly finding herself caught off-guard by the tone of his voice as he said it. "You must miss us a lot." Almost wistful. Riley let out a sigh and replied, "You kept us from being bored."
"I know that's not the truth, but I'll take it for now." Kendall laughed. "You know, we miss you guys, too." Riley rested her palm against her forehead, frowning. Why did her stomach feel so queasy all of a sudden? "You still there?"
"Yeah," Riley said slowly. "Still here. Oh!" Her eyes lit up. "Did you guys like the pictures we sent?"
"Katie's jealous," Kendall relayed. "She says it's not fair how she's stuck in the PalmWoods while we're on tour and you guys are on vacation. She and Mom could only stay for a few of our shows before having to go back. But they're going to be going to our last one in Canada and then fly back to LA while we take the tour bus, back." He suddenly sniffed loudly.
"Are you getting sick?" Riley demanded. "I told you guys to make sure that you get a good night's sleep or-"
"Relax," Kendall broke in. "I just blew my nose. Geez. You and Benny are such mother hens."
"Can't help it. The idea of cancelling a show for sickness, one for as big of a tour as this is, wouldn't be good."
"Gustavo's already threatened to stick me with a shot so he doesn't have to cancel a show for sickness."
"Something tells me that's more for not wanting to pay back deposit and insurance more than it is about you."
"You'd be right."
A comfortable silence fell over the two teens.
"Look, we're sorry that we couldn't be there to support you guys while you announced everything that you all have been going through," Kendall said quietly. Riley smiled a little. She should've been saying that to him. "But you do know that we were supporting you all no matter where we were. We even dedicated that show to you guys, the night you announced it. And we watched the live feed coverage." He paused. "We're really proud, you know."
Riley frowned. Comments like that always made her a bit uncomfortable. Having listened to Robert go on and on about how worthless they were besides making money and working…it got ingrained in her brain pretty quickly. And manifested in some of her worst habits; putting up walls to keep people out, so no one could see how hurt and broken she really was, pushing people away before they could get too close….
Big Time Rush had managed to break through that, but habits were hard to break.
"Some people don't see it that way," Riley said slowly instead. It had been a shock to see some of the nastier comments among the mostly positive. How a 'little bit of discipline' never hurt anyone and how the probably needed it for having had all of the wealth and fame they'd acquired from such a young start of their career. "They just believe the bad things they've heard about us."
"I'm not most people."
"I know." Riley quickly changed the subject back to him. "Trust me, I know. You're one of the only people that I know that needs constant supervision."
"Thanks, Riles." Kendall sounded sarcastic. "Thanks a lot. You're so funny."
"Aren't I? And you're welcome, Hockey-Head," Riley mimicked his tone then laughed, curling herself up into a ball, resting comfortably in the chair. "Oh, we heard that you guys sold out a couple of your shows. Fans are going nuts online. They're asking us if we can get them some tickets."
"Really?"
"You must feel pretty popular." Riley found herself smiling. "Even more so than when our pics from Hawaii for the Windows Down shoot got out." She made a 'tsk' sound. "And you weren't even shirtless half the time. A major waste if you ask me."
Kendall gave a sarcastic laugh. "Speaking of, a lot of guys are already drooling over yours and Rhu's beach pictures," Kendall said slowly. Riley resisted the urge to curl her upper lip. She couldn't miss the tone of jealousy in his voice. It seemed to happen a lot more lately.
Riley twisted her fingers together and changed the subject. "Is something else going on, Kendall? You sound sorta funny."
"A lot," He admitted after a second, with a heavy sigh. "There's a lot going on."
"Is it the whole moving thing? I thought you guys were only just looking at the houses. Though, James, Logan, and Carlos seemed ready to move out the second Mama Knight mentioned you lot were going house hunting before you left."
"Nah, we haven't decided anything witht that yet," Kendall said. "But you'd probably be one of the first to know. Apparently you don't move out of the Palm Woods without people knowing and I'm sure Bitters would have a field day when we're gone. It's just…I've had to miss a show because of being sick and my asthma and stuff. I'm just stressed."
"So tell me," Riley said quietly.
"I want to," Kendall suddenly sounded really tired. "I really do. There's nothing else I'd rather do, frankly. But I'd like to be able to do it in person. Not over text, not through e-mail, not the few and far between video chats and especially not over the phone. I like talking to you, in person, to your face, because that way…" He gave a hollow laugh. "I really want to talk to my best friend, but I can't."
"I can't help that." Riley sighed in frustration.
"I know." Kendall's voice matched her tone. "It just sucks knowing that you can't help me until the tour is over cause I'd rather talk to you. Like, talk the way we did before."
"So do I. But there's not much of the tour left."
"I just miss you." He sucked in a sharp breath as if realizing he said something wrong. "I mean, uh, all you guys-I miss all you guys."
Riley paused. "I miss you, too," she replied and waited for his response, heart pounding. Nothing. Instead, she listened to him breathe, feeling oddly soothed by it. Maybe he got what she was really trying to say but couldn't quite find the words for it. Maybe he felt the same way, too? Finally, the silence became too much for her and she said, "Get some sleep, ok? We can talk when you get back."
"I'll try," Kendall promised. "Tell the others I say, 'hi'."
"Sure," Riley replied. "Do the same for me. Peace. Hoo roo."
"Later, Riles."
Riley lowered the phone to her lap and stared off into space for a moment. She then shook her head, putting the phone aside. "Damn it," She muttered under her breath, realizing maybe, just maybe, she should've told him how she felt about him before he left.
A/N: This chapter was delayed because, originally, it was going to be very long. But going back in editing it, I realized how much of it was unneeded and then became deleted. So, I apologize for the wait and I hope you enjoy this one.
Cheers,
-Riley
