Okay, so, I lied, I guess? I fully intended to get this chapter out sooner, but yeah. Stuff happened. But here you go—chapter fourteen!
I own nothing you may recognize.
The weeks passed, and week after week, Logan found himself attending party after party with Krissy. In the back of his genius mind, he knew he should be focusing on his studies and attending all of his classes and at least be interested in his music career, but he couldn't seem to say no whenever Krissy asked him to go to a party with her. All the girl had to do was say, "Come on, you had fun the last time!" and he was all in. Because he did have fun, every time he went.
And what was wrong with fun, anyway? He seemed to be asking himself that question a lot lately. He was still doing relatively well in school, he was still going to band practices with the boys—why should he have to suffer by not being able to have the full college experience? College is the best time of your life, and he intended to make it such.
After the first party he and Krissy went to together, Paul rarely said two words to him. The three of them worked on their group project together for the class they had, and Paul still gave him the nod of greeting whenever he saw him around campus. But they weren't "bros" any longer, as they had proclaimed so long ago at that very first party. And Logan never saw Krissy and Paul even look each other's way. He knew Krissy said not to worry about it, but he couldn't help but feel like he caused that estrangement between the two.
"Logie, did you hear me?"
Logan broke free of his wandering train of thought about his relationships with Krissy and Paul, and turned his head to face Kendall, who'd interrupted his daydreaming.
"What'd you say, man?" he replied, not even bothering to hide his bored expression. The more he hung out with his college friends, the more he found Kendall, James, and Carlos to be boring. And he never thought those three could ever be boring. But college changes you, it changes a lot of things.
"I asked if you were going out with Krissy tonight," Kendall repeated himself. He'd of course noticed Logan's separated behavior over the past few weeks, and knew that people do sometimes move on and break apart, but he really hoped that wasn't happening to his best friend since the third grade. So, more and more, he was trying to get Logan to hang out with him, Carlos, and James, like they used to, before Logan started at UCLA. Sadly, it wasn't working so well. But Kendall, ever the confident one, stayed hopeful.
"Oh," Logan deadpanned, turning away from Kendall once again and staring down at his philosophy homework. "Read the next 4 chapters, be prepared for a quiz over said chapters on Monday, no excuses." He could hear his professor's British accented words screaming in his ears. "No. I have philosophy homework," he finally answered his former best friend. He hardly considered the guys his best friends anymore, let alone his brothers. They were just his bandmates as of right now, and he was fine with that. He had other friends now.
Kendall got that heartbroken look on his face for a split second, once again, at hearing Logan's words. He turned to look back at James and Carlos, who were standing behind him just a bit, awaiting Logan's reaction. Kendall gave the other two boys a half-smile, silently reassuring them of what he'd told them earlier: "Logan's our best friend, and he's going through that college transition, something we can't understand. He just needs time, and everything will be back to normal." James and Carlos gave small nods to the silent statement, both remembering Kendall's words clearly.
"Oh. Well, that's okay," he quickly tried to cover up his sadness at Logan's unenthusiastic behavior. "I was thinking that the four of us could go to the rink, but that's okay. We can do it tomorrow, if you're not busy."
Logan suddenly felt bad now. How could he break his best friends' hearts like that? They were just trying to be the good best friends they'd always been. Now, he was treating them like dirt.
He gave a small, apologetic half-smile, showing one of those adorable dimples of his, and replied, "I'm really sorry, guys. Tomorrow, for sure."
Grins plastered along the other three boys' faces.
.
"Guess what tomorrow is." Krissy's excited voice interrupted Logan's thoughts, thereby interrupting his memory of his promise to the boys the day before. He was sitting at their usual table in the student center, waiting for her to get lunch, as he usually did on school days.
"What?" he asked, his mind clearly elsewhere.
"Halloween party at Ronnie's!" she cheered, taking a seat in front of him, her grin not faltering.
"Already?"
"Halloween is Wednesday this year. That means we have an obligation to party the Saturday before and the Saturday after it. To be fair."
"Of course," he deadpanned.
She gave him an odd look. "You're not bailing on me, are you?"
"No, I was just thinking about something else."
"Well, stop, and get excited!" Logan was sure it wasn't supposed to sound rude, but he couldn't help but feel irked about the fact that she hadn't even bothered to ask what was wrong. She sure changed a lot since he'd first met her. It was like the quiet Krissy that was practically attached to Paul's side didn't exist anymore. Or ever.
He rolled his eyes as the two began to eat their lunch, Krissy animatedly talking about the party of the year that they'd be attending the following day.
.
The rink was as fun as ever for the boys of Big Time Rush. They laughed and played hockey and fought good-naturedly about this and that while on the rink. It was just like old times, like back in Minnesota, before they made it big.
Kendall couldn't have been happier with the outcome of the day's activities. Taking Logan to the rink for a good old fashioned two-on-two game of hockey versus James and Carlos really seemed to solve all the problems the famous quartet had been facing lately when it came to their friendship. But today, seeing Logan out and laughing (and often times scolding, for obvious purposes) the boys out on the ice reassured his mind that Logan wasn't going anywhere. The four of them were best friends, always. College couldn't change that.
When they were eating at their usual post-hockey playing diner (which was conveniently located right next to the rink and served the best burgers the boys swore were on this side of the U.S.), the boys continued their laughs and good-natured banter, as the brothers they'd always been.
"So, Logie, how's College Land?" Carlos asked Logan at one point, bring Logan back to the reality he hadn't even realized he left. Being with the boys was like being in their own little world, a world without exams and peer pressure and any type of responsibility. A world with only laughter and hockey and best friends, the things Logan really loved the most.
"It's fine," he answered. "There's this Halloween party tomorrow, Krissy says it's the party of the year. So we're going to that. Do you guys wanna go?"
James and Carlos immediately agreed, high-fiving and declaring that they'd all need the coolest costumes. Kendall was a bit more reluctant—something just didn't feel right about this—but agreed anyway. And so the boys talked Halloween party.