Chapter Twenty-One – Big Time Problems
A/N: This is a chapter centered on Lella, since I haven't shown it as much as I want/try to.
"Ugh, I want to go surfing so badly!" James groaned as he sat on the couch in the Jacksons' living room, looking out the window as the waves rolled onto the sand. "It's not fair that I can't go!"
"James, ould you knock it off?" Rhuben asked in her Australian accent, as she walked into the room, holding a basketball against her hip, in her other hand was a blow dryer. "You've been complaining about your broken arm since it broke, about a week ago, and you've been complaining about not being able to surf for days." She picked up the ball and lightly smacked it against his forehead, catching it as it bounced back into her hands. "Give it a rest, yeah?"
"Well excuse me for being cranky," James replied sarcastically as he rolled his eyes towards her. "I just broke my arm because my music producer fell on it during Christmas; we get to Sydney, Australia where I haven't caught up on any of my sleep, and I can't surf because I can't get my arm wet and that's what I really wanted to do!" He laughed hollowly. "Oh and to top it all off, we have a concert tonight, where I have to be extra careful to make sure I don't hurt myself further. Other than that I'm just fine." He stated and grabbed a pillow off of the couch and hugged it to his chest.
"Are you done ranting?" Rhuben asked, looking up from her watch, finally.
"Yeah, I'm done." James replied in a defeated tone.
"Good, because I don't like it when people whine," Rhuben replied and handed him a hair dryer. "It's not for your hair, Handsome," she stated, rolling her eyes when James perked up a little. He pouted and slumped forward again. "This is in case your arm starts to itch, just blow cool air down into your cast." She instructed and went into the kitchen, where Julius, Brittany, Ronan, Kelly, Kacy, and Gustavo were talking. "Hey Julius, do you want to play some ball?" She questioned, chest passing the basketball at him.
"You don't play." Julius laughed as he passed the basketball back to her.
"I'm not that bad," Rhuben stated rolling her eyes as she caught the ball before it hit her face. She passed it back and forth between her hands. "Besides, you haven't played in a long time, and you need time to rest and-"
"I can't rest when I have too much stuff to do for the wedding," Julius stated as he and Brittany stood up, pushing their chairs back over the kitchen floor. "In fact, that's where we were headed now, to get some more reservations done."
"But you promised." Rhuben stated feeling annoyed with how lame and whiny it sounded.
"I know I promised, but I just don't have time now." Julius walked over to his sister and kissed her on the forehead. "We'll play later, yeah?" he asked as he gently squeezed her shoulder before he and Brittany walked out of the room. Brittany gave her an apologetic smile and a nod before leaving behind her fiancé.
"Fine," Rhuben frowned. Ronan looked over at his adoptive daughter and bit his lower lip for a second. He thought for a minute and then smiled.
"Hey, how about you and I go down to the pier and get some ice cream?" he suggested. He made a face when he heard James' agonized moan from the living room.
"Knock it off with the whining, dog!" Gustavo shouted back towards him.
Rhuben let out a heavy sigh and dropped the basketball to the ground. Rhuben muttered something under her breath and walked to the glass door, pulling it open, stepping out onto the patio, and closing it behind her, leaving the kitchen. Ronan frowned as he grabbed the bouncing basketball and placed it on the kitchen table. "I'll take that as a 'no' then." He replied, feeling slightly hurt.
"What was that all about?" Kelly asked, giving Ronan and odd look.
Ronan just sighed and leaned back against the sink, sticking his hands under his armpits. "Something tells me that being back home isn't going to be as enjoyable for them as they thought." He said to himself before speaking to Kelly. "Being back home pretty much means spending a lot of time together when they're not on stage," he explained quickly. "Not just for them and their friends, but to hang out with Julius too, as they're used to coming back home just for the idea of visiting them. But now that he's getting married, he has other things to worry about and I think that they're starting to feel left out." He shrugged. "It just makes me wonder what it'll be like when they do finally get married."
"I see what you mean," Kacy agreed from where she and Gustavo were sitting at the table, holding onto glasses of lemonade. "Instead of trying to take care of his brothers and sisters, and making up for the time that he hadn't been around for them, he will now be taking care of his new wife."
"Exactly," Ronan put a finger to his nose.
"Well, who need marriage?" Gustavo snorted as he shook his head. "All it does is cause you misery and the bride and groom are bound to fight and yell at each other all the time after the first few weeks."
"What's your excuse?" Ronan asked in reply and smiled.
Rhuben pulled her hair back into a ponytail as she walked into her backyard, enjoying the feeling of being able to walk barefoot across the grass. She could definitely say that she didn't miss having to wear numerous mounts of clothing back in the US. Logan, WayneWayne, Camille, Stephanie, and Jo, were sitting on the patio, eating lunch and talking about nothing.
"Hey," Logan greeted with a wave as Rhuben walked over to them and plopped down in a chair. "What's wrong, Bella?" he asked when he noticed the expression on her face. Logan wiped his fingers on his napkin and leaned back in his chair when Rhuben didn't immediately reply. "I've known your facial expressions since we were eight, I know whenever you're upset about something."
"What's up, girlfriend?" Camille asked as she pushed her sunglasses up her forehead. "You're back home doing shows in your hometown before we go off to the rest of Australia, you shouldn't be frowning."
"Yeah, well, you'd be frowning too if your brother wasn't paying any attention to you." Rhuben muttered in reply as she brought her feet up to her chest, picking at her fingernails. "Never mind, it's stupid."
"It's not stupid." Logan reassured her.
"Are you annoyed that Julius hasn't been spending much time with you lately?" Jo guessed, tilting her head to the side. 'That's not that bad, trust me, its better than having to listen to James complain about not being able to do anything with a broken arm."
Rhuben smiled a little.
"Hey, let's go into town," Logan suggested as he reached out and grabbed Rhuben's hand. "We can just walk around and talk." Rhuben looked over at him, looking like she wasn't going to agree. "Please?" he wheedled.
Rhuben rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away, digging for her keys in her jeans shorts pockets as she stood up. "Oh, I see how it is," Stephanie stated as she crossed her arms over her chest, playfully shooting her a glare. "You'd rather spend time with your boyfriend than with the rest of us."
"Exactly," Rhuben replied, sticking out her tongue before rolling her eyes. "I'll see you guys later. I have my phone on me if Ronan or anyone else needs me while we're out." She called over her shoulder. She and Logan walked to the front of the house, grabbed their shoes from the pile that was left in the foyer, and got into Rhuben's car and drove into the main part of Sydney.
She and Logan stopped and got some ice cream and continued to walk along, licking their cones. Logan walked along quietly, waiting for Rhuben to start speaking; he didn't have to wait long. "I don't know, I know that Julius is happy with the idea of having a new wife soon, but it kind of annoys me how it seems that the only reason that he agreed to be Ronan's co-manager/producer was to get extra money."
"You know that's not true." Logan stated gently, reaching out with his free hand and laced his fingers with his girlfriend's. "He does care about you guys," he paused. "If I had to guess, I would say that he felt guilty, you know, about not being able to help you all of those years that you guys had been hurt by your dad." He spoke the words carefully and busied himself with his ice cream when he was done.
"I'm not going to hurt you just because you said that." Rhuben stated and sighed loudly, pulling her hair behind her ears as she had finished her cone somewhat quickly. "We're getting over it, it's not like we're going to snap at you each and every time that you guys bring up our abuse."
"You did before."
"That was before we realized that we had friends."
"I've always been your friend." Logan replied, sounding kind of hurt.
"Oh really?" Rhuben made a scoffing sound with the back of her throat as she pulled her hand away from Logan's and crossed her arms over her chest. "So what happened those few months after we moved away, you said that you would call us. We gave you our new number."
"The phone works both ways." Logan pointed out.
"Right," Rhuben replied sharply, now getting mad as she stopped walking and turned to look at him. "Because I was actually allowed to use the phone."
"How was I supposed to know that?" Logan shot back, noticing that people were starting to stop and stare at the two of them. It made him nervous, he knew how famous the Jacksons were back in their home, and he didn't want any bad press to go their way. So he lowered his voice and stood up straight, trying not to let his annoyance and frustration seep into his tone.
"You weren't," Rhuben had lowered her tone as well, to a cool tone and Logan wasn't sure if it was because she noticed that people were staring as well, or if it was because she was that angry. Logan hated it whenever she looked at him or anyone else for that matter, with a cold gaze, as he knew when he was younger, that it meant that she was either downright pissed off, or she was trying really hard not to hate you.
"So then how am I supposed to justify what I did or didn't do?" Logan asked quickly, his throat growing dry as he spoke. His throat felt as if it was on fire, he was speaking so forcefully. "I'm sorry that I never called, it was just that I was so…"
"So what?"
"So afraid." Logan admitted after a minute of thinking.
Rhuben faltered for a second, but she still looked angry, but she was confused at the same time. She didn't understand how the conversation could go from her venting her frustration about Julius to hers and Logan's relationship and how it had changed over the years. 'What was he so afraid of?' Rhuben asked herself as she studied his face. 'He looks so guilty…'
"Afraid of what?" she asked, finally finding her voice.
"Aww, are the lovers having a spat?"
Logan noticed Rhuben stiffen for a moment before the cool glare that she had on her face before, came back and she turned around to face the green-eyed brunette that stood behind them. He stood smirking at the two of them although his gaze was mainly on Rhuben. Logan looked over at her and he saw that she was staring back at him.
"What're you doing here, Austen?" she demanded in a tone so low that Logan barely heard her. "Have you been following me since we got back here?"
"I would have to be pretty pathetic to want to follow you around," Austen replied in an insulting tone. "I mean, especially since you were the one that broke up with me." He added airily. "Not that it matters really," he shrugged. "I got over you pretty fast."
"Good for you," Rhuben replied with an s slow nod. She looked over at Logan. "Logan, this is my ex, Austen, Austen, this is my boyfriend Logan." She stated quickly.
"Yeah, I know who you are," Austen nodded, not moving to hold out his hand for a shake. "You're one of those Big Time Rush boys." He looked over at Logan and grinned, but it held a hidden sense of maliciousness. "Yeah, you're getting pretty famous around here."
"Austen, leave it." Rhuben warned him quietly.
"So have you been throwing up lately?" Austen tossed back to her, taking his green away from Logan.
"Alright," Logan sat down and sighed when he was off his feet. "What did you want to talk to me about? I can tell it's really serious from the looks on your faces."
"It is," Rhuben agreed as she gathered her hair into a ponytail and moved her hair behind her shoulders. "Ri and I think that you deserve to know everything that has happened to us in the few years that we weren't around each other."
"Including a bit of our life back in Australia." Riley agreed.
"Why are you telling me this now?" Logan questioned, looking confused. "And why only me?"
"We're telling you now because now is a good time as any," Rhuben replied, yawning a little. "Plus we both agree that we've been putting it off for too long. And you're our best friend, so it's a good idea for you to be the first one to know." She took a deep breath, scratching her forehead before speaking. "After we moved away from you and Texas we were constantly going back and forth from Australia and LA and that caused a lot of stress on us."
"And because of that stress, Rhu and I didn't make the best decisions in the world." Riley added and turned her hands over so he could see all the old cuts that lined her arm. "That day when we were in LA, celebrating the fact that Ronan was going to be our new dad, you found out about my cutting." She explained and looked him in the eye. "While we were going back and forth from LA to Australia, Rhuben and I started to date some guys that were…well…"
"They were jerks." Rhuben stated and Logan turned to look at her. "And unfortunately, all they cared about was the fact that they were getting famous because they were dating us. They didn't care at all, and they weren't nice. Long story short, because of them and because of the abuse that we were getting, Riley started to cut and for a while I became anorexic."
"What?" Logan questioned after a second of silence. Anorexic? He repeated to himself. As in not eating? As in hurting your body from the inside out? It makes sense as to why she acts kind of weird around food. He shook his head. "Wait a minute," he turned to Riley. "Is that why you were acting weird around Kendall tonight?"
"No," Riley shook her head. "I didn't mean to practically avoid him all night," she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I'm just still not used to the fact that he is as nice as he is and cares about me. It kind of freaks me out from time to time so I try not to be too close to him, but I'm trying to get over it."
"But you need to tell him." Logan insisted.
"No," Riley shook her head again. "It's easier if I don't get him worried about me. I'll get over it eventually"
"Then why tell me all this?" Logan sounded exasperated as he threw his hands into the air and then turned to Rhuben with wide eyes. "Why did you tell me that you were anorexic? Why do you want me to know?"
"Because we trust you completely." Rhuben replied patiently.
Logan blinked as the memory suddenly entered his mind. Before he knew it, his body filled with undistinguishable rage and he hurled a fist forwards and hit Austen square in the middle of the face. Rhuben stood there; her mouth and eyes wide open as Austen fell backwards. Logan moved forward and grabbed Austen by the front of the shirt, and hauled him up before punching him across the face again.
"Logan," Rhuben finally cried, finding her voice. "Logan, stop it!"
"That…bastard caused you to become anorexic, to basically completely starve yourself so you could potentially die and you want me to stop hitting him?" Logan asked as he turned to look at her, eyes filled with fury. "I don't get you."
"I'll admit that I've always wanted to hit him so hard that he would feel it for the rest of his life, for making me go to that extreme," Rhuben spoke as patiently as possible, but the way that Logan was looking at her scared her. "Trust me, I wanted to, but after everything that our dad put us through, I realized that it wasn't the best way to get back at him. The way that I could beat him down, to let him know that he didn't get the best of me was by turning my life around and I have."
"I, honestly, don't get you sometimes." Logan stated, rubbing his hand where he had punched Austen.
Rhuben looked at him and he could see a bit of hurt in her eyes as she turned towards her ex-boyfriend. "Austen," she stated sharply and he looked at her, looking a little dazed. "Get out of here; you won't have to press charges because I won't tell anyone what happened."
Austen got up and quickly ran away, glaring back at Logan once. "I don't believe this," Logan muttered as he ran his fingers through his hair. "You're letting him get away with that?"
"It's like I said before, Logan, I care about other before I care about myself," Rhuben replied, watching Austen leave. "And I wouldn't want him to be charged with a stupid little fight." She let out a breath of air and the two stood there for a few moments in silence as the salty air continued to blow around them. "What were you so afraid of?"
"What?" Logan almost missed her question.
"Before you said that you didn't call because you were afraid," Rhuben slowly turned and looked at him, crossing her arms over her chest again. "What did you mean?"
'That must be what she does when she's feeling vulnerable' Logan suddenly thought to himself, watching her movement. "I meant that when you guys had moved to LA, and I moved to Minnesota, after you guys told me that your dad was taking you guys away because he wanted you guys to get even bigger on your music career, I was scared that I was going to lose you. I mean, what if you got really famous, I was never going to see you again and you were probably going to forget about me."
"We didn't forget," Rhuben shook her head. "I didn't forget."
"I didn't forget you either," Logan agreed. "But I thought that when it came to phone calls, you could easily say that you never got them, so I decided to write letters, because you would get a letter and decide what you want to do with it over a short period of time. I sent one letter, didn't get a response, tried a couple more times and got nothing." He shrugged. "So I figured you forgot." He paused, seeing the expression shift on Rhuben's face. "What?"
"I never got a letter." Rhuben replied, shaking her head.
"What're you talking about?" Logan raised his eyebrows. "My mom watched me write like ten of them."
"I never got one," Rhuben repeated and shrugged. "I don't know how…"
As she trailed off, they both knew the reason why there never any letters or phone calls that were received. Robert had intercepted every letter and every phone call and made it seem like Logan didn't care about them, just so he could get a mental hold on his kids and to push them harder and harder each time. Just so they could push their past, their happiness behind, for his happiness.
"Your dad's a dick." Logan remarked, causing Rhuben to laugh.
"Well, that's something that we agree on." Rhuben replied, brushing her hair behind her ears. "I'm sorry-"
"No," Logan interrupted her. "It was my fault, I'm sorry." He shrugged helplessly. "What can I do to make it right?" Rhuben bowed her head, smiling a little, her cheeks turning red. "You're blushing aren't you?"
"No," Rhuben replied sharply as she lifted her head. "I don't blush." She lightly tugged on her strand of purple hair before tucking it behind her ear. "Logie…have I ever told you that you're awesome?"
"No, but I think I do deserve that compliment." Logan replied with a flirty lift to his voice and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Rhuben in a hug. She grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and held onto him tightly as he hugged her, resting her head on his chest. Logan rested his chin on her head. "Bella, you're my best friend and I want you to know that I'm always going to be there for you when you need me, even if you don't think you do, even if you don't want me there, I'm going to be there for you, no matter what. To make you happy, even if it's just to make you smile or laugh."
"You always say that," Rhuben replied, her voice slightly muffled by his chest. "And I know that you're telling the truth, but there's always a small part of me that doesn't believe you."
"I'm going to keep trying 'till you believe me," Logan replied, hugging her tighter. "But this time, no one is going to stop me."
A/N: So there you go, I had a little bit of Jella friendship, as well as a small fight between Lella, which will get Logan to prove how sweet he can be. I had trouble with the ending of the chapter, but I guess it turned out ok.
So here is (one of) their days off in Australia after the Christmas break, that's causing a little bit of problems, the next chapter is their first concert in Australia, then they celebrate New Year's, then it goes through the rest of their time in Australia (with them getting in trouble along the way), Katie and Kendall seeing their dad, and the boys once and for all dealing with their problems. (Of course the wedding is in there as well.)
I hope you guys liked this chapter. Only 19 more chapters to go, haha. But pay attention to this chapter, because part of what was said in it is very important for the rest of the story.
Cheers,
-Riley