~29~

"What's up, dude?" Kendall asked, watching as Logan closed his notebook with a sigh. "I thought you were all for this party."

"I am," Logan replied, resting his arms on the table. "I just want to get my homework down before we have the get together." He gave Kendall a pointed look and his friend rolled his eyes. "Besides, I have a lot of stuff on my mind, anyway."

That was an understatement. He had homework on his mind—and in essence his friends' homework as he knew they'd make him do it—and knowing that not only was Kendall beat around by his father when he was a kid, but his old friends, ones he was trying hard to re-connect with was going through the same thing, and he couldn't tell anyone about it.

Which was why he tried to go in a roundabout way about bringing his friends some help and that backfired in his face. Or maybe it didn't. Patrick did say that an off duty cop did come to his house, but maybe that was a lie, just to make him feel bad. Maybe there was nothing going on. But his gut instinct told him that that wasn't the case. And it was what made him want to get as much proof as possible before he tried going to the police again.

He knew his friends thought he had been acting weird lately, but he just didn't know how to bring it up to them all without breaking his word to both of his friends. Kendall seemed scared and embarrassed about it, more so than he had ever seen his friend, even that one time at the Halloween Festival back in Minnesota when Kendall was the only one to get scared in the Haunted House…by a fake spider no less…and he screamed like a girl to beat. People called him Kendoll for weeks.

"How could you have a lot on your mind?" Kendall asked, "we're having a party to celebrate our album release because we can't go to the one at Rocque Records. And our friends are coming to the party."

"It's not that I'm not excited or anything," Logan replied, "you have a good enough reason; I mean you have a date—"

"Guest," Kendall replied and Logan rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," Logan replied. "I just keep thinking that we still have a long way to go with our album. I wonder if it's really a good time to party, that's all."

He actually didn't know how the Jacksons would act around people they didn't know and he was worried about it. They were standoff-ish with him and his friends even now despite seeming to be more comfortable around them, and he didn't really know if they were party people, and, and, and. A whole list of excuses and a whole list of thoughts and theories that really all came back to him.

How could he not know this was going on? Even as a kid, he could tell something had been weird between them, and he had even heard Robert yell at his kids every now and then, but he never saw him hit them. Maybe if he had paid more attention, they wouldn't be suffering through everything now. He was excited for the party, he just wanted to make sure everything was perfect and to do that, he had to get some things out of the way so he could solely focus his attention on his friends.

"I'm excited," Logan finally said and Kendall nodded.

"Well, I'm going to head back up and help everyone with decorating the apartment," Kendall replied, glancing at his watch. "We've only got a couple more hours until party time and knowing James, he's going to have a fashion crisis sooner or later."

Logan laughed a little bit, nodding in agreement. Kendall then gave a wave, heading back into the Palm Woods. He was barely into his homework when he was interrupted for a second time. But, he was happy with this interruption.

"Hey, Logie," Riley greeted him as she slid into the seat that Kendall had just left.

"Hey," he replied with a smile. "How are you?" Riley's eyebrows raised. "You guys doing ok?"

"If you're really asking what I think you're asking, we're fine," Riley replied her eyes narrowing slightly and Logan nodded. Logan then noticed the pink cup that was sitting on the table. "It's Pink Passion Pit."

"You hate that flavor," Logan replied, "in fact, you hate smoothies. The closest thing to it you'll ever drink is a root beer float."

"It's for someone else," Riley replied. She then tilted her head to the side, peering at him. "So, are we going to talk about this or what?"

"Patrick told you that we talked," Logan said and Riley gave a slight nod. "Can't say I'm not surprised about that. I still remember that you guys tell each other everything." He gave her a pointed look. "Like where I kept my Ring Pops hidden."

"Hey, it was your fault to tell us where it was in the first place," Riley replied, leaning back in her chair, putting her hands up defensively.

He tilted his head from side to side. She did have a point. Back when they lived in Texas, his mom would buy him a box of Ring Pops—which was his favorite candy at the time—as a means of bribing him to be quiet whenever she had an important business call, and he would kind of use it to bribe the two girls to be friends with him. The Australian girls had never seen nor heard of the candy before as they didn't exist in their area of Australia, and soon they didn't exist for him either as they always stole them from him, one for each of the siblings; save for Sydney who didn't even have teeth at the time.

"So, you excited about the party?" Logan asked.

"Excited about the party; yes," Riley replied, "excited about James taking the time to hit on me every chance he gets…not really." She pursed her lips for a moment. "I don't know if he really likes me or if it's just because we're one of the first few California girls he's met and he thinks I'm hot."

Logan blinked in surprise. "Did you actually use the word 'hot'?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "You guys sure have changed."

"Life will do that to you, Logie-Bear," Riley replied, resting her chin in her palm as she propped her elbow up onto the table. Logan couldn't help but make a face at the nickname and Riley grinned at him, laughing a little bit. "Lighten up, Logan, it's not a bad nickname."

"It's terrible," Logan groaned, running a hand over his face. "You're never going to stop calling me that, are you?"

"Not if it makes you squirm this much," Riley replied, with a wink.

Logan chuckled, shaking his head. He couldn't understand how she could be so open and…normal around him if he was the only one there, but with anyone else, she could be guarded; as if having to choose her words carefully as if to check if anyone was going to judge her or…to see if they just wanted to stick around. Irony of the matter was that she wouldn't stick around, not if she kept Robert around without doing anything about it.

"Look, Riles," Logan started, rubbing at his temples.

"Mmmm, I knew it was only a matter of time until 'Serious-Logan' came around," Riley said, using air-quotes around the words, using her foot to tilt her chair back. "Can't say I didn't see it coming what with some revelations that have been floating around lately."

"Could you get serious for one moment?" Logan asked, getting straight to the point. He looked around for a moment. "Your dad."

"Yep?" Riley asked, her eyebrows shooting up. "What Logan? What do you want to tell me that I possibly don't already know?"

Logan's jaw dropped slightly as he looked at her. "If you don't tell anyone, I will," Logan replied after a moment of silence.

"You can't do that," Riley said simply, as if she was saying that he couldn't go into a door that only opened from the inside. "It'll ruin your careers much like it'll ruin ours."

"Is that the only thing you care about?" Logan asked and Riley snorted.

"Yeah, Logan, day in and day out I wonder how I'm going to get my name out there," Riley replied with a roll of her eyes. "Quite the contrary; I'm thinking about you. And James, and Carlos, and Kendall—" Logan tried not to show anything with his face, "when I say this. You've all worked hard; your demos just got picked up."

"That's not as important and you know it," Logan pointed out.

Riley shrugged. "You don't know what you're talking about Logan," she said, suddenly looking bored. "Besides, dad knows that he has some anger issues and he's working on it."

"I don't buy that," Logan instantly replied. He sucked in a deep breath of air through his nose before letting out in a rush. "I've looked up this subject—"

"I'm not a subject, I'm your friend," Riley replied.

"Are you?" Logan asked, his eyebrows knitting together. "Because it seems like you haven't wanted anything to do with me since we got here."

"Yeah, because going to Runyon Canyon with you, movies, ice cream, and any other stuff we do on Friday night's isn't giving you any attention," Riley replied. "Or attention to our friendship? I've known you since you were nine; I couldn't just drop you like a hot potato."

Yes, you could. If you were forced to. That's why you never wrote or called; right? Logan twisted his mouth to the side, nodding his head. She had a point. They had been getting back into their friendship, but he didn't know that she—and Rhuben by extension—still considered him a friend. He was happy about it of course, but it was a surprise to him. A nice surprise. He couldn't help but let a smile come to his face. But, it slipped when he saw that she had changed the subject so easily.

"The thing is; I know you want to believe him—"

Riley put up a hand, cutting him off. "Go invite Camille to the party." Logan blinked at the sudden change of topic. "I don't know about you, but I intend to forget about this for one night and have fun. I want you to do the same." She then turned to face Camille. "Invitation for Rhubes and I to get ready in your apartment still open?"

"Camille, I'd be happy if you came to our get together," Logan said, keeping his eyes on Riley.

"In that case," Camille said with a smile as she got to her feet. She walked over to the raven haired girl and looped her arm through hers. Riley's eyebrows twitched. "Offer still stands, Riley."

Logan sighed, bringing the smoothie straw to his mouth, biting down on it.


"How about this one?" Jo asked, spinning in a circle, her arms out at her sides, showing off the grey-black tunic dress with light teal chrysanthemum flowers over dark wash jeans and flats. "Do you think this is under dressed for a friend?"

"I think you're thinking too much about it," Rhuben said, looking up from where she was sitting cross legged on Camille's bed, turning through the pages of a shoe magazine. She didn't seem to be really looking at it as she turned a new page immediately after the one before it. Camille was at the mirror next to Jo, doing her make up, and Riley was looking through the hangers and hangers of clothes that Jo had brought to Camille's apartment. "He asked you on a date; plain and simple."

"Which is what makes this a little harder than usual," Jo replied, turning away from the mirror she and Camille where standing at. She grabbed handfuls of her hair. "Up or down?"

"Down," the three girls replied in unison.

"Here, try this," Riley suggested as she pulled a hanger out from the deep pile of clothes, revealing a white tunic dress with gold trim. "It goes with any eye color." She handed the hanger to Jo before reached for another hanger, this time revealing a flowery spaghetti strap dress. "Or his one; which…just suits your boring old personality."

"I'd have a comeback for you, but these choices are too good to warrant that," Jo said as she took the second hanger from Riley. She moved one top over her chest, before removing it and holding the second one. "You really are good at this."

"It's my job," Riley replied with a one-shoulder shrug.

"I'm so jealous of you, by the way," Camille commented, as she rubbed a blush brush over her cheeks. "Of both of you. Two different jobs, yet you get the chance to see the guys shirtless."

"Once you've seen one guy shirtless, you've seen 'em all," Rhuben replied and then paused for a moment.

"Save for James, his abs are impressive," Riley commented, "even I have to admit to that."

"Ok, you can't possible tell me you don't think he's cute," Jo said as she twisted her hair up into a bun. She turned back to face the mirror before her upper lip curled and she pulled out the elastic band, shaking her hair out.

"Or any of them for that matter," Camille added, slowly applying eyeliner.

"Truth," Jo agreed, tapping Camille on the shoulder with her finger. "Carlos is really funny, James has the great hair and awesome smile, Logan is sweet and smart, and Kendall is…Kendall. He's funny, outgoing, friends with everyone—" Riley snorted.

"A dork?" Rhuben asked. "I mean come on—" she pointed her index fingers on both hands at Jo and clicked her tongue before lowering her voice and saying, "It's not a party. It's a non-party."

"Shut up, that was cute," Jo protested, heading back over to the bed, finally deciding on the spaghetti strap dress.

"At least Kendall asked you out," Camille said with a sigh, lowering her eye pencil. "Do you think Logan and I would make a cute couple?"

"The cutest," Jo agreed with a nod.

"I kind of hate to ask this," Camille said with a sheepish grin into the mirror, "but there's nothing going on between you guys, right?" She looked over at Riley and Rhuben who stared back at her. "I know you've been friends for a while—"

"We haven't seen the guy since he was a sticky faced, booger eating, popsicle sucking, kid," Rhuben commented, her eyebrows raised. She laughed a little bit. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Just checking," Camille replied with a nod. She then grinned as she turned on the spot, shoving off her navy blue dress over her dark wash jeans and gold strapped heels. "He will be mine!"


A/N: Hope you guys liked this chapter.

Cheers,

-Rhuben