Author's Note:
This is an entry into the BTR Writers' Support and Plot Adoption Forum based off inspirational quotes.
My quote is: "I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."
-J.R. Tolkien, through Gandalf in The Hobbit
The first time James saw the new girl beside the Palm Woods Pool, he choked on his smoothie. She was short, almost as short as Camille, but with beautiful long blonde curls that reached almost to her waist, which he wasn't even aware was an option.
Imagine the time she must spend on hair care...
She was beautiful and fascinating even before she turned around and fixed her deep-set eyes on him. They were so blue they pierced him through at thirty feet and so sad that they made him frown and wonder how she could be so unhappy at a pool in the summer at the Palm Woods.
He decided to tell her that her mood was wrong and that he was definitely the one who should help her fix it.
But first he put down his smoothie, combed his hair and gave himself a pep talk with his husky, Manly-James voice. "Who's going to talk to the New Girl first, before Kendall even- hey!" James called as he saw his best friend already there to talk to her. "Kendall," James whined as he watched Kendall smirk and make some really cool little bow in front of her. "Great. When did he start doing that?"
Logan had stopped to see what James was so aggravated about. "Oh...new girl. Did he...did he just bow?"
"Yes! Since when does he do that?"
"Well, she doesn't look too impressed. You're up!" Logan patted James on the arm and caught up with Kendall as he walked away from the new girl, dejected.
James beamed as he sped-walked over to her, making sure to edge anyone else out. "Hi! I'm James." He figured his charm would do the rest. But his smile faltered when she just blinked at him, her expression completely blank.
"I'm sorry; I just told that boy that I don't need anything. I'm waiting for our room to be prepared," she said with just a touch of an exotic accent.
James decided to put aside the charm for now. "Are you okay? You seem worried or sad or something."
She blinked again and then looked past him. "I shouldn't be here. I must go," she said, brushing past and leaving him standing by the pool, arms out.
Over by the smoothie stand, Logan and Kendall were snickering at him.
But James ignored them in favor of watching the girl meet an extremely large, very pale man in the lobby who bowed to her and led her to the elevators. James followed quickly and spied from a distance as they got on.
"What are you doing?" Logan said as he and Kendall caught up, crowding behind James.
"Shhhh," James whispered as the elevator door started to close.
"Why are you whispering in the lobby?" Kendall asked.
"I'm not," James said. The girl was staring at him as the door closed, finally giving him a fleeting smile. He smiled back too late and fixed his gaze on the number display.
"Okay, then why are you smiling at the elevator?" Kendall asked, not missing a beat.
"He's trying to figure out which floor the new girl is heading for," Logan said.
James touched his finger to his nose to indicate that Logan was right, then took note as the number stopped at fourteen.
"Fourteen," he whispered.
"You know, you're still whispering in the lobby," Kendall pointed out.
"Shut up," James said and headed for the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
Logan gave Kendall a look. "He's going to the fourteenth floor, obviously."
"Oh! Wait up, James!"
That first day, James hadn't learned much, mostly because Kendall and Logan were tagging along and being annoying and in the way. They didn't seem to understand: he wasn't trying to get a date with this girl; he was trying to help her.
When he'd said as much, they laughed so hard that James had to pull out his Special Supersonic Glare that never failed. He'd perfected it out of necessity since there was no way on God's green Earth that he could outsmart Logan or out-argue Kendall. So he gave them the glare all the way to the elevator, which was kinda' satisfying.
But over the next week, James didn't learn anything else. Even though he went up there often, he had yet to even find out what room the new girl was in. It was so frustrating!
Since today was Saturday, he'd staked out the fourteenth floor all afternoon and hadn't seen her or her large friend. How could anyone stay inside that much? It made him wonder...were they watching him? Did they only leave the room when he wasn't there?
"That's so eeeeevil."
James settled down in a lawn chair he'd dragged up from the pool and pulled out his phone. Bored and thirsty, he texted Carlos.
-Bring me smooooooothie!-
Carlos texted back.
-who dis-
-ha ha. your roomie-
-rooooomie! y should i-
-You are bestest buddy and I am dyyyyyying.-
-of thirst.-
-and boredom.-
-get 1 yrslf-
-NEVER! Rule 1 Can't leave stakeout.-
-Oooooo K! I bring you 1-
-want pnk r blue?-
-Surprise me-
-No wait-
-Blue!-
Ten minutes later James really was dying. He lay limply on the floor where he had slid down, thirsting for a smoothie and staring vacantly across the tacky carpet, singing to himself. "She has no idea, no idea that I'm even here, I'm even here. She has no idea, no idea...I'm standing here...I mean, I'm lying here, I'm lying herrrrrrrre," he sang, wishing the other guys were here to harmonize. The hallway had halfway decent acoustics.
A text from Carlos pulled his focus for a moment.
-comig! had to get ken 1-
"Finally..."
Then two very large feet stepped in front of James' face.
"Oh...hello feet," James said to the feet, then moved his gaze up the pant-legs of a very, very large man who had a very, very large muscular torso and a very large, pale head. It was the man who had been with the new girl! But if James had to describe the look on his face, it would be...angry.
"Get up off of floor." And he even had a scary accent.
"Me? Okay," James said in a high-pitched voice. "Wait...I think my legs stopped working. Let me just- "
The very large man grabbed hold of James' arm and pulled him up easily.
"Ow... and now I'm up. Thanks." From up here, the man seemed even larger...like Freight-Train large.
"What you doing? You cannot stay in hallway."
"I can't stay in hallway? But...I was looking for a friend of mine," James said cagily.
"You will not find friend here. Go away."
"But you don't even know who I'm talking about and...I live here."
"Live on second floor. See? I know you. Go to second floor and do not return."
"But-"
The large man gripped his upper arm painfully and started to pull him toward the elevator.
"But...ow, my chair-"
He shook his head and dragged James farther, his hand somehow gripping even tighter.
"Ow!"
"Viktor?" A sweet voice called down the hallway.
James whipped around. He couldn't see around the corner but he thought it was her. "That's my friend!" James said loudly. "Hey-"
Viktor jerked James back by his arm, slapped an enormous hand over his mouth and slammed him back into the wall. It hurt. James was so distracted by the impact that he almost missed the warning. "You no talk to her. You talk to her...you die."
James' eyes went wide. He was struggling to breathe past the huge hand shoved against his face and hurting in about five different places now. But this man seemed lethal. So James nodded; he didn't want to die.
Viktor stared into his eyes until he saw something he liked - probably pain - then let James go, shoving him toward the elevator. "Go now. Do not return."
James nodded, wiping at his mouth and giving in. Why did he smell Pine Sol? Ugh. He was frustrated. And hurting. And confused.
"Smoothie delivery!" Carlos said with a smile as the elevator opened, both his hands full. "I brought you a Pop Tiger magazine, too." Then he saw the large man outside the elevator, glowering at James. "Whoa. Uh...hi?"
James held the man's gaze for a few seconds, looking away as the doors closed.
"Dude. Is that guy like the fourteenth floor bouncer?" Carlos was staring at James. "What'd you do?" James grabbed his smoothie and took an angry sip, ignoring him. Carlos sniffed, catching a pine scent in the air. "Why do you smell like Pine Sol?"
James frowned and wiped at his mouth again. "I don't know and I don't like it. I need to shower."
"Okay, cool...then I guess we can play Bioshock 4 afterwards?"
"Yeah."
As Carlos chatted on about the game and a new strategy he'd thought of, James's mind drifted back to the mysterious girl and her very mean bodyguard. Something wasn't right. People didn't usually take an instant disliking to James, not even parental/bodyguard-types. Who was this girl?
After his shower, James felt refreshed and was able to shove the whole incident out of his mind. He'd had plenty of experience at ignoring things. His whole school career was an exercise in ignoring certain things that everyone said were important, like Algebra, English and Books, in order to focus on the things he knew were important, like Beauty, Singing and Fitness.
Now, it was time for his favorite part of the weekend. The guys always did their own things Saturday during the day if they were free and then got back together to tell stories and laugh and play Bioblast 4 or something else super fun at night. It was awesome not being at the studio sometimes.
"Hey guys," he said after riding down Slidey and popping up really cool.
"James!" they all said at once, glad to see him, too.
He straddled a chair backwards at the table as Logan finished up whatever he was doing for dinner. "So what'd you guys do today?"
Kendall had Katie in his lap in a rare brother/sister hug and she was already starting to squirm away. "I took this one to get ice cream and she got a double-decker cone of- what else-"
"Chocolate," all the boys said together.
"You all say that like it's a bad thing," Katie said as she jumped up. "Thanks for buying, big brother. You're still a sucker, but I love you for it."
Kendall grimaced and pushed her away, but James could tell it was a shove of love.
"Awwww," James said and then added, "next time take me, Kendall. Best-Bro Date!"
Kendall looked exasperated. "James, we're not dating, remember?"
"Yeah. Duh, that's why I called it a Best-Bro Date."
"Whatever."
Logan paused his stirring at the stove. "Well, I read a fascinating biography on Marie Curie today and-"
The guys interrupted him with loud snores as they flopped back in their seats or put their head on the table, pretending to fall asleep instantly.
"Oh- ha ha," Logan said loudly over the noise. "You know I fixed lasagna since Mama Knight took the night off, but if you guys can't be bothered to listen-"
They woke up instantly started asking questions.
"Did you say Mary Cary?" Carlos asked, rising up on his knees in the chair to be seen.
"Yes, who, praytell, is she?" Kendall asked, his eyebrows raised scarily high.
Logan smiled. "I see. So, you're all listening now?"
"I am ready to listen the bestest of all," James insisted, "so I really think I should get the biggest piece of lasagna. Plus, I had the worst day." They all looked at him with concerned expressions, which he really didn't want. "I mean, relatively speaking. Like, compared to getting ice cream and...reading smart book things and stuff."
"Well, as I was saying..." Logan started off, and then he said a bunch of words that didn't make much sense to James, things about radio and something called lonium? Apparently this chick was super smart and amazing and so they had to listen to Logan talk about her or he wouldn't give them lasagna, so James did his best. He settled for looking smart and interested since he couldn't actually be smart and interested.
Eventually they all had full plates and Logan seemed satisfied with his attentive friends. He looked around at them and sighed happily. "Now, was that so hard?" The boys looked at each other and snickered. "Okay, then, let's eat!"
The three boys dug in ravenously and groaned with pleasure at the taste. Lots of compliments were made to the chef, though everyone tiptoed around the fact that Logan really cooked better than Mama Knight. No one would ever say that to her face because she was so amazing!
After polishing off their plates, the boys were too full to do much but load the dishwasher and fall on the couch. They even bugged Katie until she came and turned on the t.v. ("We're too tired!") and gave Kendall the remote. Then he flipped channels until they found an action movie to watch.
"Watch it with us, Katie," James begged her, but she just waved goodbye and headed to her room. "Please?"
"There's no room anyway," Carlos said practically. "We take up too much space on the couch."
"And she hates action movies," Logan said.
"But I want someone to snuggle with and she's just the right size."
"Dude," Kendall said, sitting up to look at James, "that sounds super weird. Are you putting moves on my sister?"
James sat up and sputtered in indignation. "What part of 'snuggle' don't you understand?"
"Dude, you snuggle with a girlfriend."
"Yeah, but not...I didn't mean that kind of snuggle. I meant the kind where it's like someone you know really well and are comfy with and can...I don't know, snuggle with and feel safe."
"James, that's a teddy bear,' Logan said blandly, "not Katie."
"Well, she used to snuggle with me," James said sadly, "but I guess she's too grown now."
"Just get a girlfriend, okay?" Kendall said.
"Or a teddy bear," Carlos suggested.
"Or a palm tree," Logan said, smirking.
"Ha ha," James said, beaming Logan with a pillow while failing to not blush at the memory. The guys just wouldn't let him forget that one time he found the perfect potted plant to take on a date. "It was a practice date, that was all! And I'm trying to find a girlfriend," he muttered.
"Aren't we all," Kendall said with a wise air.
"Not me," Logan said, since he and Camille were back on again.
"Or me," Carlos said, "they're too much trouble."
"I guess that leaves us," Kendall said to James, punching him on the upper arm. There was an instant reaction.
James cried out, jerking away and throwing up a hand over his bicep. He tried to laugh off his reaction with a "sorry" but the pain was too bad.
The other boys had frozen in place.
"I'm sorry - did I... what was that?" Kendall couldn't decide what to say.
"'s fine," James said. "You just...hit right on a bruise."
There was a long pause. "Must be a pretty bad bruise then." Kendall finally said.
"It's not a big deal," he said, looking away, which all the boys knew meant it was a very big deal.
"James," Logan began but James interrupted him.
"Can we not do this right now? I'm fine."
"Right. You're fine," Kendall said, scooting closer on the couch, "so show us your arm, then."
The tall boy shook his head.
Kendall's eyebrows shot up and he sent a panicked look to Logan.
Carlos moved to the ottoman in front of the couch. "James? What happened?" Carlos asked. "When I saw you in the elevator, you were fine...weren't you?"
James groaned, laying his head back on the couch. His smaller friend sounded hurt.
Logan stood up and turned to him. "Jay, let me see your arm," he said in a careful voice.
"Okay, see?" James sat up with a jerk. "This is why I wasn't going to say anything, because you guys will all get upset for no reason!"
"Sorry for caring," Logan said with a shrug.
"Why don't you just show us," Kendall half-shouted, "and then let us decide whether or not we should be upset!"
It was no use trying to put off Logan and Kendall after that point. James sighed and pulled his sleeve up, knowing what they would see because he'd just been obsessing over it in the bathroom: his bicep was red and swollen with a dark web of finger-shaped bruises marring his skin.
All three of the boys gasped.
"What the hell..." Kendall whispered, leaning in closer.
"Who did that to you?" Logan snapped.
"Guys," James started, "it's fine. I-"
"JAMES..." Kendall said between gritted teeth.
James' mouth snapped shut. Kendall gently took his arm and rotated it so he could see the bruising completely. James winced; even that hurt. Kendall glared at him.
Logan took a deep, cleansing breath. "That is a...huge handprint which means that someone big did that to you and it had to have hurt. Why wouldn't you just tell us?"
"I know who it was," Carlos said softly.
James put his face in his hands.
"He's huge like Freight Train and he was making James get in the elevator and treating him like...like James had just tried to rob somebody or something."
James felt the couch move as Kendall stood up and stalked off.
"I didn't, okay? Guys...okay, I'll tell you everything," James said finally. "There's a new girl on the fourteenth floor and she's beautiful...and oh, you already met her, Kendall, by the pool? But she's mine, okay? Which is different from dibs."
"Not really," Kendall said, "but what does that have to do with -"
"She has a bodyguard and I can't even get in the room to talk to her because he's there all the time and already hates me for some reason... but... but I think she needs me." James paused dramatically. "I don't think they ever even let her out of their room."
Logan sighed. "And if he's going to hurt you every time you even try to talk to her, how is that a good idea?"
"I don't know," James said, deflating. He looked over at Kendall, but his friend was shaking his head at the wall, arms crossed, obviously holding back a lot of angry words. Carlos had moved down to the floor, where he sat staring at the carpet. "Carlos, I'm sorry," James said quietly.
"I know," Carlos replied, but his eyes were swimming with hurt. How had James screwed up so spectacularly so fast?
"Come on, lover boy," Logan said gently. "Let's go put some liniment on those bruises."
"That stuff smells terrible," he complained.
"But it will help with the pain and the swelling."
James gave in and trudged down the hall. Kendall was pissed; Carlos was hurt and now Kendall and Logan were going to get involved, because they always did when someone hurt James. What a mess.
Logan made him take off his shirt and applied this pepperminty-funky-menthol stuff around his bicep and shoulder. James sniffed at it tentatively. It wasn't too bad, even though they all complained on principle. "Thanks, Logie. It does feel better now."
"You're welcome, but next time, just tell us. Don't make us drag it out of you. You know I hate that."
"Yeah, I know. I just..." he trailed off. James had this thing about whenever the other boys had to help him. Maybe it was because he was an only child. Whatever the reason, it sucked.
"So... is that all to the story? He just dragged you to the elevator?"
"Pretty much. Oh - and shoved me into the wall. My head hurts, too," he admitted.
"Oh my god," Logan threw his hands up in the air. "Where does it hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Two. How many fingers am I holding up?" James flipped him off.
"James..."
"Yeah, okay. It hurts in the back." James allowed Logan to feel his through his hair for a bump. "Yeah, that's it - ouch."
"That's a nice lump you've got there, but it's not bleeding. And your pupils look fine. I'm sure you only lost a few brain cells, nothing too important."
"Ha ha."
"Do you want some Tylenol?"
"...yeah, I guess."
Logan gave him some with a cup of water. "This guy seems pretty dangerous. You're going to stay away, right?"
James downed the pills quickly. "Oh, yeah, sure. Um...thanks, Logie! Gotta' go...uh, change shirts," James said, grabbing the one he'd had on and heading for the stairs which should be out of Logan's lecturing range.
But then he realized... had he just sworn not to go back up to see the new girl? Dammit. He didn't mean to, but Logan was giving him that look and he had just bandaged his arm, which made James feel guilty.
And that made it officially too many feelings in too short of a time, so James shucked them all as soon as he made it to the room he shared with Carlos. It looked like a bomb had gone off, which was normal for a weekend when Mama Knight didn't do room inspections. They'd have to clean it Monday.
James took a black tank out of his clean stack of clothes and pulled it on. It was much more comfortable over the bandage and now he didn't have to hide his bruises from the his friends.
As soon as he got back in the living room, Kendall beckoned to him, looking serious.
"Kendall," he started to protest, then gave up and followed his best friend to the back room. James closed the door as he was asked to, then braced himself for Kendall's infamous temper.
But that wasn't what he got. Instead, Kendall gave him a very sad look and opened his arms. "Come here."
James only hesitated a second before lunging forward and letting his best friend wrap him up tightly. Bowing his head on Kendall's shoulder, he felt a sudden rush of emotion. Tears sprang into his eyes. It had been a very long time since his oldest friend had hugged him like this and no one hugged better than Kendall. They stood a moment, just breathing.
"Hey. Don't do that again," Kendall said softly. "If someone hurts you, you come tell me."
"Yeah. It was really scary and...I didn't want to talk about it," he whispered.
"I bet." Kendall's arms tightened around James before letting him go. He gave the taller boy a direct look. "I'm going to have to pay that guy a visit, you know that, right?"
"Kendall, you can't. He's dangerous."
"Can't?" Kendall said, smiling. "Bad choice of words. No one messes with my friends and gets away with it, no matter how large they are. Don't worry; it'll be fine. I won't let him touch me."
James nodded and ducked in for one more hug. The thought of Kendall confronting Viktor was horrible and wonderful at the same time. How confusing. Then he pulled back to make one small, important point.
"As long as you remember that she's mine," James said, "even though I'm not calling dibs."
"You got it, buddy."
That night, as Carlos and James lay in bed, they talked as usual. It started out with their nightly Dreams and Goals For the Future, which was James' favorite part of their evening ritual. He'd heard it was a good practice for cementing your goals and making them happen. So he told them to Carlos, who never judged him, and Carlos would entertain him with his own wild imaginings. Tonight, Carlos wanted to be one of those guys who get shot out of a cannon at a circus. They agreed that he'd need to take up gymnastics soon to make that happen, and develop a hardy resistance to gunpowder residue.
Then, Carlos asked about the girl on the fourteenth floor. James described her beauty, since his roomie had been the only one who didn't see her arrive that day at the pool.
"She sounds hot."
"Oh, she is...but kinda' in a sweet way. Like she'd make a great mother for my children." James knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Logan and Kendall would make fun of him for saying that, but Carlos just hummed in agreement.
"She sounds perfect."
"She is...but she's sad. And it's weird." James propped himself up on one elbow to look at his friend. "She literally never comes out of her room. How weird is that? Unless...do you think they just wait until I'm not there and then let her out? Like are they watching me waiting for her and planning ways to keep me from seeing her?"
Carlos looked at him thoughtfully. "They could be. I mean, it sounds like they for sure knew you were there earlier and got tired of it, so they send Huge Dude to escort you to the elevator."
"'Huge Dude.' That's a great name for him, much better than Viktor."
"Is that his name?"
"Not anymore. It's Huge Dude now."
"Well, we need to get you past him somehow."
"Yeah," James agreed, "but I'm too sleepy to think now. Let's talk again in the morning. Maybe we'll dream up something good. Ow..."
"What happened?"
"Just rolled over on my bad arm."
"It will be better tomorrow, roomie. 'Night."
"'Night, roomie."
Kendall didn't wait long to confront the big bully upstairs. He'd thought about James' injury and his report about the fourteenth floor all day. It pissed him off. So as soon as they got back from a slate of interviews about their new album, he found himself going up to the fourteenth floor. Since even Carlos was tired of talking and smiling, it was easy to get away alone.
Kendall exited off the elevator and stalked down the hallway. Almost immediately, he heard a door down the hallway open and loud footsteps started coming his way. Kendall glared at the enormous, pale man as soon as he came into view.
"You hurt my friend," Kendall snapped.
"The tall, tan idiot? Good. Tell him to stay away or he will get hurt again."
"See, that tells me right there that you don't know him very well. He'll be back."
"Then he is even more stupid than he looks. You tell him to stay away or I will make him."
With the snap of his wrist, the man sent a knife into the carpet at Kendall's feet. Startled, Kendall jumped back, barely holding back a scream. This guy was psycho!
He smiled at Kendall's obvious fear. "Now you see what I mean?"
"Pass. I'm not your messenger boy." Then he turned and walked away, wincing, feeling like another knife might bury itself between his shoulder blades any second. But none did. He made it safely to the elevator, given a whole new appreciation for James' courage.
Author's note: Thanks for reading! More to come soon!