Chapter Eight

Kendall's POV

I returned home around 10 o'clock. Marina and I spent the better half of the evening lying on her floor and laughing. We didn't start on the floor. That's just where we ended up as the evening deepened.

I returned home to find my mom drinking tea at the couch and reading one of her romance novels.

"Hey, honey," she greeted me. "How was your date?"

"It was incredible. We've got another one set up for Monday. If that's okay," I said.

"Yeah, of course. So, you really like her?" Mom asked.

"I think so. I mean, with this it feels real. Like, not like the girlfriends I would have back in Minnesota that I would only hang out with at school and not really know. With Rebecca it feels like the start of something new," I explained.

"You are growing up, aren't you?"

"Mom," I groaned.

"I know, I know," my mom said.

"Mom?"

"Yeah."

"Where are the guys?" I asked.

"I think they're down in the lobby. Which actually reminds me. Could you bring them up? It's time for bed," my mom requested.

"Mom, it's ten," I reminded.

"Yes, but you boys need sleep. I'm not sacrificing any of your energy for Hollywood glamor," my mom said. "Now, go get them."

I obeyed, exiting the crib once more and making my way to the elevator. Once arriving to the lobby, the lights barely lit, I followed the sound of boy's chatter. Logan, James, and Carlos were all sat beside each other laughing and talking by the fire pit. James was the first to see me as he beckoned with one hand for me to join them.

"So, Kendall, how'd the date go?" he asked.

"It was awesome," I answered.

"Do you think you're in love?" Carlos teased.

"No, of course he isn't. That's scientifically impossible," Logan explained.

"Since when do you know anything about love?" Carlos asked.

"Umm, I know a lot about love-"

"And how many dates has that…" It continued on like this in between the two of them, but most of their fighting died out as I looked over my shoulder to the third floor windows. Marina had peeked her head out from her curtains and was watching the four of us. She smiled at my glance before retreating once more into her apartment.

"Kendall?" Logan questioned, breaking free from Carlos and his back and forth.

I refocused my attention on them, the bright fire bathing all of them in a deep orange. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" Logan asked.

"Never better."

I spent the next day with the guys, feeling slightly guilty about my several absences from the group, leaving them to be the less powerful trio. We also had some work to do. I only saw Marina briefly as she walked past me outside the lobby in a burnt orange dress, her smile bright and full. She brushed her arm against mine in a way of displaying longing. I made sure to keep whatever reaction I had contained.

Perhaps I shouldn't have spent today with the guys as every other question was about my date the night before. It felt a little weird to have to keep these things secret, as whenever any one of us has a date we confess everything to each other, but this was different. I was making up so much that I was worried I would forget something and then totally blow my cover. Although, the guys have no real reason to be searching for discrepancies and stuff. Let's hope that if I did mess up they wouldn't notice.

I really like Marina, but this whole situation is certainly confusing. I knew Hollywood would be complicated and straining on your personal life. It was actually the biggest thing that could've made me refuse Gustavo's offer. I didn't know, however, that it would be this complicated, though. I had no idea the actual formality of fake relationships in Hollywood. It almost seems unreal.

"I don't understand why none of these girls are asking us out," James complained. "Once we're rich and famous we'll be surrounded by models practically begging us to hang out with them." If by "begging us" you mean being paid to, then certainly.

I wanted to ask Gustavo if he ever worked behind the scenes of a celebrity pairing. I know in the late nineties there was supposedly a passionate love affair between one of the members of his boy bands and a television actress. My mother was obsessed with them until their very public split in 1997 that skyrocketed both of their careers even further until the band fizzled out and the actress' show was canceled and got cast in an insurance commercial. I can't help but wonder if they were constructed in a board room as well.

"Hey, Gustavo," I prompted him one afternoon in the studio.

"What do you want now?" he questioned in his usual cheery manner.

"I was wondering what you might know about fake relationships in Hollywood?" I asked.

"Ha! Like I would tell you. None of you dogs are ready for a fake relationship."

"So, they do exist," I concluded.

Gustavo sharply inhaled a breath as he realized what he had just admitted.

"No, they don't. Why- Where- What do you know?" Gustavo asked gravely.

"Nothing," I lied, walking away.

Later, once the guys and me were back at the crib, Marina called me.

"Hey," she said quietly into the receiver, the sound of her deep, calm voice blissfully filling my ears. She actually did a voice during interviews. Made it higher pitch to sound cuter apparently. I didn't understand it when her current voice was so appealing, so soothing.

"Hey," I returned, closing the door of my room behind me.

"Are you alone?" Marina asked cautiously.

"Yeah," I answered. "What's up?"

"Nothing really. I just wanted to hear your voice. I just got home from a really long shoot for a perfume ad. I'm in the mood to talk to somebody who actually knows me," she said.

"Do you want to come over? I know we had plans for Monday, but we could watch a movie?" I offered.

"Are the guys there?" she wondered.

"Yeah, sorry."

"Maybe you could come over to my place?"

"No, I promised them I would spend the day with them."

"Well, it's just too risky. I'm sorry. I already don't feel safe going over there with Katie knowing our secret."

"Yeah, I get it. Hey, maybe I can try to sneak out of here for an hour or two?" I said.

"Just as long as your friends are okay with it."

"They will be, trust me. They're just finally excited I have a girlfriend at all. Not that- not that I didn't have girlfriends in Minnesota. I dated plenty of-yeah," I stuttered. Marina just giggled quietly knowing very well I could not recover from this.

"I guess our situation is a little out of the ordinary. Probably not something you're very used to," Marina said.

"Not very, no."

"I'll maybe see you later, no pressure though. This phone call has been enough to brighten my day."

"I'm glad," I responded.

"Talk to you later."

"Talk to you later." I hung up the phone.

"You're walking on thin ice, big bro," Katie said from behind, startling me.

"Oh, my God! Katie!" I exclaimed.

"What? All I'm saying is that you've been seeing Marina way too much behind the guys backs. I overheard them talking about it." And she recounted the story to me.

"Hey, where'd Kendall go?" Carlos asked Logan and James. At the time I had just snuck off to Marina's apartment.

"I don't know," James responded.

"You know, I haven't actually seen him a lot recently," Logan said.

"You don't think LA is changing him, do you?" Carlos wondered. "Do you think he still wants to be our friend?"

"They're starting to get worried about you," Katie said to me.

"I can't believe they think that. I've only been hanging out with Marina for a few days," I said.

"Yeah, but they know you're keeping something from them. You're acting like a different person and it's scaring them," Katie revealed.

"But you know I can't tell them what's really going on."

"Why not?!" Katie shouted.

"Because-" I hushed, "when I tell them secrets it never ends good. I once told Logan that Caroline Phillips thought Carlos' hair looked ugly and then he started wearing the helmet. Sure, now he wears it for other reasons, but I can't help but blame myself every time he doesn't do well in a job interview."

"Okay, fine, just know I warned you. They're starting to get suspicious."