I own nothing.

PART ONE: Chapter 2

(seven months ago)

Logan…

He was having the strangest day.

It was the end of January and he'd just finished his last final of his winter semester. He knew he was probably the only person in the class who enjoyed it… but he was a genius! He was supposed to like a challenge!

This little winter semester was his first time actually attending his classes, and he loved that too. It not only gave him a chance to voice all his questions to his professors—instead of just emailing them—but he was also able to interact with other students who shared the same interests as him.

Not that he didn't love his band mates! But it was a welcome change to talk to someone who understood everything that came out of his mouth—or almost everything.

He met up with some of the guys once the exam was over and they told him about a party on campus. Students were starting to arrive back at the dorms to prepare for the spring semester about to start in a week.

After saying he "might just have to check it out later," he went back to the Palm Woods. It may have been a major dork thing, but he was nervous and excited about his first party on campus. He still couldn't believe he'd been in college almost two years and never had the time for a campus party!

He sort of wished his buds were home so they could come with him, but Kendall was in South Carolina with Jo. James was auditioning for a new role in Canada. And Carlos was probably out with Rosie—his new girlfriend who never seemed to let Carlos hang with his friends when he wasn't working. Logan knew it was only a matter of time before Carlos dumped her like all the rest. He always seemed to find the possessive ones.

Well, Logan, he thought, you have been anxious for 'the' college experience.

Now was his chance!

When he got home though, he was surprised to find Katie lying on the bottom of the swirly slide, staring into space with a sad look on her face.

"What's up Katie-girl?" Logan said smoothly, easing up beside her.

He really shouldn't be calling her "girl" anymore like she was a twelve year old considering she was actually one year older then the age the guys had been when they got their 'lucky' break.

The years had been great for her. She had grown into her face smoothly, the cheekbones, eyes, and nose. It was all her, just more grown up. Her lips had grown fuller too. She had grown her bangs out so her hair was all one length and she usually styled it in voluptuous fly-away brownish-red curls. The face wasn't the only thing that had changed though.

Somewhere between the ages of fourteen and fifteen she had a growth spurt and was only a couple inches shorter than Kendall, with legs for days.

He figured she got her face from her father because Kendall had the same dimples and smile lines as Mrs. Knight but Katie definitely didn't.

"Hey, Logan," Katie forced a smile.

"You can't sit on the swirly slide if you're not smiling," Logan teased. "You suck up all the fun."

"Yep, that's me," she said. "Fun sucker extraordinaire!" She threw her hands up in the air.

"I wouldn't go that far," Logan said. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just…" Katie rolled her eyes. "Not in the mood to talk about it."

"Well, okay then," Logan said, backing off. Maybe it was just that time of the month. He wasn't going to hang around for that. He had a party to go to anyway.

Katie sighed, "No. Wait. Stop. I'm sorry." She sat up and crossed her long legs Indian style.

"We don't have to talk about anything you don't want to," Logan said quickly. Please don't let her say she's PMS-ing.

Katie nodded, "Thanks."

Then she promptly started crying.

Anything but that, he groaned inwardly.

"Katie," Logan went to kneel in front of her. "Stop crying, what's wrong?" He hesitated for a second and then reached up and around to pat her back.

Katie shook her head.

"Is it because your mom's in Minnesota and you had to stay here for school?" Logan guessed. Mrs. Knight had to visit a sick relative but Katie couldn't take off from school to fly with her.

Katie shook her head again.

"Is it because Kendall's in South Carolina with Jo and you miss him because he's the best brother ever?" Logan guessed again hopefully.

"What am I, twelve?" Katie managed to say through her sobs.

"Is it because you have, like, cramps or something?" Logan forced himself to ask, trying to keep a straight face. "Because I could go get—"

"Noooooooo," Katie sobbed it out. "Why would you even—"

"Good, good," he said, with not a little relief. Think, Logan, think! What would drive a teenage girl to cry? "So… um, someone steal your diary?"

Katie shook her head.

"Someone take embarrassing photos of you?"

Katie shook her head again.

"Fail a test?"

Katie looked at him with an "are you serious?" look.

Logan gave up and made a split second decision. "Well, how about we just take your mind off whatever is bothering you. You don't have to tell me because you don't seem to want to. But see, I'm going to my first party on campus tonight and could use a little backup."

She settled down to a sniffle, looking at him with a question in her eyes. "Your first?" Then she actually giggled. She obviously couldn't help herself.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, remember? Me?" He pointed to himself. "I'm Logan. Not exactly a party animal."

"Yeah, but…" she laughed. "You're going to bring a high school junior with you to your first college party? What will all the guys there think?"

"Probably?" Logan guessed, "Jailbait." Though in all honesty he was only three years older than her, so it was just more like...not that bad.

"Ew, Logan," Katie laughed.

He was glad he could get a laugh out of her.

"Just go get ready, will ya?" he said. "We'll hit up that new pizza place first. Who knows what they'll be serving at the party."

Apparently college students figured a few bags of chips and pretzels counted as 'food'. Thank goodness they had stopped for pizza. Everyone else was mostly just holding plastic cups with suspicious liquids.

Logan was pretty sure the suspicious liquid in the red plastic cups had some sort of cranberry juice concoction, and the clear plastic cups were obviously filled courtesy the keg in the back corner.

He made a mental note to keep Katie far far far away from all of the various suspicious liquids flowing around this place. If she wanted a drink, he was going to fill an empty plastic cup for her with nice, safe, water.

"You sure this is okay with you?" Katie asked.

He was amazed at how well she blended in with the rest of the students. He knew he probably stuck out like a sore thumb in a sweater vest, but at least no one was treating him like he shouldn't be there—as most 'coming of age' college flicks liked to show the smartest guy being treated. Fortunately no one seemed to recognize him, or maybe they did-but students at UCLA were used to seeing famous people. Logan didn't usually have any problems on campus.

"This is not the first time you've played backup for me, you know," Logan said. "And don't worry; I'll protect you from the big mean college guys. Just pretend you're with me."

He promptly tossed his arm over her shoulder and dragged her into his side when he noticed some guy give Katie 'the nod'.

Katie blushed at the attention before squeezing herself up into Logan's side. "Yeah, that's definitely a good idea."

Logan joked, "Don't get any ideas though. Kendall would kill me."

He noticed that Katie tensed slightly at his words. He wondered why, but before he could ask she was dragging him toward the makeshift dance floor.

"Let's dance, Logie!" Katie said, smiling forcefully.

He wondered why she was obviously fake-smiling again but decided to just let her have some fun. He'd brought her here to forget her troubles anyway.

"Logan!"

He turned around and received a fast and friendly fist pound to his back from Paul, a guy in one of his classes.

"Sup, man?" Logan said.

"So, who's the little hottie?"

Logan groaned inwardly. Not again.

It seemed that every time Katie went away from him for even a minute, some guy Logan knew came up to ask about her. It was their fault, considering everyone could see that Logan and Katie weren't acting like a couple. When the guys noticed there were no hand holding, no intimate body language, and no kissing, they started to hope the girl was available and just hanging with a friend.

And he still hadn't figured out the best answer to that question. He knew that saying she was "a friend" didn't work because that just made them want an introduction. But he still found it hard to lie and call her his "girlfriend".

So he ended up stuttering slightly like he was now.

"She's, uh, she's my…"

"I'm his girlfriend," Katie announced, coming up to them and sliding her arm around him, snuggling into his side once again.

"I see," Paul said, a little disbelieving, though he was obviously masking some disappointment.

Katie rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to the girl next to her that she had been walking with and talking to.

Logan was relieved at the save and just gave Paul a polite smile, keeping his smile firmly in place until Paul walked away.

"So... he's a cutie," Logan heard a soft giggle. "How long have you been together?"

Logan flushed. Katie's 'friend' was asking questions now… and Katie's 'friend' was pretty cute too.

Katie started, "He's my—"

Logan cut her off before she could finish.

"Friends. We're just friends," he said quickly, nudging Katie's shoulder.

Katie smirked.

"Logan, I'd like you to meet Charlotte," Katie introduced them.

"So, Logan," Charlotte said, smiling broader when she realized he was very much available. "Care to dance?"

He looked to Katie. She just nodded and quirked an eyebrow as if saying, 'did you really just ask for my permission'?

He had a great time dancing with her but went back to join Katie after getting her number. He explained to Charlotte that Katie was his best friend's little sister and he didn't want her to wonder off and get into any trouble on his watch. She understood and said she'd see him next time.

With a wink, she left and he went over to Katie who was waiting with a fresh drink for him. He accepted it gratefully before taking a healthy swig. He nearly spit it out when he realized it wasn't water or soda.

"What's this?" he said with a sour look.

"Oh, Logan," she laughed. "It's your first college party! You need to have at least one drink. If not, what was the point?"

"What about you?" he said pointedly, glancing at her drink.

She just smiled and sipped from her straw.

"Kendall wouldn't—" he started to say while reaching for the cup.

She pulled the cup out of his reach quickly and snapped. "Maybe I don't care what Kendall wants! Maybe I want what I want!"

"Whoa, whoa," Logan held up his hands. "I can't let Kendall's baby sister get drunk. He'd kill me."

"Look at you!" she said. "Getting all worried about what Kendall would do or think. Kendall isn't the boss of you or me!"

"Where is all this coming from anyway?" Logan asked, confused.

Katie looked like she was going to yell, but caught herself, like she realized what she had said and who she was saying it to. She sighed.

"Look, Logan, I'm not going to get drunk. It's just one drink. And you'll just have one drink. We'll laugh about it tomorrow. Okay?"

He knew he shouldn't give in, but the puppy eyes did it every time.

"One drink!" He emphasized, holding one of his fingers up.

"Thanks!" She giggled again before dancing off toward the dance floor.

He knew he was going to regret it.

Yep, he was regretting it.

Not that Katie was drunk, because she wasn't. He was pretty sure she had snuck at least one more drink before they left, but she wasn't the one wobbling on her feet.

He was.

"Logan, it was only one drink," Katie said exasperated. "And it was like an hour ago! You have the constitution of a... of a … really small animal!"

"Gee, thanks, Katie," he mumbled.

"Like a Chihuahua or a… chicken!" Katie exclaimed.

Logan started laughing.

"What?" Katie asked.

"Drunk Chicken!" He flapped his arms and swayed before bursting out laughing even harder.

Katie couldn't resist chuckling with him.

Logan felt a little bad that Katie was the one who had to help him home. He wasn't even feeling that drunk, just a little... 'buzzed' he supposed was the proper term.

"I'm sure I'll feel fine in a little while," Logan said. "We're almost home."

"Thank goodness," Katie glared. "Try not to walk into another palm tree."

"It was tiny and came out of nowhere!" Logan argued.

"It was huge and has been standing there for longer than you've been on this earth," Katie stated.

"Twerp."

"Moron."

He was feeling better.

They'd been on the couch for almost an hour now watching infomercials. The clock on the wall said one a.m. But he wasn't really feeling all that tired. And evidently, neither was she.

"I have to have one of those," Katie said, pointing at the little red grill/oven thing on the TV. It apparently cooked everything in seven minutes or less, even a big juicy steak.

"For what? What can that thing do that a regular stove or oven can't?" Logan said. He pulled a string off his watermelon flavored Peel & Pull and dangled it into his mouth.

"Save space?" she answered, tossing a piece of popcorn in her mouth.

"Except you still sort of need an oven anyway," he reasoned. "So it actually takes up more space in the kitchen because you didn't need it in the first place!"

"But it bakes and grills and fries and, best of all, it melts things!" Katie said.

"This is why infomercials repeat the same thing over and over again, constantly showing you the same amazing thing over and over again," Logan explained. "You, my dear, are being brainwashed!"

"I am not!" Katie laughed.

"Fine," he shrugged. "Then I'll get you one for Christmas."

"But I want it now!" Katie demanded.

"Too bad," he laughed before snatching the remote.

"Click!" he said as he changed the channel.

"No!" she cried, trying to grab the remote away from him. "My beautiful red kitchen space waster!"

"Ooh, look," Logan said. "It's the nature channel!"

"Dork!" she yelled, still trying to grab it.

"Baby pandas!" he exclaimed.

She turned toward the TV quickly, "Really?"

"Gotcha!" he laughed as she got a visual of elephants mating.

"Ew, ew, ew," she stopped grabbing for the remote and covered her eyes. "Change it, change it."

He took mercy on her and switched to a movie channel.

"Transformers 4 from 2013," Logan read the information box. "Ah, yes, the one where the producers wised up and invited Megan Fox back." He relaxed against the couch.

"Forget about her," Katie said. "Shia LaBeouf. That's all the movie needs." She said as she settled back to watch too.

"Well, James is about to give him a run for his money when he lands the role for that new action movie he's auditioning for," Logan teased. "Who knows, if the movie does well, he could have his own franchise!" He laughed. He still thought it was funny that the guy who hated messing his hair and face up was actually going to be in an action movie where things usually got blown up and cars were usually crashed and the action movie hero was always in the thick of things getting just as messy.

Katie didn't say anything to that.

He figured she was too entranced by Shia LaBouf—who was actually quite non-buff—to respond to his quip.

It was maybe fifteen minutes later when he realized Katie was sniffing softly and it wasn't because of a sad part in the movie.

"Katie?" he asked gently. "You okay?"

She nodded, but he could tell she was lying.

"Did you—," he started.

"Not this game again," Katie said, sighing.

"I was just going to ask if you needed a tissue," he said. "But if someone squirted mustard all over your new dress or something, that would probably be upsetting."

She didn't crack a smile this time though.

"I just...," Katie sighed again. "Let's just finish watching the movie, okay? I'm fine. I swear, Logan."

"Okay," he said. If she didn't want to talk, he wasn't going to force her.

"Thanks for hanging with me," she forced a smile.

"Anytime," he said, tossing his arm around her shoulder for a quick impromtu hug.

She leaned her head on his shoulder, whispering "Thanks" again.

He relaxed against the couch, feeling at ease and finding nothing wrong with having Katie lay against him through the rest of the movie. She was family and he would do anything he could to comfort her.

A scant half hour later she was asleep.

He stretched and decided it was definitely time to go to bed. But first he knew he had to help her to her room. If she slept like that she was going to wake up with a huge kink in her neck. Plus, he knew she hated sleeping on the couch. It made her extra grumpy in the morning.

He stood, removing his arm from her shoulders and bent down in front of her, tapping her cheek, "Katie?" he whispered softly.

She gave a little groan, not wanting to wake up.

"Time for bed," he said. "Come on, I'll walk you." He put his arms out for her to grasp his hands.

She made an attempt to lift her arms but couldn't seem to find the energy to lift them all the way. He finally just grabbed her hands and pulled, almost succeeding. She rose slowly, eyes still closed, but since she was leaning away from him he was thrown off balance and ended up falling forward as she sat back down.

Awkward, he thought, getting a mouthful of hair.

He sighed and leaned back.

Since pulling on her arms wasn't working, he hooked his hands higher up under her arms, thumbs pressing into her shoulders as he tried again.

She just sighed and finally reached up to put her arms around his neck.

He rolled his eyes and leaned in, sliding his arms around her back, figuring that would probably be the easiest way to get her to at least stand up.

Instead of standing up, she wrapped her long legs around his waist and whispered, "Carry me," through her sleep filled gaze.

He sighed and did as she asked. She may be taller than him, but she was thin as a rail and he had muscles from performing and working out that made him strong enough.

Awkward, he thought again when she rested her head on his shoulder and almost nuzzled his neck.

Walking as fast as he could, he struggled with her room's doorknob for a moment before he was kicking the door open. He walked over to the bed and tried to get her off.

"Okay," he whispered. "We're here, you can let go now."

But she didn't let go.

He groaned inwardly and leaned forward, almost falling onto the mattress with her, hoping when her back touched it she would instinctively let go and burrow in her pillows and he could escape this strangeness.

He had mentioned he was having the strangest day, didn't he?

It was about to get even stranger.

Because she didn't let go, instead she opened her eyes and stared at him.

He couldn't read her expression, and he was about to tell her to let go again… when she kissed him.

He froze, unable to do anything but feel her warm lips on his.

He almost started to give in to the kiss. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling... but realized what was going on and who it was going on with.

He tore his lips away from hers and tried to wrench out of her arms without hurting her. "Katie, stop."

She shook her head, not letting go, gripping him even more tightly.

"Katie," he cleared his throat, "I can't."

He gritted his teeth when, instead of letting go, she arched her hips up against his. Whoa!

He almost cursed when he lost his balance and really did end up lying flush against her. Her legs tightened even more and he expelled a breath. He didn't want to hurt her by forcing her to let go of him but he really needed to get away from her right now.

"Katie," he tried again. "This can't happen. You need to let go of me."

He could see her eyes glisten with unshed tears. Damn.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'll just go and we'll forget this ever happened, okay?" Best idea ever.

"Please don't go," she whispered, her giant brown eyes begging him.

Not the eyes, not the eyes, he chanted to himself, trying not to look at her. He prayed she couldn't feel that he was reacting a little too much to her advances. He had to berate himself to keep from purposefully moving against her even the tiniest bit.

No! Absolutely not! He chastised. Absolutely NOT going to happen!

"You know I have to," he muttered.

"I need you," she said, sliding one of her arms up his back to the base of his neck. "Please, Logan?"

He could feel the pressure she applied while trying to bring his head back down to hers.

"Please don't go," she begged again.

He sighed and dropped his head down on her shoulder, making sure to keep his lips far away from hers. Even when he tried to pull away from her, he wasn't getting anywhere. He just succeeded in rubbing himself against her which is what he really didn't want to do—well he did. No! He didn't!. How was he going to get himself out of this?

"I'll just hold you, okay?" he said finally. "Nothing else. I'll stay here, but just to sleep."

She nodded, accepting his words.

He let out a breath of relief and stood up when she let go of him.

"Logan?" she asked, on the verge of tears thinking he had lied and only said he would hold her to get her to let go.

"Just need to close the door," he said, quickly shutting the door so prying eyes—namely Carlos since he was the only one still in the state—wouldn't notice who was sharing Katie's bed that night. Of course, since Carlos hadn't returned from Rosie's yet, he probably wouldn't be home until the next day sometime in the afternoon.

He walked back to the bed, still not quite believing he was doing this, but fortified himself with a deep breath before pulling the blankets up. She scrambled to get out of the way so she could get under the covers too. He lay down, tensing when he tried to relax against the unfamiliar bed and pillow under his head. He tensed even more when she curled into his side, snuggling up really close, with her face resting in his neck. Oh God.

After a while, when he was pretty sure she was asleep again, he tried to relax his body. It wasn't that bad of a feeling, sleeping with Katie, but he knew it was so wrong. Even though nothing really happened, Kendall would still be pissed if he ever found out. Logan gulped at the thought.

Logan still didn't know what had gotten into Katie, but he absolutely did not like it. He knew if it had been anyone else, he probably would have had no problem succumbing to their pleas. Heck, he was still feeling uncomfortable below the belt.

He grunted softly and shifted, feeling the traitorous reminder between his legs twitch instead of relax.

Unable to do anything about it, he tried to force himself to go to sleep.

Sleep was so close, he could feel it right around the corner and he was on the verge of surrendering when lips met his again.

In his foggy mind, he couldn't stop himself from kissing back.

When he was finally waking up enough to realize that he was making out with Katie, all rational thought went out the window when he felt her hand slide from his chest to his abs before detouring south.

And just like that, he forgot all the reasons why it was so wrong and turned into her embrace.

Kendall was going to kill him.

Not just in a 'Kendall is so mad he will probably punch him and not talk to him for a week' sort of way.

Kendall was going to kill him in a 'punch his face until he drowns in his own blood' sort of way.

The rational part of Logan knew that the best thing would be for Kendall to never, ever, find out what had happened last night. But the irrational part knew he was going to die some time in the not so distant future.

Because Logan had sex with Katie last night... or, he preferred the term, 'made love'.

Even though he knew it would result in his untimely death, he wanted to shout it to the world because it had been the best night of his life.

He woke up with a smile on his face, thinking about how amazing she was even as he burrowed closer to her under the covers.

He was going to have to tell Kendall, no matter how much it hurt their relationship, because there was no way he was going to let her go.

He started running his fingers gently through her hair, anxious for her to wake up so he could see her smile. He wanted to ask her on a real date. He wanted to tell her that he would handle everything with Kendall. He wanted to make her breakfast in bed. He wanted to go up in the night's sky and capture a star for her.

Okay, so he was being a little irrational again. He couldn't help it.

He grinned when he felt her starting to stir.

She squirmed and then opened her eyes, looking straight into his.

"Morning," he whispered softly.

"Morning," she whispered back. She closed her eyes again.

Then opened them wide.

"Logan?" she said in a small voice.

"Hey," he said, grinning from ear to ear. "Want me to make you some breakfast? French toast with a side of strawberries?"

She sat up gingerly, careful to bring the thin sheet on the bed up with her, covering herself completely.

"I, uh," she seemed at a lost for words.

"And fresh squeezed orange juice," he said enthusiastically, throwing the covers off of himself. He leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss before grabbing his boxers. He quickly stepped into them, pulling them up and turning back to her.

"Breakfast in ten minutes," he said, grabbing his t-shirt, not able to stop smiling as he left the room.

He whistled while he cooked. He heard the shower turn on and grinned. He really shouldn't be thinking about her in the shower, but he was nineteen, not a eunuch.

He had just finished sprinkling the powdered sugar on the french toast when Katie made her way into the kitchen.

She was wearing a simple pair of jean shorts, and a modest blue v-neck t-shirt. She had on no makeup and her hair was still wet and brushed straight. She looked absolutely beautiful.

"Bon appetite!" he said with flourish, putting the plate in front of her.

"Thanks," she murmured and picked up her fork.

He watched her as she cut off a piece and ate it, suddenly realizing she hadn't looked at him once since she came into the room.

"Good?" he asked for lack of something better to say.

"Yeah," she murmured, picking up a strawberry next and nibbling at it.

He sat down across from her and picked up a strawberry of his own.

He kept waiting for her to say something else, but she didn't.

That was his first indication that something was wrong, though he really should have read the signs from the moment she woke up.

"So, what do you want to do today?" he asked. "There's a –"

"Logan," she interrupted, putting her fork down quickly and finally looking at him. "Stop."

"Um…" he stuttered. "Ohh kay, I was just, going to, um.."

"You don't have to take me anywhere," she said. "It's alright, Logan."

"Oh," he said, finally understanding, "You think if we go out the paparazzi might see us and word will get back to Kendall, right? Don't worry about that. I'll talk to him as soon as he gets back, or call him right now, or… maybe I should fly down to tell him in person…" he thought to himself that it would probably be best to tell him in person, even though his face hurt just thinking about it.

"No!" she exclaimed, showing the first signs of life all morning.

He jumped, startled. "What?"

"Don't tell Kendall!" she said forcefully. "Don't tell anyone! Especially none of the guys! Logan, please, promise me!" Her eyes were begging him.

"But…" he gulped. "What? Sneak around? I don't want to do that." He sucked at lying and was even worse at being sneaky.

"No," she said. "Logan, no… just… we're just friends, okay? Just pretend it never happened. We'll just go back to being friends, alright?"

Logan stared at her in complete shock, his stomach dropped.

"Okay?" she asked, pleading.

"Why?" he finally managed to ask.

"That's just how it should be, okay?" she asked again.

"Was it really that bad, I mean I thought you had…" he stumbled over the words, not understanding why she was saying any of this.

She blushed.

"I did, and it wasn't bad," she looked down, clearly embarrassed.

"Then what's the problem?" he asked.

"Logan…" she shook her head.

"I want to be with you," he said. "You have to know that what happened last night isn't something I take lightly. I mean, I never…" he flushed then, not wanting to reveal the whole truth to her with the way this conversation was going.

"I don't just sleep around," he finished. "What happened last night, it meant something to me. You mean something to me."

"Logan…" she looked everywhere but at him now. "I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt you, but I don't…"

He looked at her, holding his breath, waiting for her next words.

"I don't want to be with you," she said.

"Then what was last night?" he asked, unable to believe this was happening.

"A mistake," she finally said, defeated, like she had been trying to avoid saying that but couldn't think of anything better to say.

"No, it wasn't," he denied. "You wanted me. You practically begged me, no, you did beg me to stay!"

"Logan, stop," Katie held up a hand.

"No, no stopping," Logan argued. "You begged me to stay with you. You told me you needed me. Me! So, now it's a mistake and you don't need me anymore? Why can't we just go out on one date and see if maybe we can make a relationship between us work?"

"Because I'm not in love with you," she said finally.

"All the more reason to date, so maybe one day you could fall in love with me, and vice versa!" He exclaimed, flailing his arms to get his point across.

"Logan!" she exclaimed, "I'm not in love with you!" putting extra emphasis on the 'you' this time.

Oh God.

"You mean…" Logan felt like something in him was close to snapping, he just didn't know what that something was. "You're in love with someone else."

She just nodded.

"That's why you were upset yesterday," he realized. "Wasn't it?"

She nodded again.

"What? Did he break up with you? Cheat on you? Leave you?" he asked, drawing out the word 'leave' because he remembered her begging him not to go last night.

"I'm not playing any more guessing games with you," she said.

"Fine, no more guessing!" he exclaimed. He rubbed the back of his neck in disbelief.

"Logan," she said softly. "I did need you last night. I needed you to be my friend and hold me and just make all the pain go away. And you did, and you might never know how much it meant to me," she choked on the words here, clearly upset too, "But I can't give you what you want. I just need you to keep this a secret for me—for us! And I need you to keep being my friend."

"I don't know if I can do that," Logan admitted. How could he possibly act like nothing had happened after what he had done?

"Logan, you can't tell anyone," Katie insisted. "Anyone! One word of it and it gets back to Kendall, you know it will! And what then? Your friendship is ruined over nothing!"

"It wasn't 'nothing'," Logan mumbled, suddenly feeling the need to leave the room.

Katie didn't say anything.

And suddenly, with almost perfect clarity, he could hear the unspoken words that would have filled the silence if she had been able to say it. 'But it was nothing to me.'

He was sure she was thinking it. She just had to be. He knew her enough to know what snappy comeback usually came from her mouth.

"I won't say a word," he snapped in her general direction, unable to look at her again.

Then he left the apartment without a backward glance.

(seven months later)

From the moment he looked up and saw that Maternity sign, he was fighting for breath. It was a miracle he didn't start hyperventilating then and there.

When Kendall came out, looking like death, it was all Logan could do not to burst into tears. As Kendall told all of them every detail that he had discerned from his mother and father, Logan knew that he was following the medical details better than the other two.

He also knew that it was his fault. Because back in the final weeks of January, on the strangest day he ever had, he had unprotected sex with his best friend's little sister. The encounter had been completely unplanned so he didn't have any protection. She said she was on the pill. He had tried to pull out anyway, but knew that method wasn't foolproof.

He should have made sure nothing like this had happened. But he was too crushed to do anything except throw himself into school and prepare for the upcoming tour. He had begged Gustavo for some solo interviews before the start of the tour—anything so he could get away from the apartment and not have to see her every day. He guessed at the back of his mind that if she found herself pregnant, she would let him know. There was no point in keeping it a secret from him. He was already sitting on the biggest secret of all anyway.

Two days ago he had gotten the first text from her since that strange day. He was almost walking on air because she said she wanted to meet and talk with him when the tour was over. He was silently hoping she had changed her mind and wanted to get together.

He couldn't sleep at night while dreaming about their reunion. He had visions of her telling him that being with him was all she could think about. That she had made a huge mistake and realized she was in love with him, not whoever that other jerk was. He wanted her so badly.

For the first time on this tour, he started to enjoy himself, dancing and flipping with renewed energy. He was suddenly anxious to get the rest of this tour over with so he could see Katie because even after everything that happened, he had come to realize he was in love with her no matter how much she had hurt him that day.

But now none of his hopes and dreams were going to come true… because Katie was going to die—he had read enough about pulmonary embolisms to know that if she already couldn't breathe on her own, the chances of her surviving were zero.

And now he was a father.

And he also had to do the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

As Kendall sat there, helplessly, asking a question he probably should never know the answer to, Logan knew that he owed Kendall the truth.

So he braced himself, trying to force himself to breathe, and then uttered the words that would change all their lives forever.

"I am."

And he froze, hearing an echo of his words.

Kendall looked up in horror, staring at James first and then Logan.

And as Logan looked over at James, he realized what had happened.

And in that instant he knew who Katie had been in love with.

To be continued…

Next: Part I: Chapter 3 – James's story.