Chapter Three: Why Hide It?

Kendall comes in, still laughing. "What's up, JD?" he asks smiling.

"Everything."

"What's wrong?"

Kendall spots a latte, smiles, and sits down.

"Everything is wrong, Kendall. Hadley is mad because the paparazzi showed a clip of me holding the door open for Ellie and us walking together and they said Hadley and I split. And I said 'I don't know' to the question if Ellie and I are just friends. It's like everyone's mad at me," James says without taking a breath.

Kendall looks around. " Woah. That…uh…that sucks. I don't know what to tell you, man."

"You, too?" James exclaims disgusted. He storms outside, sits on a bench, and hangs his head.

Kendall follows him. "Dude, I'm not mad at you. I just didn't know what to say. I'm bad at these things. You know me. I can't even tell my best friend that I lo—like like her. But you're James. You can figure this mess out."

James looks up at Kendall. "Logan thinks I still love Ellie. I think I do, but I just don't know."

"You're still technically dating Hadley, though. And Logan is Logan. He'll get over it all."

"Hadley's gonna freak. She is probably sitting at her house crying."

"I'm not gonna lie to you, but you have yourself in a shitty situation, man."

"That's what I'm saying."

"Well, I'm going back inside. You stay out here and think about everything."

Kendall punches James' arm and heads back inside. James sighs as he takes out his phone to text Hadley, but ends up texting Ellie instead, even though she is right upstairs in the studio.

"ily," he types.

"u do?" Ellie replies.

"yes."

He shuts his phone quickly and tries to hide it as Logan comes around the corner.

"Hey, are you gonna drink your la—what are you hiding?"

Logan sees the phone and takes it away from James.

"Wait, Logan! Give it back! It's my phone and none of your business!"

"You told Ellie you LOVE her? What about Hadley?"

"Quit yelling at me! I am so confused. Why are you so concerned about me being with Hadley and not Ellie. You're making Ellie seem like a bad person."

Carlos runs outside and butts in. "Woah, woah, woah, guys. Calm down. Logan can't think Ellie's a bad person. He has a crush on her!" he finishes with a smile.

"CARLOS!" yells Logan. "Shut up!"

"OOOHHH, I see," says James, " well, Ellie loves me and I DO love her. I'm gonna fix this. Goodbye."

Kendall and Carlos look at each other confused.

"Screw, 'I'll love you forever.' James is a fucking liar," says Logan.

As James stands on just the other side of the glass doors, he looks at his phone to see a new message from Ellie.

"wow, james. um i love you 2. but you still have a gf. how can I know for sure that you mean it? idk james. we'll talk later."