"Mom, why can't I just take the car?"

"Honey, it's your my and your father's date night. You know that."

"You can't miss one date night?" Logan followed his mom into her room, standing by the door as she primped in front of the mirror.

"Sweetie." Logan shrugged.

"I told you about these plans last week! It's a birthday party, I can't just miss it! They'll hate me forever!"

"If your little friends like you, they'll understand." She walked into the bathroom, shutting the door in face. Logan sighed frustratedly and walked toward the stairs in defeat. "Unless, someone can give you a ride home."

"He can!"

"I'll have to meet whoever it is when I drop you off, though." Why? Why does she have to be so overprotective? Ugh. Take what you're given, Logan. You're smart, you'll weasel out of it. Logan nodded and ran to his room to change.

When his parents pulled up to the restaurant, Logan jumped out of the car.

"Well, okay. My phone's on. I'll get a ride home, don't worry about me on your date, have fun!" Once he caught his breath, he ran inside before his mother could protest.

"Hey!" James sauntered over to Logan and threw an arm around the younger boy. "I though you weren't gonna come. You're late."

"Yeah, I had to get a ride from my parents. Vespa's down."

"I'm just so glad you're here." When he leaned down close enough, Logan could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Let me introduce you to my friends, okay?" They walked over to the group of people and James put a hand up signaling everyone to stop talking.

"Guys, this is Logie. Logie, this is Jennifer, Jennifer, and Jennifer." He pointed out three, perky girls, still gossiping away in the corner. They stopped their banter for a moment to wave to Logan, then went back to their previous activities. "This is Dak, Camille and Jo and Jett." All of them greeted Logan and James took him over to the window. "Jett's that friend that you don't know why your friends with. Don't mind anything he says tonight."

Logan smiled and sat down at the table, grabbing a bottle of water from an ice bucket off to the side.

"We got started with drinks already, but order whatever you want okay? It's on Camille's dad so I'd go for the expensive ones." Logan couldn't help but laugh as James tried to sit down without falling.

"I'm good with plain water."

"Pooper." James swallowed the rest of his cup's contents and pushed it over to the side. "You look really cute, do you know that?"

"Thanks." Logan took a swig off the bottle.

"I want to have sex with you." James' eyes widened when the water that was in Logan's mouth went flying across the table. "Well not now, of course but I don't know. Later it would be nice."

"Exactly how many drinks have you had?"

"I really don't know. I stopped counting a while ago." James laughed and slapped Logan on the back. "It's my party. I'll get fucked up if I want to."

"I guess I'm going to be driving you home later."

"You can drive me home anyday, Logiebear."

When Logan had gotten him home and into his room, he left his gift on the table. A comic-book encyclopedia he'd found at the bookstore. He knew James would love it. Well, he hoped he would. He was almost to the door when he heard the floor creak.

"He's not stupid you know." He turned and saw a girl standing in the hallway. He recognized her as the girl from the movies. "Well, he's pretty stupid, but he'll figure it out eventually."

"What do you mean?" Logan nervously shifted from foot to foot, awaiting her reply.

"You're young. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen max." She turned on the light and sat on the couch. "Teens recognize teens."

"So, I'm sixteen. So what?"

"How old does he think you are?" Logan's focus dropped from her face to his feet. "That's what I thought." She got up and walked over to him, picking the present up from the table. "Thanks for bringing him home safely." Logan smiled and left the apartment, waiting outside the door for Kendall to pick up his phone.

"You're lucky I'm such a good friend." Kendall yawned and pulled his shirt over his head. "I had to drive all the way downtown to get you."

"I know. I owe you." Logan removed his shirt and jeans before jumping into bed. "He said he wanted to have sex with me."

"Dude, I don't want to hear about your boyfriend's birthday sex."

"There wasn't any. What kind of guy do you think I am?"

"One who would explain it in graphic detail to his best friend." Kendall slipped into bed next to Logan, and turned off the light. "Just be careful with him, okay?"

"Well, of course. I'm not planning on having sex with him any time soon."

"Yeah, well, he's probably planning to have sex with you pretty soon." Logan turned to face Kendall and was met with a concerned, bottle green gaze. "What do you think's going to happen when you tell him you're sixteen? Maybe you shouldn't do this."

"Of course I'm gonna do this. He makes me happy. Something other than reading finally makes me happy!" Logan sat up against the headboard and turned the light on. "For the first time in years, I actually have someone that makes me happier than books. I'm not just going to give that up."

"Alright. I get it." Kendall reached over and turned the light back off. "Just don't come crying to me when your plan blows up in your face." First Samantha, now Kendall. It's like no one wanted them together.

Kendall threw the covers over his head and turned to face the window. Logan wondered what he'd done to upset him, but if he had gotten a call in the middle of the night from a friend needing a ride home from downtown, he'd be upset too.

"Goodnight, Kendall." He heard a muffled noise come from under the comforter, and he assumed it was a reply.

Logan had woken up when the sunlight began to warm his face. He found a note on the back of the door, and unfolded the piece of paper.

Went to pick up dvds and get some stuff for tonight.

-K

Logan felt like Kendall was definitely upset with him, but at least not upset enough to cancel movie night. He figured they'd talk about it later. He sat on the couch and turned the TV to Cartoon Network when he heard his phone go off upstairs. He ran to Kendall's room and picked it up. The words "1 new text message" blinked across the screen. He tapped the screen twice.

Hey, Logan. I got the book. It's amazing.

I also got your number out of the back.

Which is also pretty amazing. ;)

We should hang out today.

xx james.

Before stopping to think Logan sent James a reply promising to see him later that night, to which he replied with another winky face. Maybe Kendall was right.

As soon as Logan got to his house, he bolted up the stairs and to the shower. He stood in front of his mirror for a good hour, changing outfits to figure out which one was worthy of James' presence. After deciding on a vneck and a pair of skinny jeans, he made his way to the library.

"Hey, Logan." James sauntered out from behind the counter, setting a stack of books on the table. "Long time no see."

"Yeah. A whole 12 hours." He laughed and sat down in front of the older boy. "So what do you want to do?"

"Well, in 20 minutes I'm free to do whatever we want, for the rest of the day."

"Cool." A whole day with James. Logan could get used to this.

James and Logan had spent the entire day shopping together. From store to store, they got clothes, CDs, DVDs, the list went on. Logan usually didn't like shopping, but with James there it was the most fun he'd ever had.

"I had a lot of fun today." Logan leaned over to the driver's seat to shout over the wind rushing through the windows.

"S'not over yet. It's only 9 o'clock." 9 o'clock. Movie night started at 8. Logan felt bad for ditching his friends for the first time in weeks since school started, but James flashed him his award winning smile and all was forgotten. He'd deal with Kendall and Carlos tomorrow, or maybe on Monday.

Logan looked up when the car stopped and saw where they were.

"The beach? At nine?"

"It's better at night. And it's romantic, don't judge me." James opened the door for Logan and the sound of it slamming shut resonated through the empty dunes.

"It is romantic, I guess." He took a seat in the sand, right on the edge of where the tide met the beach and James sat next to him.

"So Logan, tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"I don't know. Secrets, stories, secrets?" James punctuated the last one with a nudge to Logan's shoulder. Play it cool, Logan. He doesn't know your secret. Just humor him.

"I'm a virgin and I've only been kissed once." Those are secrets of mine.

"Really?" Logan nodded. "So, would it be okay if I kissed you? I feel like I should ask if you-"

"Yes." James smiled. This is it. The moment you've been waiting for Mitchell. What did Kendall say again? Don't pucker. Oh god, Kendall. He probably hates me. Shit. This is no time to be thinking about him.

James leaned in and closed the gap between the boys. His lips moved against Logan's hesitantly, before his hand moved up to grip the back of his neck. He pulled Logan's lip between his teeth and Logan gasped. James took this as an invitation to snake his tongue into his mouth. It was wet, and sloppy, and James mouth tasted like cherry cough drops. The medical kind, not the ones that tasted like candy. Hating to bring him up again, Logan immediately dismissed the thought that Kendall was a way better kisser than James. Logan pulled away and caught his breath when he saw James leaning back in.

"We should get going. It's getting late." James smiled and pecked him on the lips.

"So, you ditched us." Logan looked up and saw Carlos sitting down next to him.

"I'm sorry, dude. Time got away from me."

"You could've cancelled. Ditching is punishable. Canceling isn't."

"Punishable?"

"You either get two days of Kendall's silent treatment or the next one's at your house."

"Doesn't sound that bad." Kendall slammed his tray on the table by Carlos and sat down.

"Hello, Carlos." He looked over at Logan who shot him a glare. "and you."

"And me? Why are you mad at me? For missing movie night?"

"It's not that you missed it. You ditched it. There's a difference." Kendall stabbed at his meatloaf. "You ditched us to be with him."

"Why do you have such a problem with him?"

"Guys, does anyone want cookies?" Carlos waved a hand between them, trying to get them to stop before it escalated.

"Because he doesn't even really care about you, and you're too dumb to see it!"

"That's pathetic."

"No, Logan. You're pathetic. You run around after him like some lost puppy with his tail tucked between his legs. You go gaga over him and he's barely acknowledged that he even likes you."

"Cookies, guys!" Carlos tried again, hoping it would work this time.

"Well, he kissed me Saturday night. It was amazing." Logan knew it was a lie, but right now he'd say anything just to try to win this fight and get Kendall back on his side.

"Good for you, Logan. He's finally got you right where he wants you. He'll probably fuck you next week and dump you, just like I told you he would. And like I said before, don't come crying to me."

"This is probably why that guy you said you dated dumped you. You're an asshole." Logan saw the look in Kendall's eyes a knew that he might've gone too far. Kendall pushed his tray forward before getting up and leaving the cafeteria.

"Not cool, Logan." Carlos followed after the blonde, leaving Logan to think about what he'd just done.

Ooh. Reviews? :)-