Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush. It sucks so much.

Guest#1: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying that, because the banter's fun to write :) Let's hope so! Thank you for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it.

Nessy: Thank you! Here's the next chapter :) And thank you for taking the time to read and review, it's much appreciated.

btrfanfiction1516: Hmm...we'll see about that ;) Thank you for reading and reviewing! I always appreciate it.

Guest#2: Here's your update! And thank you for taking the time to read and review! I appreciate it so much :)

A/N: Once again, I'm so sorry! I had no idea how much time had passed since I had last updated until a couple of days ago. I got stuck at the beginning of this chapter, and then I got busy with other stuff. But this story's getting updated, so yay :) And I have to say, I loved everyone's reactions to James' ex girlfriend! Anyway, this is another chapter with James and Katie scheming. It's not as funny as it could have been, but I hope you guys still like it. :)

Enjoy the chapter! :)

Chapter Eight

Katie's POV

"Katie? Hello? Are you still there?" James' voice echoed out of the ear piece from where my phone laid helplessly on my kitchen floor.

Girlfriend…ex girlfriend…he had dated someone…had actually dated someone…This didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Once I managed to regain my composure, I bent down and picked my phone up, putting it back to my ear. "Hey, sorry, yeah, I'm here."

"Okay. What happened? I heard a really loud thud."

"I – uh – dropped my phone…"

"Why?"

"Um…My fingers were greasy," I lied. "With perfume. 'Cause I have a guy here. Bye!"

"Katie – wait!"

"What?"

"Are you okay? You're acting really weird. Anyway, what did you call me about?"

"I'm fine. Oh, and, um, Camille and Steve are still getting married. I got the wedding invitation in the mail. And – oh." Another piece of paper had been pulled out with the invitation. "There's also an invitation to some sort of celebration dinner."

"When is it?"

"Next Saturday."

"Okay. And the wedding?"

"It's in a month, the week before Thanksgiving. Damn it! What do we do now?"

I heard the creak of bedsprings as he shifted, and my stomach dropped. He must have been in bed when I had called…and most likely with his ex. Not that it mattered. We weren't together and I didn't like him. But still. Who the hell answers their phone when they're in bed with a girl?

"I don't know," he sighed.

I sighed too. "Well, I'll let you go. Talk to you later."

"Yeah, talk to you later."

We hung up and I plopped down at the table in my kitchen. What the hell were we going to do now?

I didn't sleep well that night, too busy tossing and turning and mulling over what to do about Camille, Steve, and Logan. And when I wasn't thinking about them, my mind would flash to James. Somewhere a couple of miles away, he was in bed with his ex girlfriend. My stomach churned red hot and my throat clenched up as a mental image shot through my head of him kissing a faceless girl, holding her tight as she drifted off to sleep.

I finally conked out around three-thirty and slept straight until my alarm went off at seven-thirty. I groaned as I hit the button to turn my alarm clock off and pushed the covers back, padding out to the kitchen to get the coffee started before heading to the bathroom.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. My face was pale and dark circles rimmed my eyes. My hair was a mess, pushed off to one side, and I could see a red something blossoming on my cheek. Great. I was about to have a breakout. Fucking perfect.

I was a mess, and that wasn't even the worst of it. Because sometime while I had been asleep, my brain had located the only possible answer as to why I actually cared about James sleeping with an ex girlfriend I didn't even know existed; why I felt like throwing up every time I thought of him smiling at her, holding her and stroking her hair.

I was jealous.

I was jealous of James' ex girlfriend.

And oh crap, I was going to be sick.

I spat the toothpaste out and rinsed my mouth out, scowling. It wasn't like I had a crush on James. It was just that he was really hot and I had gotten used to having to put up with him. And yeah, maybe there was a slight attraction there. But it was just a tiny one. It was lust. Purely physical. Nothing more, nothing less. So, really, it wasn't a big deal.

He could fuck the slutty bitch all he wanted. It wasn't like I cared. You know, besides wanting to claw her eyes out. But that was all. And really, wasn't it a perfectly rational reaction?

Deciding that I was way too tired to rationalize with myself, I hopped in the shower.

An hour and a half later I was walking into the Gates-Hill Chronicles office. Now that I had a cup of coffee and a bagel in me, I was feeling a little more sane.

I spent the morning working on an article about the local Italian restaurant, and the rumor that the chef sprinkled crack on the breadsticks. By the time lunch rolled around, I had finished it and submitted it to Preston for review. I was fully expecting to return from lunch to find it sitting on my desk, dripping red ink, but I didn't care. I had gotten it done and that in itself made me feel somewhat accomplished.

I was just gathering my stuff together and trying to decide which restaurant I felt like eating at today when I felt a rush of hot air tornado around me, and a shadow block my light.

I looked up from where I was snapping my purse shut to find James standing there in jeans and a dark green shirt under an open black leather jacket.

"What're you doing here?" I demanded tiredly. "Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?"

"My ex girlfriend," he corrected me. "And no, because I worked today, and I'm on my lunch break. And it looks like you're about to go to lunch," he added as I stood up, hooking the purse strap over my shoulder.

"I am," I informed him. "And you're not invited."

"Good thing I didn't ask for an invitation then," he said brusquely, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me through the office. I let out a squeak of protest but nevertheless let myself be steered out the door. "So, where were you planning on going to lunch?" James asked the second we were outside in the crisp autumn air.

"I was thinking about going to the teriyaki place down the street," I said before I could think twice about telling him where I was considering eating.

"Sounds good." He kept his hand on my back as he guided me down the street.

"You're not coming with me!" I cried. "I have plans!"

He gave me a skeptical look. "You have a date?"

"Yes. With my book and a plate of chicken yakisoba, thank you very much."

"Sounds boring. You should let me spice it up for you," he said with a suggestive grin.

My face heated up at once. "Gross! I'm not having sex with you."

"Good to know, because I wasn't propositioning you! We need to talk about Logan and Camille, Katie. Sheesh. Is your mind always in the gutter?"

"Is – my mind? My mind?" I yelped in indignation. "Look who's talking, Mr. I-Fuck-Twenty-Girls-a-Day!"

"I'm so glad you think so much about my stamina."

"Eeeew!" I hollered in a very mature way, before pushing away from him and marching down the street to Sato's Teriyaki. James snickered as he followed me into the restaurant, letting the door swing closed behind him.

The restaurant was dark and small, but they had some of the best teriyaki I had ever tasted. I could have lived off their miso soup and their yakisoba – it was that good.

A waitress approached us, fluttering her lashes at James, before leading us to a quiet table towards the back against the wall.

"Wow, I almost feel like I'm in a private VIP room," James said to the girl, who immediately giggled and blushed.

"Don't get too hopeful," I advised her. "He spent yesterday banging his ex girlfriend."

She looked up at James from under her eyelids and he smiled charmingly at her. She melted at once. Unbelievable.

We sat down and she grabbed menus for us, before pouring us glasses of water. She sauntered off, throwing flirtatious glances at James over her shoulder, and I rolled my eyes.

"How the hell do you manage to make every single woman fall in lust with you?" I demanded.

"Don't you mean, every single woman except you?" he asked, a smirk crossing his face.

"I – yeah. That's what I meant. Totally." Because, you know, I definitely wasn't looking at the way his shoulders bulged under his leather jacket, or the way his lashes seemed to sweep across his cheek when he blinked, or the way his eyes appeared to be burning in the dark lit room.

"Yeah," his smirk widened. "I can tell." He shrugged out of his leather jacket and I looked away, trying to ignore the bulge of his biceps or the stretch of his shirt across his pecs. "So, you're not in lust with me? At all?"

"Gross, no," I responded automatically, opening my menu so that I could look at the lunch specials even though I already knew what I wanted.

"Really." He didn't sound convinced.

"Why would I be in lust with you when you just spent the past twenty-four hours fucking your ex girlfriend?" I demanded angrily.

He held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't spend the past twenty-four hours fucking my ex girlfriend."

I blinked in surprise. "You didn't?"

"No. I mean, there was about twelve hours or so there when we were going at it, but that was it. You were off by fifty percent."

My jaw locked. "Who the hell is this girl, anyway?"

He shifted, looking a little uncomfortable. "Her name's Keira. She's a photographer. To help pay the bills, I did some work for her when I lived in Minneapolis and we started dating. We broke up a few weeks before I moved back here."

I eyed him. He looked way too uncomfortable for his own good. Something was off about this…

"What kind of work did you do for her?"

"Modeling work."

"What kind of modeling work?"

His cheeks flushed a dark red, and my eyes widened. "Holy shit! You posed nude for her?"

He waved his hands desperately at me. "Keep your voice down!" he hissed. "It's not exactly something I want the entire fucking town to know!"

I leaned back in my seat, crossing my arms. "She took nude photos of you."

"She's an artist. It was for art's sake only."

"Please tell me that that's as far as it went. That there were never any…erotic…pictures taken."

He looked away.

"Dude!" I cried.

"It wasn't like that! It wasn't like it was actual sex. It was just that sometimes she had me pose with woman in…slightly suggestive poses."

"And you were both naked."

"Yes."

"I can't believe you."

"Why not?" he demanded. "Why are you so angry about this? It's not like we're together. You don't even like me."

"You work for my mom. You're my older brother's best friend. You can affect their reputation."

"It's not like I'm going to e-mail everyone the pictures."

"Are they posted somewhere on the internet where anyone can see them?"

"She has her own website. She has the…cleaner pictures up. The other ones are locked. We're the only two who can see them."

"Oh, goody. No wonder she wants you back. She's probably spent the past few weeks staring at your pictures."

"Who said she wants me back?"

"That's why she's here, right?" I asked.

"Actually, she's doing some work up here. But yeah, she wants me back."

"Great."

"Why are you acting like this? Wait. Are you – no, you couldn't be…" He leaned back in his own chair, smirking once again as he surveyed me. "There's no way…"

"What?" I eyed him warily.

"Are you jealous?"

"What? No!" I sputtered out. "Why would I be jealous? That would suggest that I like you and I don't like you, so therefore I'm not jealous. I just don't like your ex girlfriend."

"You don't even know her," he pointed out. "Literally, you don't know her. You've never met her. So how do you know you don't like her?"

"Well, duh. She uses her 'art' as an excuse to take naked pictures of guys."

"She gets paid to do it."

"See? She works for a porno company. Man, how do you get yourself mixed up with these lowlife types?" I clucked my tongue, shaking my head in despair.

James rolled his eyes. "Fine. You're not jealous. But she doesn't work for a porno company. And the nudes aren't full frontal," he added.

"Thank goodness. At least now I know I won't accidentally run across a picture of your dick when I'm online."

"They were done tastefully," he continued on. "I can show you, if you want."

I snorted. "No thanks. I don't want to see your nudes."

"I'll let you take pictures of me naked."

"Will you just look at your fucking menu?!"

He snickered but opened his menu nonetheless. "Sure you don't want to play photographer to my model?"

"I think you've had enough of that with Keira," I told him sternly. "And I thought you didn't want to sleep with me."

"I don't. But it's always fun getting you worked up." He grinned at me over his menu and I glowered at him.

"You're an ass, you know that?"

"You know, I've heard that a few times. Mostly from you."

"Glad I could help."

The waitress returned a couple of minutes later and we ordered our food. She took our menus and headed off, leaving me alone with James again.

"So, you wanted to talk about Logan and Camille?" I asked him as I took a sip of my water.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Because Camille and Steve are having their celebration party in a week, and we only have a month before the wedding. We need to get Camille and Logan back together before then. I don't know about you, but I'm cool with not crashing a wedding. I don't need another pastor yelling at me."

I stared at him.

"You don't want to know," he added with a sheepish look.

"You're right – I don't. Anyway, do you have any ideas on how to get Logan and Camille back together?"

"I have two. In the first one, we lock them alone in your parents' basement and let nature take its course."

"Cool. That won't get us arrested at all," I said sarcastically. "You want us to kidnap our best friends?"

"It's for their own good."

"Let's call that Plan B. What's your other idea?"

"Do you remember when we were in high school and a group of us went to the Maple Leaf Creek haunted forest?"

"Way too well. We ended up clinging to each other. It took me weeks to get your germs off."

"Gee, thanks. Anyway, do you remember how freaked out Camille was?"

I bit my lip, recalling the night. Camille had gotten so scared that she had ended up walking around with Logan's arm around her and her face buried in his shoulder. "Yeah…I remember that."

"Well? What if we went to the haunted forest with Camille and Logan? Camille will cling to Logan, Logan will comfort her, and then we'll drop them off at a hotel on the way home. After all, fear is a great motivator for sex."

"You want us to take Camille to a haunted forest after she got so terrified at the last one we went to?"

"Yes. And she probably won't be as scared. I mean, that was – what – seven years ago? I'm sure she's gotten a little bit better with haunted forests since then."

"Maybe…"

Our soup arrived – miso for me, wonton for James – and our conversation faltered as we began slurping up the appetizers. The waitress set our main dishes in front of us a few minutes later, and I focused on my chicken yakisoba as James worked on his beef teriyaki.

"Anyway," I said to James, "how do you even know Camille and Logan will even go with us?"

"I don't. But we have to try, right? But we shouldn't ask them at the same time. You call Camille and ask her, and I'll call Logan and see if he would like to join us."

I nodded. "Makes sense. We don't want anyone getting suspicious. Kendall already thinks the world's going to explode since we're working together."

"I really don't know where he got that idea."

"He's crazy." I spun the noodles around my fork. "So, any idea what the party's going to consist of?"

"I talked to Camille." He took a bite of his food. "We're going to have dinner, and then apparently there's going to be games…"

I swallowed my food. "What kind of games…?"

"She didn't specify – she just giggled a lot. I'm worried."

"That makes two of us. She's always been partial to truth or dare. With our luck, I'll end up having to give you a lap dance."

"I don't mind," was his reply.

I glared at him. "Yeah, well, I do. Anyway, when do you want to do the haunted forest thing?"

"Let's try to do it this Saturday. After all, the sooner, the better."

"True," I agreed reluctantly, forking some more chicken yakisoba into my mouth. "Fine. I'll call Camille." I pulled my phone out and dialed her number. She answered on the second ring.

"Hey, Katie," she said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"James is pestering me about going to the haunted forest on Saturday," I groaned. "I think he's planning on pushing me into the chainsaw guy."

James kicked me under the table. I kicked him back.

"Oh, you poor thing," she teased. "I don't think he'd push you into the chainsaw guy. Haven't you learned anything about him since high school?"

"That he's an even bigger ass than I originally thought?"

"Damn, you're slow. Anyway, what does this have to do with me?"

"Would you mind joining us? I know you don't like haunted forests, but maybe if there's a third person there, he won't try to kill me or something."

"I'm pretty sure the chainsaws aren't real."

"I'm not taking any chances. Please?"

"Yeah, I guess I can come with you and James," she said, not even hesitating. "But the second you two start groping each other, I'm out of there."

"James and I don't grope each other!" I hollered.

James' head snapped up.

"Oh, no, not at all," she said sarcastically. "Steve said you guys were all over each other at the movie theater."

"Steve doesn't know what he's talking about. He has this crazy notion that James and I like each other or something."

"Yeah, that's pretty crazy," Camille sniggered. "I have no idea where he got that idea from...I mean, it's not like you guys ooze sexual tension every time you two get together."

"I do not want to have sex with James!" Okay, so maybe that was kind of a lie, but it was pretty much the truth. More or less.

"Sure you don't. Anyway, what time did you want to meet there?"

"How about I just pick you up on my way there?" I suggested. "Does six-thirty work?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "See you then."

"See you then." We hung up and I turned to James. "Camille thinks we want to fuck each other."

"I got that from you screaming in outrage," he informed me as he dug out his own phone. He called Logan and a moment later said, "Hey, dude. So…I kind of have a favor to ask of you. Katie and I are planning on going to the haunted forest on Saturday – it's a long story – no, it's not a date – what do you mean, am I sure it's not a date? Of course I'm sure! I think I'd know if it was a fucking date – no, I didn't mean fucking as in – I'm not sleeping with Katie! Will you stop jumping to conclusions? Katie and I have never gotten naked with each other – shut up. You swore you'd never bring that up. Anyway, I'm calling to ask if you'd want to join us. I'm a little worried that Katie might set the evil clowns on me. Will you stop laughing? You know I don't like clowns," he whined. "Just say you'll come. How come I'm going to the haunted forest with Katie? I want to go, she wants to go, and it just kind of worked out that way…Yeah, I know we're weird. So you'll come? Cool. I'll pick you up at six-thirty. Yeah, see you then." He hung up, looking extremely disgruntled.

"I see Logan thinks we're having sex," I commented, finishing off my food.

"What is with people thinking we're sleeping together?" James demanded. "I'm beginning to think we should just go around wearing signs that say, we're not having sex with each other."

I nodded in agreement.

Once we had paid the bill, James walked me back to the newspaper office. "So, we're going through a haunted forest. This should be interesting."

"Logan and Camille better get back together," I growled. "If not, they're in big trouble."

James grinned as we stopped in front of the office. "I'll see you on Saturday."

"See you on Saturday." I walked back into the office, letting out a deep breath. Great. I had agreed to go through a haunted forest with James in order to get Logan and Camille back together. It was official. I had gone crazy.

So, that's chapter eight. What'd you guys think? Was it okay? Let me know because I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings on it! In other words, please review :) And thank you for reading!