Chapter 7: Cause you know that things get so bad

I awoke slowly, listening to the breathing of James beside me. I turned my head to look at him. His face was peaceful, and he was snoring lightly. I smiled at him, then laid my head next to his and stroked his hair away from his face. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and looked at me. I stared back, wondering if his feelings from last night would return.

He smiled and a feeling of excitement washed through me. I smiled back at him, cupping his face with one hand. He gently removed my hand and got up.

"I have to pee really badly," he answered to my look of confusion.

I waited for him in bed, snuggling in the blanket to prevent the coldness from creeping in. When he returned, he saw me all bundled up and laughed.

"It's not funny, I'm freezing!" I told him. He slid in next to me and hugged me.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much." I replied. "Hey, what are we doing today?" I asked him. I always forgot the schedule, no matter how many times they told me.

He chuckled and replied, "Actually, we have the day off. Which is why you haven't heard anyone coming and waking us up. They're all still asleep, probably."

I thought about that. It's nice to have a day off, especially with James. But if we spent the whole day together again, what would the guys think? Even though they don't know how much time we've been spending with each other, they had to have noticed the change. Maybe they already have noticed and were just not saying anything. But, knowing them, they most definitely would say something. I really want to spend the day with James. I didn't care what we did, bowling, watching a movie, or even just going to the mall or something. As long as I was with James I was happy. I wondered if he felt the same way.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked me, interrupting my thoughts.

"I don't know, lots of things." I replied.

"Why are you being so vague?" He put his hands on either side of my face and turned me toward him. "Tell me?" he whispered.

His voice was so irresistible the words tumbled out without my control. "I'm thinking about today. And what I'm going to do."

"Oh," he replied. "So what are you going to do?"

I pulled my face away from his freezing hands and wrapped myself more in the blanket.

"I don't know, that's what I was thinking about." I answered.

"Would you like to do something with me?" He asked. I smiled to myself.

"Of course I would," I replied. "What did you have in mind?"

"Hmm, I don't know. I have a couple things I wanted to do."

"Like what?"

"Well, I really want to go mini-golfing. There's this awesome course downtown, it looks like so much fun!" he replied.

I chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Okay, sounds like fun. What else?"

"There's a go-kart track downtown, too." He said. "The guys were talking about setting up a big race."

"That sounds awesome!" I said. I love go-karting, even though I lose most of the time.

"Okay, so we can go mini-golfing, get lunch, then meet up with the guys for go-karting." He said.

"Sounds like a plan." I said, smiling. "There's only one bad thing." I told him.

"What's that?" he asked, his voice concerned.

"I have to get up." I groaned. He laughed and grabbed my hands. "Here, I'll help." He said, and yanked me out of bed. I flew forward, and landed in his arms.

"Jerk." I said, hitting his chest. I went to pull away, but he hugged me tighter. I struggled and tried to get free but he kept his hold. I slumped, feigning defeat and he loosened his grip. Taking my chance, I lunged away, slipping out of his hands.

"Nice move," he complimented me. I smiled at him, and went in for a normal hug. He hugged me back and kissed me lightly on the lips. I kissed back, deepening the kiss. I could spend all day kissing James. And I would if I had the chance.

After a while, we finally got dressed and left to grab a quick breakfast.

I've never been mini-golfing with James, so I was excited to go. We called a taxi and went to the lobby to wait.

The elevator doors opened and I saw Logan and Kendall standing by the doors. They were close together, heads leaned in. I wondered what they were talking about. As we approached them, Logan turned and noticed us.

"Hey guys." He said.

"Hey." James and I replied in unison. I imagined what Logan would say if James and I walked out hand in hand. He'd probably think we were joking at first.

"Oh hey look, Carlos and James are together, again." Kendall said.

"Shut up." I replied. James just smiled at him, not saying anything. I wondered what he was thinking.

"So what are your plans for today?" Logan asked, interrupting what Kendall was going to say.

I started to reply, but James cut me off. "We're going mini-golfing." He replied, simply. "And afterwards joining you guys for go-karting. Now, I believe our cab is here."

Kendall just raised his eyebrows and Logan watched us leave in silence.

"You could have lied. I said to James once we were in the cab.

"Why lie? There's no point." He replied.

"So they don't find out?"

"Find out what? Why do we have to hide things? I hate keeping secrets."

"What do you mean James? Tell them what's going on between us?" I asked.

"Listen," he said, leaning toward me. "Have you noticed how Logan and Kendall have been acting?"

I thought about that for a second while he stared at me.

"Not really, I've been more focused on you." I replied, truthfully.

"Well, try to pay more attention to them."

"What do you mean?" I asked, but he wouldn't say any more on the subject.

He lightened up once we got to the course, and for three hours we goofed off and had a good time. When we were finished actually golfing, we walked to a nearby diner for lunch.

"You wait until next time," he was telling me. "I'll get-"

He cut off, staring out the window. I turned to look and saw what made him stop.

Brooke was outside, glaring through the window at James.

"Shit." He said.

"What the hell is she doing here?" I asked.

"She lives here." He replied. I just stared at him. He sighed and started explaining. "Before I ended things, we planning to hang out and crap since she knew I was going to be here. I guess she's now looking for a chance to yell at me."

I looked to the front of the diner and saw her entering.

"Ugh," I sighed. I didn't want to deal with this. "Mind if I leave?" I asked as she made her way over. I started to get up but he held onto my arm.

"Yes I mind," he replied. "Please stay?" he asked, giving me the sad puppy face.

"Fine." I said, plopping back down and crossing my arms.

Brooke stepped up to our booth and sat down next to me. I slid away from her.

"What do you want?" James asked her calmly.

"What do I want?" she repeated. "How about an explanation? You just broke up with me for no reason and block me? What did I do?"

"Exactly what you're doing right now," he replied. "I told you a relationship with me is hard, and not just because I'm touring. I can't stand people who suffocate me and that's all you did. Why can't you just accept the fact that were done and leave me alone?"

I raised my eyebrows, impressed. I wasn't expecting him to tell her off and I was about to jump in and help but he didn't need it. I looked over at Brooke and saw a tear rolling down her cheek. Her face turned red and she pushed away from the table, storming out.

"Wow." I said, staring after her.

"I didn't mean to make her cry." He said, picking at his burger.

"She deserved it," I replied. "She's a bitch." He chuckled and pulled out his phone.

"We should get going, huh?" I asked him. He nodded and we paid the bill and left, calling another taxi to take us to the race track.

"You okay?" I asked when we were in the taxi.

"Yeah, I just wish we didn't have to deal with that." He replied.

I know it sounds lame, but I liked the way it sounded when he said 'we'. It made me feel closer to him, and I realized with satisfaction that I knew a lot more about James than the other guys.

"Don't worry, it's over and done with. Now," I said, wrapping my arms around him. "Let's go crush the guys at go karts!"

He laughed and relieved the tension. We joked around and chatted until the cab pulled up to the race track.

We walked inside and spotted the guys. They were suiting up and Kendall was helping Logan with his zipper. James nudged me and looked at them pointedly. I frowned, confused, until I remembered that James told me to pay attention to them.

"Hey guys," James said as we approached them.

Kendall gasped and jumped away from Logan.

"Uh, hey." Logan said.

"So… what's up?" I asked them.

"Your guys' stuff is over there." Kendall said, pointing. I noticed with surprise that he was blushing.

James and I hurried to get dressed and ran to our cars while everyone was starting theirs up.

We made it in time and began the race.

We did ten laps and James and I were tied for first. The rest were behind us, with Logan and Kendall bringing up the rear, which was odd. Usually those two were speed demons, blowing past James and I within the first few laps. I watched them as we turned a corner and they didn't even look like they were trying. After a few more laps, I realized they were purposely trying to let each other win.

Suddenly, what James told me clicked into place. I froze, foot on the gas pedal, as I thought about it. Was Kendall and Logan like James and I? No, it was impossible. Or was it…

I was so deep in thought I didn't even realize that I had passed James. He came up really close on my tail but I couldn't see his face in my mirror. I stupidly turned around in my seat and flashed him a thumbs up. I saw his look of terror before I felt the impact.

It felt like my mind was under a shield. I could feel the hands on my body, but I couldn't move. I could hear people shouting, but I couldn't respond.

I managed to open my eyes for a few seconds, but what I saw was confusing.

A swarm of people surrounded me, but I was looking for a specific person. He stared at me with tears streaming down his face, trying to reach out to me but they were holding him back. I wanted to call out to him, I wanted to be in his arms and tell him everything would be okay.

Someone touched my arm and pain stabbed through me, all the way to my heart. Suddenly I could feel everything. My arm was stinging like a thousand bees were on it. My head felt like there was something hard constantly pushing against the front of it. I closed my eyes at the pain, and noticed my face was wet and hot. I tried to move, to get out of the sticky stuff that I was laying in.

Someone held me down though and I suddenly realized I was laying in blood. I stopped struggling and quickly fell unconscious.