DISCLAIMER: I do not own Big Time Rush or any of its characters.
The knock on her door startled Camille as she stared into the hall mirror, reapplying lipstick to her already perfectly scarlet lips. "Camille, it's me," she heard Logan call from the other side.
"Coming!" Camille answered, giving her curly hair a final tousle and grabbing her bag. A final glance in the mirror and she opened the door to reveal her boyfriend waiting for her.
She smiled as she looked at him. Logan was standing in front of her, wearing dark denim jeans, with a Maroon 5 t-shirt that she recalled having seen on James a couple times, with a black vest over it. Not a sweater vest, she noted with some surprise, a real vest. He looked absolutely charming and ready to party.
"Hey," he greeted with a special smile, kissing her on the cheek. "You look great!"
Camille smiled, glancing down at her outfit. She'd had it picked out since Mia had told her about the party, but had been fretting all day about whether to wear it or not. She was wearing a very short, black lace dress, with three-quarter sleeves. On her feet she was wearing fabulous red heels that she knew she'd be taking off before the night was over. Paired with her messy curls and red lipstick, she felt the look was very sexy but still classy.
"Thanks," Camille said, slipping a hand into his and shutting the door as she stepped into the hall. "You look great too."
"The guys and Jo and Stephanie are waiting in the limo outside," Logan told her as they walked to the elevator.
"Glad you don't have to DD?" Camille teased.
"Um, yes," he agreed, not feeling any shame. "Benefit five million of being a celebrity and going to a party—you can get a totally sober limo driver to take you home." Camille laughed. "I'm serious!" Logan objected. "Do you realize how many times I've drawn the short straw to DD? They fixed it, I swear."
"I'm sure," Camille agreed, slipping her arm through his instead as the elevator arrived at the bottom floor. A Saturday night in LA, the lobby was basically deserted. As they passed by Bitters' desk, a sudden burst of flashing lights made Camille jump, wobbling in her heels.
Logan caught her before she toppled right over, stepping in front of her and shielding her protectively. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. Camille blinked as spots cleared from her vision and Bitters, along with two paparazzi, came into view. "You can't take pictures on hotel property," Logan pointed out angrily to the photographers.
"We can if we get permission from the hotel manager," one paparazzo pointed out, grinning rudely. "Which we have."
Looking incredulous, Logan glared at Bitters. "What?! Bitters, we have a confidentiality agreement, remember?"
Bitters seemed to consider this and then shrugged. "He's right guys," he told the surprised paps. "You can't take pictures of Logan on the property. Only Camille."
"What?" Camille exclaimed. Logan remained in front of her, holding her behind him protectively. "Bitters, that's not fair."
"Bring me a confidentiality agreement and then we'll talk," Bitters sneered. "I'm in this for money sweetheart, and these guys pay a lot to be allowed to take pictures of you at home."
"That's…I…" Camille sputtered. Logan surprised her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pushing her head down, and guided her out of the lobby a bit forcefully.
"C'mon, we're leaving," he said gruffly, not sounding himself. Camille stumbled as she struggled to keep up with him. They rushed to the limo and quickly got in, the driver closing the door firmly behind him.
"What's up?" Kendall asked, looking concerned by the pair's abrupt and stressed entrance.
Logan explained what had just happened in the lobby. "What?" Stephanie exclaimed. "That's ridiculous. Can he do that?"
"He did start doing those stupid tours for a while, right after we got to be famous," Carlos mused.
"Yeah, and that was when Kelly had the lawyers draw up the confidentiality agreement, so we could keep living in the crib," James reminded him.
"Yeah, my manager had me get one too," Jo commented. "Well, actually, she wanted me and my dad to move to Bel Air or something, but after you guys said it was so awful…" Jo trailed off and gave a noncommittal headshake. "I decided to just stay. I hate moving anyway, and so does my dad."
"So that's all I have to do?" Camille asked shakily.
"Yeah, get him to sign one, he'll jack up your rent, and you're good to go," James said happily.
"Wait, what?" Camille interrupted. "He'll make rent higher? Why?"
"Because that's what he does in exchange for confidentiality agreements," Kendall said with an eye roll.
"But the rent on my apartment is already overpriced," Camille blurted. "I live in a jank-ass two-bedroom dump and he's going to charge even more for it?"
Everyone was struck silent for a moment by Camille's outburst and she immediately blushed, realizing how it had sounded.
"I didn't know you were so unhappy with the Palm Woods, Camille," Jo finally said shakily.
"I'm not," Camille immediately said. "Never mind. Never mind apartments and confidentiality agreements and paparazzi. Let's just have fun tonight."
Everyone readily agreed.
~~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~
"Mia!" Camille grabbed her redheaded costar in a tight embrace as she came up to them in the expansive foyer of her mansion.
"Hey Cami!" Mia squealed, squeezing Camille back. She gave a wave to everyone else, and thanked their chorus of 'happy birthday.' "I'm so excited you're here, I was just about to text you."
"We got held up," Camille said, wincing at the memory of the photographers in the lobby. Mia noticed.
"So, my brother's mixing drinks if you guys want anything," Mia told the group. "There's also bottles of beer and stuff. The party room is just down the hall and to the left." The rest of the guys walked off. "Logan," Mia said, when Camille's boyfriend stayed behind. "You don't mind if I steal Camille away for a while, do you? Girl talk," she added, by way of explanation, hooking her arm through Camille's.
"Sure," Logan said, smiling a little uncertainly at Camille. "Cam, should I grab you a drink?"
"Okay," Camille agreed. "I'll meet you in a little while." Logan left off down the hall to join the others.
Mia led Camille off into another room. "I'm going to give you the grand tour before we go to the party," Mia said happily. "And you're going to tell me what's bugging you."
"Nothing's bugging me, Mia," Camille said with a smile. "Just…normal, everyday issues. Nothing that you need to worry about on your birthday."
"Oh, but if it's bothering you, it'll bother me too," Mia insisted, absolutely cheerfully. "This is the main dining room."
Camille looked in awe at the formal dining area, the hardwood floors shining and the walls a blinding shade of white. The long table had eight chairs around it. She barely had a chance to glance at some of the artwork on the walls before Mia was whisking her into the adjoining kitchen, where Mia produced two ice-cold Mike's Hard Lemonades from the fridge—knowing that it was one of Camille's favorite drinks.
After spending the appropriate amount of time praising the stainless steel appliances and sleek granite counters of the kitchen, Camille and Mia then saw the home theater (which had some of Mia's favorite movies playing all night for when people wanted a break from dancing), the first living room, and the two downstairs bathrooms. Somewhere along this tour of the ground floor, Mia, in her kind and cheerful insistence, had gotten Camille to explain the whole story of what had happened at the Palm Woods.
"…and basically, if I want Bitters to sign a confidentiality agreement, he's going to make my rent even higher," Camille complained, finding herself speaking so quickly even she was having trouble hearing herself. Mia shook her head in disgust as they walked up the stairs to the second floor.
"That's ridiculous," Mia muttered. "No offense, but I've seen your apartment. It's not a place for someone like you."
"The Palm Woods isn't a bad place," Camille allowed, taking a sip from her drink that was already almost gone. "The guys have a great place. And it's a fantastic place for people who are trying to make it."
"But you're not trying to make it, you already have," Mia insisted. She paused as she opened a set of double doors. "This is my room."
Camille gasped at the sight. It was gorgeous, with green walls and soft white carpet. There was a platform bed piled with soft-looking pillows set at an angle in a corner. Her vanity table was dainty and beautiful, placed next to a set of French doors that could only lead to Mia's closet. There was a small, white leather love seat place across from the large plasma screen on the wall. A glass coffee table was directly beneath the plasma, holding the DVD/Blu Ray player for the TV. Lots of artwork adorned the walls, particularly things featuring Audrey Hepburn (Mia's favorite).
"Wow, Mia, this is…wow," Camille said with a giggle.
"Right though? It's amazing." Mia gushed, which made Camille smile. It was one of the things she liked about Mia—she was always honest about how she felt, to hell with pretending false modesty.
Mia grabbed Camille's hand and dragged her through a quick tour of the upstairs, which included a second living room, a study/library, an exercise room (complete with yoga mats and a full set of weights), and an expansive balcony that overlooked the backyard which had a huge, glittering pool with a cascading waterfall and hot tub. People were all around out there, having fun at the party. Camille smiled down at the scene for a few moments before Mia tugged her away again.
"There's one more thing I want to show you," Mia said, pulling Camille back down the hallway. She went to a door that they had passed by earlier. Camille had assumed it was just a closet or something unimportant. Mia grinned at Camille, opening the door.
Camille peeked in. The room was large, but empty. The walls were a plain white, and the floors were the same soft carpet that was in Mia's room. A door on one end of the room stood open, showing a peek of an impressive-looking bathroom, while a set of French doors like the ones in Mia's bedroom stood wide open, giving sight of a huge walk-in closet. Camille wandered into the room. She looked out one of the huge windows—it offered a beautiful view of the backyard and the pool.
Chuckling once softly, Camille turned back to Mia. "Why do you have an empty room? Can't decide what to do with this one?"
Mia seemed to consider what she was going to say for a moment, and then gave one of her cheeky smiles. "Well, it's like what you were saying, about living alone," she began, wandering over to join Camille. "You know…you're finally an adult, ready to live on your own, you leave your parents, and suddenly…you realize you've never lived on your own before." Camille nodded, taking the final sip from her bottle.
"But you're not afraid to live alone," Mia continued. "You just realize it's so damn lonely. And then…well…you think that maybe a roommate is the way to go."
Camille slowly started to realize what Mia was insinuating and she couldn't help but feel a grin growing on her face. "Mia, what are you getting at?"
Mia smiled and giggled. She grabbed Camille's hand and squeezed in a friendly gesture. "Camille," she said. "I wouldn't want to have any roommate but you. You want to leave the Palm Woods and come live here?"
She looked expectantly at Camille, waiting an answer with her smiling, sunny face.