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Big Time Guest Star: Chapter Three
"I had a dream last night!"
"Ah!" Logan squeaked like a girl and leaned to his right in his chair, away from the unexpected presence on his left.
James was reaching forward to set a huge cup of coffee on the table in front of Logan.
"James! Don't do that!" Logan put a hand to his chest and tried to breathe. "What are you even doing here?"
"Don't gotta be at Rocque Records 'til 8," the tall boy explained. "Anyway, I had a dream last night that I finally" James rolled his eyes "convinced you guys to wear bandanas in our next music video!"
He made a victory fist and pumped it. "Oh yeah!"
"Oh…kay?" Logan looked around the room at all the empty chairs. He was anxiously waiting for the table read to begin. He had arrived painfully early but he couldn't help it. He was nervous.
And James sneaking up on him was not helping.
"Wait, but that's Worldwide," the genius shook his head speaking quickly as he did when he was nervous. "Never gonna happen. And I know you don't gotta be at the studio until eight. What I don't know is why you are here and not still catching up on your beauty sleep."
"Coffee!" James said cheerfully, gesturing to the cup on the table and then the cup carrying tray in his hand that still held three cups. "I knew you had to be here at six thirty. And I heard you getting ready at, like, five. Dude, that's so not cool by the way," he finished with a stage whisper.
"And you just decided to get ready, get coffee, and follow me to my first table read? Because…?" Logan was actually beginning to relax a little since James was there, but he still didn't understand why he was here.
"…you don't want coffee?" James asked, looking almost devastated by the news. Then he perked up. "I can get you something else! Jamba Juice? Boost? Milkshake? Iced coffee?" James waggled his one eyebrow suggestively. "Or, I know! Orange juice! Do you want with pulp, without pulp, light pulp, low acid, high calcium—"
"James! Whoa! Stop!" Logan interrupted. He picked up the coffee on the table in front of him. "Coffee is fine, see?" He took a sip just to appease his oddly overeager friend.
He winced at the heat.
"You don't like it?" James asked, still just as worked up. "Because I also have…" he looked down at the tops of the three remaining cups in the holder he was still carrying "caramel, or here's pumpkin, and then there's chocolate flavored!"
"Why is there a pumpkin flavored when fall was months ago?"
"Dunno! Looked good! I remembered you tried it once," James shrugged. "You don't like? That's okay." He tossed the full cup over his shoulder. "All gone."
Logan winced watching the cups' thrown projectory.
"This is fine," he said, raising the original cup James had given him.
"It is?" James said, appearing relieved. Then he got worked up again. "Is there enough sugar and cream? I was pretty sure you liked it sweet… cuz Katie's always asking if you want coffee with your sugar… so I put, like, five packets in it. Is that okay? And the creamer—"
"James!" Logan interrupted him again. "This is awesome. Really. I love it. I don't know why you decided to do this, but I appreciate it. Thank you."
James grinned. "You're welcome."
"People should start showing up any minute… why don't you go back home and try to get another hour of sleep or something?" Logan suggested.
"But I thought maybe I could hang here until I had to go to the studio…"
"Remember that spoiler thing?" Logan asked.
"Right…" James looked disappointed again.
Logan felt bad. He didn't know why James was acting the way he was, but he couldn't just leave it like that.
"Tell ya what," Logan began. "After I'm done here and you're done at the studio, we'll meet back at 2J and check out those books you picked up yesterday. Good?"
"Awesome, but don't you want to run lines with Camille again?" James asked.
"I'm not entirely sure she wants to speak to me right now…" the shorter boy threw his hands up. "After the mess last night, I couldn't even get her to answer a text let alone a phone call."
"What did happen last night?" James asked.
"Ooh! Coffee!"
Both boys turned to see Jo walking through the door with her oversized purse and a script in her hand.
"Please tell me one of those is for me," she asked, settling into the chair next to Logan and smiling prettily at James.
"Well, I, uh," James stuttered and started looking decidedly protective of the coffee that was meant for Logan even though his manners were clearly urging him to act the gentleman toward the female. Luckily he didn't have to decide. Logan did it for him.
Logan craned his neck and read the tops of the two remaining coffees. He plucked both out of the tray and put one in front of Jo and the other next to his current cup. "You can have the caramel. The chocolate is mine!"
"I can live with that," she laughed. "Thanks!"
"I knew you'd be here early," she said to Logan. "I didn't want you to sit all alone and feel awkward 'til I got here."
"Thanks," Logan said, settling into his seat a little more and feeling way less anxious about the next few hours.
"And I'm glad you called and worked out that little problem last night," Jo said, taking a quick sip of the coffee. "Whoa, that's sweet!"
"It's how Logan likes it," James said defensively.
"And you brought him all this coffee?" Jo asked, amused and amazed.
"Yep," Logan nodded at James. "He's a great friend."
James beamed and waved. "Later, guys."
"Later!" Logan and Jo both yelled out, waving too.
"Hey."
Camille looked up from her seat at the tall blonde.
"Hey," she said softly, not showing much emotion in her voice though she did force a small smile.
"So..." Kendall looked around the park area. "Is it just me, or are there more people out here than usual?"
"It's because Bitters is freaking out. There's a hotel owners convention going on for a couple days and since the owner of The Palm Woods is going to be here too, he's cracking down even worse on everyone. Hence, we escape to the park," Camille explained dismally.
"So... I looked up Simon Rex and Felicity," Kendall said, then sat down with a huff next to the curly haired brunettete. "There were tons of references to her hair. Apparently it was huge?"
Camille nodded, "Until she cut it all off in season three. People think that's why the show got cancelled."
"Because of hair?" he asked, perplexed.
Camille shrugged.
"Then I guess James better keep his the way it is," Kendall tried to joke, but neither of them were really feeling jovial.
She nodded. "I guess so too."
"So... do you really think they're gonna have to…well… you know," Kendall winced and shuddered.
"Logan texted me," Camille said. "He talked to Gustavo and the producers. He said they are just going to give the illusion but nothing… visual. It may be the CW but they aren't going to turn New Town High into Gossip Girl."
Kendall raised an eyebrow, just as confused. He usually only really watched reality shows.
"Nevermind," Camille rolled her eyes. "Do yourself a favor and don't look up Chuck and Blair."
"Ohkay…" Kendall shook his head. "But that's good right? That its' not gonna be… you know…"
"Right…" she answered, nodding. "Except… he still has to kiss her."
"Oh."
There was an awkward silence.
"But that's show biz, right?" Camille finally said, obviously trying to act like the news didn't bother her.
"Right," he nodded. "Do you know… when…?"
"No," she answered.
"You didn't ask him?" he asked.
"I sort of… haven't texted him back yet…" she said sheepishly.
"Why not?" he said confused. "I mean, if it's nothing…"
"I'm not okay with it! Okay!" she exclaimed, clearly frustrated. "It's still my boyfriend and my best friend!"
Kendall raised his eyebrows at her slip up.
"So he's not my boyfriend anymore," Camille stuttered. "I get it, okay? But that doesn't mean I'm not bothered by this and—" she was clearly getting agitated. "He still had that thing for her when she first moved here, remember?"
"Oh, he's completely over that," he reassured her.
Camille went to speak but thought better of it and didn't say a word.
"What?" he asked.
"He agreed to do this," she pointed out. "He could have said no, but he didn't."
"You really think…" he shifted uncomfortably. "Psh! No, he wouldn't do that."
She shrugged.
"He's not my boyfriend anymore, so it really doesn't matter to me anyway," she said, clearly lying through her teeth.
"Could've fooled me," he smirked. "Look, I'll talk to Logan. You'll see! Nothing weird at all!"
"Now that's just weird."
Kendall could only stop and stare at the ridiculous display before him.
Logan was in full mime costume—white face makeup, upside down black triangles drawn under his eyes with smaller right-side-up triangles painted above them, red painted lips, black and white thinly striped stretchy long sleeve shirt tucked into a pair of black pants held up by black suspenders. His hands were covered with white gloves and he had a black beret atop his head. On his feet was a pair of black and white striped shoes with bright white soccer socks pulled all the way up his calves over his pant legs.
James, dressed normally, was facing away from Kendall, giving Logan instructions from the open book in his hands.
"Now, climb a ladder," James said.
Logan tilted his head to the side and held a finger up to his jaw acting like he was thinking. Then his eyes went wide and his mouth formed an 'O', his finger going up like a light bulb had gone off in his head.
Then he started acting out finding a ladder and climbing up it. He paused after a few "pull ups" to exaggeratedly wipe his brow.
"Not too much," James said. "Remember, less is more. Even in mime, if you exaggerate too much it looks like you're overacting. The book says just to relax and go with your subconscious."
Logan didn't look at James or show any indication that he heard him at first, but Kendall could see him change his technique, relaxing and making his actions look more realistic.
"Okay, what is going on here?" the blonde just had to ask.
James looked at him and grinned. "We're training! It's to help Logan with his acting."
"Because the producers of New Town High want him to climb imaginary ladders?" Kendall asked, incredulous.
James looked at him like he had two heads. "Uh, no." He scoffed at the blonde before turning back to his book.
"Psst," Kendall whispered.
"What?"
"I thought only lady mimes had red lips?" he whispered. "Aren't males supposed to have black?"
James blanched and started looking panicky.
"Shh! I didn't know! Don't tell Logan!" he demanded as well as one could with a whisper. "He'll never trust me again!"
"Your secret is safe with me," Kendall whispered with a smirk.
James smiled, nodded, and went back to the book.
"So, why—" Kendall started speaking again.
"Shh!" James hushed. "I need to read the next task. Don't you think he's been climbing that ladder long enough?" He motioned toward Logan.
Kendall could see that Logan was definitely getting worn out from 'climbing'.
"Why doesn't he just stop?" he asked the taller brunettete.
"Because he can't until I tell him," James explained. "Shh!"
Kendall dutifully shut his mouth for the moment, curious to see what would be next.
"The box! Oo! I've been waiting for this one," James smiled. "Act like you're inside a box. You gotta identify the sides and corners and try to find a way out of it."
Logan started by reaching his arms out on either side, trying to find the walls and show his audience of two the width of the box he was in.
"Ohkay, why are you guys doing this?" Kendall asked, perplexed.
"Its one of the most classical ways of acting," James replied as if reading straight from the book. "You can't use your voice or make any sounds at all! You can only use your body to express your thoughts and feelings and try to get the audience to figure out what you would be saying if you could. This will not only help Logan be less nervous about the role, but also be a pretty darn good actor too!" He smirked, "If I do say so myself."
"I'm surprised I haven't seen Camille dressed as a mime yet then," Kendall muttered.
"Oh, even if you turn the volume down on her, her actions definitely say the same thing as her mouth," James said then pointed to the ceiling. "Just think about it."
Both James and Kendall flashed to their first meeting with Camille when she slapped Kendall for the very first time and started hollering about Troy breaking her heart. A random hand reached out and turned down a volume box. The guys could only see Camille's arms flailing and her face getting red before she stormed out of the pool area, knocking into a boy on her way out.
Back to reality, both guys nodded.
"Oh, she's good," James said.
"Yeah, so, speaking of Camille… I need to talk to Logan," the blonde shook his head. "I mean, hey, Logan! I need to talk to you."
Logan actually glanced toward Kendall.
"I saw that!" James said. "Don't break your focus! Nothing can distract you. You'll break every scene if you can't stop looking at the camera."
Logan hesitated but went back to trying to get out of his invisible box, though he did look slightly annoyed.
"Don't distract him like that!" the pretty boy hissed at Kendall. "He needs to focus."
"I need to talk to him."
"About what? I can get him to act it out. He can only do what I tell him to do."
"What, instead of Simon Says, you're playing James Says?" Kendall scoffed.
"It's not a game, it's an art!" the brunettete insisted. "So what do you want to know?"
"I want to know when this stupid game is going to be over so I can talk to him."
"When I say it is," James huffed. "And it's not a game!"
"Elementary, my dear Watson!"
James and Kendall turned toward the new voice with an awful British accent.
If Kendall hadn't already witnessed the most ridiculous sight to behold that day, this would be it.
"What is this? Dress up day?" the mystified blonde asked.
"I'm hot on the trail of a mystery," Carlos said.
He was holding a pipe to his mouth and dressed from head to toe in traditional Sherlock Holmes gear. He had a tan deer stalker hat on his head with his side flaps a little loose. He also wore a long tan plaid trench coat that was fastened at his neck, with a magnifying glass peeking out of one of his pockets. The outfit was finished off with gray slacks and brown penny loafers.
"So am I," Kendall replied. "I'm trying to find out if there's something in the water? Because you're all acting crazy!"
"What's he doing?" Carlos asked in his regular voice, leaving the accent behind as he stared at Logan in the living room.
The smart one looked like he was crawling through a hole. He pushed himself through on his hands, dragging his legs behind him halfway before turning over and scooting out of the imaginary 'hole' the rest of the way on his butt.
"When you climb out of the box, you are actually inside another bigger box and you have to find your way out of that one too," James said quickly.
The Logan mime kept scooting across the floor backwards, eager to finally be free, until he stopped suddenly as if his back came up against a wall. He turned around on his knees and tried to push against the imaginary wall. He slid his hands to the right over the invisible surface until he came to a corner. His hands slid sideways to the other wall of the box and a look of realization came over his face. He hung his head shaking it in exasperation at 'finding' he was still trapped.
"He's really good at that," Kendall remarked.
"I know," James said proudly.
"Cool! And!" Carlos glared at Kendall, looking offended. "I'm not acting crazy! I'm on my way to help solve a real mystery! Kids are disappearing and I'm going to help! I shall be… Super Holmes!"
The guys shook their heads.
"He wasn't struck by a meteor plus you can't use someone else's name. Especially one that everybody knows," James explained.
"Right," Carlos looked disappointed for a moment. Then he perked up and began speaking in his British accent again. "But I can still solve the mystery! Right, Watson?"
"Right, gov'nr," Katie said, joining the guys.
Kendall was happy to see that she wasn't dressed in some outlandish costume. Instead, she was rolling her eyes at Carlos and seemed to be vastly amused by the entire situation.
"And how are you going to solve this" Kendall paused for dramatic effect and waggled his fingers in the air "mystery?"
"My team and I are going on a very important stake out tonight!" Carlos said, switching off from the British accent to his normal one near the end of that statement because he was too excited. "No time to talk!" He looked at his pocket watch. "We'll be late! Watson! Tally ho!"
Katie dragged her feet to follow the British Latino detective who disappeared into the hall at a fast pace.
"You're really going on a stake out with Carlos?" Kendall asked his sister. "But why?"
"Don't ask," Katie sighed and grumbled before exiting the apartment to follow her 'boss'.
"Okay," Kendall shook his head. "This day is getting really weird. And I really need to talk to Logan."
"Okay, so ask and I'll get him to act it—"
"No," Kendall cut off his friend and called out to the other one. "Logan! I really need to speak to you. Can you just end this and tell James to take a break or something?"
Logan slowly slid his arms down to his sides, stopping the crazy act of forming his box.
He looked like he was about to agree and completely leave his role, but James interrupted.
"But you're doing so good!" James exclaimed. "Kendall, he's doing good! He wasn't distracted at all until you started talking to him! You're gonna mess him up and he's not gonna act right and then he's going to look like an idiot in front of billions of people!"
Both Logan and Kendall looked at James.
"Okay, so maybe 3.4 million or whatever…"
They kept staring at him.
"What? So I follow Neilson ratings and happened to notice New Town High's," James defended himself. "If the ratings get too low they could take America's Next Top Model off the CW!" He sucked in a breath and looked horrified at the possibility. "That would be a baaad thing."
And still they stared at him.
"Would you stop that?"
Logan and Kendall looked at each other.
"Either way, if you don't let him practice, he could be really terrible, but they have to keep it in anyway no matter how many takes they do, and then it will be around forever. They'll put it on iTunes for anyone to download, and people will rip the video and post it on YouTube, and then what if the show keeps going for two more years and gets sent into syndication? People who watch TNT and TBS will see it and just know…" James sucked in a deep breath because his rant sort of aired him out, then "that Logan is a terrible actor!
"And I don't know about you," James continued, glaring at Kendall, "but I would never want people to think that about my best friend."
"Fine!" Kendall gave up. "Just let him act it out!"
He looked at Logan and asked in his exasperated, desperate, almost whiney voice, "Are you gonna have to kiss Jo?"
Logan winced and nodded.
"Yes," James interpreted.
Kendall and Logan looked at him for a moment in disbelief.
Kendall turned back to Logan.
"And you're gonna have to pretend to… you know… with her?"
Logan held his hand out and waggled his wrist back and forth, wiggling his fingers.
"Sort of," James said.
Kendall rolled his eyes but decided to ignore James.
"Yeah, Camille said something like that…" he trailed off.
Logan immediately went into action at those words. He pointed hard at Kendall then pointed at his mouth without touching it—to avoid any red smearing. He dropped his hands looking around for something before going to the table to grab his phone, indicating it toward Kendall.
"You kissed Camille?" James interpreted looking at Kendall in shock.
Logan and Kendall both frowned at James.
"No, James," Kendall said pointedly, shaking his head. "And yes, Logan, I did speak to Camille."
Logan held up the phone to his ear and raised his eyes to the ceiling, tapping his foot like he was waiting. Then he pulled the phone away, looked at Kendall, pouted and shrugged.
"Call waiting?... I think he wants you to hold on a minute," James tried to explain.
Logan dropped his arms to his sides with a smack and looked at James with an 'Are you serious?' expression.
"He's trying to say that Camille hasn't returned any of his phone calls or texts," Kendall supplied for James. Then to Logan, "She's upset about this thing with Jo still. She told me she got your texts. She just didn't…want to reply?"
Logan threw his arms up in the air and hung his head in defeat.
"Logan…?" Kendall said slowly.
Logan looked up and tilted his head to the side, waiting for Kendall's next question.
"I'm kind of, sort of… not too happy about it either," he admitted.
Logan sighed and took off his beret, scratching his head.
"I think that means he doesn't know what to do," James whispered as an aside to Kendall.
"Really now?" Kendall practically glared at James again.
"You two should really just chill," James said, not too pleased about being glared at or spoken to sarcastically. "By you two I mean you and Camille."
"Oh, we should?" the blonde directed his full attention on the taller brunette. "You don't see any reason for us to be upset?"
"Nope," the pretty boy shrugged. "It's just show biz! Kissing and stuff happens, but it doesn't mean anything. I mean, Jo had to kiss Jett a lot, but it never meant anything. And Camille has parts where she has to kiss guys. She, more than you, shouldn't have any problem with it."
"And if she does? And we do?" Kendall argued.
"Then you're just stooo-pid!"
Kendall glared at James before turning back to Logan again.
"So, all this stuff with Jo and the show, how do you feel about it?" he asked.
Logan just shrugged.
"You don't know?" Kendall asked, incredulous.
"Hey, that's my line," James said, upset that he didn't get to interpret.
"Shut up, James!" Kendall said, annoyed, then continued.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
Logan was starting to look distressed and indecisive like he was completely confused and bewildered. He even appeared a little intimidated by Kendall's small verbal attack. He shrugged again.
"Well, do you want to kiss her?"
Logan squinted and was clearly still trying to get over the pressure he was feeling to answer, but, once again, he stumbled his way through an answer. He just couldn't seem to figure out how to express him self. He ended up shaking his head 'no', but then also doing the wrist twist finger waggle meaning 'sort of' again.
"What?" Kendall nearly shouted.
Logan seemed to realize what it looked like he was saying and started waving his hands back and forth in front of him.
"I think that means he wants to start over," James said thoughtfully.
"No, that's okay!" Kendall said, clearly freaking out. "I think I get it! I'll just leave you to your stupid game now."
He stormed away.
"Wait," Logan croaked. His throat was dry from an hour or so of disuse. "Kendall, wait!" He tried to go after him, but stumbled forward in the wacky striped mime shoes he still wasn't fully used to.
"Logan!" James practically squawked.
Logan caught his balance and cleared his throat, "Kendall, that's not what I meant!"
The blonde's answer was the slam of the door to the apartment as he left in anger.
Logan sighed, kicked off the shoes, and started going after him.
"Wait, Logan, we're not done, and… you can't go out looking like that!" James said quickly. "He'll be back. He lives here, you know? You can talk to him then. He's just being stupid. He'll realize you don't have a thing for Jo and be back to apologize for goin' all crazy! Plus, there's this other book you wanted—"
Logan was barely listening to James, too exasperated with the entire situation to focus on much of anything except finding Kendall and explaining. He did hear James mention not going 'out looking like that'. So he tossed the beret to the side. He lifted first one leg bending at the knee, then the other, hopping in place to pull the soccer socks off.
"Want me to go with you? You could use this whole confrontation thing to help with your acting, because you do need help still," James continued to ramble, watching Logan bounce. "Or, you know, I can be your backup in case he decides to go all EuroTrip Robot Man on you? Let me help!"
"I think you've helped enough, okay?" Logan said, slipping his bare feet into a pair of sandals while looking at James in annoyance for the second time that evening. "Just…." He thought and improvised, "go find Carlos and get him to do the next book or something. I need to fix this now. I don't have time for any more stupid games."
"But—"
"James!" Logan said loudly, almost yelling, while he grabbed one of Mrs. Knight's hand towels and soaked it. "I don't want to hang out with you right now!" he paused to wipe his face then submerged the cloth in the water again. "This is your fault anyway. You couldn't let me just talk to him?"
"But—"
Logan sighed. "I gotta go!" And then he left, bringing the towel with him and vigorously wiping at his face.
James looked disheartened that it seemed his plan had just come back and bit him on the butt. He got semi-defensive for a moment and shouted back, "It's not a game!" in response to one of the things Logan said even though his friend had already left the apartment and probably couldn't hear him.
His defensive face didn't last long before he turned and flopped down on the orange couch face first, mumbling dramatically into the couch cushion.
"He's never gonna trust me again!"
A little while later, James stepped off the elevator, arms crossed over his chest, a pout affixed on his pretty face. He turned to the left and walked toward the lobby, dragging his feet.
The hustle and bustle of the lobby area was winding down since it was getting later and most of the kids had returned to their rooms.
He looked around, didn't see who he was looking for and started turning around to go back the way he came when Carlos ran through the hotel's front doors.
Carlos ran up to James and stopped, bending over to take deep breaths.
"James!" Carlos finally gasped out, the deer stalker hat was tilting forward, about to fall off his head. He was sweating profusely from running in his trench coat in this heat.
"You know, you look like an idiot. But I'm looking for Logan, so…"
Carlos took a breath and shook his head, "You are not going to believe what I just saw!"
"Okay?" James shrugged, looking completely bored.
"Bitters," Carlos gasped, still trying to get his breath. "We followed him to Palm Woods Park! He-he-he—"
"We? Oh yeah, Katie."
"Yeah, Katie and McPhee and Lee," Carlos looked around like he was surprised they weren't with him.
"McPhee and Lee?" James had no idea who those people were.
"Yeah, they—"
Before he could finish that sentence, more people came running through the front door: the Teen NCIS girl, the freaky spandex jumper wearing rocker, and Katie bringing up the rear doing more of a gentle jog than a flat out run.
"Bipiddy bopiddy, jeez you can run!" the crazy haired metal head said, breathing hard.
James looked around at the huffing, puffing teens before looking at the calm and indifferent youngster. "Katie?" he asked, the inflection in his voice was asking her to explain what was going on.
"They saw Bitters throw something in the Wishing Well," Katie explained, looking bored.
"A body! It looked like a body!" Carlos whispered, looking over his shoulder back to the door.
"Psh, yeah right," James smirked. "So you're trying to tell me that The Palm Woods has a bunch of missing kids and Bitters is, what? Killing them and throwing them down into the well?"
"They say it ain't got no bottom," Lee whispered ominously. "Say it take you down to—"
"Oh, there's a bottom," James interrupted, "Me and Carlos have been down there. And nope! No dead kids. Trust me."
"Maybe not then," Gaby pointed out. "But I bet there's one or more down there now!"
"And what exactly did you guys see?" James asked. "I mean, did you see a person? Because people are known to exaggerate."
"Oh it was a body, alright," Carlos said, nodding emphatically. "You know, you sound a lot like Logan with all these questions and stuff."
James shrugged and frowned.
"We need to be sure," Gaby said. "We'll just go down and—"
"Hold up!" Carlos said. "My Papi would say that it's a situation for the police."
Gaby looked at Carlos, clearly annoyed. "I am the police."
"No," James laughed. "You and your friends are actors. On a tv show. With teens. You're not really the police."
Gaby turned her annoyed stare to James instead. If looks could kill, James would be pushing up daisies.
"Okay, so!" Katie said, clearing her throat and drawing everyone's attention. "I don't think there's a body, but either way, if you call the police and there's not really a body down there, you'll all look like idiots. We should make sure something, like a body, is down there first. But we should wait 'til morning cuz its gettin late and my Mom will kill us if we aren't home in five." She looked pointedly at James and Carlos.
"Well… I guess we should wait for Tom and Tony to go down the well anyway…They had to shoot a scene tonight," Gaby muttered, not fooling anyone. She looked a little scared about the idea of going down the well. "Right, so, we'll meet at oh-nine-hundred hours tomorrow and get this mission under way!"
"Right," Carlos nodded, then appeared confused. "I thought there was only twenty four hours in a day… where did nine hundred come from?"
James looked at the girl in confusion as well.
"We'll meet at nine A.M, okay?" Katie explained, annoyed.
Everyone nodded.
Gaby and Lee left.
"Well?" Katie looked at James and Carlos. "You guys comin' with me?"
"I need to find Logan," James explained.
"He has the same curfew as you," she rolled her eyes for what was probably the millionth time that evening. "He's probably already in 2J."
James sighed. "You're probably right."
"Kendall! Jeez, it took forever to find you! Did you really have to run off like that?" Logan said, sitting down next to his best friend on a weight bench in the gym. "And why are you in the gym?"
"Because I didn't think you would come here," Kendall snapped. He was sitting, balancing himself very carefully on a giant exercise ball, reclining back and leaning against an even bigger exercise ball that was pressed up against the wall. "I don't want to talk to you right now."
"Will you just listen to me?" Logan said, exasperated. "I didn't mean that I wanted to kiss Jo!"
"But that's what you said… or mimed!" Kendall argued.
"I don't want to kiss her, okay?" Logan explained. "I mimed 'no' because I really don't want to kiss her. Then I mimed 'sort of' because I was trying to figure out how to tell you that I do want to do the part, which does mean I have to kiss her, so technically its like I want to kiss her just so I don't lose the part, but I don't want to kiss her her! Do you understand now?"
Kendall blinked.
"I don't think anyone understood that."
Logan sighed, frustrated.
"Look," Kendall struggled to a sitting position on one of the balls, wobbling a little. "When she first moved here you liked her. You only backed off, like me and Carlos, because you thought she had a boyfriend. But you still liked her!"
"That was a year ago," Logan said, confused. "And, in case you forgot, she does have a boyfriend now. Plus that was before Camille… " he trailed off.
"But you aren't with Camille now," Kendall pointed out.
"…But that still doesn't mean I'm going to try to get with my best friend's girlfriend! Do you really think I would do something like that?" the brunette was baffled.
"Well, I mean… no?" Kendall said looking more than a little perplexed about the situation himself.
"Then what's with the crazy?" Logan asked. "It's just a role. It's for fun. And it's good for the band."
"I know…" Kendall mumbled.
"And it's just a kiss," Logan said slowly, enunciating each word very clearly. "…or more than one… BUT! It doesn't mean anything at all. Over and done with! Bleep blop bloop! It will just be really really weird, okay?"
"If you say so…" Kendall said, though he appeared doubtful.
"So, are we good?" Logan asked, sticking his fist out.
"Uh…yeah… we're good?" the blonde hesitated a little, then shifted forward and slowly stuck his own fist out to tap Logan's.
And promptly lost his balance and fell off the exercise ball with a plop.
Stay tuned for the conclusion to Big Time Guest Star.