A/N: No one liked the last chapter, I only got one review D; anywho, I hope you like this one better.

Sun Down

Chapter Nine

Your eyes turn white in the bright light.

Logan sat with Madison on the couch in 2J watching the food network. Why they were watching it, neither really knew, but Logan figured it had something to do with the fact that they were both really warm and comfortable under the blanket they shared and the remote was on the other end of the couch. If anyone ever entered the room he'd ask them to grab it, but for now, the food network would do.

"Hey Logan," Maddy said. She sat beside him with her legs curled up beside her, head leaning on Logan's shoulder while his own head rested on hers.

"Hmm?"

"My mom sent me tickets to a show; it's in West Hollywood, two weeks from now. Do you want to go with me?"

"Sure." He replied automatically, why wouldn't he want to go anywhere with Madison? "What kind of show?"

"It's a- it's a ballet."

Maddy used to dance ballet, she'd told him that when he asked about the slippers a while back, but he hadn't pried. He didn't know why she stopped dancing, but he wanted to. Maddy was such a mystery, a puzzle with a million pieces. Logan had only been able to put together the outer pieces; every once in a while finding center pieces that might connect but never quite knew where to go from there. She was complicated and problematic, he couldn't just figure her out, it was one of the things about her that kept him so intrigued. That and the fact that she had the most beautiful face he'd ever seen. It seemed like the more he looked at it, it just got increasingly beautiful. Her green eyes held so much promise, and so much pain. She was so thin and fragile, her hip bones, collar bones and ribs protruding. But Logan had learned that she had the body of a dancer, or at least a ballet dancer, most were skin and bone. It didn't stop Logan from thinking she was much smaller than need be.

"The Nutcracker," she said, "Christmas is only a few weeks away now."

"I've never seen it." He replied.

"I danced as Clara once."

It was the first Madison had ever volunteered anything about her dancing. Logan didn't know who Clara was in the performance, but he assumed it was a good position.

"If you don't want to go Logan, it's okay."

"No," he said immediately, "I do. I want to go with you."

She smiled at him, "Thanks."

There was word that Camille landed a new acting role. He'd heard it spread through the Palm Woods residents, she hadn't actually told him herself, though since she made the effort to talk to him outside the Palm Woods a few weeks ago, there was less tension. Steve still clung to her possessively whenever Logan was around, but Camille didn't glare at Madison and had the courtesy to smile at him. But that was it.

"Camille's got a lead role dude." James said as he flopped down on Logan's bed. Logan wasn't on the bed, instead sitting at the makeshift desk in the corner of his and Carlos's room doing his homework, and reading up on the latest medical journals.

"So I've heard."

"Have you congratulated her?"

Logan stopped writing and stared blankly at the papers before him. No, no he hadn't. "No."

"Are you going to? I mean I know things have been well, yeah, you know, but still- she's your friend, isn't she?"

Logan didn't like how everyone was making him out to be the bad guy just because he and Camille aren't tight anymore. It was her fault. Everything was her fault. It was her fault they weren't dating anymore, it was her fault they never got back together, and it's her fault that they don't talk anymore. Logan never alienated her; she went off and got a new boyfriend then decided to not talk to him anymore. Lately things had been a bit better, smiles and hello's even an awkward dinner with the guys and her new boyfriend but still, Camille was the one keeping a distance. No, Logan wasn't spending all of his time chasing after her because well, one, she had a boyfriend and two, he was with Maddy. When he was with Maddy, quite honestly, who is Camille? Logan thought that maybe he'd moved on. Every once in a while he'd still wish that things had never changed between them, but they had and there was nothing he could do.

"Of course I am, chill out, I just found out, like today."

"So did I," James said, "but I gave her a bear hug and sang congratulations to her."

Logan rolled his eyes. "You're closer to her than I am."

"You were her boyfriend."

Logan wanted to bite out, "Until you changed that." But he didn't because Logan was over their kiss. Whatever, it happened, it sucked, oh well.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm not anymore, and she never really wants to talk to me anyways."

"That's not what she told me." James said a bit more seriously.

Logan closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Did Camille have an ulterior motive? Was she trying to turn everyone against him? Could no one see that she is the reason for all this stupid shit going on between them? She was the one that kissed James, but Logan was the bad guy for not wanting to still date her. She cheated!

"What did she tell you?" Logan swiveled around in his char to face James. He had his pencil in his hands still, tapping it against his palm.

James sat up and shrugged, "Just, well, she misses you. She feels like you guys aren't even friends anymore."

"James," Logan said in a very controlled voice. "Camille is the one who got a boyfriend and stopped talking to me, how is this my fault?"

James shrugged, "I'm not saying it is, but I am saying that she's jealous of Maddy and that she and Steve are on the verge of a break up."

She should be jealous of Maddy, because Maddy was strangely everything to Logan. They weren't dating and they hadn't kissed for a long time now, but being around her made breathing easier, it made living better. She was this beautiful creature, wounded and defenseless. Logan looked at her like she was the sun. Bright and shining, radiating warmth, and on cloudy days he missed her dearly.

"So what does that mean for me?"

"Well, if you ever wanted another chance with Camille, this might be it dude." James fell back again on the bed, "besides it's not like you and Maddy are dating anyways."

Suddenly it kind of hit Logan. Even if any of this was truth, this was what James wanted. He was being subtly manipulative, it worked, always on everyone, but Logan was smarter than the other's and he was quicker to catch it than most. If Logan dated Camille again, there was no doubt that he and Maddy would spend much less time together. Maddy was a flightless bird, while James was a prowling tiger, a predator waiting to pounce. Madison knew how to handle herself, but James could be very convincing.

The thought of Logan leaving Madison alone to defend herself against James made him frown. The thought of James pursing Maddy made his blood boil. James would only care about getting in her pants, adding her to his lists of conquests. He wouldn't care about what lay beneath the surface, he wouldn't care about making sure she was okay, finding out what haunted her, soothing her troubled mind. Logan cared about Maddy like that, he just wanted her to be okay, and he was afraid that if he wasn't around then she won't be. So maybe getting back with Camille wasn't an option, at least not at the moment. If he even wanted to of course, of that answer he wasn't quite sure.

"I don't know if I want another chance with her." Logan told James. It was the truth, but he wanted to see how James would react.

"Are you and Maddy like-?"

"No," he shook his head, "I just, I don't know."

He ended up knocking on her door. Logan just wanted to get it over with. It probably wasn't how he should think about congratulating a friend, but everyone was looking at him like he was a terrible person when he replied that no, he hadn't congratulated Camille yet.

When she answered the door, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were red and her make-up was smeared. Concern immediately kicked in.

"Camille? What's wrong? Are you all right?"

She let him in and shut the door behind him. She stood there by the door, shoulders hunched; face crumpled as she wiped her tears and tried to nod.

Any hesitation disappeared and Logan converted into "good friend" mode. He put his arms around Camille and pulled her close to him, her head pressed to his chest, he stroked her hair and shushed her softly. He held her there for a long while until her sobs eased into hiccups.

When she pulled back, puffy eyes, blotchy cheeks, Logan felt this tug on his heart. He still cared about Camille. As much as he'd been repressing the feelings, trying to hide them, willing them to go away, they hadn't. Not really anyways. Seeing her like this made him realize it, he still felt something for her, whether it was as strong as it used to be or not, Logan couldn't really tell at the moment. But seeing her like this made him worried, concerned, upset.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, holding her face in his hands, brushing her cheeks with his thumb, trying to wipe away the remaining tears.

"He broke up with me." She managed through her broken breathing.

Logan frowned. Was she this broken up when he ended things with her? He pulled her back into his arms and held her against him. What was he supposed to say? He didn't know, so he just let her cry.

They sat on her couch, and she leaned into Logan. He kept his arm around her and didn't say anything about the stains her make-up was leaving on his shirt.

It felt odd to be back in Camille's apartment. It had been months since he'd stepped inside. The last time he'd been in there they were friends with benefits, it was before she started dating Steve. The time before that, they'd been a couple. Now what were they? Friends? Maybe. More like acquaintances. It was kind of sad what happened to them. How they grew apart. When Logan broke up with her he never really meant for them to stop being friends, just not dating. When he became friends with Madison he didn't mean to push her out of his life. He didn't really, she took herself out of it, and that resulted in him having a great friendship with Maddy. But the word friendship put with Maddy's name made him feel uneasy. It was accurate, they were friends, but Logan was beginning to see that maybe he didn't just want to be friends with her. Maybe he did want to date her. She was beautiful and amazed him, she puzzled him and worried him, she made Logan feel and think about a lot more that other people did.

"Logan," Camille said sitting up and wiping her eyes as best she could. Most of her make-up was gone, all on his shirt now. Her eyes were still puffy and red, her skin tone still blotchy and uneven. "Thank you."

He shrugged, putting his hands together and leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "No problem." He replied, "I wanted to congratulate you too, on your role and all."

Suddenly she was kissing him. She leaned in and cupped his cheeks, pressing her lips to his. Logan froze up, his body tensed. What was she doing? What was he supposed to do?

After a moment she pulled away and Logan looked at her with questioning eyes. "What-?"

"Logan," she said, "please just kiss me."

"Camille, I –"

She cut him off, crashing onto his lips again; kissing him hard with her eyes squeezed shut, pushing her body against his. Every part of him told her to get her off, tell her no. But he didn't. He gave in to her. His hands moved to her waist and connected their hips. He opened his mouth and kissed her back the way she was begging to be kissed.

It brought him back to all those times she pulled him in to an empty closet, when she came over to the empty apartment, when she snuck him in to her apartment, going to movies and doing anything but watching the movie. They'd been quite physical in their relationship, something Logan rather enjoyed. But this, here, now, it felt wrong. He shouldn't be kissing her like this, or at all. He shouldn't have his hand up her shirt, and she shouldn't be pulling on his short hair as their tongues danced, back and forth from one mouth to another. This was the way they used to be, they weren't like this anymore.

She ran her bony fingers up and along his torso, across his chest, feeling him the way she used to. His hands roamed her body, tracing the curves that he knew so well, every part of her figure was familiar to him.

"Camille," he breathed as she kissed down his neck. She knew all his tender spots, and she sabotaged him as he tried to reason. "We can't."

"Why not?" Her breath was hot against his neck. "We used to."

"Not anymore."

She sat up on his hips and looked down at him with her dark eyes. "Just one time Logan. It won't change anything, just once, please?" She leaned down again and kissed the corners of his mouth.

Tell her no. Just tell her no.

He didn't.

He let her kiss him again and when she unbuttoned his jeans, he pulled off her shirt.

It didn't change anything. Just like Camille said. When she saw him, she only smiled. But when he saw her, guilt plagued him.

He shouldn't have done it. He wasn't even quite sure why he did. Maybe it was because he felt bad for her, maybe it was because his teenage hormones were raging and he hadn't had any action in a long time, it couldn't have been the feelings he had for her left over. If it had been he wouldn't feel like this. But maybe it was a combination of all three. Whatever it was he wished that he'd been strong enough to say no. Camille had taken advantage of him, and now when he saw Maddy he felt like a terrible, terrible person.

She was clueless, walking around fine on the outside, dying on the inside for some cause still unknown to Logan. She was better than she'd been before, smelled less like cigarettes these days, more like the intoxicating vanilla that he adored.

But Logan was walking around with this unbearable feeling of guilt and regret, of shame like he had betrayed Madison somehow. Yet he hadn't, had he? They were not a couple, they were not in a relationship, she hadn't informed him of any romantic feelings and he hadn't done that either, so why did he feel like the world's biggest douche bag?

He wanted to tell her, but he didn't know if he should it wasn't like it was need to know information. Besides that, she hadn't told him anything that he was curious about or wanted to know besides the fact that she danced ballet and had her own personal villain named Aaron, he didn't even know why she referred to Aaron as a villain. Still, Logan felt like he had to tell her.

With a cigarette hanging languidly from her lips she leaned against the door frame of the sliding glass door that led out to the balcony in Buddha Bob's apartment. He watched her breathe in slowly smokeless air, and then put the stick back to her lips and breathe in the filth that surely was building up in her lungs. She was so beautiful, Logan adored her. It was the only way he could really describe it. He wanted to be near her constantly; the moment they left each other's presence he missed her. She was the last thing on his mind most nights as he pondered the reasons as to why she was so tortured. Logan didn't want to believe anything truly terrible had happened to her in the past. But with the damage done, how can he not assume the worst? He didn't like to let his mind wander there, to what might have happened to her, it could be nothing good, nothing less than evil. He thought of it often though, whatever may have happened to her, his mind skipping from one extreme to the next, his brow might have been becoming permanently furrowed and wrinkled because of it.

She tucked a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear, and with the sun hitting her face in just the right angle, her green eyes look transparent. She closed those mesmerizing eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath in, Logan watched her chest rise and stay for a moment before falling. She still looked so tired. Less haunted but so fatigued. What was she plagued by? Was she sick or did she have trouble sleeping? Logan wanted to know, he wanted to help her. She always said that him just being around helped, but he didn't know whether or not to believe that. He felt like he was doing nothing, he felt helpless. She wouldn't let him in.

"My parents are coming to pick me up." She said quietly.

"Will you be gone long?"

Logan felt selfish, hating when her parents came to pick her up, to take her away from him. But at the same time, he was glad that she was mending her relationship with them. It also worried him, scared him even. Would she leave then? If her relationship with her parents healed enough, would they take her home? Would they take her out of his life? He didn't want that.

She shook her head, "Only out to dinner. I'll be back tonight."

Logan nodded and looked back down at his feet. He felt so guilty, wanting Maddy so much, but sleeping with Camille. How could he have done it? Why couldn't he have just said no?

"You look down." She commented.

He was down.

"I've got to tell you something." He said slowly.

Their eyes met and Logan felt his stomach knot. "I slept with Camille."

Her expression doesn't change. Blank and beautiful. Either it didn't matter to her or she was a master at hiding what she was feeling. It could have been either.

They stood together in silence. The chill air of late November made Logan shiver, the lack of response from Maddy wasn't helping either. Couldn't she at least say something?

Eventually, she nodded, flicking her cigarette and casting her gaze down towards the empty pool. Anything would be better than apathy. He would rather her get angry, break down and cry, cheer him on, anything but indifference.

"I didn't mean for it to happen." He elaborated. "I went to congratulate her, she was crying, she asked me to, and I just didn't know what to do."

Once he'd explained he wasn't quite sure if that made it worse. It sounded kind of terrible, like he'd given her pity-fuck, which, well, he had, but it sounded bad.

"I'm sorry." He said meeting her eyes. But he wasn't quite sure why he said it.

"What are you sorry for?"

He didn't know. He didn't know how she was feeling, she wouldn't let him see. Maybe it was just something to say. But looking into her green eyes, he felt like it was the right thing to say.

He opened his mouth to speak but Buddha Bob appeared at the doorway and called out to Madison, "They're here!"

She nodded at him and put out her cigarette in the home made, aluminum ash tray. Gracefully she pushed off the frame with one of her shoulders and turned to go inside. Logan followed suit, looking considerably less elegant.

Maddy pulled her stylish leather jacket off the chair it hung on and slipped it on. She gave Buddha Bob a kiss on the cheek, then she was out the door, Logan following behind her. She hadn't asked him to escort her, and he was pretty sure that at the moment she probably didn't want him to, but he did anyways.

Their journey through the halls was silent and Logan's hand remained lonely at his side. He frowned as he walked, Maddy always grabbed his hand when they were alone together. It gave her some sense of security, but her hands swung back and forth as she walked, not reaching out towards Logan. His confession had hurt her. He could see it, feel it radiating off of her. She was good at hiding her emotions, it was some kind of defense mechanism, and nonchalance always gave her the upper hand, much like James's feigned stupidity did the same for him. But Logan had come to know Madison, and she gave herself away in her subtleties. Not taking his hand, a lack of response, looking down as she walked. These traits were uncharacteristic of Maddy. He doubted anyone else would notice, they were barely there, but they were there.

They reached the lobby, still cloaked in silence. He wondered if she would even say goodbye to him once he'd walked her out of the lobby. What happened now? For the first time Logan had hurt Maddy instead of making her feel better. He was a criminal deserving of death for such an offense.

They were passing Mr. Bitter's desk when they heard, "Maddy! Hey, is that you?"

The pair turned around and saw a girl, small and petite, her dark brown hair was parted and braided down both sides, hanging over her shoulders.

Madison froze, her body tensed, Logan looked from her to the new girl. They knew each other?

She came bounding over, her braids bouncing, and a smile a little bit too wide. She threw her arms around Maddy and hugged her so hard Logan thought that she would break. When the girl finally let go Maddy still looked tense, she faked a smile.

"Hey, Ally." Madison said.

"Maddy! I didn't know this is where you were now. I'd have let you known I was coming to stay here."

"You are?" her voice slipped, and her brows furrowed.

Either Ally didn't catch it or didn't acknowledge it, but she just kept on smiling bubbly. "Yeah, I got picked up by a dance company, nothing major, at least not yet, but the Palm Woods is a lot closer to the studio than where we used to live."

"Oh." She nodded.

"How are you?" Ally asked, her expression changing suddenly. Excitement to concern. It occurred to Logan that Ally might know what was wrong with Maddy, maybe she would be his ticket to finding out all the things Maddy wouldn't tell him.

Maddy shifted her weight slightly leaning towards Logan and looked towards the floor. She shrugged, "I've been good, better than I was."

Ally glanced at Logan for the first time and asked, "Is this your new boyfriend? He's cute."

Logan managed a smile. Madison met his eyes for a moment and then shook her head, "Just friends."

The words stabbed him.

"Well, hey, Ally my parents are waiting for me outside, taking me out to dinner, family kind of stuff, but get in touch, okay? We'll talk."

Ally nodded and just as Logan and Maddy began to walk away again she reached and grabbed Maddy's wrist. "Aaron has been asking about you."

Maddy's face went blank. She nodded and continued on her way. Logan stood beside her for a moment as a black car pulled out of its parking spot and pulled around to the front.

She looked up at him, "I'll see you later."

He felt like he had something to say, but the words wouldn't form and his mind couldn't put them together. So he just let her go. He didn't even know what he wanted or needed to say to her.

Later that night Logan lied awake in bed staring up at the ceiling, the sound of Carlos's snoring was easily tuned out now by training. Logan just saw Maddy, her face when he told her, her face when she saw Ally, her face when she heard the name Aaron. It seemed to lose her expression was the only way she knew how to react to something she maybe wasn't prepared for, maybe something she didn't want to hear.

But what Logan was really thinking about was when she said "just friends." Had he condemned himself to be there forever by telling Maddy about Camille?

A/N:So, just because I'm not ready to jump straight into all of Maddy's problems, I threw in some Logan drama. But! Just so you all know, the next chapter is probably going to be long, and you will dun, dun, duh! Meet Aaron. In the next chapter. Guess that means you have to stick around huh?

Reviews please?