A/N Thanks for all of the reviews and reads! Follow me on twitter Channy_Girl20 if I get enough followers from FF, I am going to open up another twitter account especially for you all! I will post updates and answer any questions and you guys can contact me about my stories or whatever else. But I want to make sure I have some followers before I open it up!
Oh and I don't own any brands of alcohol that may come up in this, or Sprite, or Mountain Dew. But I do own Lil' Crank-Crank. Holla!
"You're awfully quiet," Logan noted, leaning forward to study Carlos, who sat on the floor at Logan's feet.
"Hmm?" Carlos asked distractedly. His small legs were tucked up to his chest, chin resting on his knees and honey brown eyes fixated on the flashing movements of the TV screen.
"I thought you'd be all excited to go to a party tonight with James."
Carlos shook his head, causing his helmet to shift lopsided. The Latino adjusted his beloved hunk of plastic and continued to watch the Spongebob Movie. "I don't want to go, Logan. I don't feel good. I think Kendall gave me something." Carlos nodded to his blonde friend, who had been sleeping peacefully all day and was showing signs of becoming well again.
Logan arched an eyebrow in concern and slid to the floor beside his smaller friend to get a better look at him. His tan cheeks were ruddy and his huge eyes were damp. Logan knew right away that he was not sick, but upset.
"Carlos you're not sick," Logan said gently. Carlos pouted and grabbed Logan's wrist, flopping his hand against his forehead.
"Yes I am. I'm warm, see? Feel," Carlos insisted. Logan rolled his eyes and pressed his knuckles to Carlos' cool forehead.
"You don't have a fever, Carlitos. What's going on? Are you and James fighting or something?"
Carlos released Logan's wrist and sighed, wrapping his arms around his sweatpants clad legs. Logan frowned and placed his hand on Carlos' back.
"James is getting better, buddy. He's just having some problems right now. He'll be ok. I bet once he's sure that Kendall is completely better, he'll be back to himself. His nightmares are going away and everything. Stuff like this, people just need to grow out of at their own pace, and that's what James is doing."
Carlos played absent-mindedly at his toes as he considered Logan's words. To him, it didn't seem as if James was growing out of his fear. It was only getting worse. He was watching his best friend crumble. And he had no idea how far James' self-destruction would go.
"Go to the party, have some fun," Logan said. "You guys need it. Maybe some social interaction is what James needs. Just keep an eye on him, ok Carlos? Don't let him out of his sight."
Carlos looked up at Logan. That was something he had never heard before. Usually he was the one being watched over. He was the little brother. He'd never been in charge of being the protector before. He suddenly felt a bit nervous about the party. He had a bad feeling in his gut. He would feel much better if Kendall could come with him, but the blonde was still in pain from his ribs and running a fever. There was no way he'd be capable of even standing up on his own, let alone go to a crazy Hollywood party.
"Ok, I'll watch him," Carlos said with false confidence. Logan smiled and nodded, giving Carlos' cheek a pat.
"That's my boy, 'Los."
Carlos gave a tiny smile and curled into a ball, trying to shake the unsettling feeling that was beginning to curdle in his stomach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~~~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~~~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BTR~~~~~~~~~
James emerged from his bedroom after a couple hours of restlessly tossing and turning in his bed. Despite how heavy his eyes were, how boggled his mind was, and how exhausted and achy he felt, he just could not fall asleep. Kendall was constantly on his mind. Every time he would hear a weak cough or whimper from the living room his entire body would tense, and he had to fight the urge to jump out of bed and run to Kendall's side to make sure he was alright.
It's not like he hadn't tried to sleep. He wanted to, really. He wanted to become oblivious to the stress and fear that was plaguing his life recently. He wanted to be temporarily lost in blissful darkness, but that luxury would not come to him. And every time he would start to drift off, he would feel a nightmare coming on and he'd jolt himself awake before he fully fell asleep. It was an annoying, frustrating process, and he finally gave up on a nap. It was useless and only making him even more tired and upset.
"James, you're awake," Logan said as his tall friend shuffled into the room, going straight to Kendall's side. James made a sound of acknowledgement and kneeled beside Kendall's sleeping form.
"He's doing fine, James," Logan assured the worried boy. "His fever is down to one hundred degrees. The antibiotics are doing their job."
"Does he still hurt?" James asked, pressing his palm to Kendall's forehead gently. Logan nodded sadly.
"Yeah, but I just had him take some more pain medicine a couple hours ago so he's alright. He's pretty much just been sleeping all day. He'll be ok, James. You know that right?" Logan's chocolate eyes searched for James' tired hazel ones. He studied the taller boy, assessing his current state. James appeared extremely sleep deprived, just like he had the night that he fainted in the hospital. There was no improvement. If anything, he looked worse. The bags under his eyes were painfully noticeable, and he lacked his usual rosy blush across his high cheekbones.
"Are you ok bro?" Logan couldn't help but ask, placing his hand on James' arm. But to his surprise, the younger boy shook off the comforting gesture.
"I'm fine. The nap helped," James said, averting his eyes to Kendall's body. He soothingly stroked Kendall's golden hair away from his eyes. Logan scowled, but didn't press him for the truth.
"Ok," Logan said simply. "Can I make you something to eat though?"
James shook his head forcefully, as if the thought of food made was sickening. "No Logie, you don't have to."
"There are still leftovers from breakfast," Logan said quickly. Once again, he placed his hand on James' arm, but this time his grip was a bit tighter, more pleading. "Let me get you some food."
James was about to shove Logan's hand away, a bit annoyed, but when he saw the worry glinting in Logan's innocent eyes he relaxed and patted his small fingers instead. "Ok, I'll eat some breakfast."
Logan sighed with relief when James agreed. Eating was a good sign. The smart boy hurried to the kitchen to heat up a few pancakes and a jug of syrup in the microwave.
"Are you still not talking to me?" James asked when he and Carlos were alone.
"Nope," Carlos squeaked, forcing a blank stare to stay on his cherubic features.
"You know that answer can be taken 2 ways," James said. "And by the way, you just talked to me."
Carlos let out a frustrated whine and stomped to his room. James winced, though he was a bit amused. He always found the little boy kind of funny when he was mad. He just hated the fact that he was the reason why the usually happy-go-lucky kid was so upset.
"Your pancakes are ready," Logan announced from the kitchen.
"Oh goodie," James thought to himself, placing a hand on his gurgling tummy. He was too sleep-deprived to be able to eat much at all, but he made his way to the kitchen and slowly chewed a few bites of pancakes for Logan's sake. He ate as much as his unhappy, exhausted stomach would allow and quietly scraped the remaining pancakes into the trash can when Logan was too busy doing dishes and humming to himself to notice.
"Do you want some help?" James asked, taking a plate from Logan's hands to dry the painted porcelain.
"Uh, sure," Logan said. He smiled gratefully and picked up a different wet plate to dry. James started humming the song Logan had been singing and they quietly did the dishes together. Logan wanted to ask if James was certain he was alright, but he didn't want to make him annoyed and ruin the moment, so he decided to hum along with his best friend and savor the sudden, but welcome, change in behavior.
"I'm going to go get ready for the party tonight," James announced after the final dish was dry.
"Ok," Logan said, a little bewildered by the enthusiasm in James' voice but otherwise fooled by his false grin. He had this burning hope inside of him that maybe James truly was getting better.
James disappeared into the bathroom for hours, showering and doing his hair and picking out the perfect clothes to wear. By the time he emerged it was nearly time to leave. Carlos had changed out of his cartoon pajamas and was now dressed in a long sleeve red shirt and black jeans.
"Hey you ready Carlitos?" James asked, spraying one last shot of cuda on his perfect hair. Carlos pouted and said nothing, but James ignored it. He approached Kendall, who was half awake and curled underneath a pile of blankets, watching television. He mussed his hair and gave him a small smile.
"Are you feeling alright buddy?" James asked. Kendall groaned.
"The next person who asks me that gets a hockey puck in the groin," The agitated blonde remarked. "I'm fine."
James put his hands up in mock defense, but he knew the joking words were a sign that Kendall was in fact feeling much better. "I'll see ya tonight, Kendall. Logie, take good care of him."
"As always!" Logan said, not bothering to look up from the medical novel he was engrossed in.
"Well have fun tonight, looks like you have some crazy company," James joked. Logan scowled and threw a small square pillow at his face.
"Hey you messed up my bangs," James whined. He set the strands of hair back in place and grabbed his car keys. "Come on, 'Los!" He headed out to the car and Carlos, who was the only one not in a somewhat good mood, sulked and followed behind him.
"Why do we even have to go to this party?" Carlos asked halfway there. "We don't even know who Lil Crank-Crank is and he doesn't know us."
"So? It's been weeks since we partied, Carlos. It's been since… Well…" James trailed off, refusing to let the memories seep into his mind. "It'll be fun, 'Los. We can hang out with each other. It's been a while. I miss you."
Carlos scoffed and pressed his face against the cold passenger window, squishing his chubby facial features. "I don't see why you have to pretend everything's ok when it's not. Don't you think it's kind of mean? Kendall and Logan care about you and you're not letting them in! What if Logan was having problems and he tried to keep it secret from you? Don't you think they can help? I mean I know I'm not much help but they're older and smarter, they'll know how to help you."
"Carlos, I'm fine I swear. I just had a couple rough nights with Kendall being sick and everything."
"You're lying to us about having nightmares!" Carlos said. "We never lie to each other, never ever!" Carlos' voice was high-pitched now and his cheeks flared scarlet. He was clearly very upset, but James continued to play it off as nothing.
"Carlos, let it be ok? I promise I'm fine," James said. "Let's just go to this party and have fun."
"Fine," Carlos mumbled, sinking into his seat and crossing his arms, and he was silent the rest of the drive.
An hour later, after dozens of photos were shot and questions were asked by paparazzi and news press while they were waiting in a huge VIP line, the 2 boys were inside a loud, large nightclub. Music blared off the state of the art speaker systems and purple lights flashed everywhere, while fellow celebrities swarmed around them.
But even all of the lights and sounds didn't make James feel awake. If anything, they made his mind blurry and his eyes heavy. After about an hour of mingling and chatting with friends and other celebrities, he started getting sleepy and, if honest with himself, not feeling very well.
"Hey let's hit the dance floor!" James shouted over the pounding music to Carlos when his wandering eyes saw a huge dance floor out in the middle of the club. Maybe that would make him feel more alert. Carlos turned around, hearing the sound of James' voice but not able to make out what he said exactly.
"What?" Carlos shouted back, squinting in the dim light to read James' lips. Even in the odd, purple light he could see how pale James was. He looked almost ill.
"I said let's go dance!" James said, pointing to the bustling floor. Some young guys were free-styling for everyone and it looked entertaining.
Carlos shook his head and grabbed James' wrist. It didn't seem like a good idea to stay at the party any longer.
"No, James you don't look so good!" Carlos said, leaning in close to James' ear. "Maybe we should go home!"
"But we just got here!" James said. "I'm fine. Come on let's go show up those free-stylers!" James grabbed Carlos wrist and pushed through the crowd, ignoring the younger boy's protests. He wanted Carlos to believe he was fine, he wanted to prove to him that he didn't need any help, even though his head was starting to pound in time with the music and he felt like he could fall asleep at any moment. As he pushed through the dizzying sea of people he accidently stumbled and nearly fell to the ground, losing all sense of balance as his head started swimming.
"Whoa! James!" Carlos yelled, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him up. "Dude, what was that?"
James rubbed his brow and blinked. "Nothing, I just got a little light-headed. Nothing to worry about!"
"Light-headed?" Carlos asked gently, placing a hand on his older brother's shoulder. "James, that doesn't sound good. Let's go home. Please?"
"No, I'm fine!" James remarked, ignoring his forming headache. He was fine. There was nothing wrong with him, couldn't Carlos accept that?
"But Logan put me in charge of looking after you and you look sick now! You're really exhausted and I think we should leave."
James didn't realize exactly what Carlos had said until a moment later. He felt betrayed and stupid. Logan sent Carlos to look after him as if he was a little kid?
"I don't need a babysitter, Carlos," James snapped, over-reacting as usual. "Quit babying me! There's nothing wrong with me! Just stay out of my business."
"You can barely stand up, James!" Carlos argued, his voice rising in frustration. "I wanna go home now!"
"God I liked you better when you were giving me the silent treatment. I don't need to hear this," James said acidly. Carlos' chocolate eyes darkened. He was sick of arguing.
"Fine, if you don't want somebody to care about you that I don't care," Carlos said, stomping away and getting lost in the crowd before James could really react.
"Carlos!" James yelled, immediately feeling guilty. But Carlos didn't turn around. He continued to stomp away until his shiny black helmet was no longer visible.
James put a hand to his forehead and sat at the nearest open booth. He sunk into the squishy fabric and let his face hit the blue table with a smack. Dancing didn't sound very appealing anymore. He knew Carlos was right. If he looked as bad as he was feeling right now, it was no wonder his friend was worrying about him so much.
"You look like you need a drink," A male voice said. James groaned, wanting to be left alone, but he turned his head and peered up at a waiters purple face. Everything looked purple in this stupid club. James didn't even like purple. More and more he was wanting to go home, but he was too tired to go find Carlos.
"Can I have a sprite?" James asked weakly. Sprite always made him feel better. Whenever he was sick, Logan would get him a huge fountain sprite from the gas station, because only fountain sprite tasted really good.
For some reason the waiter, a blonde who looked to be in his early 20's, chuckled. James didn't know what was so funny.
"I was thinking something a little stronger than that," the waiter said when he was finished laughing at the confused boy.
"Oh. Mountain Dew?" James asked. He just wanted something cold and refreshing on his parched throat, and he was kind of annoyed that the waiter started laughing again.
"This party is one of the biggest this club has ever had, live a little. You look like you've had a rough night," the waiter said sympathetically. "How about a Samuel Adam's? Or Budweiser?" The waiter added when James wrinkled his nose in confusion. Suddenly, the young boy's hazel eyes lit up with appaled realization when he recognized the names as beer.
"Beer?" James cried, taken aback. Couldn't his waiter tell he was only 17? He was about to open his mouth to say that he was underage, but he quickly shut it when the waiter placed a drink menu in front of him. He remembered being warned by Gustavo, before they attended their first party as a band, that clubs in Hollywood rarely I.D'd the celebrities, and that they should be careful and always so no when offered a drink. The 4 boys never touched a drink in their lives. They had been raised better than that. But none of James' friends were around to stop him, and the prospect of having a couple drinks was tempting.
Nobody has to know, James reasoned with himself. He lifted his head of the table and gave the waiter a smile.
"What do you recommend?"
A/N EEK! Ok, I'm sorry I have to leave it off there but I have a party to go to. How ironic. Haha. BUT if you review, I will post the next chapter very soon. As in 24-48 hours soon. But you gotta review if you want to see what happens next! I need to know ya'll are still interested ;) Love you guys! XO and hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!