The others join James staring towards the sky. The helicopter sounds closer than it seems due to the quietness of the desert. It turns the opposite direction of the group.
"Arghhh" James groans.
"Why isn't heading towards us?" Kendall asks.
"It's, what time now James?" Logan looks towards his hazel eyed friend.
"11.45"
"Ok, we were due to land at 11.30 and like I said they'd only notice we are missing about now. And maybe we aren't even late yet because it there was strong winds or a delay in landing or take off slots they airport might think we are on time. So I'm guessing that helicopter isn't looking for us. It's probably just a tourist one or something" Logan tells the group heading back towards the fire.
"So how long will it take them to start looking?" Katie says following.
"Not an aviation expert but I'd say once they notice we are late and can't raise the pilot on the radio they'll start looking and with an hopefully activated distress beacon and the pilot's flight plan it shouldn't take them that long to find us" he says patting the young girls shoulder.
"Ok" she nods.
"So what do we do now?" Kendall asks as he sits down beside Katie.
"Yeah, what now Daddy Logan?" Carlos innocently asks sitting down beside his brunette friend, not noticing the bright red colour Logan's cheeks have turned.
"Daddy?" James raises his eyebrow at Carlos and sits the other side of Katie.
"Yeah you know" Carlos looks at James, still not noticing the puce colour Logan has turned "like Papa Smurf, our wise one"
"Oh right" James smirks and continues "so not like 'whose your daddy?' then"
"What! What?! No" Carlos turns in a panic to Logan "I didn't mean it like that Logan! I promise! I just"
Logan unsure how to react, part of him is upset that Carlos didn't mean it like that and another part of him is embarrassed that he thought he did, so he just nods and answers Kendall's original question "Well, I have my kindle so I going to read the rest of my book and can everyone make sure that the wrap something around their necks"
"Around our necks?"
"Yeah, sand storms can pick up around here very quickly so you need to have something on hand to cover your mouth and nose"
"Ok" Kendall nods getting up and taking a tee-shirt from his bag, the others follow suit.
"So guys what are we going to do while 'Daddy' reads his book?" James says with another smirk.
"Music" both Kendall and Katie say putting in their ear buds.
"We could play cards but" Carlos starts.
"They are all over the floor of the plane" James finishes sighing.
"Front pocket of my bag" Logan says not looking up from his device.
"Huh?" Carlos looks towards him.
"There is a deck of cards in the front pocket of my bag, I brought a spare deck as you always manage to lose yours" he says glancing briefly at Carlos.
"Ah, look at that always thinking of you Carlitos is little Logie" James says as he takes the deck from Logan's bag completely missing the look his two friends give each other "so what will we play?"
"Poker" Carlos answer quietly trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks, Logan made him blush and out of the corner of his eye he can see he had the same effect on his clever friend.
A number of hours pass. each of the friends busy with the respective activities and Carlos managing to win more hands at poker than normal thanks to Katie and looking out for James's tells.
"James, time?" Logan asks putting aside his kindle.
"3.30, Shouldn't they have found us by now?"
"The Mojave is over 47,000 square miles James" Logan tells his friend "so it might take them a while"
"But you said the flight plan would help them and the beacon thingy"
"Yeah but the pilot may have gone of course looking for a safe place to land, I mean for all we know we could be a few hundred miles of course and I don't know if the distress beacon survived the plane fire" Logan says worriedly, thinking to himself that there should have been some sign of a search group by now.
"So are you telling me that the stuff you told us earlier was all lies and we are going to die out here and no one will ever find us or our bodies!" James yells in a panic, causing Katie and Kendall to remove their ear buds.
"James I just said I'd didn't know if the beacon was working not that we are going to die" Logan tries calming to tell his hyper friend.
"Logan I can't die out here" James says frustratingly, running his fingers through his hair "I haven't won a Grammy yet and if I die here, how will the fans get to pay their respects at my memorial"
"What?" Kendall snorts "that's what you're worried about, what about your family and friends?"
James looks around at all the faces staring at him wide-eyed "There here, about to die with me" he quietly mutters.
"Firstly James, calm down we are not going to die" Katie takes his hand in hers "secondly ahh, that is probably the weirdest sweetest thing I've ever heard and thirdly we love you too"
"Yeah man we love you and if Logie says we are not going to die then we're not" Carlos nods sagely.
"And remember James" Kendall tells him "there is no way in hell Gustavo is not going to have everyone looking for his dogs!"
"Sorry" James mumbles "guess I'm just nervous and a little scared"
"We all are but we'll get through this, like we" Logan pauses "like this family always do"