Disclaimer: Yeah...about owning Big Time Rush...hasn't happened yet. Sorry.

Guest: Haha you think so? Thank you for reviewing, I really appreciate it :)

Guest(#2): Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! And thank you for your review! :)

KnylonMaslow: My reply might be a little long winded, so bear with me please ;) I promise I'm not trying to lecture or get on the defensive. I just want to explain a couple of things. First off, your feelings about Katie. I don't blame you. I can honestly say that I don't, because I know she's not the most likable character in the world. She's a bitch, she's selfish, she's self-centered, she doesn't think about the consequences, she does whatever the hell she wants, but she's also human, and is her own person. Personally, I love writing her, she's possibly my favorite character to write simply because she's fun. I'm hoping that what parts do make her likable is that she's unapologetic about who she is and she does have her nice moments. But yeah, there's a reason why someone nominated her for best evil villain in the 2013 fanfiction awards (you know who you are and I love you for it!). Katie was supposed to be a bitch from the very beginning, and not everyone's going to like her. If you can handle her though, then props to you. As for the part about hating Lauren? Have at it. She's not supposed to be nice. Now...It's actually occurred to me that people aren't as judgmental about gays. But I do know people who are, so that's where part of the idea came from. Also, teenagers can be mean. Shane was different from the kids in his high school, and a lot of teenagers tend to go after the ones who aren't like them. Plus, he was, essentially, a weak link, he didn't have a lot of backbone, he had to rely on his brother for protection. That in itself made him an easy target. So he wasn't just bullied because he's gay, but because he had problems with standing up for himself. That being said, he's toughened up a lot now, and he's older and more mature, so that doesn't actually apply to the circumstances now. Anyway, I'm glad you're still enjoying the story and will keep on reading, and no, I don't think your opinion is harsh. You made some valid points and it got me thinking, so thank you for that :) And thank you for reviewing, I appreciate it :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, followed, and/or read this story! I appreciate it so much and I love you all! Thank you :)

Yes, I know. It's a miracle. I'm getting this up not even a week after I last updated. Whoo hoo! Anyway, this chapter is a little bit shorter than the others, and it's more filler, but it sets things up for the next chapter, so I hope you guys will bear (bare? I can never remember which one it is) with it :) That being said, I loved reading your reviews for the last chapter. There was a lot of "sh**'s about to go down" which for whatever reason just made me grin. Whatever, I'm weird. Hopefully you guys don't mind too much ;)

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Twenty-Four: Who Needs to Crash When You're Invited?

James' POV

I barely said anything to Lauren as I drove her home. We had headed out about ten minutes after she had shown up, the mood completely ruined. Katie hadn't said much to me and didn't say another word to Lauren, who resolutely ignored her as we paid the bill and gathered our stuff together. Katie had made her way to her car, while Lauren had turned to me and said sweetly, "Can you take me home? I had Jenny drop me off here."

I set my jaw, the feeling that I was being manipulated settling over me like a tent, small and enclosed. "Yeah, I guess."

I led her over to my car and unlocked the doors, climbing in without bothering to open the passenger's door for her. She was quiet as she got in, and I didn't bother to break the silence – I wasn't in the mood.

At last, I pulled up in front of her house, hitting the button to unlock the doors.

Lauren unbuckled her seatbelt but instead of clambering out, she turned to me, frowning. "What's wrong with you?"

I looked back at her, not bothering to hide my irritation or frustration. "Gee, I don't know. It might have something to do with you showing up uninvited."

"You're the one who told me when and where you were meeting up with Katie," she said pointedly, as if that made it an open invitation.

"I told you that because I didn't want you getting upset. I didn't mean for you to join us."

"I know you didn't. I thought I'd take it upon myself to do it."

I rubbed my temples. "Lauren, you're my girlfriend, but Katie's my friend. We were hanging out. You weren't invited."

"James, you know I don't trust Katie."

"I know. That's all I hear from you, that you don't trust Katie, that's she's a bitch and a slut and a whore. That excuse isn't going to keep working. What you did was selfish and thoughtless and just plain rude."

She paused for a long moment. "I'm – I'm sorry, James. I didn't realize it would upset you so much."

"How could you not realize?" I was on the verge of banging my head against the steering wheel from sheer frustration. Did she know me at all? "If I just barged in on you hanging out with one of your guy friends, you would be fucking pissed at me."

"That's different!"

"How? How is that different?! Because Katie and I made out a few times? Because I had a crush on her? Because she's in my immediate group of friends? Tell me, Lauren. Tell me how different we are from you and your guy friends. I know you've made out with at least two of them, so don't pull that jealous bitch shit on me. I don't need it."

"She wants you!" Lauren screamed. "How can you not fucking see it?! Can you not fucking see that she's scheming to get with you?! This is just another game, another way for her to manipulate you! How can you be so fucking stupid?!"

I surveyed her coolly. "Very easily, apparently. You think I don't know she likes me? You think I haven't figured it out?"

"Then why are you hanging out with her?"

"Maybe because I like her company. I like talking to her. She doesn't bitch at me about every little thing. Either you trust me with her, or we're done."

There was a long pause following my statement, and then she let out a deep breath. "Fine. I'll trust you with her. But I don't like it."

"That's all I'm asking."

"Fine." She leaned over and pecked my lips. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"Thank you."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

She opened the door and slid out of the car, heading into her house, and I pulled away from the curb, not feeling particularly satisfied or happy. Something told me that the war between Katie and Lauren wasn't even close to being over, and I didn't like that idea. And it didn't help that I couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that I was dating the wrong girl.

I parked in the driveway beside Brad's car when I got home and went on inside, slamming the door behind me.

"Uh oh, someone's in a mood," Mom greeted me as she came out of the kitchen, wearing one of those Kiss The Cook aprons and a matching chef's hat.

I growled in response.

"Definitely a mood…If it makes you feel any better, I'm making spaghetti and meatballs, and I'm adding mushrooms, olives, and onions to the sauce…"

"Great. Fantastic."

"Still not helping…Okay. What's wrong, sweetie?"

Brad chose that moment to poke his head out. "Hey, James. Something going on?"

I shrugged my shoulders in response.

"Oh, gotcha. Girl trouble."

I shrugged again.

"Katie and Lauren?"

Another shrug.

"What'd they do? Still at war with each other? Who's winning?"

I groaned. Clearly he wasn't going to shut up.

"Come on." Brad walked over to me and steered me into the kitchen, pushing me down into a chair. "Brooke, out. This is guy time."

Mom shot him a weird look, but nevertheless headed into the living room. Brad walked over to the fridge and pulled out the milk, getting down two glasses. He poured us both a glass of milk and added chocolate mix to them.

"I almost feel like I should give you a shot of brandy instead," he said, a little sheepishly as he set my glass down in front of me. "You look like you could use it. This is probably the next best thing, though."

"Thanks," I said quietly, taking a sip of my chocolate milk. It did seem a little young for the situation, but chocolate milk had fixed everything when I was younger, so why couldn't it do that now?

"So, what's up?" Brad asked me, fixing his eyes on me.

I sighed, drinking a little more. "Katie told me this morning that she wants to be friends – just friends – with me. Anyway, I asked her to hang out with me after school."

"And she got the wrong idea?"

"No. Lauren did. I told Lauren about it at Katie's urging so that she wouldn't get pissed – sorry, angry – at me. Anyway, Katie and I went to Burger Mania to grab food and just chill, you know? Well, Lauren showed up…And she didn't think she did anything wrong. I drove her home and we got into a fight about it. She's decided she's going to try to trust me with Katie, but I don't know…I don't think it's over."

Brad sipped on his own chocolate milk, mulling it over. At last, he said, "I seriously doubt it is. I haven't met either of these girls, but from the sounds of it, Katie's an outright bitch, and Lauren's a closeted one. Those are the worst kind, believe me."

"She keeps using the whole I don't trust Katie, she wants you excuse, which is total bullshit – sorry, B.S."

"You can cuss," Brad told me. "I'm not your mom, I won't kick your ass for it. Anyway, it sounds like Lauren's really insecure about your relationship with Katie. What does Lauren look like?"

"About 5'5, blonde, blue eyes, really pretty."

"And Katie?"

"Maybe 5'1, tops, brunette, brown eyes…beautiful."

Brad's eyebrows shot up. "What exactly is your relationship with Katie?" he asked me curiously. "Your mom told me you two like each other but…"

"We've made out a few times and fooled around," I admitted.

"Before Lauren?"

"The fooling around…yeah."

"But the making out…?"

"We made out twice on New Year's Eve…"

"Oh…wow…"

"Yeah. We were arguing and it happened, and then I went and got her when one of the guys at our school, Jett Stetson, was making a pass at her, and things just kind of got intense."

"A lot of sexual tension?"

"I – yeah. I guess you could call it that…"

"It sounds really complicated," he commented, raising his glass to his lips again.

"It is. And while I get why Lauren's so insecure about Katie, I wish she wouldn't be. I'd like her more if she wasn't."

"Until you break up with Lauren or you push Katie out of your life, this problem isn't going to go away, no matter how much you wish it would," Brad told me gently. "So you need to figure out which girl you like more. But don't do anything before Friday," he added with a laugh. "Because your mom will kill you if you break up with Lauren before she gets the chance to try out her new lasagna recipe."

"I'm so glad my happiness is being exchanged for lasagna."

"James, happiness is lasagna," he said seriously, and I cracked a small grin.

Katie kept her distance over the next couple of days, only approaching me in the classes we actually had together. According to Camille, she had a competition the Saturday afternoon before the hockey game and was in the midst of training extra hard so that she would be prepared for it.

I used the time to try to repair my relationship with Lauren, who was more than willing, but that in itself made me want to push her away. I found myself missing Katie, and as much as I hated to admit it, I would have gladly traded my time with Lauren for a few extra minutes with Katie. I kept telling myself that I would gauge Brad's and my mom's reaction to Lauren and talk to both of them before I broke up with her. And besides, there was always a chance that Lauren would relax once she met my mom. She might have just been nervous about having to spend the evening with her and being judged. Not that I thought my mom would be judgmental towards her, but Lauren didn't know that.

"I just don't want to be compared to Katie," she explained to me on Thursday afternoon. She had been waiting for hockey practice to end, hoping to talk to me. We had ended up going to Creamy Delish, a milkshake, frozen yogurt, and ice cream place, had gotten food, and were now sitting on one of the bright red leather couches pressed up against the wall. Creamy Delish was decorated in reds, yellows, and oranges, chairs and couches spread out around the room, tables placed between them at different intervals.

I blinked at her as I sipped on my chocolate milkshake. "Lauren, you're nothing like Katie."

"No, I know that. What I mean is, your mom's met Katie, your friends all like her – "

"Not really."

"Your brother likes her, he's dating her best friend – "

"Kyle and Katie aren't actually talking right now."

"And she fits in, whereas I don't."

"What're you talking about? You have a ton of friends."

"I meant with your friends. They really don't like me."

"They don't really know you. All they've seen is you being a bitch about Katie, and she's Kendall's twin sister. Of course you're not going to be their favorite person in the world. You need to let them give you a chance."

"I know that. I just…it's easier to hate her than to admit that maybe I just don't want to be compared to her."

"That won't happen. Just be your own person and they won't care if you suddenly grew an extra head."

"James…are we cool?"

I glanced at her. "Of course we are."

"I'm serious, James, I want an actual answer. You've been pretty distant lately, and I know it's pretty much all my fault."

"We're doing better than we were a few days ago," I said after a moment.

"Okay. Um…I know you and Katie kissed on New Year's Eve."

I froze, gaping at her, my cup's straw halfway to my mouth.

"And I – I know it was probably just a spur of the moment thing," she added quickly. "But…um…yeah. I kind of knew and that's where part of the problem is coming in. Has it happened since then?"

I shook my head. "No. I promise it hasn't. I'm so sorry…it just…happened…"

"I figured. And if it hasn't happened since then…I guess I can let it go."

"I'm really, really sorry."

"You said that. It's…it's okay. As long as it only happened on New Year's Eve then…I guess I can deal with it."

"Are you – are you sure? I mean…if you can't…"

"No, I can. I just had to get that off my chest. James, I know I'm not Katie. I know we don't have the same kind of chemistry that you two have. But I do care about you and I really like you."

"I care about you too," I said honestly.

"So, we're okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, we're okay."

"Good." She kissed me quickly. "We're still on for tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, my mom's excited. She's trying out a new lasagna recipe, so we get to be guinea pigs. We're screwed."

Lauren laughed. "I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"Oh, it will be that bad. So be prepared for the inevitable call for pizza."

She shook her head, still giggling.

The next morning started out bad, and then just got worse. I had had a nightmare that Katie and Lauren had gotten into a huge catfight, and then decided it wasn't worth it and had both dumped me. Then Shane had used up all the hot water, and we were all out of frozen waffles, which I'm absolutely addicted to. The clicker was when I went out to my car and discovered that the battery was dead.

After a lot of cussing and trying to figure out if we had enough time to jumpstart the car, my mom told Shane and me to just get in her car and she'd give us a ride to school.

"Don't worry about your car," she said to me as she made the turn to get onto the road leading to the high school. "Brad's coming over in a few hours and he'll help me jumpstart it."

"Thanks," I said gratefully, leaning my head against the headrest. "And thanks for the ride."

"Yeah, thanks, Mom," Shane piped up from the backseat.

Mom chuckled, taking her eyes off the road long enough to smile at both of us. "You're very welcome. Oh, here we are." She pulled up in front of the school to let us off, just as Lauren got out of her own car.

"Oh, hey, there's Lauren," Shane announced to Mom as we climbed out.

"Call her over here," Mom suggested to me. "Hang on, I'll find a parking spot. You have a few minutes before class, right?"

"Yeah…"

She beamed at me and quickly parked the car in a nearby spot, before joining Shane and me, just as Lauren reached us.

"Hey," Lauren greeted us, before turning to Mom. "Hi, you must be Mrs. Diamond. I'm Lauren."

Mom smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you, Lauren. I've heard so much about you from James. And I understand you're coming over for dinner tonight?"

She nodded. "That's the plan, unless something's changed."

"Not that I know of. Anyway, it was nice meeting you. I'm just dropping the boys off because James' car battery died this morning."

"Oh, that sucks."

"It does. Well, I'll just be – oh, here's Katie."

I glanced around and sure enough, Katie was walking towards us, short plaid skirt whipping around her black tight covered thighs, boot heels clacking against the ground as she walked. It really wasn't fair that she was so beautiful…it just wasn't.

Katie reached level with us and smiled at Mom. "Hey, Mrs. Diamond. What're you doing here?"

"James' car battery died, so I had to give him and Shane a ride to school."

"Ah, okay. Hey, guys." She grinned at Shane and me, before nodding at Lauren. "Lauren."

"Katie," Lauren replied stiffly.

"How are you, sweetie?" Mom asked Katie.

"I'm doing good. I've got the house to myself for the weekend since my mom had to go out of town on a business trip."

My shit's about to go down radar went into overdrive the second she said that. I could almost see the wheels cranking in Mom's head, and I knew just what she was going to say to Katie before she could get it out of her mouth.

"You're home alone tonight?"

Katie nodded. "I am."

"No plans?"

"Not at the moment."

"Then you should come over tonight. Lauren's going to be having dinner with us, and I'm trying out a new lasagna recipe."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to intrude…" But I could see the way her eyes were glittering, the tiniest of smirks playing around her mouth as Lauren's expression turned into a small scowl.

"Oh, don't worry about it, honey," Mom assured her, waving her hand airily. "You wouldn't be intruding at all. In fact – Shane, if you want to, you can invite Kyle over."

I slowly raised my hand to cover my face, shaking my head. This wasn't going to end well…

Shane paused. "Um…I don't know…He might be busy…"

"Well, if he isn't, invite him over. This is going to be so much fun! And, Katie, you can bring someone if you want to."

Lauren's scowl slid off her face, replaced by a smirk to rival Katie's. "Yeah, Katie…you could bring someone. A date. Someone besides my boyfriend. How about Je – "

Katie turned her head, shooting a death glare at Lauren. "Why would I need to bring your boyfriend when he's the one hosting it? And why would I bring a date? Do I look desperate or needy to you? Unlike some people, I don't need to prove how hot I am."

"Well, whatever you decide to do, it'll be fine," Mom said to Katie as if she was completely oblivious to the battle that was going down right under her nose. "So, I'll see you both at seven tonight."

"See you then," Katie chirped, while Lauren nodded, smiling at Mom.

Mom smiled at both girls before heading back to her car.

The second Mom was out of sight, Lauren rounded on Katie. "What the hell? How did you manage to get yourself invited?!"

"I thought you were going to tolerate her…" I started.

"I never said anything about tolerating her. I said I'd trust you with her. Nothing about toleration."

"I'm getting a headache…"

"What's the matter?" Katie smirked at Lauren. "Jealous that I got a personal invitation from Brooke Diamond?"

"Please. Just because she likes you doesn't mean anything."

Katie snorted. "Uh, it means a lot."

"Whatever. I want Mrs. Diamond to like me, so don't ruin it."

"I'll be my usual charming self."

"Oh, God, we're screwed."

"Oh, God, yes you are. Anyway, I'm not coming over to ruin your meeting with the family. I'm coming over because otherwise I'm going to be stuck home alone tonight."

"Well, maybe if you didn't piss off everyone in your life…"

Katie rolled her eyes before turning to me. "Seriously, how do you deal with her?"

"She doesn't actually hate me," I responded.

"Ugh. Anyway, I'm going to head inside. See you guys in PE." She grinned at us, before making her way towards the first building.

Lauren rounded on me. "What the hell are we going to do?"

"Go to homeroom."

"I meant with tonight. Katie's coming over."

"Oh, God, the apocalypse is coming." I rolled my eyes. "Relax. Everything's going to be fine."

"You better be right, because I have a bad feeling about this. I can't believe she said yes…"

"She was bored and lonely."

"Then she can get a puppy! I want to make a good impression."

"You and Katie just started arguing in front of my mom. That's not the definition of making a good impression."

She groaned. "Great. I'll just have to make it up to her tonight. What does your mom like?"

"Black high heels. Red wine. Hot firefighters."

Lauren gave me a weird look. "Hot firefighters?"

"Yeah, she's dating one. Brad. You'll meet him tonight."

"Right…well, I can't give her any of those things. Give me something else."

"How about just be nice and don't start attacking Katie in front of her?" I suggested. "I hear that works once in awhile."

"If you weren't so cute you would be an annoying smartass," she informed me. "Anyway, I'm going to head in, too. See you in PE."

The second she was out of sight, Shane spun around to face me. "Do you really think everything's going to be fine?"

"Hell, no. Tonight's going to be a fucking disaster."

"That's what I thought. I'm texting Kyle to ask him to come over. He'll kill me if he misses this." Shane snickered as I flipped him off, making my way towards the school as well.

Shit was about to go down tonight.

Yeah, James pretty much echoed a lot of opinions...Anyway, what do you guys think is going to happen? Think shit's really going to go down? Feel free to review and let me know! :)