(A/N): I'm so sorry it took so long to get this up! But it's here! For Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day and for those of you with special people to share it with…. You're lucky… Anyways, so I was planning on getting this posted later today, but my 8:30 AM class got cancelled, but I still got up for it so I had time to finish this and post. I should be studying for my exam later today or the one tomorrow, but I'm not. Thank you to these people for your reviews: Dreamer1992 (Yeah… James is gonna need some help. But, things are changing in this chapter….) and Sugarcazed (My birthday passed now, but the concert isn't until later this month. I'm SO excited for it! And here's the chapter!). Also, a thank you to Loganator-JR who sent me a PM about this story (Thank you so much for all of those complements on this story! I honestly didn't think a lot of people were gonna like it. I thought I had way too many OCs. But most of them are just side ones anyways, so that might help. Plus, I don't introduce them all at once. A lot of people prefer Lorina over Jamina. That's actually what I hoped for. Glad to hear that I've got another reader!). I still don't own Big Time Rush, but I do own Katrina. She is my idea and no one else's. And now, ONTO THE STORY!
Chapter 52: There's A Change Coming….
Everyone was gathered around the long table in the conference room. It was quiet except for the occasional turn of a page of the new script that they had gotten. Katrina was slowly falling asleep again because she was so bored.
"I thought you told us that the person from 'Cuda was here!" Gustavo turned to Cecil, glaring at him.
"She's here," Cecil assured them. "She's just taking her time to get in this room." He seemed as annoyed as Gustavo was.
As the adults and Katie began their debate as to when everything would actually start, the teens were losing attention. Katrina was fighting falling asleep as she held her head up with her hand. She wasn't even looking at the script as she flipped page after page. Carlos had fallen asleep, his helmet keeping his forehead from hitting the table. Kendall was playing a game on his phone, completely tuned out from the others. Logan had given up on being subtle and was point blank staring at Katrina with a tired, goofy smile on his face.
James was the only one of the teens that was paying attention, but not to the debate. He was looking back and forth between Logan and Katrina, fully intent on figuring out what to do with his new task. His face lit up as he got an idea and looked around the room. Once he found what he was looking for, he smiled.
"Hey, Logan," James whispered as he nudged Logan who was seated next to him.
"What?" Logan jumped in shock as he turned to look at James. "I wasn't staring at Katrina. Why would I be staring at Katrina? I've got a girlfriend and Katrina doesn't like me anymore. She likes you." Logan scowled as he looked down at his script. Surprisingly, no one had heard this admission of guilt besides James.
"Um, I was gonna say that you should get Katrina some coffee from there," James pointed over to a nearby table with a coffee pot and donuts. "She likes her coffee with two packets of sugar."
"Why don't you get it then?" Logan snapped. "You obviously know her better. Plus, you're her 'boyfriend'." He scowled again as he turned the page of his script angrily.
"I, um, can't," James insisted. "I have to tie my shoe." Logan gave him a confused look as James disappeared under the table.
"I've got weird friends," Logan realized as he looked over at Katrina. She looked ready to pass out from exhaustion. Figuring that one cup of coffee wasn't a betrayal to Camille, he got up, prepared the coffee with two sugars and set the cup right next to Katrina. She looked up at him in confusion. He gave her a sympathetic smile, "Sorry we have to be up so early."
"I should be saying that to you," Katrina replied. She grabbed the cup and took a sip. Then, she smiled at him. "Thanks."
"No problem," Logan told her before going back to his seat. That was when James popped back up from underneath the table. This time, Katrina and Kendall noticed too. The cousins raised their eyebrows simultaneously.
"I was tying my shoe," James insisted. Kendall laughed a little, shaking his head at James's stupidity and going back to his game.
"I'm not even gonna ask," Katrina told him as she sipped her coffee and started going through the script, suddenly seeming more awake than before. Everyone went back to being quiet with the occasional snore from Carlos and debating between the adults and Katie. Logan went back to studying the script while James sat back in his chair.
"Wait, what's this on page three?" Logan asked. Everyone except Carlos looked at him. Kendall nudged Carlos awake.
"Wha-What'd I do?" Carlos asked groggily.
"Page three," Katrina mumbled as she searched through her own script. "Let's see." She looked down page three. Her face went pale. "What's this about a kiss?"
"KISS?" James, Kendall and Carlos looked at their page three.
Suddenly, the door opened and a woman walked in, "That would be my cue to come talk to all of you."
"And here she is," Cecil announced. "This is Ms. Applebee. She's from 'Cuda and she's here to give you the lowdown." Ms. Applebee gave the group a welcome smile as she joined them at the table, placing her briefcase on it.
"There was nothing about a kiss in the first script!" Katrina exclaimed, suddenly fully awake.
"Yeah, well, the song gave us inspiration to add it in," Ms. Applebee responded. "You know, add some spice to it. The only thing we didn't plan on was WHO was going to kiss you. We wanted the kiss to be as real as possible, so I've been watching you to see which boy you had the most chemistry with." Logan suddenly looked down at his script, face getting pale.
"Just so you know, she's my cousin so there's no way I'm kissing her," Kendall insisted. Both he and Katrina looked disgusted at the thought.
"Don't worry, you weren't picked," Ms. Applebee responded. "Logan was."
Everyone looked at Logan to see how he would act. Logan spoke up, "But I have a girlfriend."
Gustavo got to his feet as he yelled out, "BAND MEETING! NOW!" The guys didn't think twice as they ran from the room, Gustavo following behind. Katrina looked at Kelly who shrugged, indicating that she didn't know what was going on either.
Outside the room, Gustavo closed the door and glared at the boys.
"You," Gustavo started menacingly, pointing at Logan. "You're gonna kiss Katrina."
"But she's not my girlfriend," Logan mentioned.
"I DON'T CARE!" Gustavo yelled.
"Logan," Kendall tried. "You're just acting. Camille out of all people should understand that since she's an actress."
"Dude," Carlos added. "This is your chance to figure out if you really do still like Katrina without making Camille mad!"
"But-" Logan started.
"Don't you ever wonder what would have happened if you had picked Katrina?" James asked. Logan sighed as he nodded. "Now, you can find out if you picked the right girl! Just do it!"
"Fine," Logan gave in. "Just give me a chance to explain to Camille before photos get leaked." Logan pulled out his cell phone and searched for Camille's number in his contacts as he walked away. Gustavo happily led Carlos, James and Kendall back into the meeting room.
"Logan's agreed to it," Gustavo announced. Katrina flashed a quick smile, but it disappeared before anyone could see it. Gustavo and the boys sat back in their seats.
"Now that that's taken care of," Ms. Applebee spoke to them. "I bet you boys are wondering why the hallway looks like one from your old high school." Kendall, James and Carlos nodded. "Well, we've been researching you four too. You guys were popular there, weren't you? Because you won a lot of hockey games?" The three nodded as Logan walked in and retook his seat. "We're trying to get the young demographic to buy this perfume so by basically assuming that you are the Gods of your school, more girls will buy the perfume to get the popular guys to fall for them."
"That still doesn't answer why you replicated a hallway from our high school," Logan noted.
"Comfort," Ms. Applebee responded. "You're more likely to be comfortable in a familiar setting. Any more questions?" When no one said anything, she went on, "Okay. Let's run through the script and then you five will report to wardrobe." The entire group at the table flipped to the first page of the script and began to read.
Carlos, Logan, Kendall and James walked out of wardrobe dressed in their normal hockey outfits. They were quickly directed over to the hallway set. There, they waited for Katrina to come out of wardrobe.
"How long does it take for a girl to get dressed?" Kendall complained.
"Girls don't just put on an outfit and are fine," a voice answered before any of the guys could. They looked over and saw Katrina standing there. "We have to do make-up, hair, nails and jewelry. Not to mention that since I'm a model and I make money on looks, I have to work even harder to make it look perfect."
"I didn't mean-" Kendall starts.
"Of course you didn't," Katrina still looked angry. "There's more to modeling than just sitting there, looking pretty. Just like there's more to being a boy band than singing."
"I'm not saying it's easy," Kendall insisted, looking around for a way to get away from Katrina's wrath. "In fact, you have it worse than all of us."
Katrina seemed shocked that Kendall would admit that, "Um, yeah. Yeah, I do! Now, what do you guys think of my outfit?" She stepped back so the guys could get a good look at her outfit. She had a jean miniskirt on that showed off her legs well. She had knee high socks; one was maroon while the other was gold. Her feet were also covered by white tennis shoes. Her top was a smaller version of the guys' maroon and gold jerseys with an 'M' on the front. It was tucked into her skirt to keep it tight on her body. Her highlighted hair was put up in low pigtail braids with some gold ribbon twisted in. She looked like she was ready for a pep rally at the guys' old high school.
"You look good," James complimented her, giving her a flirtatious smile. This caused Kendall to elbow him in the stomach. "Ow! What was that for?" Kendall glared at him. "Oh wait. That. Right." Carlos, Logan and Katrina watched the two boys in confusion.
"What's going on?" Logan asked.
James and Kendall exchanged a look before they answered, "Nothing."
"Okay, now I KNOW something is going on!" Katrina insisted. "When someone says nothing is going on, there is ALWAYS something! Out with it!" She crossed her arms as she waited for an answer. Logan and Carlos mimicked her.
Kendall and James were saved from answering her by Cecil who called the group over. They raced over to him before Carlos, Logan or Katrina could stop them.
"Want to do some detective work?" Katrina asked the boys that were standing beside her.
"Yep," Logan and Carlos agreed.
"Katrina, Logan, Carlos!" Cecil called out to them. "Get over here! We're starting our filming!" The three teens looked at each other before running over to him.
"How can you be comfortable in this outfit?" Logan asked James. All four guys were dressed in similar outfits that James had worn in the original advertisement. Although this time, the toga stretched up to cover one side of their bodies, making a sleeve to hold up the bottom better. This was added only because the boys were expected to dance in the commercial and they didn't want any wardrobe malfunctions. Another difference was that the outfits were given color along with the white base. Each of the boys had a different color added to their outfit. Kendall had maroon, gold for James, Carlos was given blue and Logan had green.
"Doesn't it look like we belong on these thrones?" James was too excited to answer Logan. He was sitting in one of the thrones that were set up on the 'cloud' set.
"It's cold in here," Carlos was shivering with his arms crossed. He still had his helmet on, even though Gustavo had told him to take it off.
"Maybe Cecil can turn up the temperature," Kendall looked around for their director who was nowhere in sight.
"You guys need something?" Katie suddenly showed up beside them. "Cause Katrina's still in wardrobe. Her outfit is a little more delicate than yours."
"Actually," Kelly walked up to the group. "Katrina's on her way here. They brought in some reinforcements to help her. Cecil wants to rehearse a couple things before we start filming."
"You mean the kiss, right?" Logan replied. Kelly nodded as Katrina, Gustavo and Cecil joined them. Katrina's outfit was covered by a white robe, so the guys had no idea how she was dressed. Her hair was as it had been in the previous advertisement though, so they assumed that the outfit was too. This time though, the flowers in the wreath were covered in pink lilies. The hairdressers had also added some pink extensions into her hair. The skin that was showing had gold glitter attached, making her sparkle in the light. Her eyes had extra gold color added around it with flashes of pink. A pale pink covered her lips, but sparkles were added to them too.
"DOG!" Gustavo yelled, grabbing all four guys' attentions. "Helmet off!" Carlos shook his head as his hands went up to hold onto his helmet.
"Relax Gustavo," Katrina told him. "I got this." She smirked as she walked up to the confused boy. "Carlos. If you take off your helmet for the commercial, I'll give you access to the puppy room at Penny's Pet Care." Carlos looked at her in contemplation. "Look, you don't have to take it off now. We have to rehearse first anyways."
"He has to take it off NOW!" Gustavo yelled.
"No, he doesn't," Katrina turned to the producer. "Give the boy a break." All four boys watched her with confused looks on their faces. Katrina and Gustavo got up in each other's faces, neither backing down.
"Fine!" Gustavo finally broke. "As long as it's off for the commercial." Katrina backed away from him with a victorious smile on her face.
"Okay, since that's settled," Cecil began, "There are a few things that we need to rehearse before we actually get started on filming. I understand that you boys have a dance for the song now, right?" He looked at Gustavo who nodded the response for the boys. "Okay, good. That'll shorten the time. Did Katrina join you for it?" This time, Katrina nodded too. "Even better. We're going to rehearse that later. First, we want to check and make sure that Katrina's outfit doesn't rip while she's dancing with you guys. If it does, we'll have to get another outfit for her. Well, Katrina, you can take off that robe now. We should get started."
Katrina sighed as she started to carefully take off the robe to show the guys the outfit she was given to wear. Her outfit was made of a silky material. It was a white color that reflected the light when it moved. It was a two-piece outfit. The top and bottom were separated to show her stomach which was also covered in gold glitter. Her skirt was layered to make it look loose, but was pinned together so it wouldn't fall off. The top was tight and had one strap going across the right shoulder. The whole top ended right above her stomach like it was part of a two-piece bathing suit. The edges of her outfit were lined with gold ribbon and some of the main material had pink flashes added in. Katrina didn't seem very happy with her outfit since she immediately crossed her arms and began squirming uncomfortably as she stared down at the ground.
"I'm suddenly warm now," Carlos mentioned. Logan and James didn't respond. They were too busy staring with their jaws dropped.
"Why does she have to wear something like that?" Kendall seemed to notice how uncomfortable she was because he started fighting for his cousin. "She's only sixteen! She shouldn't be wearing something that exposes that much of her!"
"Kendall, it's okay," Katrina assured him. "This is what models do." Her words seemed to contradict her actions since she was still squirming around and keeping her eyes away from the other three staring boys.
"No," Kendall insisted. "It's not okay. Do you really want that response?" Kendall pointed over at his staring friends. Carlos, James and Logan looked down at their feet, ashamed of their actions. Kendall turned to Cecil. "Aren't you trying to get girls to buy this perfume? Do you really want them to get the thought that it's okay to wear an outfit like that? What if she was your daughter?" Kendall grabbed the robe from Katrina and wrapped it around her before turning to his friends. "And you guys aren't helping."
"Thanks," Katrina told Kendall with a slight smile. She pulled the robe even tighter around her as if it would change the outfit underneath.
"We're family," Kendall responded with a shrug like it wasn't a big deal. "We protect each other."
"Which is why my client will say no to this commercial unless you give her a better outfit," Katie added, turning to Cecil with determination on her face.
Cecil sighed in defeat, "Just let me make some phone calls." He walked away as he pulled out his cell phone and started to dial a number.
"I should go change," Katrina announced. She gave Kendall another thanking smile before she rushed off the set. Kelly and Katie followed her, but Gustavo held back.
"Guh-" Gustavo stammered. The guys watched him expectantly. "Gouhd juaht." He cleared his throat before trying again, "Good job." He patted Kendall's shoulder before he walked off.
"Uh, Kendall, can I talk with you for a second?" James grabbed Kendall's arm before pulling him out of earshot of both Logan and Carlos.
"I know what you're gonna say and the answer is no," Kendall told him as soon as they were alone.
"What was I gonna say?" James asked.
"You were gonna ask if you could date Katrina instead of getting her with Logan," Kendall responded.
"Why not?" James demanded.
"Two reasons," Kendall replied. "One, Katrina would never go for it." James frowned in defeat and agreement. "And two, you made this mess in the first place. Do you really think I'd let you date my cousin again?"
"Well, it was worth a shot," James mumbled. "But you do realize this is gonna be hard to do alone."
"Yep," Kendall nodded, "Which is why I'm gonna help you. After I talk to Evan."
"You got a hold of Evan?" James seemed surprised. "When did that happen?"
"It hasn't," Kendall told him, "But if we can only get a hold of a car and an adult that won't ask questions, then Logan can get us to that pier. I think that's where he is."
"Why can't you just ask your mom?" James asked. "She would probably like to know where her nephew is."
"Yeah, she would," Kendall agreed, "But she would also drag him back home with us. Evan wouldn't want that. So, we're keeping him a secret from my mom."
"Maybe we can ask Gustavo to use the limo," James suggested. "Then, we don't have to worry about a driver."
"And if something happens to the limo, Gustavo would kill us," Kendall retorted.
"True," James responded.
"What are you two talking about?" Carlos suddenly showed up beside them, looking back and forth between Kendall and James. Logan was standing next to him, as confused as Carlos.
"Evan," Kendall and James answered truthfully.
"We need to get a car," Kendall added.
Before Logan, Carlos or James could respond, Cecil walked up to them.
"Okay, they're gonna change Katrina's outfit," Cecil informed them. "But they're not gonna have it ready for a week. Before we go though, we want to practice that kiss and make sure that you guys can move in your outfits without having any malfunctions." The guys looked down at their outfits. "We just have to wait for Katrina to get back. If you're hungry, we've got some pizza over at the buffet table." It didn't take long for the guys to rush over to the buffet table. "Just be careful with the outfits!" They didn't seem to hear him as they dug into the food.
Katrina came back a half hour later. She still had some glitter on her body, but she was changed back into her comfortable, advertising t-shirt and jean shorts. She plopped down tiredly in a seat next to Logan.
"Pass me some pizza and ranch," Katrina gestured over to the food. Logan slid both over to her. Katrina started loading it onto a plate.
"So that's where Logan picked up that new habit of eating pizza with ranch," Carlos noted with his mouth full of pizza. "From you!" Katrina smirked like she had done something evil.
"It's weird," James mentioned before taking a bite of his own pizza.
"You don't deserve ranch with your pizza!" Katrina retorted. "People that dip their pizza in ranch are awesome!" She and Logan gave each other a high-five.
"Still weird," James commented.
"Have you tried it?" Logan asked.
"No, and I'm not going to," James responded. Kendall and Carlos shook their heads, indicating that they didn't want to try it either.
"Give it up, Logan," Katrina insisted. "They don't know what they're missing." She dipped her pizza into some ranch before taking a bite. She and Logan missed Kendall and James exchange knowing smiles, but Carlos didn't. Carlos looked back and forth between James's and Kendall's sudden whispering and Logan's and Katrina's conversation. That's when Carlos decided to do what he does best. Blurt out the obvious.
"Logan and Katrina look like a couple," Carlos spoke for everyone. Kendall and James burst into laughter while Logan and Katrina started coughing.
"WHAT?" Logan and Katrina exclaimed once they could talk again.
"Before you two had that Camille fight, you two were always talking and laughing and sharing inside stories and kissing," Carlos explained. "You're doing it again. Well, without the kissing." Logan and Katrina took a glance at each other before they stared at Carlos in confusion. "What?"
Before anyone could say anything else, Cecil came over to them.
"Oh, good, Katrina's out of wardrobe," Cecil noticed. "All we really need is Katrina and Logan for this, but the rest of you are welcome to join us for this last part."
"The kiss," Logan and Katrina realized, looking at each other again.
"Are you sure that Camille's okay with this?" Katrina asked him.
"I think so," Logan answered. "She didn't yell at me or said she hated you so, I'm guessing that's a good thing." He and Katrina got to their feet to follow Cecil back over to the set. James, Carlos and Kendall exchanged knowing looks before rushing after them.
"Okay, so here's how it's gonna work," Cecil instructed Logan and Katrina. "We're gonna play Logan's verse of the song. You two are going to do your scripted dance to it until we get to the word 'kiss'. At that point, Logan, you take Katrina in your arms, dip her down and kiss her. Got it?" The teens nodded. "Good. Okay, play the music." Logan and Katrina glanced at each other right as the music started. They went into their choreography. Once it got to the last line, Logan spun Katrina, dipped her down and held her in his arms. Katrina's hands had instinctly clasped each other behind his neck to keep herself from falling.
Logan and Katrina gave each other small smiles before Logan leaned in and kissed her lips. It was like the Camille fight had never happened. Even though both knew that the kiss was just acting, it felt genuine to both of them. More so than Logan's kisses with Camille or Katrina's kisses with James. Carlos, Kendall and James watched with smiles on their faces as they fistbumped each other. When Logan and Katrina didn't separate, Cecil cleared his throat.
Pulling back quickly, Logan looked down at Katrina with wide eyes as if he just realized who he was actually kissing. She turned her head, a confused look etched upon her face. Logan brought her up to a standing position, let go of her and walked off. Kendall, Carlos and James took a glance at Katrina before running after Logan.
"So, how was it?" Carlos asked, completely oblivious to Logan's conflicted look. "Which is better? Katrina or Camille?"
Logan sighed as he turned to his three best friends, "I need your help." His friends stared at him expectantly. "I need to break-up with Camille."
(A/N): FINALLY! Logan realizes he belongs with Katrina and not with Camille! Now, how are they going to break the news to Camille? Oh, and how does Katrina feel about all of this? Even if Logan succeeds in breaking-up with Camille, will Katrina date him? Katrina and Camille are friends and Katrina knows what it's like for a friend to steal a crush. Even if Katrina wants to be with Logan still (which obviously she does), would she turn him down based on moral code? And what about the whole unspoken code to never date a friend's ex? Did the chance for Lorina already pass or is there still a spark of a future? And will the guys find Evan without him running away again? If they do, what questions will he be able to answer or will he just raise even more questions? Will Katrina find out that they know that Evan's alive or will they continue to keep her in the dark? You'll just have to wait to find out! You should know that I have more time to write this during this semester. I can't understand one of my professors, but I still have to go to class for attendance. So, I bring my laptop and work on this during that hour and a half. And I have to stay here this weekend because my sister's coming here to visit a friend and I get to be her chauffeur. That means I'll be stuck with not much to do cause all my exams will be over. So, if things go well, I'll have another update this weekend! Until then, happy reading!