"You didn't to have to return so quickly," Logan chastised when he picked Kendall up from the airport late that afternoon. "What are you going to be able to do? Bring Carlos home?"

"More than I can do in LA. I get a frantic phone call from Alexa that she hasn't been able to get in touch with Carlos for days and the news from you that he hasn't been home for days because of a fight between him and James. What am I supposed to do? I can't stay in LA. Now, tell me about the fight."

"The fight was nothing, really. I was a bit drunk, but James was very drunk. It was just a drunk fight. Not having talked to Carlos about it, I don't know his side of the fight."

"I'm never leaving you guys alone again."

"Hey! I think we did pretty well for ourselves. We didn't burn the house down. This would have happened whether you were here or not."

When Logan pulled into the cabin's garage they were greeted with a guest and no, that guest was not Carlos, unfortunately.

"What's going on with Carlos?" Alexa bombarded the guys the very second they got out of the SUV. "Camille called me, but all she said was that James and Carlos got in a fight and he hasn't been home since."

"That's pretty much it," Logan said.

"This isn't like Carlos." Alexa followed them into the cabin. "Something else has to be going on."

"You don't think?" Logan shared a look with Alexa. "Nah, Carlos wouldn't do that."

"Have you met these boys?" She asked.

"I didn't really get a chance at the party. Have you?"

"No."

"I did," Kendall spoke up. He scrunched his nose trying to think of a way to describe them.

"You don't like them?" Alexa questioned.

Kendall shook his head.

"Oh boy. You don't think, you don't think Carlos is out there lying in some ditch waiting to die, do you?" She asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Kendall replied plainly.

Alexa practically ripped her phone from her pocket and quickly dialed a phone number.

"Come on, Carlos, come on!" She kept repeating tears welling up in her eyes. She hung up the phone but didn't put it away. She just stared at it. Kendall pulled her in for a hug.

"It's going to be okay," he said to her.

"Hey, what's going on?" James entered the foyer where the three were gathered. "Why is Alexa crying? Is something wrong with Carlos? Is he-?"

"We don't know," Logan answered. "Where have you been all day?"

"Church," James said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What is going on? Why are Kendall and Alexa here?"

"I live here?" Kendall said.

Alexa glared hard at James.

"This is about Carlos, isn't it?"

Kendall gave James a duh look.

"OK, it is. I'm sorry for whatever I did. I don't even know what I did. But, him not being here, it's not my fault. Stop trying to make me feel guilty!"

"No one's trying to make you feel guilty," Logan spoke up. "It's not you. It's those guys he hangs out with."

The four of them had ended up in the living room and sat down on the brown leather couch with James taking the recliner.

"We could file a missing person's report," Kendall suggested. "He is sort of a missing person. We don't know where he is. We haven't seen or heard from him in three days, right?"

"I know where he is. He's with those guys!" Logan said.

"We don't know that for sure. He won't answer our phone calls."

"Do you think he's avoiding us?" James asked.

"Why me? I didn't do anything to him. The last thing I said to him was to have fun at the party and that I love him. He said he loves me, too. We didn't fight. I didn't say anything to make him mad, I don't think."

"It's not you," Logan patted Alexa on the back. "It's those boys."

"Why don't we wait until tomorrow," James said. "If we don't hear anything from Carlos tonight we'll call the police in the morning."

"What's the difference in today and tomorrow?" Kendall asked.

James shrugged.

"You guys don't mind if I stay here?" Alexa asked.

"Of course not," all three boys said at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Logan said quietly.

"It's not your fault."

"So…" Kendall went on. "What do we do?"

"We—" began James when they heard the front door open.

Everyone went silent as they watched Carlos walk into the living room and head up the stairs. He said nothing to them. He made no motion that he even noticed they were there. He looked like he hadn't showered or slept in days. He wore the same clothes he wore Thursday. He wasn't even wearing his helmet.

"Woah," Logan breathed when Carlos disappeared upstairs.

Alexa stood up to go after him, but Kendall grabbed her arm to stop her.

"He's—I have to—"

Kendall shook his head.

"Where's your helmet?" James blurted out when Carlos came back downstairs carrying a bag of something.

"My what?" Carlos asked leaving the second word long and drawn out.

"Why don't you answer when we call?" Alexa asked.

"Lost my phone," Carlos replied. He continued toward the front door.

"No. No, you don't get to just leave again." Alexa jumped in front of him causing him to stumble back. "You have been missing since Thursday night. We are your friends and we're worried about you."

"Nothing to worry about, man."

"We used to talk every day, but I haven't had a conversation with you since Thursday. You don't get to tell me there's nothing to worry about." Alexa tapped his chest with every word of the last sentence.

"Hey, I'm good. You really don't need to worry."

Alexa looked into Carlos's eyes which were red and tired. Part of her wanted to wrap him in a tight hug and never let go while the other wanted to knock him through the wall.

"I love you so I'll worry if I want to. Now, you don't just get to leave without telling us where you're going."

"Out."

Alexa reared back and slapped Carlos across the cheek harder than Camille would ever consider.

"What was that for?"

"I hate you." She stormed up the stairs and into one of the guest bedrooms.

"What did I do?"

James, Logan, and Kendall exchanged looks.

Kendall took Alexa's place in front of Carlos and grabbed his arm.

"I'll let you go, man, but you gotta tell us where you're going. We are your friends and we care about you."

"Fine." He thought for a second. "John's house."

"Like we know where that is," James muttered.

"Not my problem."

"Fine, go. Get yourself killed. See if I care!" James shouted.

"Like you would care!" Carlos shouted back.

"Oh, what does that mean?"

"You don't care. You don't give one shit about me. You proved that Thursday night." And with that Carlos walked out of the living room and out the front door.

"Well that went well," Logan said.

Kendall ran up the stairs and knocked on the door to the bedroom Camille and Jo had stayed in.

"Alexa?" He opened the door quietly. The girl sat on the bed clutching a pillow with tears in her eyes. "You don't hate him."

"No. That's why this is killing me." After wiping her eyes she looked at Kendall. "You know what I saw when I looked in his eyes?" She swallowed. "I think he's high and looks like he might have been for a while."

"Damn it!" Kendall threw the other pillow on the bed across the room. "I knew those boys were trouble."

"Hey," Jo said when Kendall signed onto Face Talk later that night. The one thing he made sure to bring back from LA this time was his laptop. Seeing Jo on a screen bigger than his phone was benefit. "What's wrong?"

"Carlos."

"Yeah?"

"He came home today."

"That's good, right?"

"He came and he left after a small confrontation with Alexa and James."

"Where has he been?"

"With those boys." Kendall rubbed his face. "This break was such a huge mistake."

"Oh, Kendall." She ran her hand over the screen. "Imagine this is me running my hand over your cheek."

"Thanks, Jo." He kissed the screen. "And imagine I just kissed your hand."

"I love you."

"I know. Alexa thinks Carlos is using drugs."

"Woah, that's a big accusation."

Kendall nodded. "She claims she saw it in his eyes when they were fighting. Carlos is like a brother, no not like, he is a brother to me. If anything happened to him I don't know…"

"I know all four of you are very close. Camille, Lucy, and I are actually jealous of how close you are."

"Really? We don't mean to make you jealous."

"I don't try to be, but you got to admit…"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Really. They're your brothers, I know."

"I feel like this is my fault. I let him go with those guys. I led him straight to the drugs, basically."

"No, you didn't. You didn't know. You said you met them that day at the skate park? They seemed okay to you then. Don't blame yourself."

"I wish you were here. Gosh, I need you here to comfort me."

"I'm here." She pointed to her webcam. "I'll be here all night if you need me."

Kendall lay down on the bed placing his laptop next to him so the webcam got his face and he was able to see Jo comfortably. He was ready for bed, but he wasn't ready to go to bed.

"Little too close."

Kendall zoomed out on the webcam.

"Better. I like seeing your face, but I don't have to count your pores."

"My pores are nice."

"Eh, I bet James has better ones."

Kendall rolled his eyes. "You're probably right about that."

"How is James? Didn't Logan say he went to church this morning?"

"He was there all day! Something's going on with him, I don't know."

"It's a good thing, right?"

"Yes, this is a good change. I just never expected it nor do I have a clue what prompted it."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"Haven't had a chance. We've been so consumed with Carlos and after he left we all had hurt feelings that we really didn't feel like talking." Kendall sighed. "I can't believe they're going in completely opposite directions."