Sitting on the front porch Kendall watched the snow lightly fall. It had been almost a month since he'd talked to Jo. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He didn't want to just give her up, but was he enough over his anger to have a proper conversation with her? Logan had told him what he found out during his little trip to LA, but it didn't help. She said no and that was enough for him.
"Mom, made some hot chocolate." Katie stepped out of the house holding two steaming mugs of the beverage. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving and the guys had decided to host it at their place for all their families. And by host they meant provide the location. No one trusted them to cook the turkey! Katie and his mom flew in last night. The rest of the families would be arriving today.
"This is the one thing I miss living in LA," Katie commented. She sat down in the white wicker chair next to Kendall. "No, not the cold. I don't know how you guys could stand going outside without scarves and gloves."
"Because we're men, Baby Sis."
Katie laughed. "But, the snow is pretty."
Kendall looked at the fat flakes falling. He loved snow and everything it brought with it.
"We should go ice skating later," he suggested.
Katie smiled. She didn't like ice skating as much as Kendall did but she loved hanging out with her older brother.
"And here's Kendall enjoying the snow with his lovely sister." Carlos walked onto the porch with a camcorder attached to his face. "Aw, look the two of them are enjoying hot chocolate together. How sweet."
Katie waved a hand in front of her face. "You do not have my permission to put this up on the internet."
"Aw, Katie, this is good stuff."
"Whatever." She patted her brother on the shoulder and went back inside the house.
"Way to ruin the moment, Carlitos."
"Sorry." Carlos blushed, but changed his expression dramatically when two yellow cabs pulled up in front of the house. He nearly dropped the camcorder as he ran to his family. "Papi! Mami! Cris! Tina! Nina!"
"Carlos!" They all exclaimed as they pulled into six way hug.
Also climbing out of cab #2 were James's mom and Logan's parents.
"You're not wearing a coat," Carlos's mom admonished brushing snow out of her oldest son's hair.
Remembering what he held in his hand, Carlos lifted the camera back up.
"Meet my mom, my dad, and my three younger siblings, Cristian, Cristina, and Carolina."
"Why don't you show us around this place?" Papi asked.
Carlos nodded excitedly. He ran into the house yelling "James! Logan!"
"Are you okay?" Logan shouted back from the top of the stairs.
"Come give your mom and dad a hug," his mom said.
Logan's cheeks turned pink. He hemmed and hawed but eventually came down the stairs and wrapped his arms around his parents earning the obligatory embarrassing kisses from his mom. Carlos smiled at the fact that he recorded every bit of it.
"James, honey!" Brooke called out entering the house behind the Mitchells.
Sweaty James bounded up the stairs and squeezed his mom tightly.
"Oh, uh, Honey, what have you been doing?"
"Working out. I was going to shower before you got here but…you're here now."
Brooke kissed her son on the cheek. "Go shower now."
"K." He kissed her cheek back and left the room.
"There's the lovely Diamonds—mother and son," Carlos narrated.
"You didn't get that on camera?" Logan moved his hand between him and his parents.
"What if I did?"
Logan glared at Carlos. Carlos doubled tapped his helmet and bolted from the room. Hot on his heels, Logan followed.
"How are you, dear?" Joanna asked Kendall. "I heard about Jo."
"So, everyone's talking about it, huh?"
"You are a son to all of us," she said, "as are James, Carlos, and my Logan. I hear you're not giving her a chance to talk."
"Why should I? She said no."
"How long have you been together?"
"I—I don't want to think about it. Not counting when she was in New Zealand about 2 ½ - 3 years, I think," he added after seeing the look on Logan's mother's face. The look her face morphed into told him that perhaps it was Logan who had talked to him, which he found odd. Why would Logan talk to his mom about Kendall's love life?
"She still loves you. You can't just throw this away." She patted his cheek. "I'm going to go see what your mom is up to."
Kendall nodded.
.().
"Score!" Kendall exclaimed as the puck sailed past Carlos's shoulder and into the back of the net. "That's 7 us, 2 you." Us being Kendall, Logan, Katie, and Nina and you being James, Carlos, Cris, and Tina. Cris, Tina, Nina, and Katie didn't actually provide much, but since they were here the guys decided to let them join in on their game.
"Yea!" Katie said sarcastically as she skated around the goal.
"Why don't we take a break?" Carlos asked.
"You're just saying that because you're losing," Kendall said.
James, Logan, and Cris skated over.
"Let's go get some food," James suggested. "We've been here an hour and some of us are losing interest." He motioned to Tina and Nina holding hands and twirling around in circles.
"All right," Kendall reluctantly agreed.
The group of eight found themselves smooshed into a corner booth at the diner next door eating cheeseburgers and chili fries.
"I finally cleared it with Gustavo," Logan spoke around a mouthful of cheese, beef, and bun. "I'll be staying an extra couple of days to take my exams. He already exchanged my ticket."
"I can't believe you want to go to school," Cris commented sipping his chocolate shake. "Once I graduate high school I am done."
"Mami and Papi won't be happy you don't go to college," Carlos said.
"You didn't go to college," Cris pointed out.
"Oooh," rang out among the table.
Carlos didn't know how to respond to that so he didn't say anything.
"Hey, Carlos, why don't you go to school?" Logan asked. "This boy band thing might not last forever and it's always good to have a back-up plan."
"…Since James no longer wants to be in it…" Carlos muttered.
"You no longer want to be in the band?" Katie cried.
James shrugged looking a bit uncomfortable.
"This is your dream."
"I know."
"He doesn't care," Kendall replied.
"What has happened to you guys?" Katie asked.
"Colorado happened," Logan answered.
"Selfish happened," Carlos said.
"Hey, let's not fight, okay," Kendall said. "We decided this is James's decision and we're going to give him space to think."
"Yeah," James agreed.
"That's if he talks to someone," Logan said. "You haven't, have you?"
James slowly shook his head.
.().
"Hey, do we have to watch this?" Logan's older brother, Eugene, slid into the spot on the couch next to James the next morning. Eugene and his family, which included his wife and daughter arrived late last night. "It's just a parade with floats, like you've never seen that before."
"Lucy's performing soon," James said holding firm to the remote.
"Oh, your girlfriend. Well by all means," Eugene sighed and left the room as his two year old daughter, Isabelle, entered.
"Mic-Mouse!" She exclaimed spotting the famous mouse's balloon soaring high in the parade.
"Shh!" James ordered. "This is where—"
"And coming up on the stage is pop princess Lucy Stone," Natalie Morales, the female host of The Today Show announced, as the camera panned across the Macy's stage to show the familiar black and red head wrapped in a black leather jacket holding a microphone to her lips. As the camera zoomed into her face she winked and moved her right pinky in the finger spelling for the letter J.
"How cute," Kendall mocked as he jumped onto the couch next to James.
James ignored him as Lucy began the first few words of "He Will Be Mine."
"His light brown hair, his hazel eyes…"
James's hazel eyes just about popped out of their sockets. That's not how the song was supposed to go. Lucy usually began it "His dark blond hair, his emerald eyes…" He wasn't sure Kendall's green eyes were emerald, but it fit the melody.
"Everyone knows that song is about…"
"She denied it!" Kendall was quick to say.
"Oh please. She may have 'denied' it, but everyone knows."
"Well, she told me for this music video she cast a guy who looks an awful lot like you."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
Kendall sighed. The parade was over and James was now on the phone with Lucy discussing the current revelation that the radio/music video version of "He Will Be Mine" was about James and not Kendall. He placed his head in his hands as a dog show started up. It seemed everyone was getting on with their lives but him.
Officer Garcia and Mr. Mitchell sat on the couch next to Kendall and turned the TV to whatever channel was airing the first football game of the day.
"It's Thanksgiving," Officer Garcia said. "It's the law you have to watch football on Thanksgiving."
"You okay?" Mr. Mitchell asked when Kendall didn't respond for a few minutes.
"I'm fine. Just gonna go help the moms with dinner." He shuffled into the kitchen where Mrs. Diamond, Mrs. Mitchell, Mrs. Garcia, and his mom were hurrying between the refrigerator, pantry, stove, oven, sink, and counter.
"Austin says 'Happy Thanksgiving," Katie spoke up from the table.
"Are you still text stalking him?" Kendall plopped into the chair across from his sister.
"No. I just sent him a text wishing him a happy Thanksgiving and he sent one back. I'm kind of mad at him over the Selena Gomez rumor."
"That was just a rumor. You know they're not really dating. And it's not like you are, either," he added in a mumble.
"I know. Have you heard the latest rumor?"
Kendall's stomach clenched. He just knew whatever Katie was about to show him had to do with Jo. Could she really have moved on so fast?
"'Coco.0 Star Seeking Emancipation From Parents,'" he read out loud from Katie's phone.
"It's just a rumor!" Cris shouted as he appeared in the room. "Her stepmom found we're sort of dating and got mad. They were in a public place when words were exchanged and now all the celebrity blog and sites and entertainment shows won't shut up about Dara wanting freedom. She's not even old enough."
Kendall stopped listening to Cris rant on about Dara and her stepmom when he spotted a small headline beneath that story.
Big Time Kendall and I'd Walk a Mile's Jo Taylor Breaking Up?
They weren't breaking up, were they? Kendall closed his eyes to keep the tears at bay. He wasn't going to cry in front of his sister. He wasn't going to cry in front of Carlos's brother or the moms. He wasn't going to cry.
"Kendall, are you okay?" His mom asked holding a knife she had been using to cut potatoes.
"I'm—I'm fine," he sputtered. "I gotta go do something."
Kendall ran up the stairs to his room and slammed the door. Once inside he let the tears freely fall. He really screwed up. Why did everything go downhill so fast? He slid onto the floor and took a deep breath. There was only one thing he could do.
He picked up his phone from where it had been laying on his bed and dialed a number.
"Jo, I think it's time we talked."
If you haven't read chapter 36 go back and read it. You may have clicked on the link in your email for the chapter 37 that was actually chapter 36. The numbers are in order here so chapter 36 is chapter 36 and chapter 37 is chapter 37 now.
Did I do it? On the second to last Monday of the DWTS season poor James was ill. Perhaps if I had not joked about it earlier he would have been fine. Heck, he danced fine (one of my favorite dances of his—the cha-cha). I will admit I was afraid of releasing the sick chapter until after the DWTS season was over, not that I believe in superstitions or that I can actually control stuff like that. Anyway…he did great on the show, didn't he? Final four, last man standing, he got to do all the post-show stuff. Marvelous. Now, we see what the rest of his career brings (he does have one show currently in the works, woo-hoo). Thank you, Rushers and Jeta fans, for keeping James in until the finale.