"I'm going home today!" Logan woke up to Carlos belting out the wonderful tune. "I'll board a plane and leave Colorado behiiiiiiind. I'm. Going. Home. Today."
"Shut up, 'Los!" Logan shouted stuffing his face into his pillow.
"But, I'm going home today!" Carlos sang back. "Wake up, sleepy head. Come on, get out of bed. Pack your bags, we're on our way!" Carlos danced into Logan's room, throwing his arms out in a big Broadway style. "Seriously, Logan," he said in his regular voice, not singing, "we need to leave in an hour."
"Our flight's not til noon."
"It's 7:45 now. You know how we have to get to the airport early to check-in and board."
"We can check in over the 'net, dude."
"It'll take us about an hour to get to the airport so if we leave about nine that'll get us there at ten. Come on, Logannnnnn!"
"Fine." He stumbled out of bed and into his bathroom.
The two had stayed up way too late last night. Guys' night was not Tuesday as he had told Alicia. Carlos and Logan saved it for after Logan's Calculus exam. They gathered all the sugary and salty snacks they could get their hands on and had a movie marathon. Carlos wanted to play the snowboarding Wii game one last time, but Dr. Logan wouldn't let him due to his concussion. Logan had to admit his stomach kind of hurt this morning from all that he ate last night: corn dogs, popcorn, red licorice, gummy buggies, Fruit Smackers…honestly, he couldn't remember it all.
"Carlos," he called out from the bathroom.
"Yeah, buddy?" Carlos hadn't left the bedroom.
"Did we clean up last night?"
"I don't remember."
"While I get ready why don't you make sure? We need to leave this place in the condition we found it." He stuck his head out of the bathroom. "Are you all packed?"
"Yeah, just have the small suitcase. Alexa packed everything else up that we shipped the other day. Y'know, if we leave anything we can just have Griffin send it back."
"Right." Logan rolled his eyes.
"Are you all packed?"
"Yes."
.O.
"We're working on vocals for All I Want for Christmas," Gustavo bellowed to James and Kendall. Yesterday had been spent going over the set list (mostly Gustavo telling them what they would be singing) and doing harmonies to warm up their vocal cords after a long break. "Just sing your part and when we get to Carlos or Logan just let the music play."
"Don't you think it would be a good idea to practice their parts, too?" Kendall asked earning a glare from his boss. "I mean, what if one of them can't perform?"
"And why wouldn't one of them be able to perform?"
"I'm just saying it's better to be prepared."
"Do what I say or…"
"Or what?"
"Shut up," James thought. Did Kendall always have to argue with their producer? Doing it Gustavo's way wasn't going to kill them. He sighed loudly.
"What is your problem?" Gustavo asked.
"Can we just sing?"
"Get into the booth!"
"I'm surprised he let us go," James said hoarsely as they entered the Palmwoods late that afternoon.
"He realized there's not too much we can do without Logan and Carlos," Kendall replied, also a bit hoarse from rehearsal. "They should be here in an hour."
"Do you always have to argue with Gustavo?" James blurted out.
"What?" Kendall stopped in his tracks, in the middle of the lobby, with people going here and there around them.
"Never mind." James shook his head and continued heading toward the elevator.
"Do you have a problem with the way I act?" Kendall followed him.
"No, it's—I'm sorry I said anything."
"Is this—yes, that's it—this is all just part of your self-righteous act. You think you're so much better than everyone since you've been attending church."
James turned around to look at his green-eyed best friend.
"You're just mad because maybe I want to do something more with my life than be in a silly boy band."
"Oh, so now this is silly?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Maybe? That's the only answer you give nowadays. You indecisive—indecisive jerk. We can't hang on maybes."
"Excuse me for not wanting to make a rash decision on something that will affect the rest of my life."
"With all the time we've given you I don't think it can be called rash anymore."
"Oh you want me to make a decision right now?"
"That would be nice!"
"Great! Well, here's my decision. I quit!" James stepped onto the elevator as Alexa stepped off leaving a stunned Kendall in his wake.
.O.
With Carlos trailing behind Logan entered the Palmwoods lobby, not an hour later like Kendall thought, but right then. He heard yelling but chose to ignore it as this place was filled with so many characters there wasn't any kind of noise that would surprise him.
"Do you see her?" He asked Carlos. He turned to see his bud looking like he wanted to puke into his helmet. Needless to say, the plane ride was not much fun for him.
"N-no. My head must be killing me because I think I see Alexa and she said she'd meet me at her place."
"I don't think it's your head because I see her, too."
"OK, I'm going to go sit down," Carlos mumbled heading for the lounge. Alexa caught his face, immediately ran over to him, placed an arm around his shoulder, and helped him sit down.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"The plane ride made him sick," Logan answered looking around the lobby instead of at Alexa whom he was talking to.
"Why don't we go up to my place and let you rest for a little while?"
Carlos nodded slowly. He had been holding his duffle bag the entire time but now his girlfriend took it from him as she helped him up and over to the elevators.
"You mean my place, don't you?" Carlos asked as he laid his head on his girlfriend's shoulder.
"No, my place." She patted his cheek.
"What? Kendall?" he spotted his best friend staring at the closed elevator door.
"He quit," Kendall said bluntly.
"Who quit?" Carlos asked.
"James. He quit the band."
"What?!" Carlos exclaimed, lifting his head. "Ow."
"Sweet baby, let's get you to my apartment."
"Your apartment? Wait, what's going on here?"
"No talking. I'll show you."
Logan who had been listening to the conversation instead of looking for Camille walked over to Kendall.
"What do you mean he quit?"
Kendall shrugged. "He got mad at me for no reason, I guess. We exchanged some words. I may have in some way told him to make a decision on his future with BTR and he did."
Logan face palmed. This was not what he wanted to come home to. He had an inclination with the way James had been acting that he would eventually quit, but he thought it would come at a meeting or something, not in a fight with Kendall because the two were just frustrated and tired from practice.
"Well, I'm going to find Camille. We can deal with this later when both of you calm down."
Leaving Kendall behind, Logan stepped outside hoping to find his girlfriend by the pool. And he did. With Jo by her side she exited a cabana. Her eyes locked with Logan's and he did the only thing he could think of. He ran to her, tackling her to the ground.
"Logan!" She giggled.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No, you didn't hurt me. Welcome home!" She kissed his face passionately.
.O.
"What's going on?" Carlos asked as Alexa unlocked a door on the third floor. "I don't live here, I don't think. This isn't the second floor, is it?"
"No." She opened the door to a fully furnished one bedroom apartment more the size and shape of the apartment James stayed in when he moved out of 2J during the video game fight than the size of Lucy's first apartment. "I live here."
"What?"
"Surprise!" After dropping his duffle bag by the door, she lead him to a soft brown couch where he sat down laying his head on the arm.
His head felt like someone was jack hammering inside, so he wasn't quite sure he heard her correctly.
"You're okay with this, aren't you?" She sat down next to him and began rubbing his back.
"My head hurts. I'm not sure how to process this. You live here."
"Yes."
"You moved out of your house to live here in the Palmwoods."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
"I want to be closer to you. I don't think we're ready to live together, so this is the next best thing."
"I can't believe you did this for me. You sold your house for me?"
"Well, it's not exactly sold yet." She picked up Carlos's feet and placed them across her lap. "But yeah, I love you, Los. It doesn't matter where I live as long as I'm with you." She kissed his cheek and snuggled into his back.
"Thank you," he responded.
"You're okay with this? You're not going to tell me I'm stupid and should move back into my house right this instance?"
"No." He closed his eyes.
"Good, cause I wasn't gonna."
"Good. I love you."
"Love you, too. Now get some rest."
"Already ahead of ya."
I started a tumblr: photocaptioning dot tumbler dot com where I add captions (little stories, really) to photos. So far I've done two BTR related pictures. I think most if not all will be BTR related. Check it out.
If you're waiting on a one-shot from me, rest assured it is coming! I have not forgotten about you! I've just been busy with family things and this story has really grabbed my attention. But I will get them done, I promise you!
I wonder what the writers/producers/whoever's plan was for James when the original idea was for Kendall to choose Lucy. Since they kind of paired him with Katie in season 3 would they have tried to get them together (although I Jatie I do see her as too young), would they have introduced a new girl, fighting between Kendall and James over Lucy still, James gets with Jo? It would be interesting to know where they wanted to go with James in that instance.