Written in the Stars

19: Moment of Truth

❝please tell me you can heal me / i'm expressing my love❞

- no idea : big time rush

Jo's jaw hung open with words that she couldn't seem to find. She gripped the handle to her suitcase so tightly that her knuckles bled white. Her gaze remained fixed on Kendall and his mystery girl. Although he quickly stepped back from the brunette, Kendall kept one hand on her forearm. He lifted the other to gesture towards Jo, stuttering. Jo decided she really didn't like surprises, after all.

"You're in New Zealand filming a movie, three movies!"

Kendall dropped his arms to his sides. The boy held his hands out in front of himself to accentuate his speech.

"Well," said Jo. She shook her head. "The studio tested the first film and the test audience hated it, then burned down the theater. Then, the studio canceled the sequels and then I came here."

The explanation did nothing to help Kendall. He remained frozen in disbelief, his hands turned outwards and eyes wide. His mind was a scrambled mess of feelings. It struggled to compensate for the butterflies and nervous anticipation still reeling from his first kiss with Lucy and the ache in his heart at seeing Jo again for the first time since he told her that he loved her. At the time, the distance between them had been definitive enough. With her standing in front of him now, Kendall didn't know where to look.

Lucy broke the tense silence. "Jo," she smiled warmly at the other girl. "Hi, um, I'm Lucy. I've heard so much about you."

Lucy offered Jo her hand to shake as a sort of peace offering. Still dazed, Jo could really only offer a weak "hi" in response. Brows knit, Jo asked, "So are you guys... dating?"

Lucy's eyes widened. "Oh," she turned to look at Kendall. "I mean, I guess you could say... Uh... Kendall?"

Panicked, the boy frantically mashed his hands against the elevator buttons to avoid answering the question. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly as the elevator doors slid to a close, hoping this was all just some bizarre dream.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

As the others waited for another elevator to take them home to the second floor, Logan pulled Kit and James aside each by the arm. The latter boy pulled the wig from his head with his free hand.

"We need to talk," Logan's voice sounded flat.

Unsure, James said: "Okay."

Kit tilted her head. "Is everything okay, Logan?"

The boy shrugged. "Ask James."

Kit's heart skipped a beat. The passing fear that he knew about the kiss at her party paralyzed her for a moment. With wide eyes, she turned to look at James. James simply met her panicked glance with a faint shake of his head. He expressed his confusion with an equally uncertain shrug.

As the three of them stepped into the elevator, James tried: "Okay, but can we maybe wait until after I take this thing off?" The boy gestured to his outfit.

Logan frowned slightly but gave in anyway. The remainder of the elevator ride passed in thick silence.

James managed to hold off Logan and his quest for answers only for the time it took him to exchange his hot girl disguise for a pair of sweatpants. When he returned to the living room, wiping off the makeup with a washcloth, Logan and Kit sat waiting for him in silence.

"I had an interesting conversation with Kelly today," Logan quirked his eyebrows.

James ran a hand through his hair. His stomach dropped. In as normal a tone as he could muster, he asked: "Oh? What'd she say?"