Hey everyone! This is it! The... FINAL CHAPTER! In a way, I'm super happy! But this is my first baby, my first multi-chap, and I want to cry! It's been hard with it getting deleted so many times, but I hope you like the ending. I don't own Big Time Rush, for those of you out there that thought I did. And also, THANK YOU READER! Yes you, by scanning your eyes across these words, you are making my day! Crazy right?

Thanks for all of you reviewers, favorite-ers, alert-ers, and readers! I have nearly 2500 views, which is HUGE to me considering this is such a short story! Well I won't keep you from it any longer. Please enjoy 3

Chapter 8

"Time?" Kendall asked. Carlos looked down at his red watch, squinting his eyes in the darkness. Giving up, he pulled out his smart phone. After dragging a finger lightly across the touch screen, it illuminated, coming to life. Carlos blinked, adjusting to the abnormal brightness.

"Eleven twenty-three. Think your mom will know?"

Kendall shook his head. "She's a deep sleeper. Shouldn't be a problem. It's just Katie I'm worried about."

"You don't think she'll follow us out here, do you?" Carlos asked, suddenly as a new form of worry engulfed him. The sick feeling that this could mean more than just being scolded and grounded, but of an eleven year old getting hurt or lost in the darkness.

"Nah, I doubt Katie would do that. She's probably still asleep herself."

Carlos nodded. As long as nobody got hurt, then this would be the walk that fixed everything.

"So, it all started when I mentioned that you didn't have it so bad." James nodded in agreement, placing his chapped hands in the pockets of his jacket. He didn't like this uncomfortable talk, this awkward stroll in the park at nighttime. It shouldn't be this hard to talk to Logan, his best friend since the third grade. But it was. Because not only were they discussing things that made him feel discomfort, but they were doing this to smooth over a huge fight. Great. It was always an effort to be friends with Logan, and a lot of the time, it felt like it was a forced effort, like everything was pushed and strained.

"Okay, so let's finally talk about this, now that we aren't trapped in a bathroom together." James felt his face go red. Why did Logan try an attempt at humor now? This was just embarrassing.

"I said you didn't have it so bad. So, naturally, this offended you because you felt…?"

"Yes?"

"You're supposed to fill in the blank."

"Huh? Oh, right. I felt like you were sort of downplaying it instead of sympathizing with me."

Logan nodded. "I'm sorry that's how you took it. I guess I was trying to use that to make you feel better."

"Yeah, well I was upset. I guess I should've appreciated the attempt anyway. But then you suddenly out of nowhere spring that whole 'everyone moves on' kind of thing. Where did that even come from?"

Logan shrugged, rubbing his neck. "I don't know. I guess, in a way, talking about your parents moving on made me wonder when I would too."

James sighed, suddenly looking like a child to Logan. "But why? Why do you want to move on Logan?"

Logan felt torn, the outcome making him look sad yet smiling softly at the same time. "Because, James. You know as well as I do that I've wanted to become a doctor since I knew how to talk."

"But you said it yourself! It doesn't get much easier than a rich dude paying your rent."

"I know, but having some rich guy pay for your home isn't necessarily my dream. I never said it was yours either!" Logan said quickly when James opened his mouth angrily. "But, being a doctor has always meant a lot to me."

James let out a breath he had been holding, rubbing his hands together to generate some warmth. "I know it is. I understand that Logan. I think this where we started to get into a mess. I tried to explain that I understand that you want to go into the medical field. But you wouldn't listen to me. Then I tried to tell you that you weren't listening, and you'd go off about me being overdramatic!"

Logan stayed silent, thinking this over. James looked up at the tree silhouettes, watching as the shadowy leaves overhead waved in the chilled breeze as the two boys walked. Once or twice he caught sight of Kendall and Carlos on other paths, but it didn't matter. Right now, his and Logan's talk was the one thing that mattered.

Logan nodded suddenly, and kept doing so. "James, I never meant to make my own goals sound more important than the band. I didn't try to hurt your feelings. I guess I should've apologized sooner. James, I am so very and truly sorry for…"

Surprisingly, James stopped paying attention. Wasn't this what he had been waiting for? For Logan to finally see that he was wrong and was being a big jerk for no reason? Why didn't this feel like a victory? Why wasn't he grinning, a smug look plastered on his face with a feeling of being victorious in his chest?

Then, it hit him all at once.

He wasn't stuck with Logan as a best friend.

Logan was stuck with him.

The whole time, James always felt this sense of blankness with Logan. His need to overanalyze everything. His mindset of always being right. His knack for saying the geekiest things at the not-so-perfect time. And yet…

Here he was apologizing to James, who had somehow started this whole thing. The truth sank in. Logan was weary, tired of James being oversensitive about everything. How he was the one who had to make James feel better when someone said something because he didn't have a good comeback.

That was Logan. And he was James. Not so smart. Not so observant. Not so nice.

Logan was stuck with him.

And he was probably sick of it.

"Stop."

"…when I- What?"

"Stop Logan. I'm sorry. This is my fault."

"James, no it isn't. Can you just let me finish? I-" Logan was caught in a moment of shock, surprise, and puzzlement as James turned around, suddenly hugging Logan tight. It was the first time they'd hugged in over a month. Logan stood there, dumbfounded, before his brain instructed him to hug back.

And he did.

They stood there for a few moments before breaking apart. James straightened his jacket, looking away. He had never felt so terrible in his life. He should've realized…

"But really," he looked over at Logan. "I am sorry for downplaying you and making you feel less important than other things." He cleared his throat, ready for the speech of a lifetime.

"Logan, I'm going to talk and I need to be heard without interruption for a few minutes." Logan nodded. "I'm the one who needs to be apologizing. I was so annoyed for so long, thinking that I was here, and then you were there too. Like an add-on or something. I never noticed that I was acting like that. Then, I had to go and be over dramatic as you said, and had to be obnoxious, blowing things out of proportion just to hear my own voice, and when you try to calm me down, I just attacked you. You've been putting up with me for so long, and I never even noticed that it was slowly breaking you down. I'm so sorry that you've been stuck with me for so long, and all I can think about is 'why is he upset? This is his fault'. Instead of 'what did I do wrong and how can I fix this'. So, I mean this completely, I am sorry."

Logan stood there, looking more at a loss for words than James had ever seen him. The cool wind rattled the leaves, and a dog's bark echoed through the park. Finally, Logan spoke.

"I don't think that at all."

"Y-You don't?"

"No. I mean, I was mad at you for caring about the future of our friendship. I don't know why I was, or why I suddenly turned so spiteful towards you. It came out of nowhere. That's why I feel responsible for this."

This could go on forever, each boy taking a turn speaking about how he was so dumb to act how he did.

"Logan?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we just… start over from a month ago?" Logan waited for James to elaborate on this. "Can we just erase this month from our friendship?"

Logan smiled, running a hand over his cheek. "As soon as we can erase this perfume from my face."

For the first time in a long while, they laughed together. As friends.

Epilogue

"Kendall, pass me a fork, will you?"

"Sure." Kendall skidded the pronged utensil at his friend. Carlos grabbed it, sitting it next to his plate. Logan chuckled.

"What?"

"Why do you need a fork for tater tots?"

Carlos shrugged. "I'm not going to use the fork, it just felt necessary."

"Hey, what's up guys?" James asked, seating himself between Logan and Kendall.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Logan retorted, sliding James's plate in front of him. He nodded his thanks, starting in on his lunch.

"Thank gosh. I like it better this way." Carlos said.

"What way?" Logan asked.

"Us. Being best friends."

"We never stopped being best friends Carlos." James said, frowning.

Carlos shrugged. "I know, but this just feels… better. It feels right."

Kendall smiled. "Yeah it does! I think we've all been kind of stupid in the last few weeks."

"Try the last few years." Katie said, entering the kitchen to grab a drink from the fridge.

"Hey!" James yelled. Kendall flung a tater tot at her, which she smacked away expertly.

"Well, she has a point." Logan said.

"So now you're siding with Katie?" Kendall asked incredulously.

"No! I'm just saying we're all so weird that we kind of fit together." Logan wasn't quite sure that made perfect sense, but his friends were nodding along in understanding. Logan smiled, picking up his corndog and eating it happily.

"You know what?" Carlos asked suddenly.

"You're going to lock us in the bathroom?" James asked without missing a beat.

"No," he said, shooting James a false nasty look. "I think I know what the cause of this was."

"And what would that be Carlitos?" Kendall asked, propping his feet onto Carlos's vacant chair.

"Lack of communication." James leaned forward to listen. Carlos had picked up a few speech habits from Kendall. "When you have words unspoken, you can't be for sure what a person is thinking. That's why text messages have smiley faces and stuff."

Kendall scoffed. "That's not why they have smiley faces! Those are to show overexcited emotions that you can't see the person having."

As the two bickered, James and Logan shared a look. In a way, Carlos was right. When you have words unspoken, you can't fully comprehend the reasons behind people's actions. Humans are complex creatures that are difficult to comprehend. But in a way, Carlos taught them both something. The two boys smiled at each other, turning their attention back to the mini feud between Carlos and Kendall, and they laughed together like the brothers they were.

End.

Thanks so much for reading this and sticking with me to the end! Wow, I'm getting all emotional *Miss America fans self* I'd like to thank Big Time Rush for being so incredibly amazing! I'd like to thank CelestialSonata7 for being there when nobody else could be! (Check out her story Damaged if you're a Logan fan! It'll knock your socks right off!) I'd like to thankk you people for not getting annoyed with me for taking like 3 months to upload this chapter! Really, I appreciate it so much, and please have a SPLENDID day!

On another note, I hope to publish a few one-shots by Christmas now that my computer is up and running right. I'm also going to start a new story before too long, and try to finish up my short fic 'Titamium' by New Year if possible! It's about James, of course! Thank you all and have a great December!