Next to You Is Where I Should Be

“Do you have to leave?” he whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my back and through my body.

“You know I do Ethan. This is my job.” I said. Ethan came out of me and I gasped. He collapsed beside me, both of us breathing hard.

“You wont forget me right?” I turned my head to him.

“How could I? You’re my boyfriend.” I said, pulling the covers over my naked body. I was cold now. Ethan flicked his black hair off of his sweaty face. He turned and snaked his arm around my stomach and we started spooning.

“I don’t know. Hollywood changes people. I don’t want you to fall for some guy over there.” he said, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“I wont change. I’ll always be your baby girl.” I said, slightly cringing. I hated it when he called me ‘baby’, but he liked it, so that’s why I said that.

“I know babe.” he kissed my neck, and trailed down my back.

“I need to go.” I suddenly said.

“Why?” he whined.

“Because I told my mom I’d be home before 11. Its 10:30.” I said, turning towards him. He leaned over and kissed my lips. It turned more passionate and soon, he was on top of me. “Ethan.” I gasped.

“One last quickie.” he said.

“If you can work your magic in 5 minutes, sure.” I smirked.

“Oh you have no idea.” he said. And he did it. We had a quickie and I was out of the house in 10 minutes, finishing our goodbyes, and gathering my stuff. I ran home on time, and ran upstairs to take a shower before my mom asked me questions.

My room was full of boxes that was being shipped off tomorrow, with most of my stuff. But it was only like, 3 boxes. And 2 suitcases. But those were going on the plane.

“Stop fidgeting.” my dad snapped at me.

“This seat is so uncomfortable.” I complained, pulling my dark red hair out of my eyes.

“What do you expect? It’s a plane Rissa.” my dad said and plugged his headphones back in. I sighed and got more comfortable, and continued to watch the movie that was playing. 1 more hour, I told myself.

“Here’s your room keys, and your stuff arrived about an hour ago.” Mr. Bitters, the Palm Woods manager told my dad and I. (my mom had to stay at home in Pennsylvania) My dad and I thanked him and started dragging our suitcases to the elevator. I glanced out at the pool area and saw a bunch of cute guys, and a lot of pretty girls.

Dad pushed our floor number and we rode up the elevator quietly. When the door opened, I heard yelling, and loud foot steps. I stepped out cautiously, and saw 4 guys running down the hall. When they saw me, they stopped.

“Whoa. Hi. Are you new?” the one in the front asked. He had sandy brown hair and goldenish eyes.

“Yeah I-”

“Sorry, she’s taken.” my dad said from behind me. I closed my eyes and bit my lip. How awkward. So I cant have guy friends cause I have a boyfriend? My dad started walking, so I followed.

“Sorry. I’ll see you around.” I told them with a small smile and followed down the hall. When they were out of earshot, I said, “Dad! What the hell?”

“Rissa.” he said sternly. “I don’t want you to get distracted by boys. You have one at home. I don’t want you to cheat.”

“I bet Ethan is cheating in me.” I muttered. Truth be told, he was more like a booty call then a boyfriend. We got to our new apartment and we found boxes in there already. We spent the rest of the day unpacking. At 5:30, I looked out of the window from my room and I saw those 4 boys by the pool.

“Dad! I’m going to take a break and hang by the pool, maybe meet some of the kids here.” I called. I changed into short shorts and a band tee and ran out before I could here my dad.

I ran to the pool and saw that they were still there, sitting in their own chairs, with their eyes closed.

“Hi.” I said loudly. They all sat up and smiled when they saw me and they all muttered hellos. “I’m sorry about my dad earlier.” I said awkwardly. The one I was standing closest to had a hockey helmet on and he had brown hair and eyes. The next one was the sandy blonde. The one next to him was the ‘pretty boy’. Brown hair that looked like Ethan’s, and brown eyes. He was cute. And the last one had short brown hair and eyes.

“That’s fine.” the sandy blonde haired one said. “I’m Kendall. This is Carlos,” helmet boy, “James,” pretty boy, “and Logan.” I nodded.

“I’m Clurissa, but people call me Rissa sometimes.” I told them.

“Nice to meet you.” they all said. I smiled and sat on the end of Carlos’ chair, facing them.

“So what are you boys here for?” I asked. I felt like we were in prison and I was asking what they did to get in.

“We’re a singing group.” Kendall said.

“Oh that’s cool. Who do you work with?”

“Gustavo Rocque at Rocque Records. What about you?” Kendall said, before anyone else.

“Same actually!” I smiled.

“Oh you’re the YouTube girl!” Logan exclaimed.

“Yeah.” I blushed. “I sing on YouTube, and Kelly saw my videos and asked me to come down here, so here I am. And even before that I did singing gigs in my city.”

“That’s awesome.” Carlos said. I nodded. I talked to them a while longer, but James seemed really quiet. He laughed, and smiled, but didn’t talk. Logan and Carlos talked when they could, but it was Kendall that talked the most. When it started getting dark I said,

“I should probably go. I have to finish unpacking and everything.” I told them, standing up.

James P.O.V.

She stood up to leave. What the hell was wrong with me? I was never like this around girls. I wasn’t shy, I didn’t know what to say, and whatever I wanted to say, Kendall would say. It pissed me off. He liked her, I knew it. But I wanted her. She was so beautiful. Her long chrism red hair fell great around her cute face, and her hazel eyes matched perfectly. She had a lip ring that looked cute on her. I’ve never kissed a girl with a lip ring before. And she had a nose ring. She had a septum piercing in her nose and a pink horseshoe piercing there. I always thought it looked trashy, but on her it was perfect.

She was hugging Carlos. I felt a pang of jealousy. Then she hugged Logan, Kendall, and lastly me. When she came up to me, her eyes were shining. I smiled at her and held my arms out and she squeezed me tightly. I didn’t want to let her go, and she stayed there a few extra seconds. When she started to release her grip, I had to let go too. She waved at us as she left.

“Kendall, what’s your problem?” I asked, hitting his chest.

“What do you mean?” I opened my mouth to speak when Logan interrupted,

“You could have let us talk more.”

“That’s what I mean.” I said.

“Oh come on James. You always get girls. I had Jo, but she’s gone to New York, so why cant I have fun?” Kendall said laughing. We didn’t think it was that funny.

“What does it matter anyways? She has a boyfriend according to her dad.” Carlos said silently. He was right. But I wanted her.

We all decided that Kendall’s mom probably had dinner ready, so we all went up to our room. I walked into the washroom before we ate and looked at myself. Was she even attracted to me? What if she didn’t like the ‘pretty boy’s. Maybe she preferred cocky leaders. Or maybe she still had her eyes set on her boyfriend back home. And as I thought about it, Kendall had a girlfriend. Jo, who was in New York filming. And I knew he really liked her, so why would he go after Rissa?

I started combing my hair. Maybe it was because he didn’t want me to have her. That made me mad. She was free to choose whoever she wanted to, but it was going to be me.

Rissa’s P.O.V.

The next morning I woke up about 6:30 am. Kelly told me she was picking me up at 8, so I needed to get ready. I rolled out of bed and took a shower. I straightened my hair and cleaned my piercings. This would be the first time I met Gustavo. I wanted him to know exactly who he was dealing with so I put my snake bites in and my angel wing piercing(cheeks). I didn’t usually wear them, or my snake bites. I usually chose a side and kept a piercing there for a while and change.

I slid on my black skinny jeans and a Scary Kids Scaring Kids tee and applied some makeup and ran downstairs by 7:45. There was a note on the kitchen counter from my dad that said that he was going job hunting. I sighed and looked through the fridge. There was nothing and I groaned as the doorbell rang. I grabbed my phone and opened the door and I saw Kelly.

“Hey Clurissa, We need to go pick up the boys.” she said.

“Good morning to you too.” I said and locked my door and followed her to the elevator. “Do you think we can stop someplace and get food?”

“You can see if the boys have any.” she said, looking at her phone. The elevator dinged and we got off and I followed her down the hall. She stopped in front on 2J. Logan opened the door.

“Hey Kelly. We’re just eating breakfast.” he said. I pushed past Kelly and into the apartment.

“Is there any left? I’m starving.” I said. Logan laughed. I saw the other guys and a little girl by the table.

“Hey Ris- Whoa.” Kendall stopped in mid sentence with food in his mouth. I notice James looking at me, and Carlos was the last to notice. Then I remembered all the piercings. I didn’t care at that moment.

“Hi. I get it, I put piercings in holes I don’t usually use, but can I please have food? I asked, getting grumpy. James got up and got me a plate. I followed him as he got me 2 pancakes, sausage, and eggs. The other guys started talking again.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you. We have no food in our house.” we laughed.

“Hey, when we’re done at the studio, wanna go catch a movie?” James asked. When I looked at him, I knew I should be seeing pretty boy. A boy that was flirtatious, smiley, always with the ladies, thinking about looks. But when I looked at James, I saw none of that. He looked like he cared, his facial expression looked genuine.

“Yeah. Sure.” I said smiling.

“Great!” he smiled and we walked back to the table. The only seat was in between Logan and Kendall. I put syrup and butter on my pancakes and ate in silence.

“Do you have a tongue ring?” I heard Carlos ask. I looked up with amusement and then over to him.

“No. I tried it, but I didn’t like the feeling. It hurt to lick ice cream!” I said and finished my eggs.

“No way!” Carlos exclaimed and we all laughed.

“So who are you?” the little girl asked.

“I’m Clurissa. Who are you, you little brat?” I spat.

“That’s my little sister, Katie.” Kendall said. I nodded and finished my breakfast.

“We need to go. Now.” Kelly said, heading to the door. I got up and took my plate to the sink. I saw all the guys leaving their stuff.

“Hey!” I called. They all turned to me. “Get your plates. I don’t care if you moms are used to picking up after you, leaving your plates there is rude.” I said. They exchanged glances, not thinking I was serious at first. I glared at them and they ran to their plates and set them on mine. “Thank you.” I said and walked to the door. I yawned. I usually wasn’t tired after breakfast, but I was today.

I raced the boys to the limo and James got their first. I was there second. He opened the door and stood by it as I bent over to catch my breath.

“Ladies first.” he smiled. It was a genuine smile. I smiled back and decided to be a tease. I stood up and ran my finger down his chest and gave him a flirty smile.

“Thank you sir.” I got in and sat in the front. I loved riding backwards in cars/trains. James got in and closed the door. Carlos and Kendall were next and they ran into the limo. James got up and sat right next to me. They got the door open and I crossed my arms.

“Took you long enough.” I said. Kendall sat on my other side and Carlos stayed in the back as Logan and Kelly came in. I yawned again and decided to lay down. I laid my head in James lap and my legs went in Kendall’s.

“Wow, I feel loved.” Kendall joked. I rolled my eyes and looked up at James. He was looked straight ahead. I wondered if he was okay with this. I turned so I was on my side, facing Carlos, Logan, and Kelly. Kelly was on her phone and Logan and Carlos where talking about something. I felt pressure on my legs. I looked down and I saw Kendall’s arms resting there. I didn’t mind. I felt a hand under my head and James whispered,

“Lift your head.” I did, confused, and then I felt him move my hair. I put my head back on his leg and I felt him playing with my hair. I smiled to myself. I picked the right lap to lay in.

When we got to Rocque Records, we all got out of the limo and started up to Gustavo’s office. I stayed by James, who seemed to be shooting looks at Kendall. Awkward. Even though James was quiet, I couldn’t help but feel attracted to him. Ugh. What was wrong with me?

“Gustavo, I have the boys and the new girl.” Kelly said. I heard yelling and a heavyset man wearing sunglasses came out of an office.

“You introduced her to the dogs?” he asked. Dogs? Really? Wow.

“They already knew each other.” Kelly said. He looked right at me and grunted.

“Well damn.” he pointed to the guys, “Don’t distract her! She is my new dog!”

“Excuse me?” I asked. He stared at me. “I don’t appreciate being called a dog. Last time I checked, I don’t lick my ass and pee outside.” I was a little pissed, and it was only 9:30 in the morning. Look out. Through his glasses I could see him glaring at me. Behind me I could hear the guys holding in laughs.

“Sound booth. Now.” he yelled. I followed the boys into his recoding booth and I went into the sound booth. I put the head phones on and waited. Gustavo sat down and I saw the boys watching me.

“Okay. I made some mixes to a few of the songs you sent me, Kelly sent them back to you right?” I nodded. “Okay, lets start with Last Dance.” I nodded and the music started.

“You twirl her
You twirl her
Spinning in those circles
She doesn't want to stop
Baby girl your a doll
The music stops her eyes lock
Her Romeo is here”

Sappy love song. Yeah I know.

“You spin her
You spin her
Yet she cries out for help
Everyone can hear her
Only he can save her
For that was the last dance

“She twirls in circles
She chases her dreams
Where ever he runs is where ever she was last at
She's never coming home

“You spin her
You spin her
Yet she cries out for help
Everyone can hear her
Only he can save her
For that was the last dance

“She sits and cries
Knowing that was the last dance
With the one she loves
The one that can save her
Oh only he can rescue you
Oh baby girl your still a doll
He's still there
Just turn around”

I hadn’t realized my eyes were closed, but when the music faded out, I opened my eyes and I saw the boys looking at me with shocked looks.

“How-How was that?” I asked, scared. The guys all got up and hovered around Gustavo and Logan pushed the talk button.

“That was amazing!” Carlos said.

“Great!” Logan smiled.

“You have an amazing voice.” Kendall beamed.

“It was so beautiful.” James whispered, but I heard him. I blushed and smiled wide.

“Dogs!” Gustavo yelled. They backed away. “It was good. But how do you feel about making it slower?”

“Isn’t it slow enough? I mean, it’s a sad love song.” I stated.

“Let me play with it. Maybe I’ll have you repeat some stuff. DOGS! Get in there. Clurissa, come!” I pushed past the boys and sat where they were.

“Lets sing Any Kind of Guy.” Gustavo said and started playing music. They started to get into the music and James started the song, looking at me the whole time. It felt like he was singing the words to me.

“Here I am
There you are
Why does it seem so far
Next to you is where I should be (where I wanna be)
Something I
Want so bad
Know what's inside your head
Maybe I could see what you see (tell me what you see)”

When they got to the chorus, to tell you the truth, I didn’t like it. The way I thought about it seemed like they were going to change into who they weren’t. Maybe I misinterpreted. The whole time, I couldn’t take my eyes off of James. My eyes locked with him the whole time. When they were done, Gustavo told them to sing Famous.

When they were done, Gustavo said that we could take a break so he could play with my song, and the 2 songs they just did. We waited in the lobby for awhile.

“You guys are really good. Your voices all sound really good together.” I told them. I was sitting next to James. I made sure of it. I didn’t care if people thought I liked him. I usually didn’t with that kind of stuff.

“Thanks. You are too.” Kendall said. I smiled. After an hour, I started getting hungry and James offered to take me to the cafeteria. Kendall tagged along.

James P.O.V.

I was a little frustrated that Kendall came with us. I wanted alone time with Rissa, but I guess it’d have to wait for the movie. We got sandwiches and chips and sat down. I was a little sad when Kendall sat next to me, but then again, I could look at Rissa full on.

“Is Gustavo always like that?” she asked out of the blue. Before I could answer, Kendall did.

“Like an ass? Yes. But you just have to deal with people like that in Hollywood.” he said. What a crappy response.

“Oh. I guess that I should have expected that.” she muttered, taking a few chips out of her bag.

“Where did you get your inspiration from your song?” I asked. She swallowed and took a drink before answering. Her eyes were looking at me pretty much the whole time. I figured that meant she liked me. When she was singing, she was looking at me until her eyes closed, and when I was singing, I was looking at her the whole time. I wanted to know if she liked me back, because I really liked her(obviously), even though we haven’t talked that much. I mean, right now, I’m rambling. I never do this. A girl has never done this to me before.

“From a story I read, and a guy I really liked. We both liked each other, but didn’t do anything about it.” she laughed lightly. She had a few hairs out of line so I reached over and fixed them. She blushed.

“That’s cool. I wish we could write our own songs, but none of us are that creative, and Gustavo writes them for us.” Kendall cut it. I cringed. I forgot he was there, and he ruined the moment. We talked for a bit longer when the other guys came in and told us Gustavo was ready for us. I took Rissa’s garbage for her, trying to be more like a gentleman.

Rissa’s P.O.V.

I followed behind James back to the studio, and Kendall was next to me. Its not that I didn’t like Kendall, I mean, he seemed like a good guy, but I just wasn’t interested. I wanted James. When we got there, Gustavo gave me a piece of paper.

“Here. I added a few things to make it longer. Get in the booth! Now!” he yelled. I ran to the sound booth quickly. I have to admit I was scared. I read over the lyrics as the guys and everyone got settles. There was just some ‘Oh’s’ that were added, and a few repeated lines in the chorus.

“I’m going to play the music and you listen and hum, do whatever, because I had to change the music a little too.” Gustavo said and I nodded. He pushed a button and the music started. I was listening to it and following along on the page. When that was over, I sang with it. I had to admit, I liked it too. It was perfect.

After another hour of me singing, and the guys singing, we were done for the day, and it was about 2pm. We took the limo back, and I sat by James again. Halfway there, he leaned down and whispered in my ear, sending chills down my body.

“There’s a theater down the road from the Palm Woods and we could catch a movie at 3 if you want.”

“Yeah sure.” I whispered back. He smiled at me. I caught Kendall’s glance from across the car and he seemed upset. I brushed it off. When we got out of the car and all started into the lobby. I felt a hand grab my arm and I turned around.

“Hey.” Kendall said.

“Hey Kendall.” I smiled warmly at him. I didn’t want to be a bitch, I wanted to be his friend.

“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later? Like, go to the mall, or movies or something?”

“Oh, uhm, I’m actually busy tonight. I’m sorry. Maybe some other time.” I told him. He nodded. We walked in silence to the other guys.

“Hey wait!” I got my phone out of my pocket and gave it to Kendall. “Put your number in and pass it on. I’ll text you guys so you get my number.” I said. They all said okays and passed my phone. When I got it back I texted them and they added me.

“Great. Well, I’m going to go up to my room for a bit. See you all later.” I said and winked. I got up to my place quickly and fixed my makeup and hair. I took my angel wings out and my left lip ring. I left my septum in and called it good. I grabbed a light sweatshirt and went to my living room and turned the TV on. It was only 2:30, and I didn’t know when James wanted to meet with me.

After a few minutes, the door opened and my dad walked in.

“Hey! How’s Hollywood?” he asked. I shrugged.

“How was job hunting?”

“Good. I found one. I’m going to be helping with movie making.” I raised an eyebrow and nodded. “We have no food. What do you want for dinner?”

“I don’t know. I met those guys we ran into the other day, they’re in a band called Big Time Rush, and they work with Gustavo too, so I’ll be seeing a lot of them. And one of them invited me to the movies at 3, so I don’t know if I will be here for dinner.” I said.

My dad straightened up. “I want to meet this boy.” I nodded and texted James.

Come up 2 my room. My dad wants 2 mt u. 8G.

About a minute later, he texted back ‘okay’. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I ran over, but my dad beat me. I saw James looking a little scared. My dad was a nice guy, but with this stuff, I didn’t blame James for being scared.

“Dad.” I groaned.

“Uh, hi sir. I’m James.” he stuck out his hand and my dad took it.

“Hi James. I’m Derek.” he said slowly. James grinned at him. My dad stepped back and I motioned for James to come in. He did and stood next to me.

“Dad, we’re just going to go down the street to the movies I swear. And then maybe grab some dinner.” I said.

“And you two aren’t together, right?” that made me angry.

“No sir. Just friends.” James cut in.

“Okay. She has a great boyfriend at home, and I don’t want her to get distracted.” I grabbed James’ hand and drug him out my place, and down to the elevator.

“Sorry about that.” I muttered, looking at the floor.

“It’s fine.” he squeezed my hand, but didn’t drop it. Which I was happy about. “Does your dad really like your boyfriend?” he asked. The doors opened and we got in before I answered.

“No. He just doesn’t want me to cheat. Which I know my ‘boyfriend’ is anyways. To.. To tell you the truth, he was more of a guy I called to hook up with.” I said. I was looking at the doors. I felt really slutty. “But I just tell my parents he’s my boyfriend so they wont figure out. But at the same time, I really thought I liked him.” I shrugged.

“I’m sorry. Why don’t you just tell your dad you broke up with him because you couldn’t do the long distance relationship?” he asked as the doors opened.

“I guess I could.” I said and we walked into the lobby, and down the street.

“So what movie do you want to see?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s out. I don’t mind scary movies, but I don’t want to see a sappy chick flick.”

“I’m with you there.” he laughed. I smiled as he drug me into the theater and we decided to see an action movie. We talked while we waited, and I learned a lot about him, and he learned about me. I found myself falling harder for him. I just met him, and I didn’t want to push it, but I couldn’t help it. He was just so sweet, and nice, and funny. He didn’t care about his looks around me. Even though we were friends, he didn’t seem to notice any of the other girls, or pay any attention to them.

After the movie, we went to a deli next to it and grabbed a sandwich.

“Is there something going on between you and Kendall? I mean, its probably none of my business, but you two seem to have tension, and I figured you were all best friends.” I said, after my first bite.

“Yeah we are, I’ve known him since forever, but, it make me mad that he’s hitting on you when he has a girlfriend.” James said seriously. I looked at him.

“So would it piss you off if I hit on him, even though I have something of a boyfriend?” I asked with a sly smile. He dug his own hole, I’m just making it deeper.

“Well, uh.. Yeah. But its just that he really likes her, and now that she’s not here and you are, he’s hitting on y-” I stood up and leaned over the table and pecked his lips. I sat back down and took a bite of my sandwich.

“So how did you guys decide to become a singing group?” I asked. He looked at me, shocked. “Earth to James.” I laughed. He snapped out of it and started to tell me about his story. I listened and nodded and laughed about everything that was funny. When he had finished, we decided to go back because it was getting late.

“Rissa?” he asked. We were almost there and I felt him stop, so I stopped and turned to him. He was looking down at his feet.

“Yeah?” I asked, standing in front of him.

“About that kiss-”

“It didn’t mean anything. Unless you want it to.” I hinted.

“I kind of want it to.” he said, looking into my eyes. I saw his beautiful eyes sparkle, and I wanted to get lost in their chocolaty bliss. I stood on my tip toes and he got the hint and leaned down as our lips touched. I felt something. Something I had never felt before when kissing someone. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer and his arms went around my waist. Time disappeared. There was no one on the sidewalk, there was no cars whizzing down the road, it was just me and James.

When we pulled away, I looked into his eyes, and I saw something. I had no idea what, but I saw it. He smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but to smile back.

“Does this mean we’re a couple?” he asked. Our arms were still around each other.

“Yeah.” I breathed and kissed him really quick. “But it has to be a secret. I have to tell my dad I broke up with Ethan, and wait a week, ‘cause then I’ll feel like a slut or something.” I said.

“Aw. You could never be a slut.” he smirked. I laughed and grabbed his hand as we walked to the Palm Woods. When we got to the lobby, we dropped hands. We walked by the pool and we were bombarded with Kendall, Logan, and Carlos.

“Where were you?” Kendall asked us.

“Movies.” James said. I knew I was blushing.

“Why weren’t we invited?” Carlos looked hurt. I cut James off,

“I want to get to know you individually, and James was first. I think you guys are cool, but I want to get to know you when you aren’t around your friends.” I said.

“Oh, so who’s next?” Logan asked, smiling.

“Well, Kendall asked me earlier today, after James, so him, then I guess you and Carlos.” I said awkwardly. I didn’t want to do this, but if it got us out of this tight pickle, I was going to go with it.

“I call dibs!” Carlos called, throwing his hand up. I giggled and Logan groaned.

“I feel loved.” I muttered. “I should go. James, want to walk up with me?” I asked. He nodded and I pushed past the guys and we headed to the elevator. We got in an empty one and I pushed the button up. “Sorry about that.” I muttered.

“No its okay. I give you props for improv, but I don’t want to share you.” he whined as he slipped his arms around my hips and pecked my lips and then started to trail kisses from my cheek down my neck. I heard the door open and I pushed him off, a little harder then I wanted.

“Sorry. I didn’t want someone to see.” I said, embarrassed. He pecked my lips again.

“It’s okay. I understand.” he smiled and we walked down my hall to my apartment. I opened the door and my dad was sitting in the living room.

“Thanks James, I had a ton of fun.” I said.

“Yeah, no problem. I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Derek!” he called.

“Goodnight James! Thanks for taking care of my baby girl.” my dad called. I rolled my eyes and James smiled, walking away.

“I’m not your ‘baby girl’.” I said.

“Excuse me?” my dad asked.

“I hate being called baby. I’m not a fucking baby. I’m a teenage girl.” I told him.

“Go to your room. You will not use that language with me.” he yelled. I rolled my eyes and went to my room quickly. It was only 7:30, so I changed into my pjs and watched TV. I got my phone out and texted Kelly asking when she was picking me up. I then texted James.

Kelly said she’d be there at 9am, and I texted James until I fell asleep around 10.

In the morning I took a shower and snuck down stairs. My dad wasn’t up yet. I wrote him a note saying I’d be at the studio, and then I ran to 2J. I straitened my white Lady Gaga shirt, and pulled it down over my red pants. I had my snake bites in as I knocked on the door. It was 8am, so I figured they were up.

The door opened and a woman in her mid 40’s was facing me. I saw the boys at the table eating.

“Hi, can I help you?” she asked with a smile.

“I’m Clurissa. I’m a friend of the guys.” I said, pointing at them.

“Oh then come in, I’m Mrs. Knight, Kendall’s mom.” she said smiling. I saw the guys were eating.

“Nice to meet you. Is there extra food?” I asked. I saw James smile and he walked into the kitchen. I followed. “Thanks.” I said.

“Still no food at your place?” he asked with a laugh.

“No there is, but I had a fight with my dad and I didn’t want to see him, so I left. I don’t mean to eat all your food.” he shrugged after he finished plating my food.

“Don’t worry about it.” I walked back to the table and sat next to Carlos.

“So Rissa, what are you doing today?” Kendall asked.

“Kelly’s picking me up at 9 to go to the studio. Aren’t you guys going?” I asked.

“Nope. We have the day off.” Carlos said.

“Jealous.” I groaned and they laughed.

“Well, do you know when you get off? We could go catch a movie.” Kendall said. My eyes flicked to James, who seemed frozen, but I got my self into this mess.

“Ill text you when I find out.” was all I said. Kelly text me, saying she was here and I told her I’d meet her in the lobby. I hugged the guys and left to the studio, for a hard day of work.

We worked through a few of my songs and Gustavo yelled, and I yelled back again. After 4 long hours, he sent me back to the Palm Woods. I texted Kendall when I was 10 minutes away. When I got there, I met them all by the pool.

“Hey guys.” I waved.

“Hi Rissa.” they said. Kendall jumped up.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes.” No.

“Kendall?” I heard. I turned around and I saw a pretty blonde girl with a travel bag in her hand.

“Jo! Hi!” Kendall said, running to her side.

“Yeah. Who’s this?” she pointed to me.

“I’m Rissa. I’m new here. Your Kendall’s girlfriend right? I’ve heard great things.” I smiled. I didn’t want to be her enemy.

“Really?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yes. I’ve missed you a lot.” Kendall said. He led her away as they talked. I sighed and laid down on Kendall’s now empty chair next to James and Carlos.

“So can we go on our date? I mean hang out?” Carlos asked.

“Oh, uhm, sure.” I said. The quicker I got this done, the more time I could spend with James. So Carlos and I went to the movies, and I had a fun time. When the movie was over though, we went right back to the Palm Woods. I did have fun. I wont lie. He was like a brother to me.

James walked me to my floor again, and we had a mini make out session in the elevator. He didn’t walk me to my door, but that was okay. I was scared to go because I didn’t know what my dad would say or do. I opened the door and I saw him sitting in the living room, reading the newspaper.

“Hi dad.” I whispered. No response. “You know, if I wanted to live in a quiet house, I would have requested mom to come.” I said.

“Hey!” he said. I looked up at him.

“If you keep up this attitude I’m taking you home and you can forget about singing.” he yelled. I glared at him and ran to my room. I couldn’t help but to shed a few tears. I took my phone out and texted James.

Dad threatened to force me 2 go home

A few minutes later, he texted me back.

Y?

I told him what happened. He told me to meet him in the lobby at 11pm. I was pacing around my room, keeping myself awake. At 10:50, I snuck out of my apartment in my Hannah Montana pajamas. Shut it. They’re really comfortable. I ran to the elevator and pushed lobby. I was surprised, and scared when it stopped on a floor on the way there. But it was James.

“Hey!” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him. His arms went around me and rested his chin on my head.

“I’m so sorry babe.” he said. I pulled away.

“Okay, first rule to dating me, don’t call me baby please.” I said.

“Oh, I’m sorry. What about hun or honey?” he asked.

“That’s fine. I never got the ‘baby’ thing. And I don’t appreciate being called ‘baby’. That’s actually why I’m in a fight with my dad.” I laughed lightly as the doors opened. We walked over to the couch and we sat down, facing each other. We didn’t say anything. We just stared at each other. I know that might sound creepy, but it was pleasant.

Suddenly, James started to lean over to me and our lips touched. I started to lean back, pulling the front of his shirt with me. I was laying down and James was propping himself up on his elbows as he kissed me. It was getting really rough and I liked it.

I licked James’ lips and he opened them and I slid my tongue in his mouth and explored. He let out a tiny moan and I smiled into the kiss. We started to wrestle with our tongues. I retreated my tongue, and James followed and we fought in my mouth for a bit. James pulled away and I let out a small whine. James chuckled and started to trail kisses on my cheek to my neck. I arched my head back so he could cover more area. He found my soft spot and I let out a gasp. I felt James smile on my skin as he sucked and licked my skin. I started to unbutton his pajama shirt. He got on his hands so I could have more room. His lips found mine again once I got his shirt undone. My hands traveled all over his toned abs.

He started at the buttons to my shirt when we heard the elevator ding, and the doors opened. We both gasped and he got off me and frantically started buttoning his shirt up. I only had 2 buttons to do. We sat there, looking at the elevator and we didn’t see anyone.

We both looked at each other and laughed. We went to go look, but there was no one.

“That was weird.” James laughed.

“Yeah.” he grabbed my hand and led me back to the couch. He sat me in his lap and started kissing my neck. “James.” I mumbled.

“Hmm?” he asked into my neck.

“Its not that I’m not enjoying this, because I totally am, but I kind of want to talk. If that’s okay.” I said. He turned to look at me.

“That’s totally fine.” he said with a genuine smile. So I leaned back on his chest as we talked abut anything that came to mind. At 2 am, I was starting to get really tired. James carried me to the elevator.

“I think I’m going to tell my dad tomorrow.. Well, I guess today, that I broke up with Ethan. I’ll have to call him too.” I said, breaking the unawkward silence. James smiled.

“I cant wait.” he wrapped his arms around me. I leaned up and kissed his cheek. When we got to my floor, I gave him a quick kiss and I snuck back into my apartment. I laid in bed and fell asleep instantly.

I had the day off the next day and I called Ethan when I woke up.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Hey Ethan. It’s Rissa.” I said.

“Oh hey, now’s not a good time.” I heard something in the background. I knew it.

“Oh, well I just wanted to say that I found a guy, and I forgot about you, and so that means we’re over, and you can get back to your bimbo. Love ya.” I said and hung up. It felt good to do. The phone started ringing, but I put it on silent.

I walked out to the living room. It was 10:30, and I saw my dad sitting on the couch reading the paper.

“Hi dad.” I said. I was going to go at this in a morbid fashion.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” he asked. I shrugged.

“I just called Ethan.. And I heard a girl in the background.. And you know, it didn’t sound good on his part. So I broke up with him.” I said.

“He cheated on you? Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” he got up and hugged me. I hugged back.

“So now will you get off those guys backs?” I asked with a laugh. He laughed too.

“Yeah I guess, but I don’t want you to be dating now, wait a week or two. Even though I know that now your single, those four boys will be all over you.” he said. I giggled and got some cereal. Dad said he had to go to work, so he left on a somewhat happy note. I finished my cereal and grabbed another bowl. Just as I was about to pour in the milk, there was a knock on the door.

“If you’re not a serial killer or a rapist, and I know who you are, come in!” I called. The door opened and I saw the guys. “Hey!”

“Hey to you too!” Logan said. The other guys said ‘heys’ and sat on my couch.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked, putting the milk away and sitting in between James and Carlos. I leaned over to James and whispered, “I did it. And my dad is in a better mood. But we have to wait 2 weeks tops.”

“We have to be at the studio at 2, so we thought we’d hang out here.” I heard Kendall say.

“Cool.” I nodded. James turned to me and whispered, “Okay. I think I can handle that.” I smiled and nodded and finished my cereal. When I was done, I told them I was going to go shower and they could help themselves to anything in the fridge and whatever.

When I was done getting dressed, I was wearing black skinnies and a Green Lantern shirt. My red hair was in braids and I had my snake bites in. I walked out to the living room and the guys were in the same spots they were when I had left.

3 Weeks Later

“Look out!” I called. James ran to the left, avoiding the suitcase as he ran through the lobby, while giving me a piggy back ride, while racing Kendall and Jo. Whoever got to the movie theater first, got a free movie. Kendall was currently in the lead, but we were right behind them.

“Hold on.” James said, and he jumped over another suitcase in the way, which put us in the lead. He almost fell over and I laughed. The movie theater was across the street now and it was a green light for pedestrians. I looked behind me and Kendall and Jo were on our tails. And we got there first. James let go and I landed on my feet. I smiled and kissed him, cheering as Kendall ran up to us, out of breath. Jo jumped off his back. She smiled.

“Good job.” she said.

“Thank you.” James said. I laughed and Kendall and Jo paid for our tickets. These last few weeks were a little hard. At first, it was hard hiding our relationship, and after a week and a half, we announced that we were a couple. My dad was happy for me and so were the guys. James was a great boyfriend, now that we were open about it. Everyday was an adventure and I loved it.

When we took our seats in the middle and I took James’ hand and rested my head on his shoulder.

“Rissa?” he asked.

“Yes James?” I giggled. He turned to me and I picked my head up and looked at him. I could tell he was getting serious about something.

“I think I love you.” he said, looking right in my eyes. I almost melted.

“I think I love you too.” I smiled. He smiled back and leaned down and kissed me.