Dak had been right about his incident covering up their break up. It seemed the press hadn't even noticed his companion's absence.

Anna threw the remote at the TV luckily having it fall just short of the appliance. "He's not deathly allergic to the damned vegetable!" she yelled at the screen as another program reported on Dak Zevon's near death experience.
She was sitting on the couch in her pajamas ignoring her ringing phone and shoveling handfuls of popcorn into her mouth. She had taken up the position as soon as she got home from school and eight hours later hadn't moved except to get the popcorn.
"Why do you torture yourself?" Bennett asked as he went and picked up the remote, moving to sit next to her.

"Because I'm a masochist." She said, still listening to the woman on the screen talk about her ex.
Bennett moved and pulled Anna into his side , letting his little sister curl up into his side.
The woman on the screen stopped talking about Dak and the deadly asparagus to mention the new album that Dak would be putting out the next day and its much awaited collaborative single. As the woman talked about the band that Dak had collaborated with a picture of Big Time Rush took over the screen Anna curled further into Bennett's side. She still hadn't told Bennett the real reason she had been crying that night in the park, she still felt like an idiot because of it.
"Have you talked to the guys recently?" Anna couldn't stop herself from asking.

"I've called a few times but they've been busy getting ready for the release." He told her still watching the screen.

Anna nodded, and turned back to the screen. The woman had moved on to a new celebrity.

"I'm gonna go to bed" Anna said, pulling out from under Bennett's arm.

Anna walked up stairs to her room and lay down on her bed. It didn't take long for her to sit back up. She looked over at her night stand and stared at the picture of her and Dak. She opened the back and took out the picture, she got up and put it in the drawer, then put the frame back. She stared at it. It was empty. She had moved the picture of her and James days ago. It now sat in a box at the bottom of her closet along with everything else she had hid after their break up.

She picked up the frame from her table and moved to the closet. She dug the box out from under a pile of clothes and opened it up. She had intended on simply putting the frame in the box and letting that be that, but that stupid picture was sitting there smiling up at her. She couldn't leave it there, so she picked it up and put it back into its frame. She went to put it back but another picture caught her eye and she pulled it out, this one was of James, Bennett and Logan celebrating after winning a game. Soon enough Anna found herself sitting in front of her closet going over every picture and memento in the box. Along with a stack of pictures there was a necklace and a pair of earrings he had given her for her birthday, a small stuffed animal he had won for her at a carnival and a paper crown he had gotten her as a joke at a fast food restaurant they had gone to late one night. When she had finally gone through everything she put it back in the box, and went back to her bed. After laying, unable to sleep for a little while, she got back up, went back to the closet pulled out the stuffed animal and went back to bed cuddling it close to her.

For once James wasn't looking forward to a performance. For the premiere of Dak's album and their new song Dak's people had decided to have a big launch party where the boys would all preform together. They had spent just about every hour of every day getting ready for it, and each one had been hell for James, having to be there with Dak, though thankfully the other boy seemed to leave him be for the most part. Tonight though it would be worse, because tonight was the party and not only would Dak be there but he would be there with Anna, smiling laughing being happy, and James would have to pretend he was happy too.

He fixed his hair haphazardly, not really caring but needing to put on a good show, and walked out of the bathroom.

"Ready to go guys?" James asked as cheerily as he could manage.

"Yup."

"Let's go"

They all headed out into the waiting limo that had been sent for them.

"You going to be okay?" Carlos whispered into James' ear.

"Yeah, I will be." James told him.
Carlos nodded but put a comforting hand on James' shoulder all the same as they tried to enjoy the ride to the party.