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corleonecaretaker · 19 days

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♥ 𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝔾𝕚𝕣𝕝'𝕤 𝔾𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕒 𝔾𝕠 𝔹𝕒𝕕 ♥

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Summary: Michael takes Kay to a swingers club just to shock her, just to show her that she can’t handle the kinds of debauchery in his world. But when they encounter the seductive, spellbinding John and Helen Wick, Kay isn’t as shocked as he expected. All of Michael’s plans are about to go awry…and the strength of his marriage is about to be tested. This story is a response to a request from a guest on AO3!

A few historical notes: “Swinging” as we know it today began in the 1960s, and The Godfather is set in the 40s and 50s. At the time, they probably would have called this “wife-swapping,” which began during the 1940s among Air Force pilots according to everything I can find, and it wouldn’t have been as common. But for the sake of the story, let’s just pretend that Michael knows some people who are very ahead of their time.

CW: swinging, digital and oral sex, crying during sex, internalized homophobia from Michael, discussion of Kay's fear of domestic abuse

Your good girl's gonna go bad I'm gonna be the swingin'est swinger you've ever had If you like'em painted up, powdered up, then you ought to be glad Because your good girl's gonna go bad - Tammy Wynette

“You really want to know what my world is like? What men like me do at our leisure?”

“Yes, I do,” Kay replied defiantly, a challenge burning in her eyes.

So Michael let her dress to the nines in a pleated red dress and wide brimmed evening hat, and took her to the Syrup Saloon, one of the many clubs that pulsed to the neon heartbeat of Las Vegas. But this one was VIP only. “Fifteen years ago, this was a speakeasy,” Michael explained, as the bouncer swung back a hidden door in the mahogany wall panel of the decently furnished but otherwise inconspicuous foyer through which they’d entered. “But it still has its secrets today – thank you, Joey,” he said, interrupting himself to let the host put a drink in his hand. As they fell into conversation, he watched Kay out of the corner of his eye. She was glancing around the dimly lit room with all the open curiosity of a wide-eyed doe who had yet to realize it had just stumbled into a pack of wolves.

In all honesty, he thought it would scare her. He thought they’d walk in and she’d realize what was happening only to demand that they walk right back out and not ask him anything about his business or his private life again for a month.

“It’s so good of you to finally persuade the missus to join us,” said Joey, and he kissed her hand. “It’s a shame that I’ve already made my reservations for tonight. If I had known, I sure would have saved myself for this doll.” For a second, fear swept through Michael. He laughed awkwardly and said something without knowing what it was. What if they got in too deep? What if Kay was too polite to insist on leaving – or worse, called his bluff? What if another man actually fucked his wife?

“Michael, what was that gentleman talking about?” she whispered, as they made their way to a velvet booth in the corner. The room was heavy with smoke and bluesy with the sounds of saxophone pouring from the phonograph, creating a soft haze that was only punctuated by pink and yellow neon strips along the ceiling.

“Well…you see, I’ve never come to the Syrup Saloon before, even though Joey’s invited me more times than I can count. Only couples can come here, and I wanted to keep you out of places like this. But if you say you can handle it...” He leaned back, watching her gaze follow a group of four at a nearby table. Her mouth fell open as they traded places, giggling, and made their way off to two separate rooms.

“Oh my – Michael, they’re…they’re swingers?”

He frowned. “How do you know what swingers are in the first place?”

“Connie told me,” she said indignantly. “Michael, this is NOT what I meant.”

He bit his tongue before he could ask how Connie knew what swingers were – he probably would rather not know that much about his sister. “Listen to me. You want to know about the ugly parts of my world? Okay. It’s this or letting you watch Al Neri blow a man’s brains out.”

Her lips pursed. Anger. But she didn’t have a chance to reply. A woman’s voice cut in, a sonorous, confident, casual sort of voice. “Is this seat taken?”

She was standing over them with her head tilted in playful curiosity, maple brown hair tickling her collarbones thanks to the scandalous off-shoulder gown that hugged her torso. A man in a suit towered next to her, with dark hair almost as long as hers. It fell forward to obscure deep, black eyes. From one look at him, Michael could tell he wasn’t a civilian. He was pure muscle, and stood like a soldier or a bodyguard, placing himself between his wife and the rest of the room as if by instinct.

Michael opened his mouth, but Kay had already answered for him. “Not at all. Please, join us.”

The woman slid into the seat next to her, and the man next to Michael. He felt suddenly trapped. Kay was looking intently at this sculpted, vicious…thing sitting next to him. If someone distilled masculinity in human form, it would look like this. Just kill me already.

“I’m Kay.” Her words filled up Michael’s stunned silence. She offered a hand to the woman.

“And I’m M,” Michael broke in hurriedly, realizing just how much he didn’t want to be seen here for long. “We’re going by first initials, see.”

The woman shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to us. We’re from out of town, and we stay out of the spotlight these days anyway. My husband’s retired.” She shot him a wink before turning back to the Corleones. “I’m Helen.”

The man spoke then, and if the woman’s voice had been sonorous, his seemed to vibrate straight through his firm handshake to the inside of Michael’s ribcage. “John. Sorry for barging in. It’s just that you two caught my wife’s eye and well…what she wants, she gets.” He smiled across at the table at the woman, with a genuine warmth that told Michael it wasn’t a hardship to give her everything she could ever ask for.

Michael managed to claw his way back towards composure. Flattery was at least something he was used to. “Well, I appreciate the compliment, Helen. You’re a rather eye-catching pair yourself. Wouldn’t you say so, Kay?”

“Oh, I would. I hope you’ll do us the honor of spending the evening together.” Michael shifted in his seat. No. Absolutely not, this has been a mistake! Let’s leave. But the words were caught in his throat. He found himself paralyzed. Yet again, his attempt to unbalance her had been instantly turned back on him. Her voice had a sultry lilt to it that normally only showed up in their own bedroom, and she was staring at John, letting her eyes wander over his biceps, over the enormous hands resting on the table. Michael felt his heart skip dizzyingly.

“We’d be so glad to! And tell me Kay,” said the wife, her voice dropping to an intimate near-whisper, “Which of us do you like better?”

Her lips parted in a wordless inhale as Helen’s hand slid over the top of hers, resting there without pushing between her fingers. Kay blushed fiercely. “Oh, I don’t – I could hardly – “ Her words came out breathy and overcome at first, but the next were spoken with a kind of wonder at herself. A dawning awareness. “You, Miss Helen.” She spread her fingers, letting Helen’s sink between them to clasp their hands together.

Michael exhaled in relief. “Splendid! I think we have ourselves a plan for the evening.” Good. This was an image he could handle – Kay holding hands with another woman like two innocent girls, not showing the slightest interest in this John…oh. John.

Under the table, John’s hand was on Michael’s thigh. He couldn’t breathe. “Yeah,” John said.

───•⋆⋆ʚ♥ɞ⋆⋆•───

Kay let herself be led to one of the bedrooms in a trance. Led by the hand, in a way completely different than any hand-holding she’d ever experienced.

They had to get there as fast as possible – she needed Helen, needed her now. She’d been wet since the moment the woman’s soft skin had rested against hers. All she could think about was the softness of Helen’s lips, and of her…oh god. She was burning, throbbing inside. She’d never touched another woman like that before. Her mind went to the nights when she’d sinned, when Michael was away on business and she’d let her fingers slide down the silk of her nightgown and feel the curves of her own hips and and lift the hem and…and…oh god.

It was a beautiful little room, lit by a stained glass lamp adorned with pink and yellow roses. The bed was covered in pink sheets...satin like her own nightgown…and it was shaped like a heart. A scandalous bed. A sex bed. Kay realized she was trembling.

“Are you nervous?” Helen stopped in front of her and tilted her head again in that absolutely sweet way. “Is this your first time with a woman?”

“I am. It-it is.” She swallowed. “But that’s not why I’m shaking. I…”

“Go ahead. Say it.” Helen’s face was moving towards her and she let her eyes flutter closed. Her insides pulsed maddeningly and she realized her underwear must already be soaked through.

“I just…want you…so much. It’s so…physical.” A kiss. Helen’s lips, every bit as soft as she had imagined, devouring hers. The blood was rushing violently in her ears and they hadn’t even taken their clothes off. There was a screaming urgency, the way there was on the edge of orgasm, that this moment couldn’t slip away, it must not stop, it had to reach its conclusion, please…a fantasy she didn’t even know she had was right within her grasp.

In a flood of adrenaline, she grabbed the back of Helen’s head to deepen the kiss, tangling her fingers in her hair, pressing into her tongue, rubbing down the soft curves of her body, squeezing her breasts, making out like crazed teenagers at a drive-in movie. At some point they tumbled onto the bed. She let her hat be swept off and her own dress be forced off the shoulder to give access to her breasts. Helen’s teeth on her neck, hers on Helen’s nipples, their hands sliding over every part of each other’s bodies in shameless hunger.

Helen threw back her skirts and Kay realized in a flash of panic that she was about to touch the soaked mess of her underwear. “I – Helen – ahhh!” Helen’s hand was already rubbing against it vigorously, right over the clit. All the could do was arch her back and fight not to scream. Every moment between them felt more scandalous than the last and yet more right. How long had it been since she put her own pleasure first this way?

The woman laughed good-naturedly, watching her face in admiration. “Does it feel good, honey?”

“Yes, mmm... Yes. Yes. Oh my god…”

The underwear and her tights pulled suddenly away and she felt cold air against her burning labia. She moaned in frustration, wanting it to continue, and then had a better idea.

“Wait. I want to feel you too.”

Helen stripped obligingly, right down to the skin. Only a thin gold necklace adorned her perfect body as she sank back down at Kay’s side, entwining their legs and humping at her momentarily before resuming the handjob. This time, Kay put her own hands to work. She gasped hard at the wetness pouring out of Helen’s opening, at the breathless way Helen sighed when Kay’s fingers explored the bulb of her clit and at last plunged inside her. There was so much to feel, the heat, the curvature…

But the feeling of Helen’s rhythm was so distracting. She’d gone inside Kay too, and in a minute, Kay found that she couldn’t move, she could only focus on the way her muscles were starting to clench and the way her hips wanted to thrust up into Helen’s palm. Helen was hitting some delicious spot over and over and over and her own fingers were still deep inside of Helen, massaging her like such a bad girl and… “Ahhh oh my god, don’t stop, don’t stop, I can’t, I think I’m going to…”

And to her embarrassment, she flooded over Helen’s fingers with her head thrown back and a wild moan wrenching itself from someplace deep and ecstatic in her chest. She expected her to stop after that like Michael did, but the pounding continued right through the orgasm, and within seconds she was cumming again, even harder.

And Helen nuzzled into her neck, kissed her sweat-drenched forehead, and whispered, “Don’t worry sweetheart. I’m not going to stop until you’re dry.”

───•⋆⋆ʚ♥ɞ⋆⋆•───

Leaning against opposite walls on either side of the bed, the height difference between them was apparent. John must stand at least six feet to Michael’s 5’6”. Michael wondered idly whether God would permit him to sink into the floor and straight to hell in the interests of escaping this situation.

He was hard because the women had looked so pretty together. That was why. That squeeze John had given his thigh just before they stood up had nothing to do with it.

He pulled out a cigarette, grasping for some semblance of normalcy. And a second one with it, for John. “You want a smoke?”

The man just shook his head. So damn silent. Michael lit up and tried to focus on the sensations hitting his lungs and then his veins.

A long, awkward moment passed. Maybe he could just sit there and smoke for as long as it took and not do a thing.

As if in answer, the man finally spoke. “We don’t have to do anything.” He was fixing Michael with those dark, soulful eyes, the same way he’d looked at his wife. With that devastating gentleness, like he wanted to serve Michael. Wanted to give him everything he might desire, whether that was the most exhilarating night of his life or just peaceful silence. It was so damn…comforting.

Michael shook himself and paced back and forth for a minute, trying to dissipate the ache between his legs. “I’ll be frank with you, John. I don’t know what men even do together.” He found words spilling out of him. “I’m no upstanding gentleman, but I’m a man. I’ve never practiced sodomy. I brought my wife here tonight to shake her up a bit, to show her what kind of shocking debauchery goes on in this world. Better she see the sex than the blood and the death and the things men do to one another in wild betrayal or vengeance. Better she see it and never ask to see any of it again. But then your wife came along and…” He laughed hollowly. “You know what, maybe she’ll come around and be alright with the business after all. She’s alright with walking into a place like this. Who knows what the hell else is just fine with her.”

“I see.” Was he amused? Michael couldn’t tell. He stared at John, waiting, demanding some further response to that monologue. At long last, he continued. “She’ll know the difference between sex and violence. And she’ll never be just fine with the violence. At least my wife wasn’t.”

“Hmm. You’re retired, she said?”

“Yeah. For her.”

He nodded, looking away into the corner and struggling with the hopeless feeling that was starting to tighten his chest. “Well aren’t you a goody-two-shoes. But that would be an impossible task for me.”

A smile seemed to flicker over his lips, and then it was gone just as fast. “You feel trapped.”

Michael stopped pacing. He must look like a nervous fool. Now he was the one who was silent. What was he supposed to say? Yes? That was the truth, wasn’t it. He was trapped, always trapped. Trapped between the violent protection people needed and the gentleness they thought they wanted, trapped between driving his family away and letting them die. Trapped in Kay’s all-knowing, accusatory gaze.

He tilted his head backward, willing the tears to sink back behind his eyes and down his throat where he could swallow them unseen. This night had become an endless disaster. The last thing he needed was for this infuriatingly handsome man to see him crying.

John was at his side before he realized it. “Hey. I won’t lie, it’s not easy. But it’s possible. You can live a normal life if you want to. Just you and your wife, kids if you have them. Safe.”

The image, the thought of it…it was too much. Something inside of him broke and he collapsed against the warm body in front of him, horrible, pathetic noises clawing their way out of his throat. “No. No. You don’t – you don’t understand. The things I’ve done…the things people will do to me…” John just stroked the back of his head and held him gently. His head barely came up to John’s shoulder. He felt more fully embraced than he had in years.

“You can be forgiven. But not if you never confess to her. You have to trust her. And you have to make up for it the way she says.”

He spoke through the ragged waves of despair flowing out of his lungs. “I don’t trust her. She’ll leave me, John. She’ll run, because she doesn’t forgive me for anything. And I can’t – I can’t live without her, I can’t let her go, I can’t - ”

“I can’t speak to that. But I forgive you. I know who you are. You’re The Godfather, right?”

For a second, Michael’s sobbing stopped in shocked fear.

“It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone. You’re in a bad situation. The organization could collapse under you if you make the wrong move, and then the whole family’s dead. You’re trying. I forgive you.”

And Michael’s face slowly rose to meet John’s, wet and broken and suddenly feeling the compassion behind those soulful eyes. Maybe that was why he kissed him. Long, and hard, and grateful. Maybe that was why, when he pulled away, he said, “Show me what men do together.”

───•⋆⋆ʚ♥ɞ⋆⋆•───

“It’s not that he doesn’t care about my pleasure.” It was sometime past midnight. Helen was laying side by side with Kay, playing with her curls and listening in rapt attention. “It’s that he cares about it the wrong way, you know? He thinks he can buy my happiness with pretty gifts or go dancing once in a while. And I like to go dancing, believe me, but I want…I want things to be the way they were between us in the beginning. No secrets. I want him to trust me, I want his respect. That’s what would really make me happy. I want to – I want to merge with someone. Like we just did.”

Helen frowned. “So he keeps secrets from you?”

“He doesn’t just keep secrets, Helen, he outright lies. He lied to my face and said he’s not in the business anymore and then what do I find out? …Well, nothing I can safely tell a stranger, unfortunately. And as if that weren’t enough, there was this time in Sicily that none of his guards will talk to me about.” She tsked in frustration. “I know I’m being horribly suspicious, but I’m sure he had a girl there, I know he did. And if it wasn’t that, I’m sure it was something even worse.”

“Wait, go back. Let me get this straight. You asked him to quit the business, and he lied and said he did? But in reality, he never quit?”

“Exactly.”

Helen whistled. “Listen. My husband and I come to these places for a good time for everyone involved. We’re not in the habit of homewrecking. But if you want my honest advice…you can do better. I would never settle for a husband who hid his darkness from me. You know what John did for me? He left everything behind. At the risk of his own life. I can’t tell a stranger about that either, but just know that he did the right thing. And if he’d failed, he would have told me honestly. That’s what I love about him. He’ll do the right thing no matter how vulnerable he has to be.”

She let her hands continue stroking along Helen’s arms absently, deep in thought. “I’ve thought about leaving. But he’d never let me go. I’m afraid of what he’d do sometimes.”

“Oh, honey. If that’s really true, it’s even worse than I thought. You have to get out of there. You have to run.”

The idea was too much to confront. She sighed miserably, blinking at the ceiling. “How? I feel so trapped. I think I’d have to do something drastic. Something that would make him hate me. If he didn’t want me anymore…that’s the only way.”

“You’ll find a way. I believe in you. You can be safe. You and your kids. They won’t live a life like his, they’ll be good to other people and you’ll teach them what matters. They’ll be free.”

Free…the thought of that possibility just made it all worse. It was so far out of reach. Her breath was catching on every word as her voice pitched up into sobbing. “You don’t understand, Helen. He’s a violent man. He just wants to possess me like a trophy. He just wants me to shut up and not ask questions and do as he says and I’m scared – I’m so scared…I think… sometimes I think he doesn’t even love me…” There. She had said it. And there was a triumph to saying it. Something felt permanently decided.

“I don’t know. I don’t know him, I can’t say if he loves you. But I can say that he should. You deserve to be loved. You deserve happiness.” Kay curled into her, letting Helen shower her with forehead kisses and wipe away her tears. Helen would be gone in the morning. But how could she return to Michael after being held like this?

“I’ll do it, Helen. I’ll run.”

───•⋆⋆ʚ♥ɞ⋆⋆•───

There was a man between Michael’s legs.

He had a beard, and Michael loved the texture of it, the roughness. He smelled like a man. The musk of their sex crazed bodies mixed in the air, overpowering even the cigarettes. It was intoxicating. It made him feel drunk and animalistic and completely in the power of lust. He was losing himself, leaned back against the headrest with one leg dangling off the bed and the other splayed out across the sheets with John’s arm wrapped around his thigh. He was rutting into John’s mouth, giving himself over to pleasure in every way. John wanted that for him. John wanted him to feel good. John cared so much for him, for a stranger, adored his body, respected his heart. “Hhhh…fuck.” His fists closed on the sheets at the thought of it.

John was a man. And he was between Michael’s legs, and it wasn’t debauchery, and it wasn’t violence, and it felt…right. He moaned yet again, feeling tears spill from his eyes. He kept crying, damn it. This was the third time tonight (for him at least – he’d already taken John twice as well) and John was just so. Fucking. Good at this. He almost never came three times in one night, but he could feel it building up in his pelvis, so close. Could he really be this turned on for this long? Was it even physically possible? He thrust upward into John’s mouth, a hand on the back of his hair, using his head without remorse.

He was babbling, pleading without knowing what he said. “Come on, come on, give me more, please, faster, I need it, I need…”

And John’s enormous hand squeezed down on his inner thigh.

He almost screamed through the orgasm, unleashing down his throat. John swallowed all of it like it was nothing, rose up, and pulled Michael’s shaking body into a hug. “You okay?” He’d asked that every time.

Aftershocks of pleasure were still sending him twitching. It was better than being drunk, better than being high. He could barely talk but he managed, “Yes. I’ve never…I’ve never felt this good before.”

A wordless grunt. Michael was already learning to read him and that one sounded like disapproval of Kay. That disapproval translated right into more protective affection. Just about everything seemed to bring out protective affection in John. He slid into bed behind Michael and hugged his torso from behind, nuzzling the back of his head. Spooning him. Michael would be blushing as soon as his blood could make its way back from his pelvis to his cheeks. John’s hand closed over his above his heart. Why was he so sweet?

For the first time in years, Michael felt safe. He sighed, feeling his breathing slow. John would be gone in the morning. But how could he return to Kay after being held like this?

“John?”

“Hm?”

“I think…I could let her go.”

#jw godfather crossover #wickblr #the godfather #michael corleone x john wick #kay corleone x helen wick #michael corleone #kay corleone #john wick #helen wick #john wick fanfic #the godfather fanfic

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myloveforhergoeson · 1 year

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That's All She Wrote - Chapter 21

Chapter Index

Find me on wattpad + ao3!

Chapter 21: Jenny from the Block (2.2) ~ 13k

After getting home from tour and the craziness of their first 48 hours back in Hollywood, Kelly and Gustavo allowed the teens a few days off from work to rest and recuperate before fully getting back into the swing of their Hollywood lives.

Today had been the first day everyone had been in the recording booth for quite some time, and once the lengthy practice and recording sessions for “Til I Forget About You” were finally over, the bands’ bosses had a big surprise in store for them.

“Guys...” Kelly eagerly began, trading out her traditional leather ledger for a large brown sack filled to the brim with something the five couldn’t quite make out.

Each of them were sprawled out on one of the large, white couches in the Rocque Records lounge, trying to collect themselves after a long, hard day.

“Here’s a little thing we like to call,” Gustavo paused for dramatic effect as Kelly began to dump the sack contents onto the coffee table in front of them.

“Fan mail!” They chorused as the boys reached out and grabbed as many letters and packages as they could possibly hold, bursting with pride as their collections continued to grow.

It was a wonderful sight to see, each of Roxy’s friends trying to capture every envelope and box off the table. If anything, this fan mail was a testament to their hard work - people taking time out of their own days to write notes or send gifts to the boys showed that Big Time Rush meant a lot to people all across the globe. To play a part in that, however small, was a wonderful feeling.

The first to tear open a letter in front of him was Kendall, easily breaking through the red heart-shaped sticker seal to reveal the writing inside. Reading it aloud, he tried to boast to the rest of his friends, “Dear Kendall, can you please, please, please, please, please send a photo?”

“I love BTR, but mostly James.” Logan read with a chuckle, before tossing the letter over his shoulder. “Ha! She’s wrong.”

Sitting on the couch’s armrest, Carlos balanced himself and tore open a large, brown package to share his letter. “Logan, you’re my favorite. P.S. Please enjoy this meatloaf I made for you.”

Had it not been for the noxious smell coming off the rotting piece of meat Carlos was now holding in his hand, Roxy would’ve knocked it to the floor to keep it away from her friends.

“P.P.S., please give it to Carlos!” The helmet wearer pretended to read, causing Logan to launch himself over James and his assistant to try and wrestle the loaf from Carlos’ hands.

Though the two of them eventually toppled off the couch and onto the floor, the other teens ignored them, tearing through more letters to find ones to read aloud.

“Saw you guys in Las Vegas. You rocked my world!” James said with a smile, squinting as he tried to decipher this fan’s complicated handwriting. “Could you please write back with a picture of Carlos and also the guitar player's phone number? My older brother thought she was cute and he also plays guitar.”

“Do not send my phone number out to strangers!” Roxy cried, cracking a smile and snatching the note from James’ hand, who looked more than okay with her actions. “Even if I do love myself a guitar player…”

“Like I’d give your number to another guy,” James scoffed before Kendall interrupted with his own, “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sending my fan a photo!”

The loud sound of an air horn blaring from the other side of the room caught the band’s attention, startling them away from what they were doing as they looked up to their bosses with ringing ears.

From the room that once housed their small classroom at the School of Rocque, Kelly rolled out a large whiteboard with lots of information written out in white, dusty chalk. Pointing to the top line, the band read out, “Fan mail do’s and don’ts.”

Smacking the board with her hand, Kelly brought their attention to the first point, which Gustavo was sure to drive home, “Do keep it short and simple. Write things like, ‘You rock too!’ and ‘Hey, thanks!’’

Moving onto the next point, Kelly read, “Do sign your name. All fans love autographs!”

“It’s true!” Roxy giggled, “I once wrote to Dev Patel and he sent me back an autographed headshot! I’ve seen Slumdog Millionaire, like, 20 times… So good.”

“O-kay,” Gustavo dragged out, slightly weirded out by her outburst and choice of inspiring movie, but didn’t say anything as he watched the writer snatch up her songbook and scribble down a few lines.

You can tell me where, I’m waiting here

Every day like Slumdog Millionaire,

Bigger than the Twilight love affair

I’ll be here

Yeah, I swear

When she finished, she quietly apologized and tucked the black book away, giving her full and undivided attention to the rest of the points on the board.

Once their bosses were sure she was done, Gustavo motioned to the third bullet on the board, “Don’t give out any personal information or advice. Otherwise, some crazed fan will show up on your front doorstep and ask you to help make them famous!”

Microseconds passed between their producer ending his sentence, and the large chalkboard being knocked down from behind, sending both Kelly and Gustavo crashing to the floor under its immense weight. In the board's place, a young girl, probably around the band’s age, holding a combination of three duffle bags and two suitcases while a hardened trombone case was strapped onto the back of her blue and red blazer. Her bright, bleach-blonde hair stood out against the dark blue of her top and black wash of her jeans but complimented her style just enough to blend in with her multicolored luggage.

Though Roxy had no idea who this girl was or how she got into the studio without an ID badge, but was quite confident in her deduction as to why this teen was so happy to see Big Time Rush.

My best friends are famous pop stars after all.

What confused the assistant the most, however, was the way the boys leaned into each other, as if they were trying to form a team huddle while still seated on the couch, and squinted toward the girl. She was moments away from dialing 9-1-1, until her friends asked, all at once, “Jenny Tinkler?”

“Guys, I did it!” Jenny responded, a bright, hopeful smile gracing her beautiful features. “I packed up everything and I moved to L.A. so you can help me be famous like you promised!

Dropping her bags to the floor with an obnoxious thud, Jenny pulled out one of the promotional shots the band had sent out to fans during the making of their first album. While covered in the boy’s four signatures, Roxy spied a special note in shiny, silver Sharpie in the bottom right-hand corner that definitely shouldn’t have been there.

As the adults managed to pull themselves out from under the heavy frame of the board above them, the writer turned to her friends with an equally shocked look on her face.

Just what did they manage to do…

Before Roxy could question them herself, Gustavo and Kelly hopped up, trying to assess the situation before someone ended up calling security and having Jenny removed from the building entirely.

“So, Fan Girl,” Gustavo bit, clenching his fists at his side to keep his famous rage at bay. “Which of these teens gave you advice and the address to my studio?”

Each of his employees winced at the way he yelled the last word before Carlos got up and separated himself from his friends. Taking off with as much speed as he could possibly muster, everyone watched as he exited the lounge by Studio A and turned the corner - presumably off to find a hiding spot in the many nooks and crannies of Rocque Records.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the boys were off after him, grabbing their assistant’s wrist and dragging her along as well. There was a lot of ground to cover, and with Kelly and Gustavo staying behind to watch the intruder, that left little room for Roxy to sit idly by and wait for the situation to sort itself out.

On the way out of the room, she was sure to politely smile at the girl before not-so-sweetly taking the image she had held up earlier to further inspect the note Carlos had left for her.

Though she hated to admit it, she had an uneasy feeling about the girl as she trailed after her friends, trying not to think too hard about how James’ fingers slipped off her wrist and into her hand as the pair veered off from Kendall and Logan’s path.

Besides showing up unannounced at their place of work and calling in a favor Carlos had offered her, Jenny hadn’t done anything wrong, and though the writer tried to figure out what it was about her that put her off, she just couldn’t untangle her feelings about the situation.

That, and it was already hard to think as James led her around the unoccupied floor of Rocque Records. It was strange how he either filled her brain with hundreds of song ideas or made her mind go totally blank with radio static. She only realized they had rounded half of all the possible rooms where Carlos could have been when James suddenly dropped her hand, noticing Logan and Kendall rounding the corner on the opposite side of the hallway. If they had searched the other half of the floor, that left only one place for Carlos to be: The break room.

Meeting in the middle of the hall, the teens cut to their left down different small paths lined with red and white window panes proudly displaying the company logo, until they found themselves in one of the most rarely used spaces in the building.

It was there, that Logan’s sharp eye caught a small scrap of fabric from Carlos’ purple striped zip-up peeking out from one of the cabinets on the floor. Silently, he pointed toward it, and James wasted no time marching over and throwing the two red doors open to reveal their friend lying on his back inside, surrounded by seven majestic paper cup towers he had constructed to try and conceal his hiding spot further.

Absentmindedly stacking up another tower, the boy pretended not to notice the intensity at which his friends stared down at him. “131, 132… Yup! All the cups are here!”

Without hesitation, Logan and James roughly pulled him from the small space and dumped him in front of where their other friends were standing.

“You told Jenny to come out to L.A., and we’ll help make her dreams come true?” James questioned, a slight sense of urgency in his tone as he cocked his head at the helmet wearer.

Holding up his hands in defense, Carlos combatted, “Not in those exact words.”

“Jenny, come out to L.A., and we’ll help make your dreams come true.” His assistant read off the image she had taken from the fan girl as the frontman mumbled, “Sounds like those exact words to me.”

“I didn’t think she would do it!”

Noticing something on the back of the image Roxy was holding, Logan gently took it out of her hands and showed off a message on the back.

Flight Info:

Depart: Duluth 10:35 am

Arrive: Los Angeles/LAX 4:45 pm

Flight 664

One-stop

Duration: 8h 10min

In-flight meal

“You wrote down the airline schedule and turn-by-turn directions to Rocque Records.” The boy deadpanned, looking back and forth at the traced map with a solid, red line from Los Angeles International Airport to the building they were currently in.

Looking utterly defeated, the boy in front of them slumped his shoulders, and suddenly Roxy felt very bad for chewing him out.

He needs to learn. She reminded herself, even when he pouted his bottom lip out. Giving out information like that puts us all in danger.

“Is all the bad stuff over?” Carlos sheepishly asked.

Grabbing the image from Logan, James pointed out another silver message on the image the band had signed and read it aloud. “P.S., We promise we’ll help you.”

“What did we tell you about making promises you can’t keep?” Kendall asked, doing his very best to keep his tone in check despite the anger that radiated off of him in waves. It seemed as though he also felt bad about scolding Carlos.

At the blond’s words, Carlos seemed to perk up a bit. “But it’s Jenny. We love Jenny! Plus, she said that she was our biggest fan.”

“I’m your biggest fan.” Roxy found herself saying, as if it was some sort of competition.

Though there was a brief silence that followed her words, Logan did soften up after a moment, “We did guest list her for the show in Duluth… I feel bad we didn’t really get to hang out with her.”

Immediately James smacked Logan in the arm as Kendall practically cried, “Yes, but it’s Jenny! You know what happens around Jenny!”

Roxy didn’t know what happened around Jenny, and subtly glanced at James when he cautioned, “Bad things… Bad things!”

She knew there was a reason the girl made her feel so uneasy.

“Fine!” Carlos bit, holding his hands up in defeat. “I’m gonna tell the girl who we’ve been friends with since Pre-K that you guys don’t want to help her, and that she has to go back to Minnesota.”

It was hard to ignore the slight tremor in the boy’s voice as he spoke, coupled with the slow shuffle he managed as he began to leave the break room. With each dragging footstep, Roxy could practically hear the cogs turning in the rest of the band’s heads as they took in his words.

Oh, he got them good.

“Stop!” Kendall called, just before Carlos managed to turn the hall and find Jenny again. “ We’re a team, so if Carlos totally messes up and promised we’d help her, then we got to help her…”

Carlos only had time for a small, celebratory, “Yes!” before the five heard a flat trombone tune erupt from down the hallway, coupled with a pair of screams from Kelly and Gustavo that struck quite a bit of fear into the assistant’s heart.

Once again, her friends took off in the direction of the sound, dragging her along. As they rounded the corner to the lounge in front of Studio A to see what was going on, they witnessed Jenny dancing around the room with a large, brass trombone, playing out a fun-sounding melody. The only issue was the trail of bodies - Kelly's and Gustavo’s - she had left in her wake from swinging the instrument around with reckless abandon.

It took the teens a few minutes to catch her attention, trying to scream her name louder than the tune she was marching around to, but eventually, the noises stopped and Jenny was able to assess the damage she had caused.

From the floor, Kelly and Gustavo groaned as they rolled around on a large pile of mail meant for the band.

“Wow,” Kelly winced as she brought a finger to her ear, “You do not hear trombone playing like that every day.”

Gustavo was far less kinder as he painfully wheezed out his comment: “Not if you can help it.”

“But it’s time for the big finale!” Jenny announced, eyes widening with just enough crazy in them to worry Roxy.

As the girl brought the instrument back to her lips, she began to toot out her final section of the piece, growing dangerously closer and closer to the band and their assistant with each slide of the brass handle.

Someone placed their hands on Roxy’s shoulders and pushed her to the right as Jenny went to the left, narrowly avoiding a hit directly to the face with the cold metal handle. Then again, Jenny went to the left, and the assistant felt herself being pushed to the right. This dance repeated a few times, and Roxy thanked her lucky stars her friends had far quicker reflexes than she did, until Jenny let out the final note before sliding the handle too far and accidentally launching it toward Kendall.

Hockey instincts kicking in, the boy dove to the right, and the slider knocked directly into the Rocque Records A/C control unit. As it fell off the wall in a tangle of wires, it sparked a few times, but at least Kendall was safe from harm’s way for a bit.

Not even allowing everyone in the room a moment to process, James’ voice dropped to a chilling tone. “It’s starting.”

It was then Gustavo erupted off the floor with a scream, swinging the still half-full sack of mail behind his head and aiming straight for Jenny.

When Kelly stepped into his line of fire, he calmed down a smidge but kept on screaming until the blonde placed her instrument on the floor.

“Sorry!” She squeaked, genuinely sounding like she meant it. “People tell me I’m a little accident-prone.”

Wasting no time with sympathy, Gustavo yelled toward his workers, “Get this out of here before it destroys the rest of my studio!”

There was a chorus of “Come on, Jenny!” from all five of the teens, who put on their biggest fake smiles as they motioned toward the elevator that would take them out of the building before Carlos piped up, “Let’s go make your dreams come true!”

“You guys are the best!” Jenny cried, beginning to run towards them with her arms wide open for a hug.

The genuine, terrified scream that left Logan’s mouth caused Roxy’s heart to drop into her stomach.

Today is going to be a long, long day.

***

Driving back to the Palm Woods in the cherry red Pontiac GTO was always fun for Roxy unless, as she came to find out, Jenny Tinkler was in the car with her.

Since the band was so afraid of being near her, they graciously let her sit on the front bench with their assistant. While Roxy did consider herself a defensive driver, that term only applied to those on the road around her, not those in the car with her.

In the incredibly short ride from Rocque Records to the Palm Woods, every little thing at every little street corner excited Jenny to the point where her incessant, sharp gasps of “Oh, my God!” or “Over there!” were scaring the writer and making her think something was wrong.

Though she knew it wasn’t fair for her to hold a grudge against a person she just met, and the fact that she had been the same way on her first day in L.A., Roxy was doing her very best to signal the boys in the backseat to change the subject and keep Jenny’s mind off the Hollywood sights for a while.

“Hey… Jenny?” James tried, hesitantly. “Why don’t you turn on the stereo? You and Roxy have pretty similar music taste.”

As the girl reached her hand out to turn the device on, Roxy was too late to catch her ask, “Which button is it?” before Jenny hit the eject button on the tape player, sending the mix of her favorite songs flying out of the car and clattering onto the pavement behind them.

Curse this open-top luxury vehicle.

Silence washed over the car for a few moments before Jenny let out a weak, but genuine, “I’m so sorry!”

Biting her tongue to make sure she thought about her words before speaking them, Roxy just smiled, reaching up to adjust her red, star-shaped sunglasses before lying, “It’s fine.”

Jenny’s smile returned, and she went back to her exclamations about anything and everything she laid her eyes on.

These sentiments continued all throughout the rest of the otherwise silent drive, while the teens pulled into the Palm Woods parking lot, and even the moment they stepped foot into the lobby of the hotel.

Each of the boys had been kind enough to take one of Jenny’s bags, leaving the assistant to trail after them in fear their new friend might cause some sort of damage to her favorite guitar as she unloaded it from the trunk of the Pontiac.

“I can’t believe I’m at the famous Palm Woods! Ah!” The blonde squealed, turning back around to face the band. When she whipped around to face them, she hadn’t quite calculated the speed at which her bag would swing and managed to knock one of the residents lounging at the front desk right off his feet and into a baggage trolley. “Sorry!”

Word of the day…

With no one standing between her and Mr. Bitters to check in, Jenny skipped over to the grouchy man to get her room situation squared away.

Quietly, the other five watched her to make sure she didn’t cause any more damage to the lobby before Logan shrugged, “She’s a lot less clumsy than I remember.”

As the rest of the boys slowly nodded, Roxy hissed, “That’s less clumsy?”

“Yeah!” Carlos bounced in front of his friends, holding two cautionary hands out toward them. “But remember, we love Jenny!”

This time, only Kendall and Logan nodded, and Roxy noticed a slight tremor shoot down James’ spine.

“Remember the second grade when she broke my arm playing marbles?” Cautiously, the long-haired boy raised his right arm and pointed to his elbow. “Or the fifth grade when she gave me the first paper cut in history the required surgery?” Raising his left middle finger to show off the scar, his assistant figured the other meaning was applicable as well. “And then, the eighth grade… Lab partners…”

The singer was too traumatized to even finish his sentence, merely placing both hands on his head and pulling at his long hair.

“It took almost a year for your hair to grow back…” Logan trailed off.

“You were bald for an entire year?” Their assistant asked, dumbfounded as she tried to wrap her brain around what James might have looked like without his favorite stylistic asset for 12 full months. “Did you just wear a lot of hats or-?”

“I’m out!” was James’ only response as he broke away from the group, and headed off to the pool to enjoy the rest of his day off.

Between the prospect of hanging out at the pool with James or helping the rest of the band sort out the Jenny situation, Roxy felt no qualms about sharing, “Uh, yeah, me too,” before racing up to her apartment to change into a halter top and cut-offs before the other three could stop her.

Hanging out with James had been very different since coming back from tour and even then, there weren’t many times the pair had free moments to even do so. Most of the instances in which they had even been in the same room as one another had been at work and trying to catch him without Kendall, Carlos, and Logan in the evenings was a Sisyphean task.

The only two times they had been alone together were on their first day home, once in her apartment and once at the pool, and both had ended quite unfavorably. However, after her conversation with Logan, Roxy knew that James just needed a little nudge in the right direction. A nudge that told him dating a coworker wasn’t a mistake and that he was capable of forming meaningful and lasting relationships. Hopefully, today would provide her with all the time in the world to convince James she was perfect girlfriend material.

As Roxy skipped down the stairs to the pool, bag and towel in hand, she felt a strange sense of optimism. There was just something about the prospect of being around her crush, fully uninterrupted by the rest of their friends, that made her so giddy she could hardly contain her smile once she entered the lobby.

A smile that didn’t even fade when she felt someone catch her arm, roughly pulling her to the side of the lobby.

“Roxy!” Kendall’s whine scratched at her ears as he blocked her path to the open doors to the outside deck. “Help us!”

So much for uninterrupted.

Gripping one of the straps on her bag, she looked up at her friend, “I don’t think ‘fan-girl service’ is on my list of assistant duties.”

“I’m pretty sure ‘assist the band’ is, like, number one on that list and we could sure use some assistance getting Jenny off our backs right about now!”

Moving her head to the right, she tried to look past Kendall’s shoulder to spot where James was lounging in a black tank top by the water, hardly listening to whatever argument he was trying to make. She hated his stupid gift for words, even under pressure, so the more she heard, the more likely she was to do whatever he asked.

He knew that too, snapping his fingers in front of her face to pull her out of her head. “The sooner Jenny’s gone the sooner I’ll stop bothering you.”

“Hm… You are quite a bother,” His assistant ruminated, thoughts switching back and forth between the helpless look on her band’s faces when Jenny busted the fan in the studio earlier and James’ perfectly toned arms. While she knew exactly what she wanted, it wasn’t like her to leave one of her friends hanging, “Give me 30 minutes and I’ll meet you in 2-J.”

“5 minutes?” The grin plastering itself on his face as he purposefully said a different time than she had pissed her off more than his usual teasing.

“Did I say 5? I meant 45,” Roxy deadpanned.

“Roxy!” He whined again. “Please?”

“Fine, fine!” Throwing her hands up in the air, she conceded to his request. She was the world’s best assistant-songwriter after all. “But seriously, 10 minutes. And if Jenny breaks any more of my stuff I’m having Kelly take it out of your paycheck this week!”

With a nod, Kendall quickly thanked her as a loud boom emanated from somewhere on the second floor.

“Shit.” The boy breathed, before making his way toward the stairs as he called back, “10 minutes!”

Readjusting the strap on her bag, Roxy nodded, popped her sunglasses down over her eyes, and made her way out to the pool before anyone else could stop her.

For a moment, her thoughts ran back to the conversation she had with Logan in the Crib the other day. Sure, he had been practically high off of excess caffeine consumption and little to no sleep as he finished his friend’s schoolwork before Rocktoberfest, but he had made some good points. If she made her intentions clear and managed to say the word “boyfriend” in a conversation with James without freezing up, she felt her chances of him making a move might exponentially increase.

With no game plan, her heart began to beat faster as she grew closer to the chair he was lounging on.

Best way to start a conversation? ‘Hey, James, looking good…’ Too forward… ‘Nice shades, I like how they match your shirt…’ Too lame…

Safe to say, she was not a pick-up line kind of girl, but once she noticed he had a bottle of sunscreen on the small table beside him, an idea popped into her head.

Gently setting her bag down at the foot of his chair, she caught his attention with a small “James?”

Even with his sunglasses covering his eyes, she noticed his brows shoot to the top of his forehead as he looked up at her.

She pointed to the bottle beside him, admiring the way the purple shimmer polish on her nails sparkled in the sunlight. “Can you get my back? It’s awfully hard to get all by myself.”

When he calmly nodded, Roxy didn’t hesitate to drop down onto the open space between his legs and the cushioning of the chair, almost bare back facing his chest.

For a few moments, she didn’t feel him move, though the roaring of her blood pumping through her veins took up most of her senses. Trying to keep her breathing steady, she prayed he couldn’t see the rapid movement of her chest in and out.

Then, lightly, she felt one of his hands brush through her hair, dropping it down the side of her right shoulder. It was hard to contain the shiver that followed the pads of his fingertips as he trailed them down her spine, before pulling away and grabbing the bottle. For now, she focused on the smell of chlorine tickling her nose from the water in front of them.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” She started, just to keep her thoughts from running wild, “And…”

As she had anticipated, she began to lose her words.

“Mhm?” James vocalized, egging her on as fingers found themselves at the base of her neck, rubbing the cold cream into her skin.

“And, I’m sorry about what I said in my apartment the other day…” Shaking again as his hands moved lower, she grew awfully interested in picking at her hangnails before she managed, “We had a job to do this summer, it’s not fair of me to make it all about…”

Us, She thought, Us! but couldn’t quite manage to get out.

“Anyway,” Roxy tried again, “I wanted to let you know that I’m looking-”

“Woah! You’re James Diamond from Big Time Rush!”

Immediately, James’ hands left Roxy’s body as a pre-pubescent voice interrupted her mid-sentence. When the pair looked up, one wide-eyed and the other glaring in anger, they found themselves face to face with a young boy neither of them had seen around the hotel before.

It was difficult not to notice the striking resemblance he bore to James, from his swoopy brown hairstyle, right down to the black tank and colorful board shorts.

Not caring that he had just interrupted what was probably about to be the most important conversation of Roxy’s life, the boy continued, “I’m your biggest fan!”

The chuckle that came off the boy sitting behind her was quite rude. “I don’t think so… Many of my fans are well over five feet.”

Despite his unprofessional words, which his assistant had half a mind to punch him for, the boy held out a small notebook and black Sharpie. “Can I have your autograph?”

Practically feeling the way James perked up at the notion of signing something for one of his fans, as per the rules Gustavo and Kelly had given them earlier, she heard the rustling of paper behind her, turning just as he held up two of his professional headshots. “Would you like futuristic postman or overeager haberdasher?”

“Futuristic postman,” Roxy muttered under her breath without thinking.

With a small shrug of his shoulders, the fan held out his items again. “Actually, I was just wondering if you could sign this?”

“Anything for my biggest fan!” James smiled his perfect, dazzling smile, dropping his photos into Roxy’s lap before reaching out to sign the paper for the kid.

Thinking the conversation was over, Roxy glanced up at James, “Like I was saying-”

“James?” The boy interrupted again.

This time it’s personal.

“Can you please tell me how you got to be so awesome?”

Now, Roxy’s glance was cautionary as she tried to project the final piece of their boss’ rules directly into James’ brain.

At his fan’s words, James shook his head, “Well, I was told not to give fans advice… but I like your style! Awesomeness is 15 percent tan, 40 percent good attitude, 20 percent bad attitude, and 50 percent imported hair care products.”

Taking note of his majestic hair flip, Roxy rolled her eyes as she moved to stand, “That’s 125%.”

“You bet it is.”

James didn’t even move to stop her as she grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder as the kid giggled, “I would love to be just like you… Maybe I can even snag a hottie like yours one day!”

Feeling her stomach turn as the young boy shot her a wink, she had half a mind to pinch his ear and drag him across the pool to find wherever his mother was. That was, before James sucked in a breath.

“Who? Roxy? She’s not-”

“So, you’re single?” The kid cut James off, moving to slide up to the teenage girl standing at the foot of the lounger.

Immediately she took about three steps back, risking falling into the pool if it kept her skin from crawling.

“I am…” She started, eyes darting over to James before looking back at the smirking kid, “Though, I am in the market for a boyfriend. One much older and much taller than you.”

What she had been expecting at the boldness of her phrase, she didn’t know. Maybe some pink rising to James' cheeks, maybe a love declaration in front of everyone at the pool… Roxy wasn’t picky.

“What do you say you go get us some low-fat soy shakes, and I give you more tips on being awesome?” was certainly not something she had imagined James would say, but he did regardless.

He didn’t even bother glancing her way as he continued to speak to his fan which was, among other things, utterly humiliating.

Not even bothering to hide her displeasure, she let out a humph and turned on her heels, making a beeline for the closest route to her apartment.

As she sped through the lobby, she nearly knocked Katie to the ground, not bothering to apologize as she rounded the corner to the stairwell.

There she noticed a bright, yellow flier for a band looking for a new lead singer on the Palm Wood’s communal billboard, and for a few moments, it temporarily distracted her from her woes. Since she was heading upstairs anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to drop it off in 2-J for the boys to show Jenny before wallowing in her room for the rest of the day. Of all the chattering she had done in the car, at least she had told them she was hoping to find a band and earn her spot as their lead singer.

No lack of bands in L.A…

Tearing it off the push pin tacking it down, she slightly crumped the edge she was holding as she hiked the stairs, ending up at the door to the Crib.

Not bothering to knock, she opened the door to find all three boys gathered around the kitchen island. A collection of magazines were open in front of them, but their attention was on the lime-green wall toward the back of the apartment they shared with 2-H.

The three of them had their jaws on the floor, and when Roxy followed their line of sight, the scream that left her lungs was blood-curdling.

“Why is there a gigantic hole in my apartment wall?!”

There Jenny stood, in the middle of the room completely coated in sawdust, completely unphased by Roxy’s words.

“Silly me!” Jenny giggled, “I was looking for the bathroom.”

“In my apartment? You have your own,” Roxy grit back, flier in her hands practically turning to dust with how hard she was squeezing it. For the second time that day, she felt her heart racing, though now from anger instead of exhilaration.

Still giggling, the blonde dusted some of the material sticking to her clothes off. “Well, yeah! I didn’t want to use the one those four dirty boys share, and the door was right there-”

“So why didn’t you use it?”

Standing up from his seat at the bar, Carlos spread his arms out between the two even though they were standing nowhere near each other. “Roxy! Come on-”

“No, Carlos, I really want to hear Jenny’s answer.” Chest heaving, Roxy asked again, “Why didn’t you use the door?”

Taking a few more seconds to wipe the dust off her face, Jenny sighed as she looked to the floor, “I’m sorry, Roxy.”

“That’s-”

“A perfectly understandable response!” Logan cut his assistant off, racing from his place in front of the kitchen sink to wrap a comforting arm around Roxy’s shoulder, sensing the next words out of her mouth probably wouldn’t be the kindest. “What did you bring for us, Roxy?”

Prying the paper out of her tightly balled palm, Logan read it over before holding it out to his friends.

The squeal of excitement Jenny let out was enough to send Roxy over the edge, roughly pushing Logan’s arm off her.

It didn’t feel good; being mad at James, taking it out on Jenny, seeing a large hole now connect 2-H and 2-J, but there were too many things happening at once for the writer to properly take everything in.

And there was nothing to take in, not when an unwelcome verse wedged into Roxy’s brain.

With an exasperated sigh, the girl plopped her bag onto the kitchen table, while Carlos and Jenny excitedly worked out the details on the flier she had reluctantly handed over. It took every ounce of self-restraint she had not to snap “Shut up!” at the two, but she was able to stick a finger in her ear to drown out most of the noise as she took her pen to the paper.

I had a million things to say

But none of them came out that day,

‘Cause I was never one of those types

Who always had the best lines

“What is she-?”

Time stops ticking

My hands keep shaking

You don’t even know that

“A song? You’re a songwriter?”

I try to speak, but you’ve just got me-

“Oh, my God this is so cool!

When Roxy moved her hand back to the paper to write out the rest of the words, Jenny spoke again, something she didn’t even hear as she tried to wrestle the last bits of the verse out of her brain.

Her red pen just ended up bleeding onto the paper and she quickly realized she had lost the lines to the chattering of the new girl. To keep herself from saying anything else to the jittering blonde, Roxy pressed her lips into a thin line as she tightly pinched the bridge of her nose.

A headache, one she often found herself stuck with whenever the boys concocted a scheme and made her tag along, was beginning to creep into the recesses of her brain.

Looking up at her friends, she simply sighed as she closed the cover of her journal, tucking the pen inside and placing it back in her bag.

Jenny doesn’t know. She reminded herself, and admittedly she didn’t feel so frustrated at James now that she knew she could get a few more verses of an incomplete song out of her uncomfortable emotions. Considering how James has been acting, I’ll find the verse again. It’s not right to be mad at her for the way someone else is making me feel.

Though it was very tough, their assistant put on a big smile, turning towards the newcomer in 2-J. “Thanks for saying that, Jenny. I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier; I was just a bit stunned by what had happened.”

“It’s okay!” The girl assured her, racing over to capture the writer in a bone-breaking hug. “Everything here is just so new and exciting that I forget how destructive I can be!”

With a small groan of pain, Roxy shot a helpless glance around the room to find that her friends were no longer there and patted Jenny’s back with one hand. “Yeah… How about we talk about your dream then? Let’s make good on Carlos’ promise.”

As Jenny released her, the assistant tried not to be too obvious with the large breath of air she needed to take and lead the wannabe singer over to the orange couch. Settling into the cushions, Jenny bounced up and down on the plush fabric a few times.

Scared it might break, Roxy placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her as she pulled open the blinds to let a bit of sunlight in. The beautiful view of the pool from 2-J was always exciting to see, but as she scanned the rows of lounge chairs decorating the deck, James was nowhere to be found.

Heart skipping lightly at the thought of, What if he’s looking for me? Roxy settled down on the couch as well, wringing her hands together.

“How long have you been songwriting?”

Jenny’s question came out of nowhere, filling the silent room with a slight echo from her loud tone. Her words were so confident, no nerves detected, even as she tried to learn more about the near stranger sitting beside her.

Placing her hand palm up, Roxy silently did some calculations on her fingers, “About three years - Writing seriously, that is. But I guess, I’ve kind of been doing it since I learned to play guitar about… A decade ago now?”

The silent “Wow” that Jenny mouthed as she took the information in made the assistant’s chest swell with pride at the praise.

“But what about you?” Roxy asked, trying to change the topic of conversation back to the matter at hand. “I mean… You play the trombone and you sing? That’s a powerful combination.”

Smile lighting up the girl's face, deep dimples cut into her cheeks as she said, “Yup! I somehow wound up in the band room in my elementary school after I crashed down this old wooden door down a hallway I’d never been in, so instead of yelling at me, the teacher gave me the only instrument no one wanted to play so he could complete his ensemble!”

She must have seen the way Roxy winced at the notion of crashing down a door, moving onto the topic of singing quite quickly, “And for some reason, I got put in the choir in middle school. I wasn’t a very good singer, but I loved doing it so I saved up my allowance for a voice coach… And now I’m here, ready to make my mark on Hollywood and find the right band for me!”

“That’s some hardcore determination right there…” The writer trailed off, wondering if she should bring up the boys and ask about what they were like as kids. Deciding against it, she shrugged, “If saving for a voice coach is anything like saving for a guitar, that’s an admirable quality to have in this industry.”

“You think?” Eyes widening, Jenny ran a nervous hand through her hair. “Kendall, Carlos, Logan, and James made it look so easy…”

“It was not easy, trust me.” Roxy found herself giggling, “They had to brave our melodramatic producer, a potentially corrupt CEO and his daughter, an evil rival label owner, Hollywood fever, a nationwide tour, new relationships…”

At the last thing on her list, the girl trailed off a bit, thoughts flickering to James for a moment. He and the band had come so far since their first days in Hollywood, constantly fighting tooth and nail to prove their place in the music industry. To be by his side throughout those long months, watching as he fought so hard for something he believed in was motivating beyond words.

Roxy felt her cheeks slightly heat; She was so lucky to be a part of their journey.

“But that won’t happen to you, Jenny!” A voice from the other side of the room shouted, slightly muffled.

When the girls looked toward the sound, they watched as Kendall, Logan, and Carlos emerged, pulling three chairs from the dining room table and setting them up a good 20 feet away from the couch. That wasn’t even the worst part, however, as the three of them were completely decked out in their protective hockey padding. Logan had even managed to snag the fire extinguisher from under the sink and placed it at his feet, just in case anything went wrong.

After a second, none of them said anything, but Logan’s text tone went off, and when he check it, he let out an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

It sent a jolt of excitement through Jenny, which Roxy literally felt as the girl shifted a bit on the couch and shocked her.

“Gustavo needs me. I gotta go!” The boy shared, hopping up from his chair with a bit too much furor. Scrambling a bit, he had some difficulty picking up the extinguisher with the large, protective gloves on his hands, but eventually managed to dump the object into Kendall’s lap. “Bye, Jenny!”

Seconds later he was sprinting out the door, not bothering anyone a second glance.

Kendall was quick to pass the extinguisher off to Carlos, before getting back to the matter at hand.

“Jenny, sometimes dreams change.”

Immediately, Roxy knew where this conversation was headed. He only started his speeches like that if he was trying to change someone’s mind.

“We wanted to be professional hockey players,” He continued, motioning to Carlos, “and now we’re singers.”

This was where his partner chimed in, “You want to be a singer, but maybe you should be one of those people who blows up buildings when they need to make new ones.”

Though Roxy was about to jump in and provide her own two cents, Jenny didn’t seem to need her help as she proudly declared, “But, guys, I’m a much better singer now. I was just telling Roxy I’ve been taking lessons! Want to hear?”

“Absolutely!” Roxy cut in, talking over whatever rude things her friends were certainly grumbling.

Hopping up from the couch, the girl took a calming breath in and then proceeded to belt out one of the most impressive, soulful ballads the three others had ever heard. The way her vocal tone mixed in with the wide walls of the apartment, the control she had over the pitch of her voice, the effortless way she slid words off her lips… Jenny was incredible, and no one would ever be able to deny it.

Once she had finished, the surprise on Kendall’s face morphed into a grin of excitement, “You’re amazing!”

“Told you we’d make you a star!” Carlos doubled down on his promise, sending a celebratory fist pump into the air.

After seeing her friends’ reactions, Jenny bounced up and down again, something the assistant noticed she was fond of, and raced over to the boys. Trapping them in another gigantic hug, this time they followed her lead as they joined her in celebration. There was far too much hooting and hollering for any one of them to notice the slight cracking sounds in the floor until it was far too late.

Unexpectedly, the thin floors of 2-J gave out under extreme pressure and sent the three teens tumbling to the lobby below.

For a moment, Roxy froze on the couch, until she heard three distinct coughs from the floor below.

At least it matches the hole in the wall

Cautiously, she gingerly stood from the couch and crept over to the large hole in the floor, listening for any signs of creaking and cracking that would also send her tumbling to the first floor.

When she worked up enough courage to peer over the edge, she saw everyone on the floor below, covered in bits of plaster and sawdust as they attempted to pick themselves off the ground.

“Anyone need a bandaid?”

***

It had taken a while for Roxy to smooth over the damage with Bitters, her three friends standing behind her as she used their company credit card like a shield, but eventually everything was squared away and the manager promised Buddha Bob would be up to fix the damage soon.

From there, Carlos unwadded the ad Roxy had torn off the Palm Woods’ message board and called the number listed at the bottom, finding themselves in connection with Guitar Dude.

Apparently, he was looking for a female vocalist to accompany him on his Canadian tour.

The four met him out front of the Palm Woods, where he was waiting in his van for the call that would help him bring his dream into reality. There wasn’t even an audition process, Jenny simply brought her bags down from her place and threw them in the back seat.

Guitar Dude was not a hard guy to please.

“I’ve been saving up for this van for, like, three years, and I can finally go on tour!” Guitar Dude shared, stroking his hands up and down the back of his large new vehicle.

The base baby blue of the car was gorgeous, and he had detailed two thick orange and red stripes around the middle to fit his own personal style. Overall, the vehicle screamed “Guitar Dude” and “Cheesy Beach Movie.” Though would be a bit cramped to travel in, it was better than nothing.

Not everyone gets to be as fortunate as us, Roxy thought, shivering at the thought of having to share a van that small with all of Big Time Rush.

During her minute in her head, Jenny and Guitar Dude got everything squared away, and he made his way to the front seat to turn on the engine. The van sputtered and stalled for a bit, but eventually started up, and he let out a few joyous honks to let his new singer know he was ready to go.

Letting out a squeal, Jenny bounced again, turning between the van and her friends a few times before asking, “Will you come see us in concert?”

“We promise!” Carlos and Roxy said simultaneously, earning a dirty look from Kendall, who added, “We’ll try.”

With a slide of the handle to the back door, Jenny secured their equipment and hopped into the front seat with her new friend.

“I’m a singer!” She proclaimed, leaning her head out the window as she waved back to Carlos, Kendall, and Roxy and let out yet another squeal.

From the driver’s seat, Guitar Dude revved the engine, “Canada, here we come!”

Even finding herself bouncing up and down a bit, Roxy wrapped an arm around Carlos’ waist as they watched the van take off.

“I can’t believe-” She started before she heard the wail of the van’s brake system grinding down onto the tire pad.

Before they had even made it out of the parking lot, the pair had found themselves crashing into the brick partition that separated the hotel parking lot from the busy street it was built on. They hadn’t been going fast enough for either of them to be hurt, but from where the trio stood, they could tell the front of the car had been completely crushed, and Kendall even had to step to the side to avoid being hit by a rogue wheel flying off the axis.

“So close!” The boys said, earning a large dose of stink eye from their assistant.

***

One emergency phone call with Logan about the fan at Rocque Records.

That was the length of time it took for Kendall and Carlos to get into a fight with Bitters about Jenny staying at the Palm Woods and just the right amount of time for Jenny to start a fire in one of the elevators.

Can we please just have a normal rest of the day?

Sighing as she slid her phone back into her pocket, she figured Logan would have everything handled at work, but as she faced her three friends dumping all of their problems onto her at once, she felt her headache begin to return. Though the hallway to the elevators didn’t feel like the best place to have this conversation, she was worried if Jenny moved anywhere else, another fire might erupt.

“Ok, let me get this straight,” Roxy said, running her fingers down a lock of her hair and twisting it around a few times. “Fires taken care of?”

Jenny nodded a few times, motioning to the firefighters in the elevator she had just stepped out of.

“Great, and you two? What’s next for Jenny?”

Both Kendall and Carlos exchanged worried glances before the helmet wearer fiddled with the side of his purple zip-up. “We, um… Um… Kendall?”

“Uh, Jenny…” He started, reaching his hands up toward her in defeat. “There’s really not much else we can do to help you. We’re really sorry.”

It killed Roxy to watch the smile wipe right off of Jenny’s face, her once ever-present confidence sliding away as she cast her gaze to the floor. For a moment, she felt guilty too, even though she didn’t make the promise the band had.

“Oh…” The blonde trailed off, bringing her hands together and tightly squeezing them. “I understand. But you boys were so great trying to help out an old friend, and Roxy, a new friend!... A friend who should probably go back to Minnesota.”

Quietly, Jenny stepped back into the elevator - the firefighters rolling their eyes and deciding to follow her - to go get her things from her new apartment.

The three of them stood there, watching silently as the doors slid closed.

After a moment, Carlos sighed, reaching up and placing an arm over his assistant’s shoulders. “Why do I feel like I’ve been slammed into the boards 19 times?”

Roxy didn’t even need to play hockey to understand the feeling he was describing, seeing as she currently felt the exact same way.

“‘Cause when you break a promise, you can also break a heart.”

Kendall’s words added a feeling of being slammed into the boards for the 20th time.

“Surely there’s more we can do,” Their assistant tried, but was at a loss of solutions herself. Beyond handing over one of her songs and recording a hit with Rocque Records, there was nothing else that they could guarantee for Jenny.

Wait. What’s stopping us from doing that…? “Actually-”

“Oooh,” Someone said from behind the three. Camille’s voice held a hint of despair as she said, “Bumming… Sadness… A bit of hope? Talk to me.”

She must be trying out for a therapist role.

Happy to see Camille, though still in the dumps about Jenny, Roxy sheepishly turned around and flung herself into her best friend. Nothing felt better than the comfort of the actress’ arms around her, slowly rubbing her back as she hissed towards Carlos and Kendall, “What did you do to her?”

That was enough to make Roxy laugh, her shoulders shaking her free of her friend’s grasp as she pulled away. “It’s been a bit of a rough day…”

“I promised a friend that we’d help her become a singer, which I will never do again,” He stated toward Kendall and Roxy.

Picking up where he left off, the frontman jumped in, “And she’s really accident-prone, she almost killed us, and we really just want to find her a singing job.”

“Preferably on another continent!” Carlos added, earning an elbow to the ribs from Roxy.

“A continent we don’t have to fly to!”

Taking in their words, Camille shrugged, “Oh, well have you tried calling any international agents?”

“International-wha?” The three replied, completely clueless as to the interworkings of the acting industry.

“Yeah!” Camille perked up, stepping toward to Palm Woods message board. “There’s a huge demand for American talent all over the world.” Ripping down a poster of a guitarist looking for a mechanic, she revealed about 30 cards for international agents tacked into the cork. “We’re an entertaining people.”

Immediately, Kendall sprung into action. Pointing to Carlos, “You get the agent cards,” Then to Roxy, “Grab your phone,” and finally, to himself, “I’ll get Jenny.”

Carlos’ cry was their call to action “Move!”

***

Team Big Time Rush was lucky to have the Kendall/Camille action team. Though what Roxy would consider an unlikely duo, the actress’ extensive knowledge of the entertainment industry and the frontman’s drive for success regardless of the situation lead them to create the ultimate plan to get Jenny recognized by one of the many international agencies she and Carlos had called.

While Camille and Kendall stole Jenny away for an impromptu photoshoot to hand new headshots out to the international agents and to perfect the big performance number, Roxy and Carlos had holed up in 2-H, sprawled out over her couch, countless bags of snacks within reach, as they dialed up every international agency they could find - from both the business cards on the message board and from a quick internet search.

“Who knew there were so many agencies in Los Angeles…?” Carlos asked through a mouthful of pretzels, shutting his assistant’s laptop to signal that he had reached the end of his list.

Beside him, Roxy nodded her head in response, only half listening to what he had been saying. Finishing her list a while ago, she had found her finger hovering over the text app at the bottom of her phone screen. While she should have been thinking of more ways to get agents to Jenny’s showcase, she had unfortunately found herself thinking about messaging James. It was a bit odd he hadn’t at least popped into the Crib or her apartment to check up on their Minnesotan friend, but she did pick up quite a bit of animosity between the two.

He knows a lot about putting on a show… He could be a great asset right now, is what she told herself, knowing full well her reasons for wanting to reach out were purely selfish. Even if he wasn’t picking up her hints, she still wanted to be around him. At the very least I might find my lost verse again.

“Hey? Roxy?”

Carlos’ words caught her attention fully this time, and she set her phone down finally. Even though he was fully lain across her cushions, he still peered up at her through his big, brown eyes.

“Thanks for helping us help Jenny.”

When she opened her mouth to respond, he clicked his tongue.

“Don’t give me any of that ‘I’m your assistant, it’s just my job!’ crap!”

Though his impression of her was poor, Roxy laughed anyway, finding herself sinking deeper into the sofa with him.

“You’re welcome,” She said, truly meaning it. “I was a bit weary of her at first but… She’s pretty cool. The four of you are lucky to have a friend like her.”

Nodding his head, Carlos’ helmet slipped over the top half of his face for a second.

That can’t be comfortable to lay down in…

“I mentioned earlier that we’ve known her since Pre-K, right? She’s my oldest friend besides Kendall, James, and Logan. So, when I wrote her that letter, I didn’t mean any harm… I thought we could help her.”

Without thinking, his assistant reached down and popped the helmet off his head. “And we are, Carlos. Jenny is so talented, anyone from these agencies would be missing out! I mean, a trombone player and a singer? Where else are they going to find such a combination?”

That made her friend giggle just a bit, “Think you can figure out how to work trombone into a Big Time Rush song?”

“Not unless Jenny’s been hiding some secret songwriting talent, too. I wouldn’t even know how to go about that… Besides, most of my songs are tending to focus on one subject lately…”

Taking a deep breath, giggles dissipating, Carlos reached for another handful of pretzels, “Ah, maybe some other time then.”

For a moment, the two sat in comfortable silence, stewing in their own thoughts.

“I think I might-”

“Do you know that-”

Accidentally speaking over one another, both Roxy and Carlos stopped and smiled before trying again.

“Do you know that-”

“I think I might-”

This time, their words overlapping once again sent them into a fit of laughter. Couch shaking, phones falling between the cushions, a package of Fruit Smackers tumbling to the floor…

Roxy was finally able to breathe, “You first!” just as her phone’s text tone went off.

Buzz buzz

K: The Showcase is starting soon

Before Carlos was able to speak, Roxy showed him the message and the two did their best to tidy up her apartment as quickly as they could before heading out.

Kendall and Camille had decided to hold Jenny’s mega-audition in one of the business conference rooms at the Palm Woods, so the pair didn’t have that far to go.

Since their travel was short, Roxy held off on sharing her thoughts and waited patiently as they walked down the halls of the hotel for Carlos to share his, but he never did.

By the time they reached one of the many conference rooms in the Palm Woods, they were met by a horde of adults in sharp, business attire, gathering between rows and rows of chairs their friends had managed to get set up.

Camille was busy handing out Jenny’s headshots to anyone who walked within 20 feet of the door, but when Carlos and Roxy sought out Jenny and Kendall, they were nowhere to be found.

Deciding to stand along the back wall to watch their friend’s performance, it wasn’t long before Kendall ran up the small steps to the makeshift stage he had managed to throw together and introduce, “Ladies and gentlemen, Jenny Tinkler!”

There was a small murmur of applause as he left the stage and ran over to where the rest of his friends had gathered.

“We put together a great routine,” He whispered, glancing nervously to the backdoors of the conference room as they slowly opened. “Plus we made it virtually impossible for Jenny to break anything.

“Sing and don’t touch a thing!” Camille added, “We made it her new motto.”

From the doorway emerged Jenny, beautiful as ever, though there was one slight change her friends had made to her look. Aside from her head, hands, and feet, she was completely wrapped in what Roxy considered to be the squeakiest bubble wrap in existence.

The squeaks and pops of the plastic rang out in the room once the applause died down and it took a bit for Jenny to make her way up the stairs and onto the stage, but eventually, she got there, shooting her friends in the corner two thumbs up.

Watching intensely, a few of the agents cringed when Jenny went to pick up her guitar as she accidentally hit a few of the strings. Inadvertently, it let out a few sour notes that reverberated in the room as she slung it over her shoulder.

“Since when did Jenny play the guitar?” Roxy whispered, eyes growing wide. That seemed like important information the boys should have shared with her before now. I brought up guitar earlier, why didn’t she say anything?

Slightly turning his head, though his attention still fully on Jenny, Carlos answered, “James kinda told her you were the best guitar player in the world while you were grabbing your stuff at work earlier, so she was a bit too shy to share.”

James… What?

Feeling herself smile, Roxy could swear her heart swelled a bit.

“Roxy!”

Someone whispering her name behind her brought her out of her small trance. A small hand slipped around her wrist and pulled her out of the room before Jenny was able to begin her performance.

“Katie?” The writer said, blinking a few times as she tried to process what was going on, “Is everything okay? Jenny was about to-”

“Some psycho trapped James in a dog cage in the basement.”

That statement made Roxy stop in her tracks.

“Excuse me?”

With a sense of urgency the writer had never seen from the young girl, Katie pulled on her wrist again, leading her into the janitor’s closet.

“Yeah… I met him out by the pool and he handed me this note James had signed saying he went off to Antarctica to save the caribou.”

Cocking her head to the side, Roxy remembered the little kid from the pool earlier - the one who had so rudely interrupted the conversation she had been trying to have with James. “But there’s no caribou in Antarctica.”

“Exactly,” Katie sighed, pulling her deeper into the closet and pointing upwards toward the rack of tools Buddha Bob kept out of reach. “Can you grab the bolt cutters for me?”

Slightly nodding, Roxy placed herself on her tiptoes and grabbed the heavy metal tool before handing it off to her friend. “Let me guess… Your psycho was four feet tall, vaguely resembled James, and tried to put the moves on you?”

“Bingo.”

The writer bit the inside of her cheek, “Ugh! I knew that kid was up to no good! James is far too trusting…”

“That’s what I told him!” Katie said, excited to share the sentiment with someone. As the two of them hurriedly rushed to the staircase to save their friend, she huffed, “I tried to warn him but he just kept saying “Oh, you just have a crush on me,’ over and over. Blegh!”

Though the situation was quite grave, that comment made the writer chuckle a bit, “He thinks you have a crush on him? How ridiculous!”

Maybe he is just clueless…

“Yeah, right? I figured he should at least be saved by someone who actually does… Besides, I couldn’t reach the bolt cutters.”

Had the assistant’s heart not already been pounding, a comment like that might have sent her into overdrive. “Nothing gets past you, does it?”

A smile lit up Katie’s face, “Not everything… But you just confirmed my suspicions…”

Once the pair finally reached the door to the basement, it didn’t take long for them to hear the rustling of a teenage boy locked away in the depths of the massive room.

“Just remember, you can tell me things too,” Katie whispered, pointing in the direction of where they assumed James was being kept. “I’ve known him my whole life, he’s… like a brother to me.”

As they drew nearer, Roxy lowered her voice as well, “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.”

“I know,” The young girl replied matter-of-factly, “I meant if he’s hurting you, you can tell me. I’ve got no issue with getting Kendall to kick his ass.”

Not getting a chance to reply before they stepped into James' line of sight, Roxy felt her chest deflate as they looked ahead, seeing the boy trapped in a cage that was definitely meant to contain a small dog.

“Roxy? Katie?” He asked, wide-eyed. In an instant, his hand flew to the grating keeping him locked in, rattling the metal bars, “Get me out of here!”

The pair were at the cage seconds later, Roxy crouching down and curling her fingers over his in an attempt to calm him down, and Katie using the giant bolt cutters to dispel the bike lock keeping him inside.

Despite the fact it took her a few tries, with shaking hands the girl was finally able to break through the metal link and throw the cage door open. Not wasting any time, James scrambled out - nearly knocking his assistant over in the process - mumbling, “Thank you! Thank you so much!” before rising to his feet and gathering his young friend into a gigantic hug. “He was so tiny and evil!”

Standing up herself and brushing some dust off her knees, Roxy finally experienced a bit of relief once she saw James was slowly growing back to his normal self. It was never like him to be too phased by whatever was going on around him and this incident seemed to be no exception.

Though, as he swung Katie back and forth, her little feet dangling high up off the ground, a bit of an ache settled itself into her stomach. She had saved him too… even if Katie had done most of the work.

It was then she realized that the dull ache had been what she had been experiencing earlier when she had first met Jenny.

I didn’t have a bad feeling about her… I was jealous of her for having known the guys for longer. Ugh.

She pushed that thought aside just in time to see James put Katie down and smooth out his outfit. There was a hint of suave in his voice as he deepened it and glanced down at her, nodding his head, “If there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.”

Never one to pass up a grand opportunity, Katie nodded along. “Actually - Can I have your autograph?”

From a small folder in her messenger bag, she pulled out a pen and paper.

Where the assistant stood, she could tell it was a talent contact, but if she spoke up now, James would never learn his lesson. Besides, anything Katie drew up couldn’t be so powerful as to override the contract he had with Gustavo… Right?

Her question made him chuckle, easily picking up the pen and paper to sign exactly where she had asked him to without even looking over the sheet, “Anything for my biggest fan.”

Even bigger than before, Katie’s smile reached ear to ear once he handed it back to her. After a second, she checked to make sure all the documents were in order before sharing, “Great! You just agreed to let me be your manager when you go solo, endorse a line of hair care products to be developed later, and swear that I don’t nor have I ever, had a crush on you.” With another laugh, she left James stunned, helplessly glancing at his assistant for a moment before his eyes flicked back to Katie. Though it was hard, Roxy held back a laugh as the girl made her exit from the basement, twisting and turning around all the extra stuff the Palm Woods staff had been keeping down there. Awkwardly, she and James stood there as he took in the magnitude of the promise he had just made.

After a moment of mental debate, and when she couldn’t hear any rustling noise from Katie anymore, she took a few steps toward James, admiring the leather jacket he was wearing and how it tightly tugged at his torso.

“It’s a good thing the contract is only binding if you go solo,” She shared, daring to reach up and smooth out one of the flaps on the jacket. “And considering I’m Big Time Rush’s biggest fan, I don’t believe I’m going to let that happen.”

“Right,” Roxy heard him breathe after a moment, as he gently reached up and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips before letting it settle around his waist. “I think I like the sound of that.”

Such a simple action got such a rise out of her, and she lost her train of thought for a moment before finally pushing out, “Aren’t you going to ask if there’s anything you can do for me? I did help save you, too.”

For a second, she swore the top of James’ ears flushed as he used his free hand to smooth out his hair. Imitating what he had said to Katie before, his voice dropped an octave, asking, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Hmm…” His assistant pretended to think, trying to look anywhere in the room but at his eyes, which she could feel boring holes into her skull. “You owe me some time at the pool whenever we’re free next - preferably free of strange children and dog cages.”

“Anything for my biggest fan,” James repeated, leaning down to place a chaste kiss on Roxy’s cheek. “Thanks for saving me.”

At that moment, there were far more things than kissing her cheek that the writer had hoped her crush might dare to try, but a set of lyrics popping into her brain ruined just about everything as she abruptly let him go and dug around in her bag for her songbook.

Finally finding it at the bottom, she spread it out on top of the dog cage James had been leaning on to scribble out her lines.

Let me take a little moment to find the right words,

So when I kick it to you it ain’t something that you’ve heard

I don’t know what kind of type that you prefer,

But I know I gotta put myself forwards

See, I think I’ve got the kind of love that you deserve

She knew full well he was trying to look over her shoulder, and very well might have succeeded, but once she finished, she snapped the cover shut and hit him over the shoulder with it.

When he didn’t protest, she felt her cheeks grow hot at the prospect of him reading such personal, romantic words.

Quickly trying to change the subject, she placed her book back in her bag, “That reminds me… I meant to tell Carlos earlier but I think I have a song I want to give to Jenny, but it’s in one of the old nsongbooks I have in my room.”

James simply nodded, eyes flickering from her to the door.

“Want to join?” She asked, holding out her hand and not bothering to look back as she started to move away from him. With her back turned, he couldn’t see the grin she tried to suppress when he raced after her to take it.

***

By the time she had dug through all of her old journals to find the song she had been looking for, Carlos had called her up to share some devastating news: Jenny’s performance had caused an unprecedented level of damage to the Palm Woods’ conference center and Bitters was planning on throwing her out.

Gathering her things and racing down the stairs to the front doors with James, a million solutions danced through her head - all centered around ways to keep Jenny in L.A. with them.

When the pair finally reached the lobby doors, passing an angry Bitters in the process, they heard Jenny cry, “My dreams are crushed! So now I’ll just sleep on the streets.”

As they opened the doors, Kendall tried to be clever, “Welcome to Hollywood,” before his assistant drove her fist into his side.

“Nobody is sleeping on the streets tonight!” James chimed in as if he could read Roxy’s mind. “You can crash at Rocque Records!”

“And by ‘crash,’ he means ‘sleep!’” The girl was quick to add, circling the keys to the Pontiac GTO around her first finger. “Who’s up for a ride to the studio?”

***

Unlike their first drive of the day, this ride to Rocque Records was accident-free, considering Jenny had finally learned not to touch anything on the control panel of her friend’s beloved car.

However, by the time they reached Rocque Records, the girl was so antsy to see where she would be crashing for the night, that she managed to hit all of the floors on the elevator’s control panel and the teens ended up one floor above where they needed to be.

It wasn’t a big deal at all, they just needed to find the staircase that led them back down, but with all of the things she was carrying, Jenny managed to trip and somehow fall through the ceiling and into Rocque Records below.

Like a flash, the remaining four took off toward the stairs, nearly tumbling down before finding themselves in the middle of the lounge by Studio A. To one side, stood Kelly, Gustavo, and Logan, who was dressed in an electrician's uniform.

Logan did call to say something about the fan… As the writer looked around, there were scraps of loose paper and trash littering the beautiful red carpet.

That was when she noticed Jenny on the other side of the room, looking completely unscathed, though two huge, tough-looking guys stood behind her.

“Is that Death Smash?” She heard herself asking out loud, among her friend's chorus of, “Jenny, are you okay?”

“Is she okay?” One of the men behind her asked in a thick Scottish accent. The black V-shaped guitar he slung over his shoulder stood stark against his long mane of blonde hair. “She’s amazing!”

Aren’t there three guys in Death Smash?

It seemed like Carlos and Kendall noticed this as well, “Quick! Jenny, sing!”

Off the top of her head, the singer let out an impressive ad-lib, “I’ve been falling through the roof, I-I-I just fell down from the roof!”

Besides the fact they hadn’t been on the roof, Jenny had killed her impromptu performance with no external damage following.

“You know,” The other guy behind her started, his accent American, “She can help us get that younger audience we’re looking for!”

“Welcome to Death Smash!” The men cheered, throwing up their rock hands.

Letting out a famous squeal, Jenny did her excited bounce up and down, which Roxy was quick to shut down as she raced over to her new friend.

“Oh, congratulations!” Cautiously throwing her hands around the blonde’s shoulders, Roxy found herself squealing too.

As they separated, the girl held up a journal, one that looked not unlike the one she typically wrote in, but with a royal blue cover instead of the familiar black. Swiftly flipping through the pages, she tore about five out.

“I know we didn’t get off on the right foot but… I wrote this a year ago after the band I was in broke up. I was pretty mad, so it’s got some heavy guitar,” Roxy nodded towards the blond man, “And I know you can work in some killer drum solos,” Nodding towards the other man, “And I think it would fit your vocal range perfectly!” She shared, thrusting the pages out toward Jenny.

Hesitantly, the girl in front of her took them, eyes flickering over the pages as she read over the lyrics.

“Invulnerable…” She trailed off, reading the title of the song. “Roxy, this is perfect! Thank you!”

This time, Jenny captured her in another soul-crumbling hug, and the girls bounced around in celebration.

They only managed to stop when the floor began to let out a cracking noise, and everyone else in the room yelled in fear.

Finally letting go of her new friend, Roxy wished her luck on her new musical adventure and stepped back to join her friends, chest bursting with pride.

“Come on, Jenny,” The blonde man cried, holding his arm out to her, “Let’s go get permission from your mum!”

And just like that, the new and improved Death Smash cantankerously left the building.

“Well, it looks like this story is wrapping up quite nicely,” Kendall astutely pointed out, and Logan stepped away from Kelly and Gustavo to stand with his friends.

Carlos, slinging an arm around his assistant and Kendall, shared, “I will never, ever, over-promise again. I promise!” Though for a moment Roxy thought it was just in her head, the sound of a sad tuba echoed through the halls of Rocque Records. From behind Kelly, examining the wiring Logan had no doubt destroyed while trying to play electrician, and Gustavo, who was picking up loose pieces of paper, emerged a teenager playing a large, shiny tuba. As Jenny had shared upon her arrival, this newcomer was also holding a signed photo of Big Time Rush - a special note written in silver Sharpie in the bottom right-hand corner.

“Buddy Simmons?” The boys asked, and Roxy felt her palm fly to her forehead.

Removing his lips from the mouthpiece of the tuba, Buddy smiled and waved, “Hey, guys! Carlos promised me he’d help with my dream of becoming a famous jazz tuba player!”

Throwing his hands up in defense, Carlos croaked, “He said he was our biggest fan!” As Buddy began to play his own rendition of the opening to “Big Time Rush,” their assistant rolled her eyes, “Seriously, when are you guys going to learn? I’m your biggest fan!”

Ahh! Thanks for being so patient, and thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy <3

#thats all she wrote fic #big time rush #james diamond #james maslow #kendall knight #kendal schmidt #logan mitchell #logan henderson #carlos garcia #carlos penavega

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