A/N: Hey, everybody! Because you clicked on this story, you win a BRAND NEW CAR!

Just kidding, no you don't. But you get to read this random story that I had a dream about, and ponder over whether you think it is worth it to keep going. Now there's a reward. ;) So this story...yeah, it came from a dream. It's very hate-love-esque, which seems to be my favorite as well as dominant romance writing style. I love tension. And believe me, there's going to be a lot of it.

So even though this beginning is SO SO SO long (the two main characters don't even meet, that's how ridiculous I am), it sets the story and hopefully paints a picture in your head before anything happens. This was supposed to be a oneshot when I started writing, but things kind of changed as I kept going. I don't know if the idea is appealing at all, but if it is then please please please review and let me know what you think. Should I stop? Should I keep going? Should I cry myself to sleep tonight because no one reviewed my story? I don't know, you tell me.

No but seriously, I will cry tonight if you don't review. I'll be crying on the inside.

Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush, even though I wish I did. I do own all of my original characters, though.

Oh! By the way. The point of view is in third person, but switches scenes between the two main characters. If that makes sense. Enjoy! :)

"So, what you're saying is that the entire files system shutdown? For no apparent reason? That some sort of error just happened to occur the moment I closed the doors of the building last night and now, of course, everything is lost and destroyed and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it at all? Perfect."

Valerie sighed heavily and laid her head back down on her pillow with her phone pressed against her ear. She glanced over at the clock, which read 5:47. Today sucked for her already, and it wasn't even six in the freaking morning.

She had just started her new law school summer internship at the East Liberty Law Firm a few of weeks ago, at the beginning of June. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, really it was. She had been chosen to work under one of the most prestigious attorneys in New York, Ms. Addison Porter, and she loved it. Sure, it was the kind of internship that you had to literally be married to, but it was worth it, in Valerie's eyes. She had always been an extremely driven, career oriented kind of person, so it wasn't that big of a deal to her. And Addison was certainly…a handful, but Valerie dealt with impossible people all the time. In fact, her entire family defined the limits of impossible, so actually, this job was a piece of cake for her.

Except, you know, today. Today sucked.

"Val, I seriously don't know what to do…" her panicky co-intern Helena was on the line, who kept blubbering like an idiot, as if the world had just ended. Valerie squeezed her eyes shut and listened to the problems that were occurring.

"The entire network is down, it's all just down, and the backup system won't scan any of the documents that I test run, and all the hard copies can't be faxed because of privacy rights and Ms. Stevens is going to be here in an hour to pick up her forms which have to be finalized to-day if the court will validate her statement before her ex husband's house is sold and there is no one else here but Gregory and we both know he won't do anything and Addison is…oh shut up, Greg. We both know you don't do anything…anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Addison is flying down from her conference in less than three hours and she's going to kill me…well, you, since this whole thing kind of seems like your fault anyway…I'm not saying it is, but-"

"Okay, Helena. Listen to me. Calm down, okay?" Valerie spoke in a firm voice. She sat herself up in her bed and listened to Helena's hyperventilating, and waited until it eventually subsided to a regular paced breath with just a little wimpering. She sure was a drama queen, that Helena. Valerie spoke again once her cries had eventually died out, obviously realizing they weren't affective.

"Now listen to me. Go get yourself a drink of water or something, alright? Just sit down and catch your breath. Don't reboot the system; I'll be over in half an hour, forty five minutes tops. I'll figure it out, okay?"

"But, but… what about your flight?"

Valerie sighed one more time and flopped back down on the bed, eyes closing.

"I'll be fine, I'll figure it out or something. No worries. See you soon."

She hung up the phone but didn't move from her position, dreading the day's events. This weekend was her best friend Bridget's wedding in North Carolina. Bridget lived all the way out in LA, and Valerie didn't see her as much as she liked to. In fact, she never saw any of her best friends anymore. Bridget had gone to UCLA to study filmmaking and television, and called Valerie the minute she had met some guy named Kendall who she accidently spilled coffee on during one of her observing assignments. Apparently they hit it off well, and two years of solid dating proved successful for them. Valerie was kind of eager to meet this guy since Bridget literally hasn't stopped talking about him and his friends for the last two years, as well as dropped many hints about these friends in order to convince Valerie to come visit once in a while.

Sophia had moved to Seattle right after graduation to study art history and literature at Seattle University, and was doing well. Her life revolved around her classes, mostly, but she had found time to meet this quirky, insane, art crazed guy named Aiden, who "stole her heart."

Even Abigail, who had stayed in their original hometown back in Colorado, had studied to become a teacher and was a proud half of a very successful year and a half long relationship that was still going strong with some guy named Gavin. Valerie hadn't seen Abby or Bridget since last summer since they reunited in their hometown, and even Sophia's temporary work related trip that brought her to New York around Christmastime was way too short of a reunion for the both of them. Valerie definitely missed her girls, there was no doubt. She certainly did look forward to seeing them, and that wasn't what she was dreading.

No, what she was dreading more than anything was their boyfriend stories.

Valerie was happy for them, she was. They were all in highly successful relationships, filled with love and adoration and charm and romance and…they're happy. And she was happy that they're happy. But all their lives, even throughout high school, they had always been the ones who loved without holding back and gave it their all, and ended up being broken in the end, before moving on to the next guy. They loved completely, throwing themselves into relationships with nothing to hide, even Abby, who was the shyest out of all of them. And Valerie had always been a little different. She didn't take relationships seriously enough to give them more than a dime's worth of importance. To her, love was just a concept, not an actual feeling. She never felt it, and she never expected to. She was too focused on her classes and schoolwork and career to honestly give "love" the time of day. Her friends disapproved of her casual one night stands in college that she mentioned to them about, but she didn't see anything wrong with them. She wasn't a slut or anything, she just wasn't committed. She wasn't in love, and she didn't see the point of it, either.

But she really did hate hearing about the mushy romantic picnics and month-aversaries and walks on the candlelit beach. Yep, definitely could live without that.

Oh, well. Here goes.

"I actually asked for sparkling citrus water, not berry." James Diamond bluntly told the television assistant standing next to him.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Diamond, but…but this is all they had. I'll look again, but I've already looked twice, I know how you prefer citrus over berry and…" the poor woman trailed off, clasping the drink tightly in her hand.

James sat down in his director's chair in front of the mirror and sighed. Looking at her from the mirror's reflection, he flashed the assistant his trademark charming smile.

"Is there any way you could go somewhere else and find a bottle for me? Please?" he said easily.

She immediately melted under his gaze and let out a giggle.

"Of course, Mr. Diamond. The next store that sells these is all the way down near 32nd, but I would be honored to go get it for you. Just give me fifteen minutes; I'll be back in a jiffy!"

"Thank you." He flashed another quick smile and turned back to look at his reflection, satisfied. Lightly brushing his bangs, he watched the woman run out of the dressing room and saw another TV assistant poke her head in from the corner.

"Mr. Diamond? You're on in two. Shall I tell them to hold the segment until after you've had your citrus water?"

He began to agree, but then remembered the time limit he was under. His flight left soon, and he needed to get this quick interview done. Sighing, he shook his head.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm coming."

He got up and walked over to the wings, waiting to be called on to the stage. Diana, the reporter, was talking fervently about some home crime investigation before moving on to his segment.

"And now! Moving on to lighter and happier news, we have some big time celebrations coming up this weekend! More specifically, a wedding for one of our teen heartthrobs from one of today's hottest bands…" the woman spoke with fake enthusiasm for the cameras. "Unfortunately, he and his lucky girl couldn't make it, as they are preparing for this weekend at an unknown location. But, have no fear! For we have the band's biggest heartthrob here today, as well as the groom's best friend and best man to give you the details! Everybody, give it up for your favorite Hollywood hottie, James Diamond from Big Time Rush!"

The cameras immediately swerved to capture James' walk toward the couches where Diana was standing, and he flashed his trademark smile once more to the screaming crowd and cameras. Clad in his white v-neck and leather jacket, he walked confidently in front of the couch to hug Diana and they proceeded to banter pointlessly while the crowd kept cheering for him. Once they quieted down, Diana began.

"Wow, quite a crowd you got there!"

James laughed. "I know, it's incredible. I love you all." He winked at the cameras, sending the girls into hysterics once again.

"So tell me, James, this weekend is your best friend and fellow band mate's wedding, huh?"

"Yeah, Diana, it is. Kendall's getting married, and he's the first one out of us four in Big Time Rush. It's insane, but I'm really happy for him." He smiled, thinking of his best friend.

"So you're the best man, huh?"

"Yeah, one of them. The other two are Carlos and Logan, as you probably know…" His voice died out as soon as the screams erupted from the mention of the other boys in the band. He laughed.

"It must be quite a hectic day for you, then. Do you fly straight to this wedding's location as soon as you finish up here?"

"Yes, I do."

"And you still can't reveal the location of the wedding, correct?"

"Unfortunately, I can't, due to the privacy of the bride to be. It's a special location for her, and it can't be revealed until after the wedding so the paparazzi won't cause too much trouble for us." He smiled again.

"Speaking of this bride to be, have you met her, James?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. We actually met her as a band at one of our video shoots back in LA a couple years ago. She and Kendall really hit it off. She's a sweetheart."

"And speaking of sweethearts, anyone in particular caught your eye recently, James? It's the middle of summer, time for some summer loving, am I right?"

The crowd went crazy, and James laughed again.

"Well…no. No. I'm single." He smiled his charming smile at the camera for effect.

"Well that's certainly hard to believe! Did you hear that, ladies? Well, I think we're all very excited for Kendall and his lucky lady. We wish them the best. Girls, James is single! So can we count on the fact that a big time love story for you, James, won't be happening any time soon?"

He just smiled.

"You can count on that."

Valerie flung off her blanket and jumped into her shower to get ready for the day. Blasting the hot water, she showered quickly, skipping her whole singing into the shampoo bottle routine. She actually was a very good singer. She was a performer back in high school, the good old triple threat. She could act, sing, and dance, which usually landed her multiple leads in her high school shows and even inspired her to pursue singing and acting it as a career. But as she began with the label companies late in her senior year, she became aware of the superficiality of the career these days, and refused to pursue something she couldn't be creative in.

Stepping out of the shower, she quickly began to slather lotion on her body while fiddling with the TV in order to put on the news channel and get a glimpse of the weather, with a small amount of hope that her flight would be cancelled because of some storm or something. She really needed to just focus on her work. Finally finding her favorite New York news channel, she turned up the volume and the spokeswoman's voice filled the room.

"…And investigators will be looking into this soon. The case will be held on July 28th and we are expecting to give you updates as well. And now! Moving on to lighter and happier news, we have some big time celebrations coming up this weekend! More specifically, a wedding for one of our teen heartthrobs from one of today's hottest bands. Unfortunately he and his lucky girl couldn't make it, as they are preparing for this weekend at an unknown location. But, have no fear! For we have the band's biggest heartthrob here today, as well as the groom's best friend and best man to give you the details! Everybody, give it up for your favorite Hollywood hottie, Ja-"

Valerie pressed off abruptly and rolled her eyes. It was incredible how even the news channels got so caught up in all the hype, and couldn't even be a reliable source of the job they were meant to do, inform people about the weather. Plus, she had her own wedding to worry about this weekend. Finishing moisturizing, she pulled on her undergarments and grabbed the phone, fondling it between her shoulder and her ear.

"Hi, yes, can you bring a cab around to my apartment? Yeah, right off fourth, building on your left. I'll be the one with the suitcases. Thanks."

She hung up quickly and pulled on a floral sundress, throwing on her leather jacket and running her brush quickly through her dark, still wet hair. Flying around the apartment (she probably looked like a maniac from the window), she grabbed her chargers and purse, before running around the opposite side of the bed to grab her suitcase. She slipped her heels on, slapped the light switch off, and grabbed her keys before running out the front door.

A few minutes later, Valerie hopped out of the cab and apologized to the driver before running in quickly to her local favorite coffee shop. Upon her arrival, the cashier, Marge, flashed her a genuine smile before nodding to the boy behind her and mumbling something about "Val's usual", which he quickly proceed to make. Val gratefully mouthed a 'thank you' and a few seconds later, casually slipped to the front counter and grabbed her coffee before slapping down a five and running out of the shop as to not get the customers angry about special treatment.

Before the door closed, Marge called out, "Congratulate Bridget for me!"

Valerie laughed and shouted a, "Will do!" over her shoulder before running back into her cab and instructing him to take her to East Liberty's. Marge was a sweet old woman whom had grown to become great friends with Val, and she knew all about Valerie's best friends. Who, by the way, would be enraged if she missed her flight, which she was taking a close risk to doing just by stopping at work.

Seconds later, she burst through the doors, armed with her coffee and ready to go.

"I'm here, I'm here. Update me." She said as soon as she got out of the elevator, reaching her floor. Frazzled Helena came up to her, speechless.

"It's still not working! I couldn't get the wires to get through again!"

"I told you not to reboot it, Helena! Okay, um…show me where the system locator crashed."

With a few shifts and codings installed, the system started up again and all the files reappeared on the server.

Several thank you's from Helena and a grunt from Greg later, Valerie rode the elevator back down and ran back to the cab, apologizing once more to the driver and directing him to the JFK Airport.

James' ringtone started to play, disturbing the still quiet of his limo. Frowning, he glanced over at his phone and upon reading the caller id, he groaned loudly and moved to pick it up.

"What?"

"Well, someone's cranky off-screen."

"You're hilarious. What do you want? I was taking a post breakfast nap."

"Post breakfast…? Okay, never mind. I was just calling to make sure that you left for the airport already. I need you, for once, James, once, to not be late. Once. It's the most important day of my entire life and I swear, if you screw this up for me-"

"Relax, mom. I'm in the limo right now, on the way to the airport." James interrupted Kendall. "And technically, today isn't the most important day of your life. Saturday is. Today is just when the good old fun starts."

"Hey, go easy on the sarcasm, pretty boy. Be nice to me. You're technically obliged to as my best man. I can kick you out, you know. I do have two backups." Kendall grinned.

"Speaking of backups, where are the two rascals?"

"Logan just got here this morning." James heard distant yelling from the background, assuming it was Logan yelling hi to James or something. "Carlos' flight gets in around the same time that yours does, so would you mind waiting a few minutes for him? Oh, and would you pick up some extra outdoor mic extension cords? I don't think we have enough."

"Woah, wait…mic extension cords? Outdoor mic extension cords?" James exclaimed. "Who's performing? Are we performing?"

"Yeah, we are. Just a few songs. No big deal."

"Alright. But I can't do any flips tonight. I'm still sore from last week's children fundraiser concert and the whole Carlos ramming into my junk fiasco."

"Fine, deal. Okay, it's hitting me. It's hitting me. Holy crap, I can't believe this is happening. I'm getting married, in like two seconds. Like, what? Who does that? Me. I do that. I'm getting married. Wow."

James scoffed. "Yeah, it's a big deal. Don't psych yourself out."

"Shut up. Oh hey, by the way, nice interview today. Very fan-friendly. Thanks for not throwing a fit."

James rolled his eyes again. He really held everything against him.

"Oh, you're welcome. It was hard, but I did it."

"And what was that whole single thing? Are you crazy? What about Julia?" Kendall exclaimed.

"Julia was last Wednesday, Kendall. Keep up."

"You're never gonna change, are you?" Kendall shook his head.

James raised his eyebrows.

"Dear God, let's hope not."

The flight to North Carolina, where the wedding was being held, wasn't long. Valerie was used to travelling because her family would take plenty of paid vacations and cruises due to the benefits of her father's job. The flight went off without any problems, if you don't count the little 8 year old girl who was sitting next to her with her mother. She had her earphones in, but her music was blasting, and Valerie could clearly hear some boy band belting out lyrics about how they were looking for boyfriends, or something. Valerie could have pondered over the very evident subject of what the younger generation's music tastes had come to, but she decided to ignore it and prepare herself for the long overdue reunion of her and her friends.

She walked out to the greeting area and was immediately bombarded by the squeals and shrieks of Bridget and Abby, who, as soon as they spotted Val, ran to her screaming and arms flailing. Their group was nothing but loud, and the small greeting audience seemed to share a chuckle or two, but they didn't even notice. Valerie was shocked at how much her friends had changed in the last year.

Bridget's bubbly personality still hadn't faded, but her blonde hair had grown out past her shoulder blades and cascaded down her back, now infused with dark brown undertones and hues. Her bright green eyes shined with content and her nonstop chatter didn't seem to fade the entire time they all waited for Sophia's flight to land.

Abby, on the other hand, looked just the same, but seemed to be a whole lot different. Her usually straight brown hair was curled slightly, but other than that, her shy smile and graceful stance still proved to be the same. However, she seemed much more verbal and happy, and her usually serious demeanor had lessened to a playful one.

Sophia came through the doors shortly afterwards, and was met with the same excitement and shrillness that Val had been greeted with. Sophia's large green eyes glimmered with excitement and her beautiful reddish brown hair bounced when she talked. The four best friends walked together to Bridget's parent's car, which she had borrowed, and piled their things in there.

For a moment it seemed like things were normal again. Sophia complained about Bridget's rash driving, Valerie criticized almost every person she saw walking down the street for some reason or the other, and Abby kept trying to keep the situation under control. It hadn't hit them how much they actually missed eachother until now, and even Abby couldn't stop laughing at Valerie's resentful remarks about some young boys she spotted with their pants halfway to their knees. They decided to have a quick lunch to catch up on each other's lives, but didn't get much of a chance to when Bridget's sister called and panicked about some of her distant relative's flights getting cancelled from Europe due to a snowstorm. They decided to catch up later, once the hectic day of flying in had calmed down and drove back to Bridget's grandparent's large estate. Valerie gasped at the beauty of the place; it was huge. No wonder she decided to have the wedding here where her grandparents lived. The estate was large enough to house all the guests, as well as close enough to the hall where the wedding was taking place. Bridget even told them that it was a five minutes walking distance from the beach, where the beach party (a family tradition) would be taking place tonight.

They drove up to the estate and were greeted warmly by Bridget's family, whom Valerie hadn't seen in so long. She was introduced to her grandparents and some of her long distance family, and then shown to her room where she settled down and took in the view of the beach from her window towards the back of the house. Forget walking distance; Valerie could nearly jump down from her window, land in the bushes, and run a few hundred feet and immediately meet the shore. She quickly washed her face and freshened up before setting up her laptop on her bed and trying to find a network to connect to so she could check her email.

Finally, after minutes of attempts, she was able to check her work email and take care of business. A knock was heard, and the door swung open.

"Hey." Sophia said, sauntering into the room and plopping down on the bed next to Valerie. Spotting her laptop, she groaned.

"Val, come on! You're on a vacation! It's Bridget's wedding, for crying out loud!"

"I know, I know, just one quick work email, and that's all for the night, I promise."

"You're a liar." Sophia said.

"And you're as annoying as I remember."

They scowled at eachother and Valerie turned back to her work. Abby then burst through the door.

"Have you guys seen the best men? Ho-oh-oh-oh-oh-ly crap, I think I'm in love."

They all laughed at Abby's unusual burst of excitement. Abby adored guys, but she usually stated it in a more subtle way.

"Wow, Abs. If that's coming from you, then they must be Greek gods." Sophia stated.

"Oh, you don't even know." She gushed, flopping down on the bed next to Sophia. "They're all absolutely gorgeous. They're his band mates and if Bridget was able to pick one out of the whole group, then damn, he must be heavenly because I don't think I've ever seen a group of more attractive guys in my entire life. And they can sing! They're performing tonight at the beach party…" she gabbled on to Sophia, while Valerie turned back to her work.

"Crap, no no no," she said suddenly.

"What happened?" Abby and Sophia both turned to face Valerie.

"My company's system shut down again. I have to call them. Gimme two seconds." She hopped off the bed and walked over to the private bathroom, phone pressed to her ear while Sophia and Abby looked on with concern.

"Man, she hasn't changed, huh?" Abby pointed out.

"Nope." Sophie sighed. "What can we do? We have to pry her away from her work. She needs to loosen up."

"Did she mention anything besides her work life on the way home?" Abby asked.

Sophia chuckled and shook her head.

"Course not. That's Val for you."

Just then, Bridget opened the door and saw the two girls.

"Oh, there you are! Where's Val?" The girls gestured to the bathroom, where they could hear a muted voice giving out sharp instructions.

"Oh. Let me guess, business call? Well you guys still have to meet my fiancé! And I haven't officially introduced you to the best men. As my maids of honor, you guys will be walking down the aisle with them. And they're beautiful human beings, let me tell you."

Abby agreed fervently.

"Oh, and Sophia, your parents and Val's parents just landed a couple minutes ago. They should be here in about a half hour. I missed your family so much, Soph! I can't wait to see them!"

Sophia snorted. "That makes one of us."

The girls laughed.

"Oh come on, you know you missed them." Bridget teased.

Valerie returned from the bathroom. She saw all three girls look at her questioningly.

"Sorry, you guys. Just something I had to take care of. It's all good now."

The three girls stared at her.

"What?" Valerie said innocently, but she knew what was coming. It was coming. The Talk.

Bridget stood up first.

"We have to go meet my fiancé, and the rest of the wedding party. And your parents will be here soon, too. We're going to go downstairs and socialize, and then we're going to teach you, Val, how to live a little for once in your life."

Valerie sighed. There was nothing she could do to get out of this.

Yeah, today sucked.

AHHHHHHH. I just read that and didn't like it at all. Oh, goodness. Please review and make my day. :) Next chapter will or will not be up depending on the feedback! And thanks for reading :)