It all happened so fast.
"DOGS! Dance better this time! And James! Stop hunching so much!"
No one even knew how it started.
"Give him a break, Gustavo! He's still sore from the other day. You know, when he learned to do backflips for you!"
All the guys knew was that they were exhausted and sore, and they really didn't want to hear Gustavo's yelling anymore.
Right after Kendall had snapped back at Gustavo for trying to push his best friend too hard the room exploded. Literally.
Gustavo was just opening his mouth to bark more orders when he was thrown off his feet. The wall that was attached to the kitchen area had imploded and fire was now eating the dance room despite the overhead sprinklers trying to quench the flames.
The boys, thrown to the floor from the explosion, jumped to their feet and ran after Gustavo and Kelly out of the studio.
Suddenly, there was a terrified scream from behind them.
"Carlos!" James yelled, turning around to save the shorter boy from a beam that had fallen and blocked his path.
"Dogs! Let's GO!" Gustavo yelled to the other two boys. "You need to get out of here. I'll help Carlos and James." He ordered, shoving the two teens toward Kelly and out the door.
Carlos and James were struggling to move the beam. Though he was short, Carlos has a surprising amount of muscle packed onto his small frame. If James hadn't pulled a muscle trying to perfect his backflips, they would've moved it easily. However, James was currently cursing his stupid decision to do as many backflips as possible the day he learned the trick.
Gustavo rushed over and together they quickly moved the beam. He pulled Carlos past it, not noticing how he accidentally elbowed the poor brunet in the stomach - right where he pulled a muscle.
Gustavo dragged Carlos the whole way out the building, ignoring the Latino's attempts to turn around and get his friend.
Although to be fair, Gustavo didn't realize that's what Carlos was trying to do. In fact, he didn't notice the pretty boy wasn't behind them until they finally got out of the smoky building.
"Where's James?" Gustavo asked, turning to the boy he just dragged outside. Carlos wiped at the tears running down his cheeks and pointed to Rocque Records.
"We have to go get him!" Kendall shouted, trying to push his way back toward the building. But by this time, the firefighters and police had shown up, keeping people from running back inside.
"Kendall, we aren't allowed back in," Logan said, halfheartedly holding back the frantic blonde.
"Kid, if your friend is in there, the firefighters will find him," the police officer holding him back said. "But I need you to back away, and get behind the barricade." The boys backed up, their usually happy faces crestfallen.
"Did you boys say you had a friend trapped in there?" A voice asked. They spun around to see a firefighter standing behind them.
"Yes, our brother. He's inside near the dance room. There's a fallen beam next to him." Carlos rattled off the instructions, knowing from his dad how dangerous it was to be trapped in a burning building.
The fireman smiled at the three terrified teens. "We'll do our best to get him out of there, okay? I'm going to go in there and get him right now," He said, giving them a reassuring smile. After receiving three somewhat relieved nods, he walked away to talk to the captain of the fire department and, after a few exchanged words and a nod, ran into the building.
Waiting was torture for the three boys. Logan kept obsessively counting the seconds in his head, his mind spinning with all the possible side effects from being a burning building for too long.
Carlos was chewing on his lip, trying to ignore the guilt eating away at him. If only he had been faster, smarter, more alert, something, James would be standing with them right now.
Kendall was numb. He kept picturing James' face when the explosion had gone off. The mixture of fear and pain in his golden hazel eyes.
James was finding it difficult to breathe. The smoke was everywhere, and every time he tried to sit up, the muscles in his abdomen screamed in protest. His eyes were burning, and his vision was going black around the edges.
"I found him!" A muffled voice yelled from somewhere in the haze. A figure in a smoke mask came over and knelt beside him. "James?" The man asked. James nodded. "I'm going to get you out of here okay?" He said. Receiving another nod, he bent down and picked up the lithe teen, knowing he needed to get him out of the burning studio quick if the boy was going to survive.
Carlos, Logan, and Kendall were watching in horror as an explosion sent pieces of the building and debris flying in every direction. "James!" Kendall shouted, trying to run toward the building while Carlos and Logan pulled him back.
Suddenly, they saw a dark silhouette against the bright flames. "James!" They yelled. Carlos and Logan let go of Kendall and rushed forward with him, all trying to reach their fallen band member.
"Boys, you need to step away from the barricade," a police officer behind them said. Kendall slowly let go of the barricade that had been put between the boys and the fire, unaware of how he had started clutching it for dear life in the first place.
The firefighter who had spoken to them earlier brought James over to the paramedics and all the boys were finally able to reach their brother.
Carlos reached him just as they put James' oxygen mask on. "James! I'm so, so, so sorry! I wanted to turn around but Gustavo wouldn't let go and I couldn't get enough air to tell him and I should've tried harder!" Carlos sobbed, wrapping his arms around the taller boy.
James flinched at first from the pain in his abdomen, but then wrapped his arms around the Latino. He would've said something to reassure him, but the oxygen mask made it hard to understand him.
Logan and Kendall came over when Carlos pulled away, each taking a hand. Kendall gently strokes James's hair off his soot covered face. "We'll meet you at the hospital, okay?"
James nodded, trying to fight the blackness creeping into his vision.
The paramedics started wheeling him away, but before they could Kendall spoke up one last time.
"Oh and James? Next time you get a pulled muscle, one of us is staying glued to your side until you're okay again."
James chuckled. His friends were crazy, but he wouldn't have them any other way.
Done! So I'm sorry this is kinda... Crappy? I suppose? But I kinda only wrote this to say ASDFGHJKL I SAW BTR IN CONCERT IN ST. AUG AND THEY WERE PERFECT AND LOGAN KEPT LOOKING AT ME AND MY FRIEND AND SANG TO US DURING "Music Sounds Better With U" AND OMG THEY WERE JUST SO PERFECT AND WE HAD PIT TICKETS AND I'M STILL FANGIRLING! And we got to meet Jackson Guthy who was AMAZING and got a picture with him! Victoria Justice wasn't there but that's okay because Olivia and Jackson were awesome and we got to see Alexa Vega and Kendall did his Spider-Man pose and IT WAS JUST AWESOME OKAY?!
Also, idk if any of you watch Teen Wolf but OMG THE LAST EPISODE LIKE ASDFGHJKL I JUST CAN'T! CAN IT BE MONDAY NOW? God I sound crazy for saying that 'cause, like, eww Mondays but that's the best thing on the planet!
And on the topic of my writing, I have story ideas all lined up, but I'm have problems finding time. I nanny from 8am -6pm every day so I have problems finding time and I'm taking biology this summer (kill me. Please.). My actual I-have-nothing-to-do summer starts in 2 weeks and then I have classes again 2 weeks after that.
Well, sorry for the long-ass author's note. I'm gonna go play therapist to my friend now. Let me know what you thought! :)
~ Nikki