A/N: Here's chapter two of our James story. Uh not much else to say so yeah :) lol
Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush, or the actual boys. I only own the plot and any OCs in the story.
Enjoy! :)
The members of Big Time Rush sat on a couch in the recording studio waiting for Ariana to show up. It was already half past seven and Gustavo was getting angrier by the second. Any minute now he would explode and cause another earthquake. The door clicked open and in walked Ariana Nicholson. Gustavo opened his mouth to yell at her, but stopped when he took in her appearance. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun with a few pieces fraying out, she was wearing a pair of squared glasses with little flower cut outs on the side, underneath her eyes were large bags obviously from a lack of sleep, there was no trace of make-up on at all, and she wore a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. It appeared as if the young artist was run over by a truck doing mach five. "Alright dogs and dogette let's record this song." Ariana was the first in the booth followed by Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos. Kelly and Gustavo put on their headsets, as did the musicians. "Do you all know your parts?" The boys nodded, but Ariana shook her head.
"You never gave me the parts for the duet. You just had me sing the entire song yesterday." Gustavo nodded.
"Alright, sing from 'If you want to be discovered' to 'market magazine' and the chorus as well. 'Come on, we gotta work harder, fight the fight together', the chorus, 'Whoa, oh' part until the end. We'll have you rap with Logan the first time around and see how it sounds. Good?" Ariana nodded as Gustavo started up the song without the lyrics. Each person sang their parts and by the end of the song Gustavo was nodding his head. Kelly had a large smile on her face the entire time meaning she thought that the group sounded great. "I must say that was impressive. Ariana great work, though this time around don't rap with Logan. I want to hear it both ways. DOGS! Get it together! Your voices were pitchy with the exception of Kendall. NOW FROM THE TOP!" The boys flinched at the criticism.
"Why does she get praised? She wasn't even that good." James thought that his comment went unheard, but everyone in the booth and studio heard the comment. Ariana took a few steps closer to Kendall who was on her left creating a larger space between her and James. Kendall got the idea and switched places with Ariana making the order Carlos, James, Kendall, Ariana, and lastly Logan.
"James keep your comments to yourself." James scoffed. Gustavo has never really liked James because he was reminded of Matthew McConaughey and Gustavo despised Matthew McConaughey. "For scoffing James you will be staying after rehearsal doing vocals for two hours with no breaks." James' expression hardened as he shot a glare at Ariana. It wasn't her fault that James didn't like her. Okay, so maybe he despised her for slapping him yesterday, but she had every right too. "NOW DO IT RIGHT!" The five musicians ran through the song another thirty times before Gustavo liked the sound. "Great job today dogs and dogette. Dogette and dogs are dismissed except for dog four. VOCALS. TWO HOURS. NO BREAKS." Ariana, Kendall, Carlos, and Logan left the sound booth and walked back to the Palm Woods in silence. Ariana was going to take the elevator but when she noticed that the other three were going to take the elevator, Ariana walked to the stairs instead.
"Ariana, wait for a minute." Ariana stopped and looked back at the three boys she used to call her best friends. "Why are you acting so cold to us?" Ariana's eyes narrowed into slits. Her glares were considered deadly and it was her trademark.
"Why are you four acting like you never ditched me in Minnesota without any notice whatsoever that you four were going to become the next big thing? We were best friends since the fifth grade and we did everything together. One day you just up and leave and you guys don't even tell me. Do you realize that it hurt? And the fact that you haven't tried making any contact with me for over a year hurts too. Did the fame get to you already? I could understand James getting a larger ego with the fame or maybe Carlos. But you, Kendall, and Logan as well, I don't understand how you could forget about me. You two were closer to me than either James or Carlos was and that's what hurts the most. Don't try acting all buddy buddy with me now that you finally remember who the hell I am. Save yourself the breaths that you'd be wasting on me." Kendall, Logan, and Carlos hung their heads like a chastised puppy. Ariana blinked back the fresh tears as she started up the stairs to her apartment.
"She's got a point." Kendall and Carlos looked at Logan with an expression of disbelief.
"So you're taking her side?" Logan backed away in fear.
"No. Maybe. Kinda. Yes?" Logan coughed and let out a girlish scream as Kendall dove towards him. Carlos jumped in front of Kendall placing one hand on Kendall's chest and the other on Logan's chest.
"Kendall, Logan is right. We were the ones who just left Ari in Minnesota. She has every right to hold a grudge against us especially James. You know how much she loved him and all he did was play with her feelings. So just calm down Kendall." Kendall sighed and pushed Carlos' hand from his chest as he walked into the elevator, the doors closing behind him. Carlos looked over at Logan who sighed. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just feel bad. Ari has always been like a little sister to me and I left her alone. Something I promised that I'd never do." Carlos put his hand on Logan's shoulder sympathetically.
"She'll come around. For you, me, and Kendall. I'm not so sure about James though. I wouldn't blame her if she never forgave him." Logan nodded in agreement.
"Alright thanks Carlos." Carlos smiled in return before running to the elevator only to miss and run into the wall. Logan winced as he hit the ground before jumping up and slapping his helmet twice. Logan laughed at his friend and followed him up to the apartment.
"Alright James, I don't know what issues you have with Ariana but you need to put them behind you. Do you understand, dog?" James nodded meekly. His throat was dry and sore from singing for two hours straight with no break between songs at all. "I hope you've learned your lesson. FIX THE ISSUE! NOW GO!" James nodded again without saying a word and left the studio and walked back to the Palm Woods.
"Do you think that they know each other?" Gustavo shrugged as he looked over at Kelly.
"That's what it seems like, but they won't be able to do anything musically until they put their problems behind them. Usually the dogs are great the second time around, but today it took them thirty-five times to sound halfway decent. Even Ariana was able to sound great and she looked like a train wreck." Kelly nodded.
"It looked as if she had stayed awake all night crying." Gustavo sighed as he and Kelly left the studio. At the Palm Woods James sat down on a chair beside the pool with two water bottles in his hands. A shadow appeared above him and James looked up to find Jo standing there with her arms crossed.
"James, what the hell happened? The other guys were back two hours ago." James sighed and pointed to his throat and shook his head. "You can't talk?" James nodded. "So you lost your voice? Gustavo made you sing vocals then, for two hours?" Again James nodded hating the feeling of not being able to talk. "Well the guys are depressed about something and I tried to talk to Ariana, but she locked herself in her apartment and won't even answer the door. Do you guys know her from somewhere?" James sighed. Jo studied James' expression before it finally clicked. "You knew her from Minnesota, didn't you?" Once again James nodded his head already irritated. He stood up and stalked past Jo and up to the apartment he shared with his best friends. James paused outside room 3J when he heard loud sobbing. There was no doubt in his mind that it was Ariana who was sobbing uncontrollably. James felt guilty now. He hurt her in the worse way possible. James walked into apartment 2J to find the guys, Katie, and Mrs. Knight sitting together on the large orange couch.
"How did vocals go, James?" James growled and then winced in pain as his throat felt like it was on fire. He took a large sip of water and glared at Kendall. "Let me guess, you lost your voice." James nodded and sat down on the edge of the couch.
"Ari's upset with us James. We left her without notice and we were her best friends. We didn't contact her after we got to LA and we acted as if nothing happened. She resents us for leaving." James looked over at Logan who looked heart broken. Kendall and Carlos wore similar expressions. He turned to Katie and Mrs. Knight who merely shook their heads.
"She was in love with you James. You chipped away at her heart every time you would tease her and lead her on until you left and it finally shattered. That's why you got slapped yesterday and none of us did. You deserved it too." James glared at Carlos. The boy was an idiot through and through and of all times he decides to act all smart now.
"Who the hell do you think you are talking to me like that? I never led her on." James' voice was raspy and broken. It strained the muscles in his throat to talk, but James wasn't going to let Carlos blame this on him.
"You did too James. You would flirt with her and then the next second you'd be making out with some random girl. She has been in love with you since the fifth grade. You know that saying? Love at first sight right? Yeah, that's what it's like for Ariana. She's loved you since the first moment she laid eyes on you. You were just too thickheaded to recognize the signs. Even if you did recognize the signs then you were too arrogant to acknowledge them and now you're wallowing in denial because you're in love with her too." James growled again and tackled Carlos over the back of the couch. The two started wrestling on the floor as Mrs. Knight started yelling at them to knock it off.
"WILL YOU TWO KNOCK IT OFF?" James and Carlos froze in mid-punch. Katie glared down at the boy teenage boys with disgust. "Carlos is right James and quite frankly you both are acting like idiots. Carlos may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but he has his moments and this is one of them. Stop acting like little children." Katie shook her head as she walked into her room, the door slamming shut behind her. Carlos climbed off of James and went to his and Logan's room. Kendall and Logan looked between the two before following Carlos into the room leaving James on the floor with Mrs. Knight standing in front of him.
"Maybe you should think things through, sweetie. Figure out how you really feel." Mrs. Knight smiled sympathetically before heading into the kitchen to start dinner. James stood up off the floor and went into his and Kendall's room. He walked over to the closet and pulled out a large shoebox from the back and blew the dust off. He coughed as a large amount of dust flew into the air. James took the box and placed it on his bed and flipped through the pictures. They were all from Minnesota. Some of them were just the guys with their hockey uniforms on and some of them were the five of them together laughing. James paused at one of the photographs and pulled out his iPhone. He looked at the background image and then held his phone up against the photograph. It was the same picture. James had his arms wrapped around Ariana's waist with his chin resting on her shoulder. One of his legs was in front of her body and the two of them were laughing. The picture was taken the fall before he left for LA to become famous with Kendall, Carlos, and Logan. Tears welled up in his eyes and before James could blink them back, the tears were flowing down his cheeks. James Diamond was in love with Ariana Nicholson, a girl who hated his guts. How in the world was he going to make it right?
