It was a few weeks after everyone had returned from their holiday vacation, one day Gustavo called all four guys into his office at Rocque Records, they had no idea what for, although working with Gustavo and Griffin that was a pretty normal occurrence.
"Dogs!" Gustavo greeted them, thankfully with a smile on his face, so at least he wasn't yelling at them…yet.
"What's up, Gustavo? Do we have a new song to record?" Kendall asked.
"No. Now Griffin really appreciated the boost to his profit margins that your Christmas tracks gave him a few weeks ago, but now he's ready for his next money-making scheme, but for once, I think it's something the four of you are actually going to like."
"What is it, Gustavo? Making our own merchandise? Product endorsements?" Logan asked.
"Oh, can we all be Kuda models? Or just me?" James asked.
"No, we should be in commercials for corn dogs and hockey helmets!" Carlos suggested.
"No!" Gustavo yelled over all three of them. "Let me talk!" Gustavo took a deep breath to keep himself calm. "Griffin wanted us to come up with a way to introduce you to a larger audience and fanbase. You dogs are already topping the charts with teen and tween girls, but I think if we really tried, we could attract more male consumer attention."
"And we think we found a great way to do that," Kelly said with a smile. "Thanks to some great negotiating by me. Do you guys know that in about two weeks the Minnesota Wild is coming to Los Angeles to play the LA Kings?"
"Well, Duh! Of course, we do." Carlos tapped the side of his helmet, "We have the Wild's entire season memorized."
"Right, now Kelly and I and everyone at the Palm Woods knows how big of hockey heads Big Time Rush is, but most of your fanbase, and potential fanbase doesn't yet." Gustavo pointed out.
"Which is why the four of you are going to spend next week practicing with the two teams and if you can impress the coaches, you'll get some playing time in the game," Kelly announced.
"WHAT?!" All four of them shouted and they all got dazed looks in their eyes as they started imagining playing on the ice in a real NHL game with their favorite team.
Gustavo rolled his eyes and let loose with an air horn to break them from their trances. "That is a big maybe. Now I haven't actually seen any of you really play in a real game, and I have no clue how good or bad you actually are, it's up to you to impress the coaches."
"And even if you don't the backup plan will be you guys announcing the game and performing in between the periods," Kelly explained.
"So are you in?" Gustavo asked.
"Heck Yeah!" All four of them cheered.
"Great, you'll be playing Saturday the fourteenth."
"Wait!" Kendall shouted and held up his hands in a stop gesture, "You mean Valentine's Day?"
Logan grimaced too, while both James and Carlos looked at both of the other guys with sympathy.
Kelly smiled apologetically, "I know what you two are probably thinking, but I'm sure Jo and Camille will understand, and you'll still have all day Sunday to celebrate."
"Besides Valentine's Day is just a scam cooked up by Griffin's greeting card, flower, and chocolate company to sell things," Gustavo said nihilistically.
"I'm sorry what was that?" James asked.
Kendall sighed, You're right, I'm sure Jo will understand." Even though we've had plenty of rainchecks on dates already this year. He thought to himself.
"Your first practice is next Monday morning. We'll see you later." Kelly dismissed them.
When Kendall made it back to the Palm Woods, the very first thing he did was find Jo sitting by the pool, reading through her latest script. "Hey, Jo." Kendall said as he sat down in the pool chair next to hers.
"Hey Kendall, so what did Gustavo want this time?"
"Well, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
"Give me the bad news, but let me guess? You have to cancel one of our upcoming date nights?"
"Exactly, and it's Valentine's Day. I'm for sure going to be busy all day that day, and probably most of the week before. I'm sorry." Kendall apologized,.
"It's fine," Jo reassured him. "It's just a day on the calendar. We both show each other how much we love each other every day, we don't need to do something big on the one day of the year everyone else is."
"Really? You're not upset or anything?"
"No, besides my dad always says it's just a scam made up by the greeting card, flower, and chocolate companies. Of course that doesn't stop him from spoiling my mom. He just complains about it."
"Ok then, I promise we'll celebrate on the fifteenth though."
"And I am totally fine waiting for the fifteenth." Jo reached between them to squeeze Kendall's hand. "So what's the good news?"
Kendall finally let his smile show through. "Only the most amazing thing ever! On the fourteenth, I'll be playing in an NHL game with the LA Kings and Minnesota Wild!" Now that the bad news was over, Kendall was more than ready to show Jo just how excited he is.
"Oh my gosh babe! You must be so excited!"
"I can hardly believe it. Next week the four of us will be practicing with the teams and if we impress the coaches, we could be playing in a real game! This is going to be so awesome!"
"I just know you're going to blow the coaches away Kendall. I better be invited to watch you though."
"Of course you are. You can be my lucky charm."
"How is that?"
"Well, no matter what happens, I know I won't lose if you're there watching".
"Well, I will be. I can't wait to see you in a real game. Think you'll score any goals?"
"I have no idea. I usually play the forward position back on my high school team in Minnesota, but I have no clue how any of us will actually stack up against the pros. I wonder why Gustavo is letting us do this since we can't ever get hurt because of everything he and Griffin have invested in us." Kendall said sarcastically.
"Oh yeah. I know Amy definitely wouldn't let me or Jett in any sort of real sporting event. It's in my contract that I'm not even allowed to go to Judo tournaments anymore. I can still practice and work out but nothing that even has a chance of me getting hurt."
"I think it's mostly because Griffin put him between a rock and a hard place like usual to expand our fanbase, except this time I'm going to love every second of it for once."
"How is hockey supposed to expand your fanbase?"
"How Gustavo explained it, right now we're a big hit with girls, but we need to get guys interested in our music too, so obviously Gustavo came up with the best idea ever to let us play hockey on national TV!"
"So are all of you super good? I know you told me about getting recruited to the All-Star game in Minnesota."
"Oh yeah, trust me, I know we act silly and crazy 90% of the time, but on the ice, all of us, even Carlos, are always one hundred percent focused. All that matters on the ice is victory. Logan is a great center, James is an awesome defender, and Carlos is the best goalie in LA, I guarantee it."
"Now I really can't wait to see you all play on Saturday. But even more, I can't wait for Sunday. Do you still want to plan it though? This sounds like you'll be super busy next week."
Kendall just smiled at her. "Leave it all to me, I have everything mostly planned already, I'll just have to move our reservation, which should be a lot easier moving it off of Valentine's Day than trying to book it. Don't you worry about a thing. The fifteenth will be a day to remember."
"I won't, and I'm sure the fourteenth will be just as amazing. I'll be cheering you on the entire time… as long as your mom or Katie's with me to let me know if you're doing well or not."
"That sounds like a great plan. Now I better get going and make some calls to change our plans, but then I'll meet you right back here."
"Now that sounds like a plan to me. Goodbye kiss?"
"Of course." Jo and Kendall both leaned closer to each other to share a long tender kiss. "I'll be right back Jo!"
"I'll be waiting Kendall!" Jo smiled as he ran back into the lobby.
The next week, Big Time Rush was more than ready for their first practice with their respective teams, they had been practicing in the Palm Woods' parking lot for the past week to brush up on their skills. The only negative about this was that all four of them wouldn't all be playing together.
The coaches of the respective teams had already picked their players, Kendall and Carlos would join the Wild, while James and Logan would join the Kings. And Kendall was ecstatic, walking into the locker room which was filled with all of his hockey idols that he had spent most of his life comparing himself too felt like a dream come true.
All their teammates were quick to greet them happily with plenty of handshakes, pats on the back and introductions passed all around. Not that they were needed, Kendall could have named all of them just by their numbers already.
Things only got even better when they all headed out on the ice, after a few warm-ups that were a bit difficult, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew he was a bit rusty on the ice since moving to LA, he quickly got back into his groove as if he had never left Minnesota.
After talking to the coach about his past experience, he was happy to join the offensive drills with the other forward players, while Carlos was allowed to join the goalies in their drills. Most of the drills were pretty challenging, but he was always able to keep up with the other players, no matter how fast they were.
Finally, near the end of their first day of practice, they spent some time scrimmaging and this is where both Carlos and Kendall really let their skills shine through. Carlos was doing an amazing job protecting his goal, he let nothing get past him. It may have helped that similar to Kendall he was more than familiar with most of his teammate's moves already, so nothing could surprise him.
Near the end of the scrimmage with only a few minutes left, Carlos blocked the puck once again, and seeing Kendall skating near the halfway line of the rink, Carlos used his stick to slap the puck so that it ricocheted off the wall right in between two other players, straight to Kendall's stick.
Kendall took the puck and took off like a rocket, keeping his focus on the goal in front of him, and watching his peripheral vision to keep track of his opponents and teammates, he didn't even need to look at the puck, he was driving it along completely by instinct.
Two defenders skated up to try to trap him from the front, but with a quick side step he managed to avoid both of them completely so that they ran into each other instead, he then passed the puck to one of his own teammates to keep it moving closer and then cut in quickly from the right side.
His teammate saw what he was doing and kept moving forward as if he was preparing to shoot for the goal from the left side of the rink, but at the last second, he instead made a quick pass to Kendall, who sliced the puck into the goal before the goalie could turn to face him. The buzzer went off loudly when the puck hit the net, but the roar of all the other players was even louder.
"GOAL!" The whole team shouted out at the top of their lungs.
They didn't celebrate for long though, with about two minutes left, the other team was quick to strike back, even though it was practice they didn't want to lose 1-0. But once again thanks to Carlos, all their attempts would be in vain. His defense of the goal was just as strong and solid as ever.
Once they were done the coach gave the team one more pep talk and congratulations of a good job before releasing them to the locker room but told Carlos and Kendall to hang back.
"Well, Knight, Garcia. I must admit you really impressed me. When the owner told me about this publicity stunt you were doing, I'll admit I was a bit skeptical. If anything I was planning to put you in the starting lineup and then sub you out as soon as possible at the beginning of the game, but I think you'll both be valuable additions to this team."
"Thanks Coach, that means a lot coming from you. Trust us, the two of us, plus also James and Logan are the Wild's biggest fans, especially in LA."
Coach just grinned at them, "I wish I could have gotten my hands on those two too then, but I'm confident with you two playing on Saturday, we'll show those Kings that Minnesota rules the ice, and speaking of Saturday, you'll need these." Coach motioned to two of his assistants who stepped up from the bench holding two Wild Jerseys, with Knight #13 and Garcia #6.
"OMG, it's official, this is a dream, isn't it?" Kendall smiled in absolute delight as he took the jersey in his hands.
"If this is a dream, I don't ever want to wake up." Carlos was just as ecstatic beside him.
"Lucky you we didn't have either of those numbers, and your producer told me those were your high school numbers."
"Yeah, they are. I promise Coach, we'll continue working hard for you all week, and we'll make sure Saturday is a night we never forget."
"I don't doubt it, but I'll warn you, fellas, today was our easy day." He grinned.
"Good, we never run for a challenge, and don't worry about us, so far this is nothing compared to the training we did for our first concert," Carlos said.
"Oh really?" Coach raised his eyebrow in question.
"Have you ever run a 5K while singing and being chased by crazed fangirls?" Kendall challenged him back.
"Can't say I have." Coach shook his head with a smile. "OK you two hit the showers and I'll see you tomorrow."
Carlos and Kendall walked to the locker room, and quickly showered and changed back into their normal clothes, and when they got back to the Palm Woods, they found James and Logan sitting in the lobby waiting for them, and all four of them had matching grins on their faces.
"So did you guys have as great of a time as we did today?" Kendall asked.
"You tell us. Bam!" James and Logan held up their own personalized black and white Kings jerseys proudly.
"Looks like we're in the same boat." Kendall and Carlos held up their green Wild jerseys. "I still can't believe this is happening, we even impressed our coach."
"Same here." Logan nodded. "I hate to say it, but this weekend, the Wild is going to have to go down."
"We'll see about that!" Carlos said, "If I'm in as goalie, you know nothing is getting past me."
"Well, I agree that may normally be true, it won't be the case against us," James added.
"Woah guys. Remember why we're doing this." Kendall interrupted them. "Sure Gustavo wants this for good PR or whatever, but we're all going to be playing hockey on national TV, and while we aren't all on the same team, this is still something we're doing together. Now I'm all for fun and rivalry, but I am certain no matter who wins or loses, Saturday will be a night none of us will ever forget, right?"
"Right. All three of them agreed. "Now how about we head upstairs for our usual after-practice tradition?"
"Corndogs!" All four guys ran to the elevator with even more delighted smiles on their faces.
Finally, after a long, hard, amazing week of practice for all four guys, it was game night and they were beyond stoked. All four of them had earned themselves starting positions for the night and were treated just like any other players by both their teammates and the coaches. Each of them felt like they were in the perfect position to play to the best of their ability. In fact, more often than not control of the game seemed to depend largely on the four guys whenever they were in.
The crowd at the Staples Center was just as stoked for them, while most of the die-hard hockey fans had no clue who these new guys were at the beginning of the game, it didn't take long for each team's fans to start cheering them on. But there also seemed to be large crowds of Rushers cheering on their favorite bandmates as well.
Kendall was fired up by everything going on, but whenever he looked out into the crowd, it was always directly across from the Wild's bench, where his mom, Katie, Jo, Camille, and Camille, and Jo's dads were sitting, and cheering on their friends and family with the same enthusiasm they showed at their concerts.
At one point during the first period when the refs stopped play for a moment, Kendall paused his skating and glanced over to where his mom had told them they'd all be sitting, and his heart nearly skipped a beat.
Jo had promised him that she'd show up in style, and he even offered her one of his own Wild Jerseys to wear but she had politely declined, saying she had something better in mind. Instead of a Wild jersey, Jo was wearing Kendall's own gold and maroon high school jersey. And Kendall felt his mind just stop when he first laid eyes on her during warmups, he didn't even know what to think. It was only the shrill scream of the ref's whistle that brought him back into focus on the game, and now he was playing even harder to impress Jo since she looked like that to come to support him.
Up in the stands, Katie smirked and lightly elbowed Jo's side. "Did you see Kendall? I told you that would happen."
"OK you were right, but that's all I need to know I made the right choice." Jo laughed. "Thanks for stealing this for me again."
"No problem, you just better not distract him too much that he makes his team lose because his brain's stuck on Jo mode," Katie growled a bit harshly as she watched the game intently.
"Wow Katie, I didn't know you were such a die-hard hockey fan too." Camille joked at her serious tone.
Katie just smirked. "Really? Do you know who my brother and practically 3 other older brothers are? Let's just say they've indoctrinated me quite well. I love Logan and James, but tonight they're the enemy."
"I wouldn't say that. Ah, I think Logan just saw me." Camille smiled and waved at Logan, who was now staring dumbstruck at her, as she was wearing his high school jersey, similar to Jo's. Until James lightly body-checked him to get back on focus, which like Kendall he did with an equally determined look.
They watched the game for the next few minutes, and Jo spoke up again. "Katie, I don't think you have to worry too much, is it just me, but are Kendall and Logan both playing even better now?"
Katie paid closer attention for a few moments. "Yeah, I think you're right. Both are moving even faster, and making plenty of shots, too bad for Logan, Carlos is the goalie, but I wouldn't say the same for Kendall's chances."
And it seems Katie was right as moments later; Kendall found an opening and shot the puck right into the net over the goalie's shoulder.
"GOAL!" The stadium erupted in cheers.
Kendall went on a quick victory lap and was more than happy to catch the kiss Jo blew him from the stands, miming placing it in his heart, but then seconds later play resumed once again.
And as the game continued it seems both teams were realizing how big of threats all four band members were, especially after James managed to score a goal of his own while Carlos was taking a breather, which made him get sent right back out onto the ice.
So now whenever one of the four guys was anywhere near the puck, they were being doubly covered, which forced them to push themselves harder, to them this just meant a new level to the competition they faced, and none of them ever backed down from a challenge.
At one point Kendall was flying down the side of the rink, one of his opponents barely a step behind him. One of his teammates sent the puck Kendall's way, and he just managed to get a handle on the puck with his stick, which made him slow down for a moment. That moment was all his opponent needed to slam him into the plexiglass wall with his shoulder and take the puck away.
Kendall shook his head to clear himself, he sent a motion to both his coach on the bench, and to Carlos, James, and Logan that he was alright. While his shoulders stung a little from slamming into the wall, it was far from the worst hit he had ever taken. Also feeling her eyes on him, he turned back towards Jo and shot her a quick thumbs up as best as he could in the gloves he was wearing and did his best to get back in position to keep playing.
And he was right on time, as soon as his team took back the puck by intercepting a pass, Kendall was ready to accept his own pass from about the middle of the court back near the goal. He skated forward a few yards, but Logan was ready to take him on, and they knew one another's moves way too well, they fought back and forth for almost thirty seconds until James swooped in to take the puck back for his team.
And the game just continued like that, pretty soon everyone forgot the four guys were playing their first-ever NHL game, they were indistinguishable from all the other players except for the names on their jerseys, and their especially strong cheering sections.
At the break between the second and third periods, both teams went to their locker rooms to strategize, but the four guys stayed out on the ice to sing a few songs, Jo was surprised that they were able to skate around so effortlessly as they sang, somehow, they looked completely natural even more than they were normally on stage.
"Wow, you know I think they could be figure skaters if they really wanted to be," Camille said.
Katie shuddered. "OK word of advice for you two, do not ever mention figure skaters around any of the guys, and for your own good, definitely don't suggest they should be figure skaters."
"Why not?" Camille asked.
"They have a pact to always hate figure skaters because of these two jerks years ago claimed figure skating was better than hockey and forced them out of the rink before they were ready after nearly every single practice they had. And they've hated figure skating ever since."
"Well, Kendall has watched ice dancing with me before, I could tell it wasn't his favorite thing in the world, but he didn't tell me anything about outright hating it."
"Well that's because you're Jo, and you're lucky you didn't hear the whole story," Katie warned them again.
Camille shrugged her shoulders. "Figure skating is pretty fun though; I've done it before."
Katie laughed, "Yeah definitely don't tell Logan that, I don't think he'd be like Carlos and corndogs, but you'd be on pretty thin ice with all of them."
"OK ok, I get it. I just hope they aren't all too sore. It really seems like both teams are beating on all of them."
"Well, considering the current score is 1-1 both scored by our guys they must be the biggest offensive threats." Jo said, "But yeah, that last hit Kendall took…I know he'd never admit defeat until the game is done, but I hope he's ok."
"Oh trust me, they're all fine. For one they're having the time of their lives, so nothing less than a broken bone will make them give up, and two, some of their high school league matches are much more brutal than this is.
"You know I'm surprised Gustavo let them do this, with how he's always going on about all the dangerous stuff they aren't allowed to do in case they get hurt and can't perform and stuff," Camille said.
"I think the guys have more than proven that they're indestructible. And right now, they're actually wearing pads and stuff to protect themselves. I know this looks tough, but this is realistically one of the safer things we've seen them do." Jo pointed out.
And so the game continued, with neither side giving an inch to the other, as the clock ticked down, it was looking more and more possible that they could end up in overtime.
Kendall though, despite having the time of his life, was starting to feel fatigued. He had been in for just about the entire game, and once again that wasn't something new for him, he could admit to himself at least that he was running out of gas in his tank. Plus, it was still Valentine's Day night and he wanted to spend at least a little time with Jo tonight. He promised himself if he found a chance, he would take it.
Finally, with about 2 minutes left, his moment arose perfectly. The Kings passed the puck about twenty feet in front of him, probably thinking he had no chance of intercepting in time. But that was where they were wrong.
Kendall put all the power he had remaining into his legs to sprint forward with his stick extended in front of him. He just barely managed to intercept the pass and get the puck under control, and then he was cruising along, dodging around every opposing player who attempted to cross his path.
Until he got to James and Logan, Kendall could see the matching looks of determination beneath their masks. Before they got too close though, Kendall passed the puck to the left, handing it off to a teammate, and allowed Logan and James to plow into him, as they couldn't react in time.
As they moved together, Kendall used his moment to spin on the blade of his skates so that could quickly round around Logan and keep moving forward, and just in time too. As he approached the goal from the right, his teammate passed the puck back to Kendall, and after some quick footwork to confuse the goalie as to his intentions, he quickly cut to the right, left, and then right again, and hit the puck into the goal, right through the goalie's legs.
"GOAL!" The crowd cheered again with a roar of excitement.
Kendall just smiled and caught his breath for a moment, and then joined the rest of his team on defense as the final minute started ticking down. James and Logan both led their teammates in trying their best to tie the score and force overtime, but it wasn't in the cards, the Wild were two determined, nothing even made it close to Carlos' goal by the time the final buzzer sounded.
Kendall smiled brightly at the announcement that the Wild had won, knowing that it was thanks to him, that his favorite team in the entire world had just won because of him. But the very first thing he did was find Carlos, James, and Logan and all four of them shared a massive group hug. James and Logan didn't care that their team had lost, tonight had been a victory for all of them, and they wouldn't have it any other way.
The four guys eventually rejoined each other outside the locker room along with Gustavo and Kelly, who were both happy at how well they performed, both singing and playing and Griffin was happy since their album and merchandise were already seeing a boost in sales online.
Kendall was beyond happy, and even more so, when he felt two familiar arms snake around him from behind. He turned around with a smile on his face to meet Jo's excited grin.
"Congratulations Kendall!" Jo cheered and then leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I never imagined you were going to do that well against a professional team. I'm so proud of you."
Kendall took all of Jo in for a moment, definitely appreciating her wearing his jersey. Number 13 had always been his, and Jo was too. "Thank you, and look at you! You look great."
"So you don't mind that Katie stole it for me?" Jo asked teasingly.
"Oh no, in fact, unless I need it to play, you can keep it, and wear it whenever you like." Kendall hugged her tighter for a moment. "It looks a million times better on you than it ever could on me."
"Really? Cause I think you can pull off a jersey pretty good yourself mister." Jo said. "And I think you've proved tonight that you can earn your place on any team."
"As long as you're on my team, I'll never lose."
"You're in luck then, I'm not going anywhere," Jo promised him.
"Great job tonight, Kendall." Jo's dad stepped up to them, breaking them out of their bubble. "I know you've told me so much about your hockey experiences but for a high schooler like you, that was very impressive."
"Thanks, Mr. Taylor, this is honestly one of the best nights of my life. Hockey, music, my friends, Jo, what else could I possibly ask for?"
"I'd have to agree with you there, by the way, Jo told a lot of our family back home to watch tonight, and while most of them haven't ever watched hockey before, they're all telling me to give you congratulations too."
"Well send them my thanks back to them." Kendall smiled.
After a bit more catching up and congratulations were given to everyone, they all exited the arena for the limo that would take everyone back home to the Palm Woods. When they arrived, Jo whispered in Kendall's ear, "Come with me, I have one more surprise for you."
Kendall just smiled back in response and let Jo pull him away from all the others who were headed for the lobby, instead, she led him to the middle of Palm Woods Park, and sitting on the ground was a blanket, and a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries.
"What's all this?" Kendall asked.
"Well, it is still Valentine's Day, and I know you undoubtedly have the perfect romantic day all planned out for tomorrow, right now it's my turn to celebrate alone with you on your wonderful night, and as you said, give you another reason to never forget it."
"Jo," Kendall pulled her close in a hug. "I love you. Happy Valentine's Day."
"Happy Valentine's Day to you too. I love you, Kendall."
They sat down next to each other, and as Jo reached forward to pull the strawberries closer to them, Kendall finally saw her back, and seeing his number, and also Knight printed on the back, gave him the warmest feeling.
Jo turned back and smiled teasingly at him. "What's up?"
"Uh, nothing," Kendall said, he felt a little embarrassed by where his brain had gone.
"Come on Kendall, what's with the weird face?" Jo poked him to try to get him to crack.
"OK, but promise you won't laugh?"
"I promise."
"OK, I just saw my name, Knight on the back of your jersey, on you, and my brain kind of short-circuited for a moment, and a… crazy idea that maybe someday… "Kendall trailed off, blushing a bit.
In response, Jo leaned closer and captured Kendall's lips in a searing kiss that took his breath away. When they finally parted, Jo was still smiling brightly at him. "I love you, Kendall."
"I love you too Jo."
"Obviously that someday is a long, long time away, but I wouldn't say it's the craziest scheme you've ever had. But let's just promise each other, this is the first of many Valentine's days we'll share together… and if you like it so much I'm sure I can find plenty of reasons to wear this thing around." Jo tugged at the neck of her jersey.
Kendall's face broke into a grin that felt impossible for him to control. That is an awesome plan, that we are going to make work no matter what. Kendall promised her and leaned in to steal a kiss of his own. Literally, nothing could possibly make tonight any better.