Big Time Love Story

Big Time Concert (1.19)

The weeks after the dance had been busy, very busy.

Because not only did the boys almost bring bad luck to singer Jordin sparks, only to end up duetting with her, cure James of Hollywood fever by taking him to Gustavo's mansion to see Gwen who was lounging in the pool in a bikini, and shoot their first music video along with finishing their very first CD, but Gwen was in the midst of helping her father plan the boys' first tour.

A tour they started preparing for today as their first concert was in two weeks.

And after letting the crashing and screams of pain go on for an hour, Gwen got up from her father's desk where she'd been organising more concert dates to knock on the storage room door that the boys had locked themselves in before Freight Train broke it down.

"Boys, it's Gwen. I have ice-packs and coffee and I come in peace," she said, and the door opened before she was yanked inside, and the goods were snatched from her hands.

"You are an angel!" Carlos exclaimed as he kissed her cheek, dazed from his concussion as James glared at him.

Things between Gwen and James were going good, they were still close friends that saw each other and spoke every day, but there were these moments.

These moments where it was really hard not to kiss the other person and then it would grow really awkward after that.

But James had genuinely surprised his friends with how much he wanted Gwen. He stopped flirting with other girls, something that Gwen also couldn't help but notice since Camille and Jo had been monitoring him constantly.

"Are you guys ready to go back out there or do you need a pep talk?" she asked as they sipped their drinks.

"Kendall pretty much covered it," Logan said.

"But, the question is, can you do better?" Kendall challenged and Gwen grinned.

"Ok. Listen up. You boys have fought tooth and nail to get where you are. From getting Gustavo to pick you, from getting Griffin to let you make your demo to getting your demos picked. And the CD is already done. The next part is the fun part. The part where you get to share your music with the world. And you didn't come this far just to stop here. So, are you gonna stop, or are you going to keep moving forward when you're so close to it?"

"That was good," Carlos whispered even though Gwen could hear it, and the boys nodded in agreement.

"Why thank you, boys," she grinned as she placed her hand on the door handle. "Now, I'm in Gustavo's office sorting out tour stuff if you need me, but you won't because you guys got this. Good luck."

And boy would they need it.

******************************************************************

But Gwen was right. They nailed their dress rehearsal.

But Gwen was also wrong. Because Griffin cancelled the album release and the tour.

His company had done a risk report and there was apparently too much risk in releasing their CD and sending them on tour.

The boys were being sent back to Minnesota and they were heartbroken.

And so was Gwen as she knocked on the apartment door of 2J, one that was filled with $3000 worth of Big Time Rush merch that would never be sold.

"You called Katie?" Gwen said as the girl appeared from out behind a pile of boxes.

"He's in denial and in the bathroom. Fix him," she ordered, Gwen still confused.

"And the bathroom is where?"

Katie only pointed as Gwen navigated her way around stacks of cardboard boxes to the door in the kitchen that she knocked on.

"James. It's Gwen. Can we talk?"

She then heard the lock unlocking before she pushed the door open to see James sitting on the edge of the bathtub as he bounced his leg up and down, head in his hands.

"James-"

"I'm not going back to Minnesota! This isn't happening. I'm going to wake up and this will all be a dream right before I have to go on stage at the concert," he muttered, still not looking at Gwen who knelt down in front of him.

"James, I don't want you to leave either. I mean, your band was almost there, and we were almost there."

James looked up at her, as he held her face, tears lining his eyes.

"I don't want to leave you. We didn't even get a chance."

Gwen's heart broke at his words as tears lined her eyes and she held onto his wrists.

"I guess the timing just wasn't right," she admitted sadly.

"But I don't want to lose you."

"And you're not going to," she said as she wiped the tear that slipped down his face. "We can still talk every day and video call. We can still stay friends."

"But I don't want to stay friends."

And this time, Gwen kissed him.

But James wasn't taken by surprise as he kissed her back, but this kiss was different. This kiss was urgent and sad.

This was their kiss goodbye.

And it hurt like hell.

Even more so when it was over and Gwen pulled James into a hug, pulling him off the edge of the tub and onto the floor with her as they knelt.

And as Gwen stood and wiped her eyes, her hand lingered on the door handle as she turned back around, James still on his knees.

"Goodbye James."

And she was gone.

And so was he. 

******************************************************************

"Just admit that you miss them," Kelly said to Gustavo who sat in his studio as Ed Begley Jr, recorded a children's book.

"I am amazing. And I answer to RCM/CBT/Globalnet of losers. I can make this work," he said as he instructed Ed to read the next page.

"Gwen's taking it really hard. She misses the boys, and she really misses James. She hasn't taken off his stupid bandanna since he left," Kelly pointed out.

"And I hate Griffin for what he put her through, but I can't fix it."

"You can try."

And with that Kelly walked out as Gustavo looked into the studio where Gwen sat on the wooden floor, a purple bandanna around her head as she typed on her computer and sorted pages on the floor, phone pressed to her ear as she began the long process of cancelling the tour they'd worked so hard to plan. 

But as she worked, typed and spoke, she did all of it with a sad look in her eyes. 

And it was then that Gustavo swore that he was going to do whatever it took to return that smile that he loved so much.

He was going to get the band back together.