The hockey puck flew across the concrete, through Carlos' legs and into the goal. 

Logan, James, Alexa, and Jo and erupted into cheers as Camille and Kendall groaned. Carlos through his stick to the ground. 

"You guys have more players!" Kendall pointed out, defending their team in a game of spirited street hockey. 

"Where's your fourth player?" Logan mocked, high-fiving Jo at her victory. 

"Where's his girlfriend?" Carlos mimicked, nodding to James. The gang decided to have an impromptu street hockey game with one rule: you can't be on the same team as your boyfriend/girlfriend. Emily had been called into the studio earlier that day and wasn't answering her phone. 

James shrugged, slightly bothered she wasn't able to join them, "She's still at the studio."

"It's been hours. What could she be doing?" Camille asked them. Truth is the guys had no idea. Emily didn't even know when she left the Palm Woods that morning. The guys shared a grim look of confusion. 

"Do you want to switch teams until she gets here?" Alexa asked the group. 

"No need," Jo answered, looking off towards the main street. The rest of the group turned to see what Jo was staring at in interest. 

Emily walked across the street with three guys, the four of them hysterically laughing. For someone who had spent hours at work unexplained and sudden, the girl seemed to be in a great mood. And it bothered Big Time Rush. 

"Hey," Emily grinned, waving at her friends as she and the guys approached them. "Guys, this is Big Time Rush, Camille, Jo, and Alexa," she introduced them. "And this is Bridger, Teddy, and Reece," she said, pointing to a slender, pale boy with sandy hair; a dark-skinned guy in a button down; and a tall brunette with thick hair. "Griffin is having them record demos in the studio."

The girls gave the new boys a friendly wave, each of them knowing the others were thinking the same thing: the guy weren't happy with this. 

"Well, we're playing some hockey," Logan broke the ice. 

"You guys want to join?" Camille jumped in, inviting everyone and not just Emily to join their game. 

"Can't. Lee is helping us with the demo song," Reece said, referring to the girl by a nickname from the ending syllable in her name. 

"Maybe another time," Emily told them, her and the guys going inside to her apartment. 

"Lee?" Kendall incredulously asked aloud. 

"Why do they get to go to her apartment on the first day?" Carlos asked. 

Jo cautiously looked at the guys, "She's just doing her job."

"She wasn't that friendly when we got here," Logan grumbled. 

"They didn't drown her in pool water," Alexa casually said, the guys glaring. "Sorry, I know that's an important plot point in your relationship." 

The band wasn't in a street-hockey-mood after seeing Emily with another group, much less seeing her enjoy being with them. The group went their separate ways for the day, meaning the boys locked themselves in the crib to sulk and plot. 

"Who were those guys?"

"Why is she working with them?"

"No one calls her Lee."

"I bet they can't play hockey."

The four guys began spurting out questions over one another in exasperation at the interaction moments before outside. 

"She isn't... you know, work with them like she does with us?" Carlos wondered. 

James scoffed, "No. No way. Big Time Rush is her only band," he answered, unconvincingly. 

"I got it!" Kendall jumped up, an idea forming in his brain. "Let's take her out for coffee."

Logan nodded eagerly, "Oh, yes. Take her out for coffee because this is a first date," his tone shifted sarcastically, shutting Kendall down. 

"Stop," Kendall pointed. "We're taking Emily out for coffee. Real coffee," he said slowing in elaboration. "How are you not getting this?"

"He's right!" Carlos gasped. "Em would never turn down free coffee, or coffee at all!" 

"She's happy and we're the favorites again," James smirked. 

"Shall we?" Logan grinned, swinging the front door open, ready to invite Emily Moore out for coffee. 

The guys practically skipped with pride to her apartment, sure their plan was full proof. 

Smirking at each other, James did the honors and knocked rhythmically on her door. Then their smiles fell as the door opened. 

"Oh, hey, guys!" Teddy greeted, opening the door to Emily's apartment. The guys glanced inside, not seeing their friend in sight. 

"Hey, um, is Emily here?" James asked. 

Reece laughed loudly from inside, "No, man. She took off to that bakery across the street to buy one of each flavor of cupcake."

"Why?" 

"Bridge got us some coffee and she barely got halfway through and started bouncing around," Teddy laughed.

"Have you seen this girl on caffeine?" Bridger gasped in laughter. "She is the craziest–"

"Yeah, we have," Kendall nodded, cutting the boy off. "Too many times, actually."

Teddy started laughing, "I don't know if I could ever witness that too many times."

"We should get Lee another one and see what she does," Reece slapped Teddy's arm, beaming at the idea. 

"Well, tell Em we stopped by," Logan told them, defeatedly as BTR went to go back to the elevator. 

"Em?" Bridger questioned. "Oh! Lee," he realized. 

With few words of parting, more laughter erupted from behind the closed door of 3J, and the four boys left in silence. 

***

For the remainder of the afternoon, the guys sulked around the crib. Dying on the couch, spinning in a chair, hanging off the edge of the swirly side... 

Then Logan started running around the kitchen, furiously mixing ingredients together. And soon, all of them were covered in egg and flower, filling more muffin pans, eating ones fresh from the oven, and for one, eating the batter raw. 

The door opened unexpectedly and Emily walked in distracted, casually typing away on her phone, "I'm ordering sushi. Who wants in?" She asked, ready for their orders. "Guys?" She repeated when no one answered her. She looked up, eyes narrowing at the horrific sight in the kitchen.

"Is something wrong?" She cautiously asked. 

"Why would something be wrong?" Logan bitterly replied, not meeting her eyes. 

"You're stress baking."

"First, you don't want to play street hockey. Now, you're judging us for stress baking," Carlos remarked. "Who are you?"

"Lee," James grumbled under his breath, shoving a muffin in his mouth. The snappish tone did not fly past Emily. Her eyebrows raised and face hardened. 

"I was helping them with their demo. Am I not allowed to do my job anymore?" She asked, fully aware of where this was coming from.

"Since when does your job involve inviting strangers into your apartment and laughing hysterically for hours on end?" Kendall fired back. 

"We're friends!" 

"You don't act like that with us," Logan said. 

"Of course not!" Emily shouted. The guys grew quiet, hearts breaking bit by bit inside, thinking she had enough of them for good. "There hasn't been a day that goes by where you aren't bothering me. There are some days where I could go without seeing you. And sometimes all I want to do is smack you in the head for no reason. So, no, I don't treat you like my friends. I treat you like my family."

A wave of silence washed through the room as the four boys stared at her. She wasn't oblivious. Emily knew the boys were jealous of her hanging out with another band. She didn't think they'd see the new guys anywhere near their level of importance to her. 

She sighed, her head tilted, "Seriously, guys, I didn't think you were this dumb," she chuckled. "You four know me better than everyone else in the world combined. Sure, Reece knows my favorite chord progression, and Teddy knows exactly how I like my tea, and Bridger–"

"I'm not feeling any better," Carlos interrupted. 

She held her tongue, amused at the boy. "Carlos, you know my birthday."

"Oh, how special," the boy sarcastically cheered. 

Emily pursed her lips, slightly offended, "No offense taken," she mumbled at him. "It's not as specific but it's important to me." Carlos looked down, going quiet. "They don't know about my family, my dad, Hawk, or that I'm a secret spy–" James shook his head. 

"But you're not."

"Okay, so, yeah, they've picked up on a few niche things about me from the past two days. But you guys know me know me. So you should know me enough to know you four are more important to me than anyone else."

"It's July 13th!" Carlos cried out her birthday, diving unexpectedly into Emily's arms who laughed in shock, soothingly rubbing his back. 

"So, are we good now?" The girl asked, holding her arms out for a group hug. 

"No, we want our own hugs," Kendall demanded, the three remaining boys turning down her offer. Emily started to let Carlos go, guiding him off to the side only for Logan to immediately take his place. 

His arms looped around her and his head fell into her shoulder. "I got batter on you," he mumbled apologetically, pulling away, brushing the stickiness off her. 

Kendall stepped forward next, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "So, you're not done with Big Time Rush?" 

"No, Kendall," she assured him, slightly rolling her eyes. 

James was up next. He shrugged, making no effort to hug her, "I never doubted you."

"Shut up."

Emily pulled him into a hug, smiling to herself at the feeling of a kiss landing on head. "I'm not calling you Lee," James told her. 

"I don't want you to," she shook her head. 

"So–" Logan interrupted. Emily turned from hugging James to see the guys staring hopefully, "is sushi still on the table?" 

"Place your orders, kids."

***

This idea is brought to you by @skystarbluestorm

I hope you enjoyed. I didn't want to drag it out but I also didn't want it to be ridiculously short and weird for the prompt. 

Leave more ideas :)