I've Got Your Picture, I'm Coming With You Part 15
As always, I don't own anyone, none of this is real, blah blah blah, you know the drill. Amanda, I had more, but I'm not happy with it, and I've just added another ATL/Yellowcard show to my weekend... It's not gonna happen for another week. I will tell you the ending though.
After moving back and forth between the two broken men for an hour, one thing became clear. This wasn’t going to be fixed tonight. I had my hopes set high, but honestly, what else did I expect? It wasn’t like they’d ever make this easy on all of us. Matt was a curled up ball on the couch in the back lounge, wrapped in his Mickey blanket, cuddling a Mickey, watching whatever Disney movie he’d picked to watch to calm down. At least he wasn’t crying anymore, and he was slowly sobering up. Alex was pretty much in the same position, wrapped in his blanket in the front lounge. He kept asking when we all knew, but it wasn’t really a conscious thing. One day it wasn’t there and then the next day it was. From the way Alex and Matt had been going on this tour, I’d assumed that Matt had told him, but this all proved that he hadn’t. Jack had come back to make sure they hadn’t killed either each other or me, but once he saw we were all alive and breathing, some of us only just, he’d left us to it. He knew I had more control of this situation than he ever would. The one inside the venue was another story. I was going to have to tour manage tonight, considering the state our tour manager was in, which meant leaving Matt and Alex on the bus alone together.
I left Matt with a radio, another open can of Red Bull, his Disney movies and strict instructions that if he felt upset or wanted to talk, he was to radio me. I left Alex with another bottle of water and a radio, telling him that I would be back before the first set to get him and that he was going to be excused from meet and greets today. There was no way he was going to be able to put on a happy front like those kids deserved, so instead he was “feeling sick and on vocal rest”. I sent a tweet from his account as extra insurance. I’m never quite sure how these kids will take things. If they hear it from “him” first, it might soften the blow. Here’s hoping anyway. Colussey was going to be in charge of that whilst I was dealing with Vinny. The venue had screwed something up with the merchandise area and apparently he was in a massive yelling fit with them at the moment, so as much as I didn’t want to leave the bus, I didn’t really have a choice.
---
“Well, that could have gone a lot worse.”
“It could have gone a LOT better too.” When I’d come back to get Alex for the show, after I’d dealt with Vinny, I’d asked Matt if he’d wanted to come watch. Not surprisingly, he’d declined, so instead we tucked him into bed, put Mickey Mouse on, and left him be. Alex had played, not up to his usual standard, but not badly. There was just something missing from his performance, he was too deep in his head, not smiling fully and not joking around like normal. The kids had eaten it up, as per usual, and we’d had to bundle Alex back onto the bus as quick as possible after the show, so as to keep up the “sick and on vocal rest” facade. Both were currently passed out in their bunks, as were the rest of the band and crew. Jack and I were the only ones still awake, in the back lounge, trying to quietly work out how we were going to fix this situation. “He said he wanted to talk about it.”
“That should be fun on a full bus tomorrow.”
“Jack, it’ll have to wait until the venue, unless he wants to talk to all of us. I’m more concerned about the bus ride there to be honest. It’s gonna be awkward. Really, really awkward.”
“Yeah. We’ll work it out somehow, we always do.”
“I just don’t want to make this a “His side, His side” thing. We’re all on the same side, we all want this to work out for the best. So, Alex made a stupid choice, so did Matt. How many opportunities did he have to tell Alex how he felt? He didn’t take one of them. I just... I don’t blame either of them, but how else was this supposed to work out if no one ever talks about how they feel?”
“Rose?” Colussey had stuck his head in the back lounge, along with Grieco.
“What’s up?”
“One of them is crying, pretty bad, and we can’t work out which one it is. Help?”
“Sure guys. I’ll be right there.” I kissed Jack on the cheek. “Duty calls.”
“And on our wedding night, how rude!” I laughed and kissed Jack on the lips, softly.
“I’ll make it up to you later, I swear.” He laughed.
“You don’t have to. Go, fix our family.” I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.
“Thank you for understanding.”
---
As it turned out, it wasn’t Matt or Alex that was crying. They were both fast asleep, although not peacefully, but they were out to this world. It was Rian.
I'm not happy with anything I've written past there. At least I'm not leaving you with a major cliffhanger this time.
After moving back and forth between the two broken men for an hour, one thing became clear. This wasn’t going to be fixed tonight. I had my hopes set high, but honestly, what else did I expect? It wasn’t like they’d ever make this easy on all of us. Matt was a curled up ball on the couch in the back lounge, wrapped in his Mickey blanket, cuddling a Mickey, watching whatever Disney movie he’d picked to watch to calm down. At least he wasn’t crying anymore, and he was slowly sobering up. Alex was pretty much in the same position, wrapped in his blanket in the front lounge. He kept asking when we all knew, but it wasn’t really a conscious thing. One day it wasn’t there and then the next day it was. From the way Alex and Matt had been going on this tour, I’d assumed that Matt had told him, but this all proved that he hadn’t. Jack had come back to make sure they hadn’t killed either each other or me, but once he saw we were all alive and breathing, some of us only just, he’d left us to it. He knew I had more control of this situation than he ever would. The one inside the venue was another story. I was going to have to tour manage tonight, considering the state our tour manager was in, which meant leaving Matt and Alex on the bus alone together.
I left Matt with a radio, another open can of Red Bull, his Disney movies and strict instructions that if he felt upset or wanted to talk, he was to radio me. I left Alex with another bottle of water and a radio, telling him that I would be back before the first set to get him and that he was going to be excused from meet and greets today. There was no way he was going to be able to put on a happy front like those kids deserved, so instead he was “feeling sick and on vocal rest”. I sent a tweet from his account as extra insurance. I’m never quite sure how these kids will take things. If they hear it from “him” first, it might soften the blow. Here’s hoping anyway. Colussey was going to be in charge of that whilst I was dealing with Vinny. The venue had screwed something up with the merchandise area and apparently he was in a massive yelling fit with them at the moment, so as much as I didn’t want to leave the bus, I didn’t really have a choice.
---
“Well, that could have gone a lot worse.”
“It could have gone a LOT better too.” When I’d come back to get Alex for the show, after I’d dealt with Vinny, I’d asked Matt if he’d wanted to come watch. Not surprisingly, he’d declined, so instead we tucked him into bed, put Mickey Mouse on, and left him be. Alex had played, not up to his usual standard, but not badly. There was just something missing from his performance, he was too deep in his head, not smiling fully and not joking around like normal. The kids had eaten it up, as per usual, and we’d had to bundle Alex back onto the bus as quick as possible after the show, so as to keep up the “sick and on vocal rest” facade. Both were currently passed out in their bunks, as were the rest of the band and crew. Jack and I were the only ones still awake, in the back lounge, trying to quietly work out how we were going to fix this situation. “He said he wanted to talk about it.”
“That should be fun on a full bus tomorrow.”
“Jack, it’ll have to wait until the venue, unless he wants to talk to all of us. I’m more concerned about the bus ride there to be honest. It’s gonna be awkward. Really, really awkward.”
“Yeah. We’ll work it out somehow, we always do.”
“I just don’t want to make this a “His side, His side” thing. We’re all on the same side, we all want this to work out for the best. So, Alex made a stupid choice, so did Matt. How many opportunities did he have to tell Alex how he felt? He didn’t take one of them. I just... I don’t blame either of them, but how else was this supposed to work out if no one ever talks about how they feel?”
“Rose?” Colussey had stuck his head in the back lounge, along with Grieco.
“What’s up?”
“One of them is crying, pretty bad, and we can’t work out which one it is. Help?”
“Sure guys. I’ll be right there.” I kissed Jack on the cheek. “Duty calls.”
“And on our wedding night, how rude!” I laughed and kissed Jack on the lips, softly.
“I’ll make it up to you later, I swear.” He laughed.
“You don’t have to. Go, fix our family.” I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.
“Thank you for understanding.”
---
As it turned out, it wasn’t Matt or Alex that was crying. They were both fast asleep, although not peacefully, but they were out to this world. It was Rian.
I'm not happy with anything I've written past there. At least I'm not leaving you with a major cliffhanger this time.