Fracture

"He's the one who slowed things down?" Natalie asked incredulously.

It was the next afternoon, and I was on the phone with her while I sat in the tent. Things had slowed down significantly after it had started to rain, but I stayed relatively dry.

"Yeah, it was definitely weird," I laughed.

"Don't say it's weird! Be grateful that he's not being an asshole and pushing you to do anything," Natalie told me.

"You're right," I agreed, standing up to straighten out the board of shirts.

"Have you talked to John at all?" She asked.

"He's definitely more bummed than I am," I told her, "But he'd be a lot more torn up if you weren't coming at all."

"I seriously hated having to tell him," She admitted, "We've spent basically every minute since I've left talking."

"Trust me, I know," I laughed, "You both talk about each other enough."

"Oh, shut up! It's not like you don't talk about Jack a lot, either!"

I laughed again, "At least I'll admit it!"

"Yeah, yeah," I knew she was rolling her eyes, "But I've got to get to work. I love you and we'll talk soon!"

"Alright, love you, too!" I hung up and tossed the phone onto the unoccupied chair.

Pete was due back any minute. He'd been covering for a tour manager who had to rush home for a family emergency, and had been leaving me completely in charge of the tent for the last week. But he'd promised me a break without me even having to request it.

A girl who was wearing a Mayday Parade t-shirt, drenched head to toe, walked up to the tent.

"Hi," I told her with a smile, "Can I help you with anything?"

She quickly glanced at me and looked around the tent, "I'm just kind of looking."

"Sounds good," I shrugged and busied myself straightening up the CD's.

"Wait a minute," Her gaze had fallen back on me, and she was now staring intently, "You're that chick who was with Jack Barakat."

I raised my eyebrows, "What?"

"The pictures on the internet of you two sidestage, ya know?"

"Oh, those.... yeahhhh..." I felt awkward.

"Are you two, like, dating or something?" She prodded me.

"Um," I faltered, not really wanting to give her details to spread all over the internet.

"Yes we are!" Jack walked up and slipped behind the tent.

"Ohmigod! You're Jack Barakat!" She exclaimed breathlessly.

"That I am," He laughed and turned to smile at me.

"What about your set?" I asked.

"They pushed it back an hour because of the weather," He shrugged, "So I thought I'd come spend a little time with you."

I smiled up at him, and he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Excuse me?" The girl politely asked, and I turned to her, blushing, "Could I get a picture with you Jack?"

"Of course!" He smiled kindly and slid around the table again.

The girl turned to me, and asked nervously, "Would you be willing to take it? I don't want my camera to get wet..."

I smiled and took the camera from her hands, "I'd love to."

After Jack had made small-talk and the fan had left, he came behind the table and kissed me on the top of the head, "Thanks for being so cool about that."

"If you love your fans, I love your fans," I grinned up at him.

He sat in the chair, handing me my phone and pulling me onto his lap. We stayed that way until Pete showed up and Jack needed to go get ready for his set.

"I'm going to steal her away," Jack told Pete, who smirked and nodded.

We walked through the sparse crowd, our fingers laced together. We barely needed to look at security as we made our way backstage. By now they knew nearly everyone who worked on the tour.

"Check your guitars, Jack," Matt Flyzik, their tour manager, called to him in passing.

"Always do, Matt!" Jack called back and pulled me with him into the trailer where the rest of the band was sitting.

"Hellooooo!" Alex sang to us, continuing to warm up his voice with his guitar strapped to his body.

"There's a big crowd out there for how shitty this weather is," Zack commented, strumming his bass and pacing around.

"There's supposed to be some huge wind storm coming in," Rian piped up, beating his drum sticks on his legs.

I nodded and sat next to him, "Pete's packing up the tent right now, I think. I'm going to help him load everything up when your guys' set is done."

"I just hope it doesn't roll in before the set is done," Zack laughed.

***

"I have to go help Pete!" I yelled to Jack, trying to be heard over the roaring storm.

"Okay, I'll meet up with you later on!" Jack shouted and quickly kissed me on the lips before turning back to the stage and trying to gather up instruments.

Unfortunately, their set had been cut short because the storm had indeed rolled in. The crowd had dispersed to stand under the larger amphitheater coverage, and now the band and the techs were scrambling to protect their gear as rain and hail blew sideways.

I jogged through the wet, bare grounds. Trying to spot the tent in the confusion of all the other tents being gone. I finally saw Pete trying to hold onto the tent that was half unassembled as the wind increased.

I started jogging again, but instead hit a spot of mud and fell flat onto my back. I hit my head hard, and I was seeing spots before everything went black.

"Emily!" Someone was shouting, "Em, wake up."

I tried to shake away the darkness, but all I could respond with was a soft moan.

"We've gotta take her to the medics," Another voice said.

As I finally dragged my eyelids open, I felt the warm rain falling on my face and looked up to see Jack and Pete's faces.

"What happened?" I mumbled, trying to push myself off the ground.

"Don't stand up just yet, Em," Jack coaxed, scooping me into his arms and standing up, "You took a pretty hard fall. I'm going to take you to the medical staff so they can have a look at you."

I was too tired to respond, and the back of my head was throbbing. I felt like I was experiencing the worst headache of my life as Jack hurried to the white tent.

"I need some help here," Jack announced as he walked inside.

A few medics stood up quickly and guided him to a cot on the ground where he gingerly laid me down and made sure to hold my hand as he sat next to me.

"Can you tell me her name and what happened?" An older woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun asked.

"She was trying to get back to her co-worker to help him load up all their gear and she slipped and fell. I was going to help her take stuff back, so I saw her hit her head pretty hard, and by the time I got to her she was out cold," He rambled as the medic nodded and took out a stethoscope.

She checked my heart beat, "We're going to need her to sit up. What relation do you have to her?"

"I'm her boyfriend," Jack told her, then stood up from the cot he was sitting on, helping me into a sitting position and sitting behind me.

"Alright, Emily," The medic brought a chair over to sit in front of me, "Do you know what today is?"

I furrowed my brow and tried to remember, but shook my head, defeated. This scared me.

"How about where you are?" She asked encouragingly.

"I think..." I tried my best to recall the name, "I'm on tour. Somewhere."

"Good, you are on tour," She nodded, "Do you know who the President is?"

I racked my brain, then let out a frustrated groan, "No. Dammit."

"It's alright, sweetie. I'm going to need you to follow my finger," I nodded and tried my best, but she shook her head and took out a small flashlight, "I'm going to see how your pupils are dilating, okay?"

She waved the bright light back and forth in front of my eyes and still didn't look pleased when she was done, "Emily, as far as I can tell you've got a concussion."

I bit my lip and felt Jack's hand on my shoulder, squeezing reassuringly.

"And what's your name?" She asked the boy behind me.

"Jack," He told her.

"Are you going to be able to look after her the next few days?"

"Yeah," He nodded seriously.

The medic rattled off instructions and I tuned her out as my head continued to throb. I leaned back against Jack and felt comforted. I already knew my parents were not going to be happy hearing about this.

"Were you clumsy or something?" Juliet laughed and nibbled on the tortilla chips and salsa she'd brought from the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes, "No, it was really muddy."

"Excuses, excuses," She mumbled with a smirk.

She was her father's daughter, alright.