Dark Eyed Dreamers

Walking into the venue I was surprised to see no one there. Alex guided me further inside but as I let my eyes wonder I mentally confirmed that there were indeed, no people present. I frowned, Alex picked up on this and led me towards the dressing room. After taking a seat on the small sofa I noticed no one was in there either. I let out a low sigh, defeated as Alex took a place next to me. He wrapped an arm around me, rubbing my shoulder as the silence echoed throughout the room. I was chewing on the inside of my lip, chin resting on my hand when Alex's voice snapped me from my thoughts.

"So, this is awkward," he sighed. I mentally slapped myself and sat back up, looking at the boy and racking my brains for a topic starter. Might as well start with the easy.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, ignoring what he'd just said. He took a glance around the room as if there was someone he'd missed before looking from the door back to me.

"Well, if they're not here already then they could be anywhere," he shrugged. I nodded in understanding before sinking my chin back to my palm. "Wanna go find them?" He asked tilting his head to the side. Once again, I nodded. I took to my feet, followed closely by Alex and paced through the door of the dressing room. As we entered the hallway I could hear hushed voices from the backstage area we'd passed. I felt Alex's hand grab my wrist to grab my attention. I turned to face him, he sent me a cautious look and stepped a head of me, keeping a hold on my arm. As we reached the end of the passage leading to the open area Alex turned and faced me. "Stay here," he whispered before letting go of my hand. I kept my jaw bolted shut as I listened into the conversation.

I recognized the voices to be Zack and Rian's as the conversation continued. I assumed they'd seen Alex as the chatter awkwardly came to an end.

"Is there something wrong?" Alex asked the pair obliviously. There was a short pause, one where I suppose they were attempting to gather their words.

"Uh, kind of," Rian begun cautiously before trailing off.

"Jack. We can't let him play," Zack finished with a sigh.

"What? Why not? Where are we supposed to get another guitarist we're on second?" Alex rushed his words. Second huh? You guys really are doing good.

"Dude, he can't concentrate. We tried sound check with Zack on vocals just as you said but he couldn't focus, he missed his start too many times and repeated the wrong riffs. He can't do it," Rian explained in an attempt to make Alex see his point. At this point I began to feel beyond guilty. My mind had wandered to how distracted Jack really must have been, he was a great guitarist, it took a lot to put him off.

"Well he needs to start focusing then because in less than a few hours we're gonna be on that stage and I can't play two guitar parts at once," Alex yelled becoming frustrated. He knew I was listening but his control seemed to be slipping. I heard him let out a frustrated sigh, trying to calm himself. "Brianna's here." As the words left his mouth I could feel my palms grow sweaty, it doesn't take an idiot to realize what was going to happen next.

"Great, she can just talk to him. He'll be fine, get on stage we play our show and we all win," Rian concluded, Zack adding a 'yeah' for emphasis.

"No." Alex argued.

"What?" Both guys asked in unison. I was as shocked as them, I assumed Alex would go along with it. Perhaps he wasn't as predictable as I'd thought.

"She doesn't want to be here as it is. I'm not forcing her to speak to Jack when she clearly doesn't want to," he defended. At that moment I silently thanked Alex, but also wondered whether it were better for the band.

"Al. This is the first time we've played a set longer than a few songs. We've never played half of these songs live before, every thing's been great until today, we can't risk anything," Zack pleaded.

"I said 'no'," Alex repeated firmly. "I'm not risking anything happening between them. Plus if it's only the band you care about think about it this way, what if they do speak? What if they fight again and this whole thing blows up in our faces? What are we gonna do then?" Alex asked. There was another silence as the boys thoughts things over.

"You're right," Rian mumbled as the realization hit.

"Yeah. I suppose the only other option is we pull out?" Zack asked. One of the other two let out a sigh and I suppose the decision was unanimous. I shook my head. I couldn't let them pull out because of how Jack was behaving. Especially when he was like that over me. I took a step from behind the wall. Both Zack and Rian snapped their eyes towards me. I suppose they could tell from the look on my face that I'd heard the whole thing; apologetic looks were sent my way. Alex never let his eyes rise, he could tell where I was. I walked right up to the boys, letting the awkward silence prolong itself.

"I'll talk to him," I decided nodding my head towards the boys. The two who had their eyes on me soon shifted their gaze to Alex.

"You don't have to just because of this," Alex muttered staring down towards the floor. He had one arm clamped across his chest, the other elbow leaning on it and stroking his chin in thought.

"No, but I'm going to anyway," I told him. "This is my fault, if I hadn't exploded he wouldn't be like this," I sighed. Alex remained silent. I looked back up at the two boys who had their eyes back on me. "Where is he?" I asked, glancing between the two of them. They exchanged a look and Zack pointed over his shoulder towards the door we had entered from. I kept my eyes on the door as I maneuvered myself around the small group. I neared the door, grabbing onto the handle and pushed it open. As I opened the door I peered around it. Jack was leaned against the wall a short distance from the door. His head was back, resting against the brick work and his eyes were glancing towards the sky. The flood light slightly further down illuminated his face making it easier to tell he was emotionless.

I watched as two girls stared at Jack from afar. They were in the dark but I could make them out to be whispering as I hid behind the thick metal door. After a small moment one of the girls was pushed forward in a reluctant manner. She turned to face her friends, I assume to scowl at them before making her way towards Jack who took no notice.

"Excuse me?" I heard her ask causing Jack to slowly look towards her.

"Yeah?" He mumbled.

"Don't you play guitar for one of the opening bands?" She asked. Her slow reply made it obvious she was carefully choosing her words. Jack brushed some of the hair from his eyes and took note of the other three girls who were now stood a small distance behind her.

"That I do," he confirmed looking slightly unsure. "You've heard of us before?" He asked, not as enthusiastically as he normally would, but the girls wouldn't be able to pick up on that.

"Yeah, we've seen you before with There For Tomorrow," one of the girls at the back gushed.

"That's awesome," Jack commented, very unenthusiastically, once again: they wouldn't pick up on it.

"Yeah, we were wondering if we could get pictures with you?" The girl at the front asked more than stated.

"Of course you can," he allowed sending them a small smile. After allowing them to snap a few pictures he pulled away from the group. "Is that all?" He asked making sure not to be rude.

"Yeah that's it," one of the smaller brunette girls confirmed. "By the way you're really hot," she added as her friends giggled. The oldest couldn't have been more than fifteen. Fangirls.

"Thanks," was all Jack said before leaning against the wall again.

"Will you look out for us in the crowd?"

"I'll try. Nice meeting you," he smiled softly. The girls all shared goodbyes and walked away in a different direction. Normally Jack would love the attention he was receiving but something about his performance suggested he didn't want it. I opened the door a little more, allowing myself to slip past it. I made sure to close it as quietly as possible, but even then, I wasn't silent. When I turned around Jack's eyes were back on the sky. He was clearly in thought. I took cautious steps towards him. He must have known that there was another body around him but he didn't let on. Instead he stood in the same position, resembling a statue. It was only when I was within a few feet he must have released the person in the corner of his eye wasn't that of a band mate and turned to face me. "Brianna?"