Don't Get Close

“Ah! Finally!” Corey said, going to sit on one of the couches in their room backstage, “I thought that show would last forever!”

Shawn nodded, “Those maggots were fucking insane!”

The guys continued talking, but James’ mind was elsewhere. He was trying to figure out where those girls were. Actually, they didn’t look like girls, more like women. But either way, James was worried.

“Hey man, what’s wrong?” Chris said, putting his hand on James’ shoulder and taking a sip of his water.

James didn’t really feel like admitting what he really felt like, so his reply was, “Just thinking about that chick that got hurt, wondering what happened.”

Chris grunted in acknowledgement. He had heard about her, but it wasn’t on his side of the stage, “She’s probably back here somewhere. The medical crew is set up over there,” he pointed around the corner, “in one of those rooms.”

“Thanks,” James said, and wandered off down the corridor.

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Serena glanced down at Lucy, wondering when she would wake up. The med team had continued to tend to other people who had been hurt during the concert. They said Lucy had just had a minor concussion and had probably passed out from blood loss. She had a huge gash on the top of her head and onto her forehead. They had finally gotten the bleeding to stop, and said Lucy would be fine once she woke up. Serena wondered if she should just take her to the hospital, but one of the assistants said it wouldn’t be necessary. Just make sure Lucy ate a lot of sugar and drank some water when she woke up.

She decided to leave Lucy for a moment and attempt to find the bathrooms. As she was walking out of the door she bumped into someone and landed flat on her butt.

“Sorry,” she said, getting up but continuing to look down. Serena always had a problem looking at people when she spoke to them. Lucy told her to get over her shyness and learn to look people in the eye. Easier said than done.

“No, no it was my fault,” The person, whom Serena assumed was male, insisted. He wasn’t going to let this girl think it was her fault. He was too busy thinking to realize where he was going.

Serena finally looked up, way up. Even though she was rather tall at 5’9”, this guy still towered over her. She guessed he was at least 6 inches taller than her.

James cleared his throat. He didn’t really know what to say to the poor girl. She looked like she was afraid of him. It was then he recognized her, “Hey! You were with the girl that fainted!”

She nodded, too afraid to speak. Upon finally looking up she realized who she had bumped into. He was still wearing his mask, which made it quite easy to figure it out. She couldn’t believe she ran into one of the guys, a guitarist too. Lucy would’ve loved to be in her position right now.

“How is she?” he asked. Serena was surprised he even cared. But then again, why wouldn’t he? A fan got hurt at his concert; of course he was going to care.

“They say she’s fine, she just got a concussion and split her head open,” Serena said, looking at her feet again.

“Oh,” James said, his eyes shifting to the room behind Serena, “Is she in there?”

She followed his gaze, “Yep, she’s there. Still sleeping though. She should be waking up soon.”
“Oh, well that’s good.”

“Yeah,” Serena thought for a moment, realizing no one would be watching Lucy while she went to the bathroom. “Hey, um, would you mind, you know, watching her for a few minutes?”

James looked taken aback, wondering why this girl would ask him such a thing. Until he noticed her shifting around uncomfortably as she stood, her gaze still attached to the ground. He probably interrupted the poor girl when she was trying to go to the bathroom. “Yeah, sure.”

She looked up at him, finally, and smiled gratefully, “Thanks! I’ll, uh, be right back.”

He watched as she briskly walked away, looking like she was in a hurry. James laughed and continued on into the medical room to watch the girl that had been on his mind all night.

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Serena raced around the corridor. She really had to go to the bathroom. The signs leading the way had stopped a while ago, so she was just guessing where to go. As she reached the end of a hallway, she heard voices. That meant people, which meant they could tell her where the bathroom was. She flattened out her tank top and hurriedly walked into the room.

Mick had been standing by the doorway, observing everyone’s conversations. Chris and Shawn were talking about some percussion thing, Sid was trying to bribe Joey into getting some Cheetos for him, and Corey was laughing at the two. Mick had been so deep in thought he didn’t realize someone ran into him until he saw the girl sitting on the ground beside him.

Serena couldn’t believe it. She ran into someone, again, and he was almost as big as the last guy! She looked up, finding none other than Mick Thomson leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. When he spotted her he unfolded his arms and offered her a hand.

She grinned sheepishly and took it, standing up again. Mick didn’t notice how tall she was. She was only a few inches shorter than him, “Sorry,”

“Huh? Oh no it’s my fault! I’ve been running into people all day and I just wanted to find the bathroom and wondered if you knew where it is?” Serena said. She was so busy with the fact that she had to pee that she didn’t realize that the rest of Slipknot had ceased their conversations and were watching her and Mick with curiosity.

Mick tried to hold back a laugh. He was sure the girl had recognized him, since he still had his mask and outfit on, but she ignored it. “There’s some right over there,” he said, pointing to the corner of the room and a sign that said ‘restrooms’.

She glanced over at it and looked back at Mick, “Thank you so much!”

With that, she shoved Sid out of the way and ran into the bathroom. The guys immediately burst out laughing. Sid just stared from his position on the ground, shocked that she had physically shoved him out of the way, which caused him to fall back on a nearby chair and tip it over.

The guys continued to laugh, “Your expression was priceless!” Corey laughed, wiping the stray tears from laughing so hard.

Shortly after he said that, Serena came out of the bathroom looking much more relieved. When she noticed everyone staring at her, she simply asked, “What?”

“Nothing, we’re just not used to girls barging in here and knocking our DJ off his feet,” Chris said, his laughter dying down.

She gave a small smile and stared at the ground.

“So, what’s your name?” Corey asked, smiling at her and resting his elbows on his knees.

She looked up at him for a brief second before returning her gaze to the ground, “Serena.”

The guys nodded and a chorus of ‘hey’s were heard around the room.

“Sorry for, you know, pushing you,” Serena apologized, looking up once again to acknowledge Sid before looking about at her feet.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sid said, giving her a smile she couldn’t see underneath his mask.

Serena looked around the ground one last time before speaking up, “I should get going. I have to check on Lucy.”

As she started to leave the room, Chris asked, “Wait, isn’t that the girl that got hurt?”

“Lucy? Yeah,” Serena’s mouth turned into a frown, “I had someone watch her for me, but I should probably get back in case she wakes up.” She decided to leave out that it was James who was watching Lucy. She didn’t know if he wanted the guys to know or not.

Chris said nothing for a moment, and looked like he knew something she didn’t, “Good luck with that, I hope she gets better.”

Serena nodded and walked out of the room and down the corridor. She hoped she didn’t get lost. She heard footsteps behind her and looked around to see Joey walking after her.

“Need some help finding your way back?”