Hummingbird

Niki has successfully avoided me for the past three days. The same day that we had kissed, I saw her on the side of the stage during All Time Low's show. The singer had made a comment about his "new best friend " and the "awesome new shirt" that she had gotten him. I won't say that I wasn't jealous, because I was. And I won't say that my heart didn't feel broken when I saw her walk off All Time Low's bus the next morning wearing the same shirt that the singer had worn the day before. I wanted so hard to believe that she hadn't slept with him, but I couldn't be sure. I tried to talk to her, but every time I did, she made some excuse to leave. If I didn't want to lose my chance with her, I would have to find a way to convince her that I wouldn't be like any other guy that has ever hurt her, and I would have to do it fast. Thankfully, my sister is really good at figuring these things out.

I dialed the number that I knew from memory, and waited for her to pick up.

"Hey, bro! Thanks for not calling me for over a month." I could tell she was frowning as she said this, but knew that she couldn't stay mad after what she was about to hear.

"Sis, I'm sorry, but I really need your advice. It's about a girl."

"Oh, well this changes things. I'm assuming that you'd rather skip the details and just get the advice, like always."

I smiled, she knew me so well. "Is there any other way? I promise to call you later with details, but now, how do I show her that I'm not gonna hurt her or anything? Not physically, just emotionally. I know that she already likes me, but she doesn't trust me for a relationship."

"Well, there really isn't a specific way," my heart started to sink, "but, what you could do is sing to her. I'm also assuming that she likes your music. But don't scream it, sing it."

"But she's been avoiding me, how will I get her to listen to me sing if she won't hear me talk?"

"You'll figure it out. But the conversation ends here so that you can go and brainstorm this all. Good luck!"

She hung up, but she knew the routine. Every time I've had relationship problems, she has been the first one that I would ask advice from. By now, we had a routine: I call, we skip the details, she gives me advice, and then leaves me to let me figure out what I have to do. And somehow, I knew how I could get Niki to listen, it would just take a little help from my friends.

-

"Niki, stop protesting already. You haven't come to one of our shows in so long! We miss you! Now the only target for Monster cans is the four of us, we need you out there to protect our faces."

I scowled at this comment. Max had come up to the tent right as I had finished packing everything up, and was now dragging me towards the Hurley stage. I didn't want to be near Craig now, the closer I was to him physically, the closer I would have to be to dealing with everything. I had made sure that I kept my farthest away from anyone who could question me about him, I didn't even know what I was going to do. The only person who knew about the kiss besides Alex and Craig was Chris. I had a feeling that more people knew, but I didn't even want to think about that.

"Niki, please, for me, just come to the show." Max was pleading now. I knew something was up, and that most likely, it involved Craig, but the look on his face made me give in. He led me through security, and I took my place by the side of the stage. His guitar was already tuned for him, and with perfect timing, he walked out onto the stage right on time.

This show was one of their best, the crowd was loving them. They had just finished "The Flood" and Craig was now speaking to the crowd.

"Wow, you guys are awesome today! Now, we're going to slow it down a little bit. This last song is for a very special girl, who won't give me the time of day right now, and I'm really hoping that she's gonna like it." A few people in the crowd awed at this, but I wasn't paying attention.

My heart stopped. There was no way. But Craig looked over at me with a sad face, and I knew. He cared, he was doing this for me, and I was being the queen of all bitches by not having talked to him.
Bryan started strumming out the first few notes. Craig's gaze didn't break even as he stepped up to the mike to start singing.

You said this could only get better.
There's no rush, 'cause we have each other.
You said this would last forever,
But now I doubt if I was your only lover.

Are we just lost in time?
I wonder if your love's the same.
'Cause I'm not over you

My heart was melting. I was a terrible person for blowing him off. He still was looking right at me, and I couldn't stand to keep looking at him. I turned away, but felt a gentle hand reach out for my arm. Max had stopped playing and walked over to me. He put his hand on the small of my back and led me out to stand next to Craig. By now, I was crying.

How can i miss you if you never would stay?
If you need time i guess I'll go away.
Inside me now there's only heartache and pain!
So where's the fire?
You've begun the rain.

Craig's hand took mine and this time, I didn't look away as our eyes met.


Are we just lost in time?
I wonder if your love's the same
'cause I'm not over you!

Baby, don't talk to me
I'm trying to let go
Not loving you is harder then you know,

And if you don't want me then
i guess I'll hav'ta go!
Not loving you is harder then you know.

So I'll make the call,
and I'll leave today
I'm gonna miss you 'cause i love you baby
Yeah, I'll make the call
I'm leaving today

Leaving always drives me crazy!
Leaving always drives me crazy!

Baby, don't talk to me
I'm trying to let go.
Not loving you is harder
Then you know,

Baby, don't talk to me
I'm trying to let go
Not loving you is harder
Then you know,

and if you don't want me then
i guess I'll hav'ta go!
not loving you is harder then you know

Baby, don't talk to me
I'm trying to let go.
Not loving you is harder, then you know,
girl your driving me so crazy.

I was full on crying by the time Craig had stopped singing. I felt his arms wrap around me as the crowd cheered. Later, I was told by Bryan and Robert that a bunch of them were crying at the sight of what was happening on stage. But was the crowd kept cheering, I felt Craig pull away and look at me.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked, and I nodded yes. His face broke out in the biggest smile that I have ever seen on someone, and he pulled me into another hug. Inside, my heart was racing.

-
"Good night, Niki." Craig and I were standing in front of the NeverShoutNever bus. After his show, we had gone to walk around Montreal, and it had been the best night of my life. As awkward as it was, we talked about my avoidance of him, and why I did avoid him. We agreed to not be too incredibly serious, but that we were going to be exclusive, and also that we were going to be completely honest with each other.

"Good night, Craig." He stood there awkwardly until he finally got the courage to lean in and kiss me. The kiss could have lasted forever, but didn't because of the loud crash that had come from inside the bus. Our lips disconnected but not by much. "I should probably go and check out what happened."

"Probably, I don't want you to though."

"I don't want to either." Another loud crash was heard and so was a scream that I recognized to be Taylor's. "But that crash just enforced the fact that I should probably go check that out." We kissed again, but pulled apart quickly.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course," I pecked him on the cheek and turned to go inside.

Once on the bus, I turned and examined my surroundings. Taylor had an ice pack on his head, feathers were everywhere and there were broken plates and cups on the floor.

"We had an extreme pillow fight and Taylor fell out of his bunk," Dustin explained. I sighed, nothing with these boys was ever normal. Going into "mom mode" I went over and started picking up the shattered dishes. It didn't take long for one of them to question me about today.

"So, what exactly did you do today, Niki?" Caleb asked me with a smile. Everyone's attention was on me, even Chris's who had just walked out of the bunk area.

Hayden joined in on the interrogation, "Yeah, did anything special happen?" They all had knowing looks on their faces. I blushed.

"You guys are dicks." I started to walk away, but Chris smiled and blocked my path. I tried to push my way through, but he wouldn't budge.

"Oh, come on, we just wanna hear the details!" Caleb called. I sighed, there was no escaping this, I knew from the look on Caleb's face that this was going to be following me for days unless I gave them all the dirty details.

It stood in silence for a moment before telling them what they already knew. "I'm dating Craig now."
It was silent for almost a full five seconds before they started in. Caleb ran up and gave me a giant bear hug while the rest cheered. I even heard "it's about time" from Taylor. Chris remained silent, and gave me the look. I knew that he wanted to talk to me, and that he was hurt that I hadn't told him earlier.

Surprising me, Dustin asked about what I had hoped that they hadn't seen. "So, Little Niki, is he a good kisser?" He smirked and ducked the pillow that I had sent his way.

"Well, that officially ended my night. Chris, let me through." I pushed my way to the back of the bus, leaving all that laughter and Craig jokes behind me. Chris followed.

"So, you two are actually a couple now? Even though you swore that you were never going to date a musician again?"

I bit my lip, I didn't want to talk about him now, I didn't want to talk about him ever again.
"Nik, I don't want to see you hurt again. And with him going on tour most of the year, you're probably going to end up getting hurt."

I knew he was probably right. But Craig promised that he wasn't going to see other girls. He had to have meant it.

Chris leaned forward and pulled me into a hug, which I gladly returned. Chris knew better than anyone else why I was didn’t want to say yes at first.

”Thanks, Chris. And I won’t lie, I’m terrified of getting hurt. But I’m gonna take a chance on this. Please just support me, okay?” I pulled away to see his reaction. He was hesitant, but gave in at last. “Now that I have you convinced, I’m gonna get ready to sleep cause I’m quite exhausted.”
“Alright, I’m gonna go hang with the guys for a while.”

---

Chris’s POV

I shot up from my sleep. The screaming that had woken me up came from the bunk across from mine.

Not again, I thought, her nightmares were supposed to have stopped.

I jumped out of my bad and rushed over to where Niki was sitting with her face in her pillow, crying. I pulled her into my arms and held her tight, just like I had done so many times before.

“Nik, shh, it’s okay. It’s over now.” I felt her press closer to me, and I held her even tighter.

I looked behind me, the guys were up and just sat staring with sad faces. Even though they all knew about her nightmares, this is only the first time that anyone except for Caleb has seen one. Speaking of which, Caleb was now hopping down from his bunk and made his way over to the bunk.

“Hey, Nik, it’s alright. We’re all here, we’re not leaving,” he spoke softly, placing his hand on the small of her back.

It took almost ten minutes for her to start to calm down. It was three in the morning, but I didn’t mind. She needed me, and I was gonna be there for her.

Finally, her crying stopped, but she was still shaking. Caleb got up and went back to his bunk. Most of the guys were already drifting off to sleep again. I gently lifted her upright so that I could climb under the covers next to her. Once I was lying down, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close again. This was familiar to me, and reminded me of what happened not so long ago. Out of old habit, I started to hum “Swim” by Jack’s Mannequin to her. Her shaking stopped, she was asleep.