I Fear I Might Break

"So what did you tell her?" asked Octave while we walked to the stage.

"Everything," I sighed.

"It's going to be okay. She obviously cares about you. Your past isn't going to change anything."

"Unless my past comes back."

"Why would your past do that?"

"I don't know."

"Look, Crystal isn't coming around here. If she does, she'll have to answer to me. Hayley is so much better for you and I'm not letting you pass that up," Octave opened the back stage door.

"Yeah well we're not getting together until she comes out to her fans."

"Why?"

"So she doesn't get into too much trouble with them."

He looked at me.

"You worry about stupid stuff," he said.

I rolled my eyes and walked onto the stage. Damien and Mina were sitting on top of their amps, tuning their guitars. Edward tapped mindlessly at his drums. Octave walked to his bass, picked it up and started tuning. I sighed and walked to the microphone.

"Check one, two. Can you hear me now? Good," I said into the mic.

"Sin," Damien exclaimed, running over and dropping to his knees in front of me.

His ear pressed against my stomach.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

What the fuck is he doing?

"Sh, I'm trying to feel the baby kick," Octave replied.

My fist clenched. It raised and hit him in his ear. He fell back, shocked.

"Oh look, the baby kicked you in the face," I said, voice dead-pan.

Damien jumped up. "We're going to name it Damien Jeffery," he exclaimed.

"What if it’s a girl?"

"We're going to name it Damien Jeffery," he said through clenched teeth.

A giggle from the floor met my ears. My eyes glanced over. Hayley stood in front of the stage, a smile gracing her features.

"Hayley! Just the person I wanted to talk to," Damien hopped of the stage. "Now I think that since your child's name is Damien Jeffery, it should learn to play the guitar. When it hits a month old, I can start teaching. We can get custom guitar. And—"

"Damien," I cut him off.

"Hm?" he looked at me.

"Shut up."

"We'll talk about this later," Damien whispered, scooting back onto the stage.

He stopped next to me, placing a hand on my stomach.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm communicating with the baby through touch," he stated.

"I'm not fucking pregnant," I exclaimed.

Octave laughed, supporting himself with the microphone in front of him. I took a deep breath and turned my attention to Hayley.

"What did you need?" I asked.

"I just came to watch," she smiled.

She has a pretty smile.

"Oh. Well there's not much to see," I said, shrugging.

"I don't think so. I'm looking at something pretty amazing right now," Hayley looked me in the eyes.

Warmth spread through my cheeks.

"Oooooooh," Damien and Edward teased in unison.

"You know what? Fuck you guys," I said.

"That’s just the pregnancy hormones talking," Damien stated.

A death glare was sent his way, courtesy of my eyes.

"Guys, lets just play our sound check song so Hayley and Sin can go make out somewhere," Mina plucked a random note from her guitar.

"Screw you all," I mumbled.

Edward tapped his drum sticks together three times, setting the tempo and counting us off. I lost myself in the music, belting out lyrics where they were intended to be. The strong bass line pounded through my veins. Guitars pulled the song together with hypnotizing sounds. A drum solo showed of Edward's ability.

That's right, our warm up has a drum solo, not a guitar solo.

The song came to a close within minutes, leaving us pumped. Tonight would be a good show.

Hayley clapped. "That was awesome," she stated.

"Thank you, dahling," replied Damien, removing his guitar from his shoulder.

"No one had any technical difficulties?" Octave asked.

We shook our heads.

"Good," he said.

The guitars were placed behind the curtains, while the drum was left on stage.

Opener doesn't have to move anything yet.

"So how is my carrot microphone?" asked Hayley as I descended from the stage.

"It works perfectly," I answered.

She nodded. We stood in silence.

"So the show starts in an hour," Hayley stated.

"Yeah."

"You nervous?"

"Not yet. I get nervous right before we go on," I answered.

"Oh."

"Are you nervous?" I asked.

"Yeah," she answered bashfully.

"Why? You've done this a million times."

"Tonight's different."

"Why?"

She shook her head," It just is. You'll see."

Okay.

"Come on, lets go backstage before they let everyone in," she said.

My feet followed her behind the curtain.

"Are you ever going to get anyone to sign your cast?" asked Hayley.

I looked at the pink cast. "Not yet. I'm thinking about getting some fans to sign it. We are going to be at our merch booth directly after we perform so if people come up, they can sign. It would be a good way to meet the fans."

"You don't want your friends to sign it?" she asked.

"I don't know," I stated.

She bit her lip, looking at my cast.

"Stop doing that," I said.

"Doing what?"

"Biting your lip."

"Why?" her eyebrows furrowed.

"'Cause it makes me want to kiss you."

A smirk played on her lips.

"Can I sign your cast?" she asked.

Random.

"Sure."

"You can't read it till I tell you to, okay?"

"Okay, Red."

"Promise?"

"Pinky Promise," I said, holding my pinky finger out.

Her pinky intertwined with mine. A sharpie was pulled from her back pocket and uncapped it. She scribbled on my cast; then looked at me.

"You promised not to read it," she waved the now capped sharpie in my face.

"I know."

"Its show time," Octave tapped me on the shoulder.

"Okay. I'll talk to you after the show, Red," I ran on stage, followed by my brother and the rest of the band.

I stood in front of the orange microphone. Eyes scanned the screaming crowd.

"How are you, New Jersey?" I yelled into the mic.

Loud screams were the response. I pulled the mic from the stand and walked around.

"Is that so? I'm pretty fucking awesome myself, except for having a broken arm and all," I waved my cast-clad arm in the air.

More screams. A few "I love you"s could be heard.

"We love you too. Are you guys ready for some music?" I said.

Screams.

How I love those screams.

"Well we'll give it to you,"

Edward banged on his drum set, signaling the start of the first song.