I Swear I Love You

Considering New York was essentially the shopping capital there was no way Val would pass up the opportunity to explore, especially when it included the incentive of a possible new wardrobe in the wake of losing hers back with the other bus. Not even getting to the hotel at 4am stopped her from getting up a few hours later, showered and ready for a full day of shopping at 8am, and unfortunately for Matt, meant he had to do the same. Doubly unfortunately for the others, it meant they had to get up as well.

With the first day essentially taken up by exploring the Big Apple it didn’t take long until it was the day of the show and with the exuberance of the day before essentially none of the band, along with Val, awoke for breakfast. On the other hand Jess was up for the first call and had been sat alone at a table in the corner, sipping on a glass of orange juice and nibbling on the edge of a piece of toast, until Zacky appeared in the dining hall. She had been content with her minimal breakfast and didn’t even realise he was there until he stood opposite her, holding a plate emphasising the traditional breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and even some baked beans on the side.

“Mind if I sit with you?”

She looked up suddenly from her lazing position of leaning her head against her hand. “Of-” Her voice cracked; which she quickly corrected by clearing her throat with a cough before continuing. “Of course.” She gestured opposite. “Take a seat Zacky.”

“Thanks.” He took a few mouthfuls of bacon and toast before talking again. “How’re you feeling?”

“Alright.”

He didn’t look like he believed her. “Really?”

“Well… maybe not alright,” she amended reluctantly. “It’s not a bother though.”

The doubt deepened. “Really?”

“I’m fine.” She smiled at him. “Really, I am Zacky. Anyway if I’m not, I’m seeing Larry’s friend today. He’ll figure out what’s wrong.” She took another sip of her orange juice before she continued. “I didn’t think I would see anyone up this early.” She looked at him curiously. “Why are you up? I didn’t think any of you would be up until at least lunch after yesterday.”

“Can’t a guy just want to get his fill of bacon in the morning?”

“Not you lot you can’t,” Jess chuckled. “I’ve never seen such lazy animals. Then again, I’m used to the Australian ‘Get-up and go’ attitude. The best waves are sometimes at the crack of dawn.”

Zacky looked up in surprise. “You surf?”

“Well, more like I try to,” she replied. “I can hold a wave or two. You really should see Olly or Coral at it- they’re amazing.”

“Coral?” He perked up. “She can surf?”

“Of course.” Her reply made it sound as if it were a stupid question. “She’s a girl of the water,” Jess explained. “She lives for it. She’s probably the closest thing you would get to a real-life mermaid.”

He shook his head and grinned. “She sounds awesome. I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Can’t wait to meet her? Are you going to meet up?”

His grin dropped. “What?”

“You said you can’t wait to meet her.”

“Aw crap, I did?” He coughed nervously. “I didn’t mean anything by it…”

Jess didn’t look convinced.

“Ah man…” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’m going to meet up with her. We’ve been speaking for ages over your laptop- thanks for that by the way- but Coral thought it was probably time for the next step.”

“The next step?”

He nodded. “Yeah, to meet up. Matt even offered to pay for her flight over. Called it my birthday present.”

“She’s coming over here?”

“Yeah.”

“After the tour?”

“Ye-ah,” he answered slowly. “Something like that.” He ate the last of his breakfast before arranging his cutlery neatly on the plate. “When’s your appointment today anyway?”

“My appointment? Oh… erm… half twelve I think?”

He glanced down at his watch. “It’s half eleven now so…” He looked up at her. “Do you want to share a cab? I’ve got to go get something anyway. I can drop you off at the clinic along the way.”

“Oh, sure. Thank you.” Once he stood up she did the same, leaving behind half of the single piece of toast she had been eating since a good hour ago. The orange juice was all gone though, so at least she had something to fuel her through the day. “What are you going to get?”

Zacky grinned. “Just picking up something. You’ll see.”

--

“Ah, you must be Jessica from Australia!” A hand extended to her from underneath a white sleeve and embraced it for a few seconds before moving to gesture to the seats in front of his desk. “Take a seat.”

“Thank-” A pained expression fleeted across her features as she clutched at her throat. “Sorry.”

“No need for apologies Jessica.” Seating himself opposite her behind the desk, he brought out a notepad from a drawer to his left along with a pen. For a man of his serious profession he had exceptionally soft eyes and a warm demeanour, something that Jess thought many other aged medical staff had lost over their trialling years. Then again he did look young, so she chalked up his enthusiasm to that. “So what’s the problem?”

“Sore throat, chesty cough, fatigue, difficulty swallowing-”

“Sounds like you should be in my seat,” he chuckled.

“I’ve grown used to the medical language. I’ve had Type 1 diabetes since I was 16.”

“And these symptoms are not a result of your underlying condition?”

She shook her head. “I know the difference. Normally I get warning signs- this just came out of the blue.”

“Out of the blue? No wonder my brother sent you to me.”

“Your brother?”

“Oh, I didn’t introduce myself did I?” The instant he revealed his name she realised the resemblance. It was almost like someone had flipped a switch in her head. “Daniel Jacobson. Larry is my older brother. By about ten years or so.”

She chuckled. “I see the resemblance. You chose very different professions.”

He joined in her merry laughter. “Well, he did start off as a lawyer, so it wasn’t too strange in the beginning.” He moved from the desk and took the seat opposite her, gently placing his hands on either side of her neck, and used his fingers to push against her lower jaw while rotating her head from side to side. “He just deviated slightly after college.” Every so often he would jot things down on a notepad next to him on the desk during his assessment. “How long would you say you have been experiencing these symptoms?”

“A couple of days now.”

“Hm… You also appear to have a temperature.” He swivelled on his seat in order to lean over to one of the cupboards on the side and produced a thermometer from it. “If you could just open wide…” He popped it in her mouth. “Okay…” They sat in silence as he monitored the second hand on his watch and as soon as it made a full circumference, along with the timely beep from the thermometer itself, read the result. “Now that’s one hell of a reading.”

Jess looked worried. “Is it bad?”

He showed her the incriminating numbers. “I’m surprised you didn’t diagnose yourself with this. 102 degrees. Quite the fever if I do say so myself.” He placed it to the side. “From your symptoms it sounds like you have caught the flu.”

“The flu?!” She cried. “I can’t get sick!”

“Everyone gets sick from time to time,” he reasoned. “It should go away in a week or so. I recommend bed rest and drinking a lot of fluids- water is best. Normally I would prescribe drinks containing sugar to help ease with swallowing but considering your diabetes-”

“It’s best if I didn’t.” She sighed.

“I’m sure you know more than I can say,” he chuckled. “There are sugar-free medications that you can purchase over the counter, so just ask whoever is there to make sure, or better yet, check the label yourself. Unfortunately it is something you will have to allow to pass on its own.” He scribbled a few more things down before resting his arms over the clipboard. “Considering you have been diabetic for some time, I have to ask. Did you not have your flu shot this year? Normally it is recommended for those with diabetes.”

Jess frowned. “I have had it- oh wait.” She paused. “I have had it, but it was quite some time ago in March. Does that matter?”

His forehead creased in thought. “Well normally the shot causes the body to create antibodies to the virus, immunity if you will. However if you got it in Australia…” He leant back on his chair. “I can only assume that the vaccine itself was created to combat a different strain more likely to occur in Australia rather than here, since each vaccine is normally tailored to each hemisphere depending on the conditions.”

“So basically I’m safe against Australia flu, but not America flu?”

“Well, that is certainly one way to put it.” He nodded knowingly. “Of course you can still catch the flu even if you the vaccine here, so this incident may still have occurred.” He smiled. “Unfortunately the flu is one illness we cannot eradicate.”

“Well thank you anyway,” Jess said, getting to her feet. “I guess it is some comfort knowing what has been troubling me. Although…”

He rose alongside her. “Although?”

She sighed. “The flu is highly contagious, right?”

“To those who have not been vaccinated, especially.”

“Which means I also shouldn’t be around those types of people.” After pulling her coat on she then wound the woollen scarf tightly around her neck and over her nose, slightly muffling her already coarse voice. “Thank you for everything Doctor.”

“Call me Daniel,” he replied warmly. “After all, you’ll probably be seeing me backstage tonight, and I’ll be off-duty then.”

“You’re coming to the show?”

“Of course. My brother is their manager after all. That gives me an automatic invite.”

Jess laughed. “I’d say it does.” She moved to the door. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Oh, and Jessica?”

She turned back. “Yes?”

“I wouldn’t worry about the others catching what you have.”

“Why’s that?”

He chuckled to himself. “My brother is a very… thorough manager.”

She blinked at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Anything that is preventable… trust me.” His lips creased into an amused smile. “He will prevent.”

--

Instead of hailing a cab to return back to the hotel she decided to take a scenic route, taking in the sights and smells of New York in a bid that the fresh air would help ease the ever-tightening feeling in her chest. It did help slightly, but the cold New York breeze simply spurred on a new symptom- namely the bane of a runny nose. It was a good thing the hotel they were staying in was only about a forty-five minute walk from the clinic otherwise she surely would have run out of tissues in the small packet she picked up on the way. At least in her room she had an unlimited supply of toilet tissue to use- she was definitely going to be needing that since she couldn’t find any sugar-free cough syrup for her in the shop, and had no doubt in her mind that she was only going to start feeling crappier and crappier as time went on.

She had made it to the revolving door entrance to the hotel when something- or rather someone- caused her to stop. “Jessie!”

“Jessie…?” She did a half-turn to see the source of the call, and immediately broke into a large grin. This same source also managed to vault over the bonnet of the cab they had just emerged from and ran up the stairs to where she stood, squeezing her tight.

“Oh Jessie honey! I’ve missed you so much!” A distinct Australian twang coated each of her words, and if her voice alone wasn’t enough for Jess to discern who it was then the vivid pink pixie crop was enough to do it.

“Coral!” She croaked. “I’ve missed you too!”

“Huh?” Coral frowned, holding her friend at arm’s length. “Why do you sound like you’ve swallowed a bullfrog?”

“Sorry.” She sniffed and rubbed at the bridge of her nose, just visible above her scarf. “Apparently I’ve got the flu.”

“I thought you have a flu vaccine for that?” She looked at her disapprovingly. “You know your diabetes goes haywire when you get ill!”

“Well apparently I’m good against Australian flu, but not it’s American cousin.”

“Eh? What the hell are you on about? You know you are meant to get vaccinated every year!” Coral scolded, sounding more like her mother by the second. “You know how important they are Jessie!”

“Well I did but- You know what, what’s done is done.” She decided to change the subject. “How did you get here anyway?”

She smiled mischievously. “On an aeroplane.”

“Well I gathered that. I know you are an amazing swimmer Cor, but thousands of miles across water is probably pushing it,” Jess replied sarcastically. “Seriously though. How did you get here?”

“I told you. By plane.” She even mimicked a plane with her hand. “You know, flying and what not.”

“I know that, but how did you pay for it?” She pressed. “There is no way your parents would shell out for a sudden flight.”

“They didn’t.”

“Then who did?”

“Well I was planning on making my own way over here anyway but…” She turned with a brilliant smile to point at another man pulling a couple of bags from the trunk of the cab. “My man did.”

Jess’ eyes grew wide as ‘her man’ walked up to join them, dropping the bags on the floor next to where they stood. “Zacky?”

He grinned. “Hey Jess.” He then turned to Coral and kissed her passionately. “I see you ruined the surprise.”

“Ruined the surprise?” She laughed. “Oh honey, how can I ruin the surprise if I am the surprise?”

“Well you definitely surprised me Cor, I’ll tell you that,” Jess giggled, unable to resist hugging her again. “Oh I’m just so happy to see you!”

She patted her on the back, murmuring her reply, “Me too. I’ve missed my shot of Americano in the morning.” She pulled back and instead hooked her arm around her friend’s. “How about I fix you up some of my chocolatey goodness, hm?” She gave her a light shake. “You know there’s nothing that stuff can’t solve.”

“And you’ve brought some of that with you? You know it doesn’t taste as good as the stuff you buy from the shops.”

She looked shocked. “I would never use that stuff!” She caught Zacky’s eye and winked. “Would you care for a mug of liquid sex my delicious guitarist?”

His grin grew. “You know it.”

“Well then,” she began, hooking her other arm through Zacky’s. “Shall we go inside?”

Jess stopped the trio after a few steps. “You’re staying with Zacky?” She looked at him. “What about Brian?”

“Oh honey, don’t worry about that!” Coral reached into the tan satchel strewn diagonally across her body and pulled out a rectangle of ocean plastic. “I’ve got mummy and daddy’s company card. I do believe I’m booked in the honeymoon suite tonight.”

Jess raised an eyebrow at her. “The honeymoon suite?”

She shrugged carelessly. “It’s all they had left. And anyway…” She unhooked herself from Jess to press herself against Zacky, their hand intertwined at their sides, brushing her lips with his. “It’s a… special occasion after all.”

“Oh-kay, this is my cue to leave,” Jess said, gravitating towards the rotating doors.

“But Jess-!”

“I’ll catch up with you at the show Cor!”

“Jess-!” She sighed. “Is it something I said?”

Zacky crossed in front of her, resting his hands loosely against her hips. “I’m sure she’s fine. I on the other hand…” Coral squealed as he suddenly lifted her off the floor, holding her legs around his waist as their lips met. “I have waited quite some time to meet you and I think-” He bent down and scooped Coral’s bags from the concrete, still holding her up. “-that we should take a moment to get to know each…hm?”

She simply giggled as Zacky took her inside, taking delight in the low moans that escaped him as she nibbled at his neck, especially when the concierge was giving him funny looks the whole time he was arranging Coral’s room for her. Luckily for him there was some forgiveness in his behaviour due to the fact Coral had booked the honeymoon suite, so in fact carrying her to said room after gaining the card key to access it wasn’t entirely that weird.

Coral smiled deviously as Zacky placed her onto the king size bed, her pink hair clashing against the scarlet silk .She used her arms to reach up and grab fistfuls of his shirt to draw him close to her before placing a deep kiss upon his lips. “Honey, you ain’t seen nothing until you’ve gone down under.” She forced him onto the bed beside her before moving to straddle his chest. “Once you go pink, you won’t ever want to go back.”

Slinking off him she stood at the foot of the bed and reached behind to the zip on her dress, clearly revelling in the sole attention she was receiving from her lusting guitarist. His expression grew agonising as he watched her hands move slowly down her spine until it reverted back to lust as the front of her dress fell, growing in intensity as her dress finally slid past her hips and gathered in a soft ring around her feet. She purposely angled her chest towards Zacky as she leant over to undo the lacing of her boots, knowing exactly that her arms were pressing together and overall glorifying her already ample cleavage and the effect it was having on the man in front of her.

When she finally straightened and his eyes seemed to follow her upper chest rather than the normal place above it, she couldn’t help but laugh. “You know Mr. Vengeance, my face is up here.”

He grinned. “I’m just enjoying the view of my very gorgeous-” He gently pulled her back to him so that her body, now stripped simply to a combination of lace underwear that didn’t leave much at all to the imagination, lay pressed against his. “-extremely sexy-” While sneaking a kiss from her lips he rolled the pair of them to the side, so now that he lay over her. “-Australian girl.”

Coral merely smiled. “Zacky honey.” She forced him onto his back so that she resumed the dominant position again. “You’re in my world now.” She reached down and guided his hand to her chest, where she rested her fingers over his and allowed him to unclip where her bra held together at the front. “And in my world…” She threw the bra to the side. “…you’re simply a guest.” She pressed her naked chest to his and whispered into his ear. “So just sit back and watch the magic unfold.”

--

Even though Jess knew exactly how the cyber- now real- relationship between Coral and Zacky had been growing lately she had no idea how well they really hit it off. Talking on a screen comfortably was one thing, but she never expected the sudden sex-fest she very nearly got stuck in the middle of. She was happy to forgo the chocolate if it meant that she avoided that- even if she really could do with some at the moment.

“Stupid flu,” Jess grumbled to herself as she reached inside her bag for the key to her room. “I can’t believe I’ve got-” Her irritated one-woman conversation was sharply cut off by a violent sneeze which was followed by a series of hacking coughs. “Oh for the love of-” Cough. “This is my last tiss-” Cough. “Argh! This isn’t funn-!”

“Ah, I thought I heard something,” Brian said as he stepped into the corridor from the elevator alone. “At first I thought it was a cat hacking up something but now I see it’s just you.”

“Go-” Cough. “Away-” Cough. “Brian.”

“Oh Jess, that hurt,” he whined playfully, “after I went through all the trouble to get you this as well.” He walked over to her and reached into the plastic bag he was holding and produced a glass bottle. “Here.”

“This is…” She moved her gaze from the label to Brian.

“Sugar free medicine to help combat the effects of flu-like symptoms including sore throats, chesty coughs, headaches…” He trailed off on the list. “Yeah, don’t worry. I know I’m awesome.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “You’re super-awesome. Thank you.”

“You know I always look out for you,” he replied casually, producing his room key and twirling it absent-mindedly around his finger. “Do you know where Zack is at all? He was gone when I woke up.”

“Zacky? Uh…he’s…” She wondered what to say. “Preoccupied.”

“Preoccupied?” Brian frowned. “With what? It is a show day.”

“He’ll be back before then.”

“Back? Where the hell is he now? Do you know?”

“Uh…” Jess stared at a random spot on the ceiling. “Not exactly…”

“Not exactly?”

Technically it wasn’t a lie. She knew the general area where he would be… for all she knew he could be on the floor… the shower… maybe not even the bed. “No. He didn’t say.”

“Oh. That’s weird. He just didn’t say anything?”

“Nope.” Technically not a lie either. He hadn’t exactly specified where they were going, but from the conversation she witnessed it was clear what the underlying message was.

“I guess he’s gone back to the shops or something then. He pointed out a shirt he wanted yesterday but never got it.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway where have you been? You had your appointment today didn’t you? Oh wait. Hold on that thought.” He walked a few paces down the hall and opened the door to his room. “We might as well talk in here. Zack doesn’t sound like he’ll be back anytime soon.”

‘Doubt it’, Jess thought to herself, before voicing her next thought. “I’m sure he’ll surprise us at the show.”

“Probably,” Brian agreed. “He wouldn’t run out on a show.”

Jess followed him inside silently, trying to work out if she was lying to him or not. In a way she was just selectively choosing which truths to tell him. Of course for what reason she didn’t know- her motive wasn’t really to help Zacky cover up smuggling in an Australian onto the tour, but more likely just because she didn’t exactly want to say what he was up to. Telling about someone else’s sex life wasn’t exactly her favourite topic of conversation.

“Are you going to come over and sit down?”

Jess turned to where Brian was sitting on the bed. “Oh, yes. Sorry.” She closed about half the distance before stopping; looking thoughtfully down at the bottle she had been given. “Do you have a teaspoon at all?”

“A teaspoon?” He looked at her oddly. “What do you want one for?”

“To take some of this.” She coughed uncomfortably.

One look at her clearly diminishing spirit and energy he sprung back off the bed, holding her lightly by the shoulders as he analysed her form. “You don’t look so good Jess.” He gently eased her onto his bed despite her protests against it, pushing back her hair that fell across her forehead. “Man Jess… you’re burning up.” He stepped back. “Wait here a minute.” He disappeared into the bathroom for a few moments before he re-emerged with a wet facecloth he had folded into a thin rectangular strip.

Jess sat up and raised her hands as he approached. “Come on Brian, you don’t have to-”

“Oh be quiet Jess,” Brian interrupted, pressing her back down onto the sheets and resting the cold cloth against her burning forehead. “Why do you always object to everything?”

She peered up at him past the edge of the cloth. “I don’t object to everything.”

“Yes you do.”

“No I don’t!”

“See?” He laughed. “You’re doing it now.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Look, I know you don’t like letting people do anything for you-” He reached out for her hand as she looked away. “Come on Jess. Everyone needs help sometimes. You’re sick.” He squeezed her hand. “You need help.”

“I don’t want you to get sick.” Her gaze found his. “What about the show?” She turned away again miserably. “I don’t want to be the reason you have to cancel a show because you’re ill. I’ve already practically blown up one bus and I broke the other one.”

“But you’ve also made this tour extremely fun.” He smiled. “You’ve made it the best one for me.”

She laughed weakly. “Because I’m just trouble and it’s entertaining to watch?”

“No, because you’re my best friend and you are the one person that I wanted to show my new life too,” he said, swinging his legs onto the bed and laying down next to her. “When this all happened and the band really took off you were the one person I really wanted to show it to- but you were all the way over in Australia.” He reached over and replaced the cloth on her forehead where it had fallen from her movements, his fingers lingering to play with her hair. “I’ve really missed you Jess.”

She could feel the tears pricking the sides of her eyes as she croaked, “I’ve missed you too.”

He chuckled fondly. “You sound horrible.”

“I sound better than you when you try to do backup vocals.”

“What!” He stuck his tongue out playfully at her.

“Didn’t your mom ever tell you that if you stuck your tongue out at someone it would get cut off?” He retracted his tongue. “Thought so.”

“Well at least I can-” He stopped when his phone began to ring, playing out the quirky intro of Carousel – Mr. Bungle. “Hello? Oh hey Vengeance. What? Jess?” She looked at him oddly. “Uh… yeah, she’s with me now. Why?” He paused. “About what? Because I want to know.” Another pause- and then some rather loud words from the other end. “Oh geez! Fine! Fine!” He passed the cell to Jess. “He wants to speak to you.”

She took it but didn’t press it to her ear just yet. “Did he say what he wanted?”

Brian shook his head.

“Oh.” She held it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Jess!”

“Hey Zacky. Brian said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah. Is he… is he still around?”

Jess’ eyes flickered briefly to Brian’s. “Yes.”

“Oh, okay. Well erm…” He coughed nervously, his voice comparatively quieter when he spoke next. “Do you think…”

“Do I think…?”

“Do you think you could bring some of my clothes up to Coral’s room?” When Jess didn’t reply, he thought she had got cut off. “Jess? Jess are you still there?”

She burst out laughing. “Of course I am! What the hell happened to the ones you had?”

He grumbled under his breath before asking, “Just bring me some more up please?”

She tried hard not to laugh, but couldn’t resist letting a few out. “Alright.” She shifted into a seated position. “Do you want them now?”

“If you could.”

“Alright.” She swung her legs off the bed and stood up, placing the cloth that had somehow managed to stay stuck to her forehead on the bedside table behind her. “Just to let you know, you are making an ill person do your bidding.”

“You just laughed at me.”

“Yeah but-”

“I know. Thanks Jess.” He paused. “For everything.”

Jess knew that he meant more than just the simple act of bringing him clothes- if it wasn’t for her actually coming back then most likely he never would have met Coral.

“It’s no problem Zacky. I’ll be there soon.”

“Cheers Jess.”

Once the monotone noise filled my ear she passed the cell back to Brian and walked over to the left side of the room where Zacky had left his bag, rummaging through it in an attempt to find a complete outfit. He hadn’t exactly specified what kind of clothes he needed so in the end she merely zipped the bag back up and lifted it onto her shoulder, groaning slightly under the weight as she adjusted it to a more comfortable position.

Meanwhile Brian had simply been watching as she did this, choosing only to speak once she had staggered to the door. “Where are you going?”

With great effort and great care not to overbalance, she turned back to face him. “Just dropping this off.”

“To Zacky?”

“Yeah.” She turned back. “I’ll only be gone a while-” She stopped herself as the weight of the bag suddenly lifted from her shoulder.

“Do you need some help?” Brian smiled warmly at her as he shouldered the weight. “I’m pretty sure there is some health thing that says ill people shouldn’t do heavy lifting.”

Jess frowned. “It’s not that heavy.” She reached for the bag. “I can take it.”

“Uh uh.” He twisted away from her hand. “I’ll come with you.” He continued before she had a chance to voice her protest. “I’m not going to risk you falling down the stairs and breaking your neck.”

“But-”

“I’m coming, and you can’t get rid of me,” Brian said defiantly. He reached in front of her and opened the door before he pressed her lightly in the back. “Now go on.”

She sighed. “I’m not going to get rid of you, am I?”

He grinned.

“I didn’t think so. Come on then.”

Instead of simply relenting Jess probably should have found some way to take Zacky’s bag to him on her own considering the situation, but she really wasn’t lying when she said he was making an ill person do his bidding. With each step she took her head pounded, which also inadvertently made the edges of her vision fuzzy with each rhythmic beat. By the time she had guided Brian where the honeymoon suite was situated it was taking all her effort just to remind herself that the floor wasn’t actually the ocean.

“Why is Zack here?” Brian looked around and frowned. “He doesn’t know anyone staying here does he?”

Jess didn’t answer this question, simply reaching out around Brian from where he stood in front of the door and knocked. “Za-” She coughed. “Zacky?”

A girlish giggle erupted from the other side along with a series of hushed whispers before another voice answered. “Who is it?”

“Jess.”

“Oh. One minute!” A few moments later the door opened, revealing the flushed rhythm guitarist pretty much naked other than a towel wrapped around his waist. “Cheers for bringing my stuff-” He stopped and his eyes widened. “Brian?”

Brian looked at him with amusement. “Zack? What are you doing up here?”

“Erm…”

“Zacky?” The tender feminine tone caused Brian to peer into the back of the room when his eyebrow shot through his hairline. Coral walked over to see what the commotion was, clothed only in Zacky’s Misfits T-shirt from earlier. From the slight sway in the black material it was clear she wasn’t wearing any underwear underneath, although you couldn’t see anything. “Who’s that?”

Brian’s lips broke out in a grin. “Yeah Zack, why don’t you introduce us?”

His head dropped in embarrassment. “Brian, this is Coral. Coral, this is my band mate, Brian, also known as-”

“Oh I recognise you now! Synyster Gates right?” She warmly embraced his hand. “Coral Shaw.” She pulled away and instantly curled her arms around Zacky, which Brian simply looked at curiously. “You are a very gorgeous man but my heart is already stolen by another guitarist.”

“I’ll live.” Brian’s lips upturned at the corners into a sly smirk. “I like your shirt.”

“Thanks.” She pecked Zacky’s deepening scarlet cheek. “I’m just going to put some underwear on, okay?”

Brian turned to Zacky as she walked off. “So that’s what you’ve been up to,” he remarked slyly. “I can see why you needed some stuff brought up for you. Here.”

Zacky took the bag and mumbled, “Thanks.”

“No problem man.” He leant against the doorframe. “I gotta ask though- how’d you manage to get that?”

Zacky looked behind him just as Coral disappeared into the en-suite bathroom. “Coral?” He scratched his head sheepishly. “I dunno. I guess I just got lucky.”

“When did you meet her? I mean, it’s a bit early to pick someone up from a bar, right?”

“Well…uh…”

“Oh Brian honey, I’m not from here!” Coral flitted back into the conversation, this time wearing a pair of violet lace underwear fashioned like shorts. “Didn’t Jessie say? I’m her girl from Australia.” She smiled. “I’m surprised the accent didn’t give me away.”

“Australia?” Something in Brian clicked. “Oh! That Coral!”

She turned accusingly to Zacky. “There’s another Coral?”

“What?” He shook his head furiously. “No!”

“Oh sorry Coral, I didn’t mean to say it like that,” Brian quickly said, “I just meant that I remember who you are now. You’re the chick that Vengeance here kept talking to at stupid times in the morning.”

“Chick?” She didn’t sound impressed.

“Oh shit sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!” He tried to whisper discreetly to Jess while keeping his eyes on Coral. “Jess! Help me out here!” He stole a look at her. “Jess? …Jess?” He turned completely to her. “Hey… are you alright?”

Jess was leaning heavily against the wall with her eyes closed. She was breathing heavily and a faint sheen of sweat coated her forehead. “I’mmakay.”

“Are you sure?” He looked at her worriedly. “You seem a bit out of it.”

As her eyes slowly flickered open to look at him it could easily be seen she was unwell. For one, the normally bright, deep sapphire colour of her eyes was dull; veiled behind an insecure daze that had taken hold of her. “I’m fine.”

“Like hell you are Jessie!” Coral pushed in front of Brian and pressed her hand to her forehead. “Sheesh girl! You’re burnin’ up!” She swept aside some of the strands that had gotten stuck to Jess’ forehead. “Oh Jessie…” She looked at her sadly. “I had no idea you were feeling unwell. Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I would’ve looked after you instead.” She called back over her shoulder. “No offence honey.”

“Huh?” Zacky shook his head. “Uh… None taken?”

Coral stepped back. “Zacky, do you think you could grab the cloth from the bathroom and soak it in cold water please? Also can you bring a bottle of mineral water over as well from the fridge?” She held her arms around Jess and gently guided her from the wall and towards her room. “You need to lie down honey.”

Despite feeling and looking terrible, she still tried to resist. “Coral I’m fine, I’ve got my own room downstairs and-” Halfway through her feeble protests her legs just seemed to give way from underneath her, and if Coral hadn’t been holding her up already and Brian wasn’t just behind then she certainly would have hit the floor.

“Jessie, you are definitely not fine,” Coral stated. She turned to the other guitarist. “Just put her on my bed Brian.”

Her face screwed up. “I don’t want to go on your bed! Not after you and Zacky had sex there!”

Coral laughed. “Oh honey. Trust me. The bed’s fine.” She caught Zacky’s eyes just as he returned from the bathroom. “We didn’t keep to the bed.” She eased Jess onto the bed in the bedroom off from the main room with Brian’s help and sat on the edge. “Now when did you last test your blood sugar? You know when you’re ill you have to test it more, especially when you’re ill.”

“I know,” Jess breathed, “I was just about to do it when Zacky called and asked me to bring his stuff up.”

“Then you really need to do it now. Where’s your bag?”

“Downstairs.”

“In your room?”

She nodded.

“Where?”

“In that bag you gave me last Christmas… it should be on the bed with no cover on it.”

“Okay.” Coral reached across to Jess’ handbag and withdrew the key to her room. “I’ll just be a minute.” She backed from the bed and moved towards the door when Zacky called out to her. Clearly the possibility of being seen in just an oversized T-Shirt clearly didn’t bother her.

“Coral? Where are you going?” She turned back to face him as he held up the damp cloth and water bottle. “I’ve brought what you asked.”

“Oh. Thanks.” She turned back into the room and took the items from him, first twisting the cap off the water bottle and giving it to Jess to drink before placing it aside, and then resting the damp material across her forehead in a bid to combat the growing fever. “Would you two mind watching over her while I go grab her stuff from her room? Her blood sugar does some nasty things when she’s ill.” She smiled playfully at Jess. “Remember when you caught tonsillitis from Olly that one year? You were twice as much effort then looking after him!” She laughed alongside Jess’ feeble chuckles, shaking her head at the memory. “You were going from hypo to hyper so many times a day! It was like a Mexican wave for blood sugar or something!”

“Then you got it as well and we all ended up sharing the same bed, all ill from it,” Jess added with a smile. “Your mom and dad thought it was hilarious seeing us all cooped up there.”

“It’s a good thing my mom stocked up on chicken soup after Olly came down with it. She ended up just making huge pots of it in the end.”

“It did work though.”

“Well, that or the fact we were just growing so annoyed of each other and made ourselves get well again,” Coral chuckled. “You’ll be alright with these two won’t you? I’ll be two shakes of a sea otter’s tail.” She stepped back and looked at Brian and Zacky sternly. “Don’t you take your eyes off her while I’m gone. I’m not kidding about how weird her blood sugar goes. If she starts acting funny, you call an ambulance.”

“Coral-”

“Don’t you Coral me Jessie!” She cried. Her spring-coloured eyes glistened with the dewdrops of a tender morning. “I’ve seen you go real bad before and I never called an ambulance because you told me before you could handle your diabetes. I’ll never make that mistake again.”

An awkward silence embraced the room as Coral disappeared, her footfalls seeming to ooze a mixture of urgency, fear and impossibly care as well. Jess had turned away from the two guitarists and stared at the opposite wall, left to repeat over and over in her mind the scenario that Coral’s words had painted there. She didn’t remember much of that time and any image she tried to concoct was simply a blur but one thing remained explicitly clear from that time, even now.

The sound of her friend’s tears.

Nothing was said even as Coral came back into the room with Jess’ bag in hand. Even as the pink-haired female went through the motions of testing Jess’ blood sugar levels and then making her drink some more water after she had crushed a few glucose tablets in still nothing was said. Each action was soundless. Completely void of any noise. It was almost as if speaking were to not only break the fragility of the scene, but expose the frailty of everyone’s emotions.

“Jessie needs to sleep.” Coral’s voice sounded flat, but it was clear something was working behind the edges. “You all need to leave.”

“But-”

Zacky gripped Brian’s forearm. “Come on. We’ll go back to our room.”

“But-”

“Come on.” Zacky essentially pushed his instrumental partner out the room after pecking her silently on the cheek, murmuring a soft goodbye. It left the pair with a sombre scene of Coral sitting silently on the edge of the bed, simply watching over her friend. Their eyes never met despite Jess still being awake- she was still staring at the wall as if her mind had been completely wiped clean.

It was only when they entered the elevator together that they dared to speak again. “Say Zack… What do you think Coral was on about back then?”

“About what?” He pressed the button for the second floor and the doors eased shut.

“About never making that mistake again. What do you think she meant?”

“I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.”

The doors reopened upon their floor and the pair of them walked back to their room, with both males seemingly perplexed by the unanswered question. It was only when Brian watched Zacky close the door behind them from his perch at the end of his bed that he spoke again.

“Hey Zack?”

“Yeah?”

He grinned. “Dude… You’re in nothing but a towel.”

Zacky’s shoulders slumped forward as he looked down at himself. They dropped further when the realisation that his clothes were taken to Coral’s room back upstairs hit him. “Oh for fuck’s sake…”

Brian laughed at his friend’s distress. “Don’t worry Vengeance.” He walked over to him and clapped him on the back. “You can borrow some of my clothes.”