I Swear I Love You

The next day when Jess woke up- obviously the first, since the rest of the guys seemed nowhere near willing to leave their bunks before at least midday, and it hadn’t yet hit that mark- she found the door to the entertainment lounge open, despite knowing she had definitely shut it the night before. Using the tiny crack the open door allowed Jess peered inside, and instantly stilled her breath at what was inside. Rather sweetly Zacky must have woken up and wondered where his pink-haired companion was, finding her up front and not in the bunk she had originally had been in. He had taken the bedding from his bunk and gently rested it over her, and in an even sweeter motion, didn’t even cuddle up to her. Clearly he didn’t want to wake her up and knew doing that would so he set himself up on the opposite couch, exposed to the cold air conditioning that blasted into the bus. This did mean that Jess was completely stuck with nowhere to go since she couldn’t go up to the front because she would run the risk of waking Zacky and Coral but she couldn’t go back to the bunks because she would wake up the others. Luckily however her laptop was just beside the door in the lounge so she could ease that out in a relatively stealthy manner and entertain herself with that.

“Perhaps he’ll still be up…” Jess murmured to herself, tapping at her keys until the familiar calling program appeared. Initially a black screen appeared, awaiting a connection, until a non-work mode Olly appeared. His work outfit wasn’t really more than just a pair of long shorts and a plain yellow shirt with a small logo in the corner but he always seemed completely different when he took it off. It was almost like as soon as he was his normal self, he always looked as if he had just woken up. His hair fluffed up all over his head was a key factor in that style. It was weird and while thinking about that Jess couldn’t help but chuckle at his appearance. “You look very handsome Olly.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not Jessie,” he replied, rolling his eyes as he stretched out on his couch. Behind him a picture of him and Jess was on the wall, the pair of them beaming at the camera in wetsuits with matching work logos. “What brings you calling? My sister driving you mad already?”

“I just felt like talking to you,” Jess said simply, adjusting the laptop on the counter so that the web camera had a better view. “Not that Coral hasn’t been making me worry.”

“Worry?” His tone suddenly sounded serious. “Is something wrong? Has something happened?”

“Oh no! Nothing’s happened!” Jess gabbled quickly. “It’s just…” She shook her head.

“It’s just?”

“I’m wondering if Coral should have come here at all.”

“You are? What makes you say that?” He frowned. “She went to see you. Did you not want her to or something?”

“No I did, it’s been really nice,” Jess said, “it’s just… I don’t know. It’s like she shouldn’t be here, you know?”

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s going to sound stupid, but I really don’t think she likes it here.”

“Really?” Olly sounded doubtful. “When I talked to her a couple of days ago she said she was having a great time with you and the others.” He pouted. “I’m so jealous. I’d love to meet the band.”

Jess laughed. “Well the way you’re sister and Zacky are going, I don’t think it will be long until you do.”

“What?!” His eyes grew wide. “No way! Coral never mentioned that!”

“She didn’t?”

“No, she didn’t.” A protective, brotherly tone was beginning to seep into his words. “What’s going on between them?” He demanded. “He isn’t messing with her is he? I don’t give a shit who he is if he’s messing her around-”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Jess reassured. “Zacky’s a good guy. He wouldn’t mess with Coral.” She chuckled light-heartedly. “I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to knowing you were her brother.”

He huffed. “Except my sister is in America right now, twelve hours away. The flight alone would take me at least half a day, and by then the ass-kicking might not be needed.”

“Maybe not, but at least I would get to see you.” Jess smiled. “I miss you.”

He returned her smile. “I miss you too Jessie,” he said earnestly. “It’s been what, four months since you’ve been gone or something? When are you heading back home anyway?”

“I’m not sure. The tour finishes next month, so maybe then. I’m not sure.”

“Not sure? So you won’t be back for Christmas?” He looked disappointed.

“I don’t know right now Olly. Maybe.”

“Why don’t you know?” He pressed. “You said so yourself the tour finishes next month. Does it go past Christmas?”

She shook her head. “Finishes in the second week I think in Las Vegas.”

“Vegas? Nice.” He grinned. “I don’t see why there is an issue with Christmas though. You weren’t even here for your birthday. We always go out and celebrate your birthday. Your present is just sitting in my drawer here.”

“My present?” She perked up. “Ooh! What is it?”

“Nope, I’m not telling you.”

“What? Why not?! My birthday has already gone!”

“Don’t care,” he replied casually. “You will get it when it’s your birthday here. At home.” He stressed the home part.

Jess stuck her tongue out at the screen. “Mean.”

“You should have been here and you would’ve got it.” He yawned loudly, stretching his arms over his head before settling back down. “What are you up to now anyway? Are you doing a show or something now?”

“Just woken up actually.” She held up her coffee. “Always helps. What about you?”

Instead of saying, he simply held up his laptop and moved the lid slightly so that it looked at his patterned board shorts before resting it back on his lap. “Can you guess?”

“I’m stopping you from going to bed.” Even though she was slightly disappointed she did her best not to let it show. “I keep forgetting it’s late over there when it’s early here.”

“That’s what you get for spending too much time with those Americans,” he replied, pausing briefly to yawn into the back of his hand. His eyes slightly drooped after, indicating his tiredness. “You’re turning into one of those yanks again.”

“I am one of those ‘yanks’ Olly,” Jess retorted, air-quoting the ‘yank’. “I am born and bred American you know. I lived here for pretty much all my life.”

“Eh.” He shrugged carelessly. “You live here now. That’s all that counts. You’re one of us now.” His chest puffed out in pride. “Australian and proud of it baby!”

Jess chuckled. “I’m sure you are the best example of one.”

“Best example of what?”

Both Jess and Olly on the screen turned to the sound of the voice, but since he didn’t have the view Jess had, he had to ask who was there. “Who’s that?”

“Is that who I think it is?” Yawning slightly, Coral moved to Jess’ side and peered at the laptop in surprise. “Olly?” She frowned. “What are you still doing up? Have you seen the time? You’ve got work tomorrow!”

“No I don’t.” He poked his tongue out. “I get Fridays off.”

“I know that, but it’s not Friday tomorrow, is it?”

“Yes it is!” He protested. “Australia is ahead of America.”

“Maybe, but not by that much. Who are you trying to fool Oliver?” She chided. “It is Wednesday evening there you liar, which means tomorrow is Thursday for you, not Friday, and you have work. Just because I’m not there right now doesn’t mean you get to slack off.”

“Sheesh, alright mom,” he sighed with a roll of his eyes. He yawned then, only solidifying her point more. “I guess I better head on back. I’ll talk some other time Jessie.”

“Goodbye Olly. Good night.”

“Hey! Where’s my goodbye!” Coral cried, catching him just before he was about to shut off the connection. “You’re not even going to say goodbye to your only sister?”

He smiled mischievously. “Oh I didn’t? I could’ve sworn I did…”

“You know you didn’t. You did it on purpose.”

“Well you haven’t said good night to me you know, so why should I do it to you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Typical.” But she still relented. “Good night Olly.”

He chuckled fondly at his older sister’s childish antics. “See ya soon Coral.”

“Love you Olly.”

“Love you too Cor.” The screen went black as the Australian side of the connection disappeared, and the two females were left alone in the kitchen to think. Coral’s smile lessened considerably as the brief conversation with her brother came to an abrupt stop, silently pouring a cup of coffee using the mildly warm water from the kettle. A small sigh escaped her lips before she silenced it using the lip of her cup, offering Jess reasonable evidence to know that something was wrong.

“Something wrong, Coral?”

“No.” She took a sip before placing it aside on the counter. “What makes you say that?”

Jess shrugged. “Dunno. You just seem a bit off.”

“A bit off? Perhaps this is just how I am in the morning?”

“Except I know you are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning and then you go downhill and grumpy from there,” Jess replied. “You tend to forget most assumptions won’t work with me.”

She laughed. “I do seem to forget. Perhaps it’s because I’m tired.”

“Now that is a reason I’m more likely to believe.” Jess’ lips downturned at the edges in concern. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“I think the better question is, did I sleep at all last night,” she amended.

“Well then, did you?”

“Yes, I did sleep.”

“Alright. How long did you sleep then?”

“I’m not entirely sure. A couple of hours after the sun rose I believe. I didn’t check the time ironically enough. My eyes were unfortunately closed.”

“Never tired enough to not be sarcastic I see.”

“Of course not.” The same, mischievous look that her brother shot at her was now in use against Jess. “I have to keep you on your toes.”

“Well I don’t have to do anything to keep you on your toes, since coffee seems to be doing that instead,” Jess remarked. In the same instance Coral looked away guiltily. “I’m surprised you are awake actually.”

“You know me Jessie,” she began, “I can’t be wasting time sleeping when there are others awake to have fun with. I am technically on holiday.”

“Well I know that but-”

“Coral?” A tentative voice echoed into the kitchen before the body followed it into the kitchen, revealing a freshly woken Zacky from the entertainment lounge. His clothes were creased from where he had slept on them while a faint red mark perfectly matching his right hand was on his cheek from where he had used it as a makeshift pillow in his sleep. He rubbed at his eyes as he sleepily continued, “I wondered where you were.”

“Sorry, I must have woken you when I got up,” she said apologetically. “You can go back to sleep honey. I’ll shut the door this time so we don’t keep you up.”

“No, that’s alright,” he yawned, shuffling over to Coral and embracing her from behind. He released one hand briefly and pointed at the cup of coffee on the side. “Whose is that?”

“Mine, but you can have some.”

“Thanks babe.” He quickly drained the rest of the mug and swiftly flicked the switch on the kettle to boil the water once again. “I think I’ll be needing another.” His chin was already resting on Coral’s shoulder. Clearly he needed another injection of caffeine, since one wasn’t cutting it.

“Zacky.” Coral turned to face him, a worrying look overcoming her. “You’re still tired. Why don’t you go catch some more sleep?”

“I ‘m fine. I don’t need any more sleep,” he mumbled.

“You’re nearly falling asleep on your feet Zacky!” Coral chided. She gave him a light shove in the direction of the lounge. “Go back to sleep!”

His stumbles were reluctant. “I’m fine! I don’t need to sleep.”

“Yes you do,” Coral said firmly, pushing him harder. “It’s not a show day, so you don’t have to get up.”

“But I want to be up.”

“Why?” She stopped. “It’s not like there is anything to do.”

“Then why are you up?” His emerald eyes looked at her inquisitively. “You would be sleeping now if you were in Australia.”

“But I’m not in Australia; I’m in America.”

“But you told me you were stuck on Australian time, so it doesn’t matter that you’re here, does it?” His smiled dropped. “Do you… Do you not want me to be with you right now? Were you and Jess talking?”

“It’s not that!” She promised. “It’s just…” She sighed. “I’m just a bit worried about you, that’s all.”

“Worried?” His lips perked up in amusement. “You’re worried about me?”

“Of course I am,” she replied simply. “You’re not sleeping for goodness sake! And all because of me?” She groaned. “I can’t let you fall asleep on stage just because I can’t sleep!”

“I won’t fall asleep,” he said. His tired eyes seemed to echo otherwise however. “It’s not because of you anyway.”

“And you can say that while almost falling asleep now?”

He chuckled. “That’s nothing a shot of coffee can’t fix.”

“That’s not a good thing Zacky.”

He shrugged. “You can’t make me sleep.”

“I know I can’t.” She sighed uselessly. “Fine. Do what you want.” She moved away. “Fall asleep on the stage, see if I care-”

“Coral…” He reached out and grabbed her wrist loosely, just enough so that his fingers closed over and her movement was stilled. “Come on, don’t be like that.”

An unimpressed look struck him as she reluctantly turned back, but there was something about it that seemed artificial… forced. “What?”

“Look, I’m sorry. I just don’t want to waste any time, you know?” He gently pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, his lips gently nuzzling her neck. “You’re gone tomorrow after all.”

“You’re gone tomorrow?!”

Zacky’s head suddenly shot up as he realised what he had said, looking apologetically at Coral in the same process. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Coral whispered to him, before she turned to Jess. “You told me you thought I should go back, so I am.”

“But that soon?” Jess cried. She looked completely and utterly distraught. “That means you’ll be gone…”

“Tomorrow night.”

“But why so soon?!”

Coral sighed. “It’s just the time my flight is booked.”

“Can’t you change it?”

“But why would I do that?”

Jess was taken aback by her sharp reply. “You… don’t want to stay? But… But what about Zacky?”

“Zacky?” Coral glanced back at the man embracing her. “He’ll be alright, won’t you?”

He offered her a small smile. “Of course.”

“Oh. But can you even get a flight booked this late? I mean it’s only tomorrow-”

“It’s all booked already.”

“Oh.” From the way she was shifting her weight from foot to foot it was clear she was scrambling for another excuse for Coral not to leave. “But…”

“Jessie.” She outstretched her arm from where it had been trapped under Zacky’s to rest it on Jess’ forearm. “I’m sorry for doing this to you. I didn’t want you to find out-”

“You weren’t going to tell me?” She sounded hurt. “You were just going to leave and let me find out from someone else?”

“Not exactly. I was going to tell you later today.”

“But when did you decide to leave?”

“A couple of days ago.”

“And you didn’t feel like telling me? You kept a secret?” Her expression dropped further. “I thought we were friends Cor…”

“We are friends Jessie, it’s just sometimes you need to keep a secret, you know? Just until the right time comes along.”

“And my time comes after Zacky’s?”

“Of course not- well…”

“So I’m right?”

Coral sighed. “In a way. But I have my reasons.”

“And what might they be?”

She shifted her weight to one side and folded her arms across her chest. “Probably the same reason why didn’t tell me that you were married to Zacky’s friend.”

The betrayal quickly dissipated in the hurricane of guilt and shock. “You know… How did you know that?!”

“The same way you just found out I’m leaving tomorrow. Someone else told me.”

She shamefully curled her fingers over the ring on her other hand. “I was going to tell you but…”

“It wasn’t the right time?” Coral offered helpfully. “I understand. There hasn’t really been a time when you could have brought it up. It’s alright.”

“But I really should have said-”

“And I should have told you about my flight. It’s fine.” She smiled. “We were both wrong, so that makes us square.”

Jess chuckled. “I guess so. I have to ask though- why are you heading back so suddenly? I’m not going to believe that you are leaving because I asked you to- there is no way you could have got the flight between then and now.”

“That’s quite true. I didn’t book my return flight; I had Olly do it for me,” she replied. “You are right though, I did have another reason.”

“And that is?”

“What else would it be?” She grinned. “Work of course. Apparently they’re short since Hayley and Tom came down with something. Olly can’t manage it all on his own. We could cope easily when you left; it was a bit more difficult when I took some time off too but with a bit of rescheduling we managed to cover it. Now Hayley and Tom are off sick…” She shook her head. “Needless to say, mom rang me up in a panic when we were out for Halloween. She basically begged me to come back. I couldn’t say no. This is the beginning of the busiest times for the centre.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“I’m sorry honey. If I could stay longer I would.”

A small smile replied her. “That’s alright. I know it would be hard anyway with both of us gone. I have to ask though; why didn’t you just tell me earlier, when the call came through?”

Coral laughed. “Call me stupid if you like, but I thought you might keep me here.”

“Me? How could I keep you here? I can’t stop you.”

“Of course you can,” Coral stated simply. “You almost had me back then.”

“I did? How?”

“Well your reasons for me to stay are rather… persuasive,” Coral said, chuckling softly as she couldn’t resist looking back at her guitarist. “I’d much rather stay here with you and Zacky for a while longer and I know I can do it as well.” She sighed despondently. “Unfortunately work comes before play.”

“Except your work is basically your play, so it’s always playtime for you,” Jess chuckled. “You get to play with dolphins for your job! How is that work?”

Coral feigned shock. “Jessie! How could you make such suggestions! I work very hard thank you very much!”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re head trainer. You simply get to train the dolphins while the others have to do the cleaning. You only feed them because you like doing it, not because you have to.”

“Technicalities,” Coral dismissed.

Jess snorted. “Big technicalities.”

“But technicalities all the same,” Coral said, moving away from Zacky in order to finally make up some more coffee and pressing one of the three into his hands. “Shall we go into there?” She asked, pointing into the entertainment lounge. “I’m starting to worry that we will wake up the others.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Zacky agreed. The three of them arranged themselves on the couches there, Zacky and Coral naturally sharing one and Jess lounging upon the other. “I’m so glad we got our bus back. It’s much more comfortable than the other one.”

“Your buses are different?”

“Well yeah. We had all the custom stuff put on ours.” He grinned. “We are the stars of the show after all.”

“You lot are so pampered,” Coral said. “You are going to get so lazy.”

“It’s just a price I will have to live with for all this…” He stretched out on the couch. “Luxury. If you don’t like it you can always sit on the floor.”

“Oh how kind of you.”

“I’m just too thoughtful, aren’t I?”

“Oh, it’s too much,” she agreed sarcastically. “You’re such a good Samaritan.”

Jess simply laughed at their childish remarks before interjecting with a question for Coral. “Hey Coral- where are you flying from?”

“What do you mean?”

“What airport are you flying back to Australia from?”

“Oh. New York.”

“New York?” Jess simply stared at her like she was crazy. “How are you going to get there? We’re going to Canada next! Why didn’t you just book your flight from there?”

She shrugged. “Olly booked it. He did say something about why he couldn’t get me from wherever we would be at the time but I can’t really remember. Something about my airline doesn’t fly from there or something.”

“So how are you going to get there?”

“Bus.”

“You’re going to get a bus?!” Jess cried. “Do you know how many times you would have to change? You don’t know America Coral! You’re going to get lost! You’re going to get mugged or-!”

Coral’s laughter cut off her rant. “Not just any bus Jessie, you silly thing. This bus. Me and Zacky bumped into Larry on our way back with the shopping yesterday and he heard us talking. We were just talking about how I should make my way to New York when he said he would ask Logan to cut back through New York on the way to the next show.”

“But won’t it take longer to get to Montreal now?”

“That’s what I said, but Larry said it wouldn’t be a problem.” Coral smiled. “He’s a very nice person. He doesn’t even know me but he’s re-routing the bus so I get to the airport.”

Zacky grinned to her side. “That and I said I would go to New York with Coral to see her off then catch a flight to Montreal by myself.”

“I think I preferred my reason,” Coral said with a frown. “Rather than he’s doing it because he doesn’t want you running off.”

“Well how about this reason then,” Zacky began, leaning back against the couch and draping an arm behind her. “Maybe Larry only re-routed the bus because I asked him too, because I would follow you each step to the airport and watch you until the last second when you board the plane. He knew I wouldn’t want to leave you so he decided to change the route so that we had more of those precious moments together.” Coral giggled as he curled his arms around her and drew her close to him, brushing his lips across her head. “If I didn’t think he would kill me I would happily follow you to Australia.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course I would.” He chuckled to himself, fondly playing with a rosy spike by her ear. “Think of it like me asking you out on a date. Australia is where we are going and then I’ll let you choose what we do there.”

“Because you have no idea what to do if you were in Australia?”

“Well. Perhaps.” He grinned. “Although I would have said it was because I’m a gentleman and would let the lady decide what she would like to do.”

“I’m sure,” she murmured, happily allowing him to lean in and peck her on the lips. “I think my reason is probably the right one though.”

“It is you, so you are probably right anyway,” he chuckled.

“You sound like you are angling for something Baker.” Her eyes narrowed on him. “Hm, I wonder what it might be…” She squealed as he pulled her onto his lap, crying out with laughter as he began to nibble at her neck, tickling her. “Zacky! Zacky stop it!”

“Ugh.” They broke apart to look up at Brian’s screwed up expression. “I would say get a room but the only one we have is Matt and Val’s and I don’t think they’ll appreciate sharing the bed.” He slumped on the couch next to Jess. “Hey Jess.”

“Hey Brian.”

“I wondered where you were when I woke up,” he said, “until I heard someone laughing down here. When did you get up anyway? I never even noticed. I didn’t hog the bunk or something did I?”

Jess laughed at his frantic worries. “Of course not! Sheesh, you are making me sound like that princess who felt the pea under her mattress. I slept fine Brian, I just wake up before midday. I do like to see the morning.”

Another voice entered the fray and snorted at her words, taking Jess’ opposite side. “Mornings are overrated.” Jimmy yawned loudly. “I’m more of a night person.”

“In other words, lazy,” Jess added, laughing as he scowled at her.

“Cheers Jess.”

“Aah, the classic married couple,” Coral commented cheerily, smiling at the pair of them. She was the only one who did- everyone else seemed to tense up. It took a few moments for her to realise this fact. “Did I… Did I say something wrong?”

After a short silence Jimmy decided to answer. “Well no… of course you didn’t. It’s just…” He scratched the back of his head nervously, as if he didn’t want to be the person who had to say it. Well, he really didn’t want to be the one to say it, but he had started now- might as well finish it. “Jess and I are married but…” He trailed off.

“But?”

“Well…” He coughed uncomfortably. “We’re getting a divorce.”

“What?!” Her eyes darted between the guilty pair. “You’re getting divorced?! How long have you been together?”

“Erm…” He looked at Jess who simply shrugged. “Well we got married in July…”

“July?!” Coral squeaked. “But Jessie left for here in July!”

Jess laughed uneasily. “Well… that’s true.”

“But you said you got married in July?”

“Well… that’s true too.”

Coral was stumped. “I don’t understand.”

“Me and Jimmy getting married… it was kind of an accident. We…” She glanced at Jimmy. “We don’t really know how it happened. It just kinda… did.”

“And it’s official?”

“Yep. Got the certificate and everything. Jimmy even had photos.”

“So…” Her brow was furrowed as she was obviously trying to work everything out. “Wait. How long were you here before you made this mistake?”

“Uh…” She chuckled nervously. “Like… a day?”

“A day?!” Coral screeched. She looked ready to explode at any moment before she ultimately forced herself to calm down, exhaling deeply as she spoke lower. “Okay, okay. So you accidentally got married and now are having a divorce to fix it, even though you were only here a day.” She looked at Jess. “Am I right so far?”

“Pretty much,” she admitted.

“Okay, okay,” she muttered to herself. By now she was on her feet, pacing up and down the length of the walkway repeatedly as she murmured under her breath. After a few minutes she suddenly stopped in front of Jess, shocking the girl slightly. “I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you get?”

“How you can get married by mistake for one!” She began pacing again, raising a finger as she said another number. “How you can only be in this country a day before getting married for two, and for three-” She stopped again in front of her. “Why you never told me.” Jess looked away as Coral dropped to her knees, looking imploringly up into her eyes. “How could you not tell me something as important as this?”

“I… I didn’t think it was important,” Jess stuttered. “We were fixing it here anyway- I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Worry?” She laughed. “Jessie honey, all I ever do is worry! Ever since you came to live in Oz and started to hang around my brother!”

“I thought you would be angry-”

“Oh shut up Jessie!” Coral cried.”You’re such an idiot! When have I ever blown a fuse at you?” She laughed. “You just need a good smack on the head sometimes- especially if you are thinking I’d be mad! If anyone would be mad it would be Olly!”

“Oh God!” Jess looked at her in alarm. “Don’t tell Olly please! He’ll flip!” She was on her knees beside Coral now, using her shorter stature to beg to her friend. “Please Coral! Promise me you won’t!”

“Oh God I won’t!” Coral said quickly, grabbing onto Jess’ wrists and stopping her from her pleads. “My lips are sealed, okay? I promise I won’t tell Olly.” She winked. “I’ll leave that bombshell to you.”

Jess groaned. “I don’t even want to think-”

Chaos swallowed up the latter half of her sentence as the three males in the room with them, Zacky, Jimmy and Brian, all suddenly leapt up with a few worried shouts. Matt had clearly been woken up from their conversations and had come to explore, but unfortunately where Coral and Jess had sat on the floor they were in the best seats in the official ‘let’s-trip-up-Matt’ zone right by the door. Zacky quickly whisked Coral away to the back of the lounge as the first stumbles happened, saving her from the bulk of Matt’s unbalanced weight. Brian and Jimmy however clearly both went to get Jess, but in the furore somehow managed to collide with each other instead and end up falling back onto their couch. This left Jess vulnerable, still on the floor, to the mass of muscle and tattoos of Matt.

“Oh shit! Sorry Jess!” Matt quickly apologised, first springing to his own feet before helping Jess back onto her unsteady pair. “Shit! Shit! Shit! Are you okay?!”

Jess was swaying slightly in Matt’s grip, his hands not really steadying her shoulders as she rocked side to side. It felt almost as if she had just got off one of those massive boat rides in an amusement park that just went back and forth the whole time. The fact that her head throbbed didn’t help her to regain her balance either, but she managed to force out a reply to stop everyone who had suddenly hounded upon her. “I’m okay guys.” She gratefully allowed Matt to ease her back onto the couch opposite Brian and Jimmy, giving her the space she needed to assess the state of her head- not that she needed to.

“Oh fuck Jess! You’re bleeding!”

Coral followed her partner’s comment as she decided to add her own. “Oh my god!” Coral squeaked. “Does it hurt honey?”

Brian was next. “That shit looks like it hurts…”

“Geez…” Jimmy murmured. “That looks bad…”

“Fuck…” Matt ran a flustered hand over his head. “I’m so sorry Jess!”

“You should have looked where you were going!” Coral scolded. “You’ve really hurt her!”

“I didn’t mean to!” Matt protested. “I only opened the door and-”

“Guys!” No one heard her; they merely kept arguing above her, trying to shift the blame. She tried again, much louder this time. “GUYS!” This time they heard and stopped their words to listen to hers. “I’m alright.” She stood up, ignoring their protests, and patted a worrying Matt consolingly on the arm. “I know you didn’t mean to fall on me. If I wasn’t sitting where I was I wouldn’t have hit my head. I’m sorry.”

“You shouldn’t be the one to apologise Jess, it was my-”

“That’s the story,” Jess said firmly. She gave a sweeping look to dispel any comments that may have been lingering to say otherwise before moving to walk past Matt. “I’m just going to the bathroom. I’d rather not Val freak out and see me like this thinking I’ve had my head munched on by a zombie.”

Before anyone could stop her Jess slipped past and shut herself into the bathroom, leaving the rest of them there still reeling from the accident. The guys in the room seemed to be looking at the bathroom door at where the victim had gone, but Coral looked at something else that interested her. The two that should have theoretically saved Jess from her injury.

“Zacky.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you go check on Jess for me? We better make sure she doesn’t pass out or something.”

He released his arms from where they had rested since he pulled her away from Matt’s towering frame. “You want me to go?”

She nodded. “Yes please.”

“If Zack doesn’t want to go I can always-” Brian began before Coral cut him off.

“No- it’s fine. Zacky can go.”

“Well babe if Gates wants to go-”

She turned to look up at him. “Please go check on her for me. Please?”

Looking in her eyes, he couldn’t help but find himself soon agreeing and departing to the bathroom after pecking her quickly on the lips. Matt seemed horribly uncomfortably where he was and swiftly excused himself soon after, citing reasons such as needing to check on Val and make coffee. After Brian’s unsuccessful attempt Jimmy played his hand at trying to sneak off to see if Jess was alright, but Coral quickly shouted that one down too.

“I need to talk to you.” This surprised the pair of them.

“What? Why?” Jimmy asked, clearly confused. “’Bout what?”

“You’ll see.” She motioned to the couch opposite the one she sat down upon. “If you don’t mind. I don’t have much time.”

They exchanged perplexed looks and shrugs before doing exactly as she asked.

“Alright.” She exhaled a sigh, as if she were calming herself before speaking. “What is going on between you two and Jess?”

They looked at each other; for an instance there was an accusatory look in their eyes but it soon dissipated as they both laughed. Jimmy was the first to answer. “I already told you; we’re getting divorced. That’s it.”

“And Jess and me have been friends since kindergarten,” Brian finished.

She shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. You two… you both like her more than a friend don’t you?”

They looked at each other again- this time, doubting not only each other, but themselves as well. Neither knew whether to dismiss her comments despite knowing they were true about them or to accuse their fellow friend who they didn’t know was truth. Instead they both decided to dismiss each other, speaking in perfect unison.

“Don’t be stupid, Jimmy and Jess are getting divorce, there is no way-”

“Brian and Jess have known each other since kindergarten how could they-”

They stopped and turned to each other, looking almost annoyed at how the other had viewed them, despite saying the same words only minutes before.

“Who are you to say that I don’t care for Jess just because we are getting divorced?” Jimmy challenged. “You don’t know my head.”

“Well you don’t know me either!” Brian shot back. “Who says that if you are someone’s friend you can’t be anything more?!”

Jimmy’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you want to be anything more? We’re married!”

“Married? You just said you were getting divorced, so why should it matter?”

“Well I…” He paused, stumped, before he retorted. “Why are you trying to hit on her anyway? You’ve known each other since you were like 5!”

“And that matters why?”

“It just does!”

Having been watching their argument unfold before her for the past five minutes or so, Coral soon labelled herself bored and sighed accordingly, successfully securing both of their attentions.

Jimmy, perhaps unjustly angry, glared at her. “Sorry, are we boring you?”

She shrugged carelessly. “Slightly.”

“How unfortunate,” Brian replied scathingly. “Well why don’t you just f-”

“Watch it Gates,” Zacky snarled as he walked back into the room, immediately recognising the threat to Coral in an instant. “Coral hasn’t done anything to you, so watch yourself before you decide to run your mouth off.”

Brian opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it and pushed from the couch and stalked off back to the bunks. “Fuck this. I’m going back to sleep.”

Zacky shook his head at his fellow guitarist’s antics and sat down next to Coral, looking up at Jimmy. “What’s biting his ass?”

He returned his look before also dismissing himself from the lounge. “I’m going to go find out how long it’s going to take to get to Montreal.” Then he disappeared the opposite way to Brian, up the front presumably to ask Logan the schedule.

This left Coral and Zacky alone, the latter of which turned with a puzzled look to the other. “What the hell just happened?”

“I’m going to take a wild guess and know that they didn’t know the other liked Jess too?” Zacky simply stared at her as if she had just done something insanely stupid. “Thought so.”

Zacky gulped. “You didn’t tell Rev that Jess…” He leant in to whisper the next bit, fearing the consequences just in case it was overheard. “You know… got it on with Gates, right?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Aah, that’s good.” He sighed in relief. “After last time I don’t think Gates would survive past today, let alone the rest of the tour.”

“What makes you say that? What happened before?”

“Well- let’s just say Rev was out for blood that day, and it was lucky Gates got away in one piece.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “He was lucky he just got away with one black eye- Rev could have done a number on him.”

For a moment fear laced the normally soft emerald of her eyes as they drifted in the direction where the drummer had gone. “I don’t think I want to get him angry at me then.” She bit her lip and looked worriedly up at Zacky. “He won’t… hurt me will he? For what I said?”

“What? Oh god no!” Zacky cried, shaking his head furiously. “He would never hit a girl. He barely hits anyone actually.”

“But you said he hit Brian…”

“Coral, I promise. He wouldn’t do it. Gates… Gates just hit a rough spot.”

“A rough spot? What was that?”

He sighed dismissively. “Jess.”