Take My Hand

[BRITTANY’S POV]

Gabe and I stopped talking about Alex and tried to look for something else to talk about but whenever we tried to talk about something else, we always ended up talking about Jack which led straight back to Alex. We were going around in circles and I couldn’t do anything about it.

Once the bus stopped at the venue, Gabe and I walked out of our bus to stretch and meet the other bands who arrived and were ready to go walk around. Being in a bus for a really long time made me feel like that too.

“Hey, I’m gonna go check on the guys,” I told Gabe as he nodded and walked towards the guys from The Maine.

I walked towards All Time Low’s bus and got on as soon as I opened the door. I walked in the bus to find it empty. I was just about to grab my camera from my bunk when I heard the bathroom door open and close. I peered out into the hallway and saw that Alex was touching his lip bruised lip.

“Oh, I almost didn’t see you there,” he said as soon as he saw me staring at him.

“Um, well I just got on the bus.” I can’t believe he was actually acting normal about all this. Well, maybe it’s because he didn’t know what I knew but I don’t know. Doesn’t it seem a little off?

“Oh, if you’re looking for Jack, he’s not here.” He told me and I nodded as I stared at his lip.

“What happened to you?” I asked him as I sat on my bunk and got my camera out of the bag.

“Well, Jack and I had some sort of argument and this was the outcome,” he said and I looked back at him with a shocked expression.

“What did you fight about?” I asked as I got up and leaned against the border that was dividing the bunk on top from the bunk below. I toyed with my camera and set it so that I wouldn’t have to keep pressing buttons before I shot pictures.

“You,” he said briefly and pressed up against me in a very uncomfortable way. He leaned against the borders with his hands and stared at me intensely.

“Dude, back off,” I said pushing him but he was too strong. He smirked at how weak I was and made his hands travel down my waist where it was getting pretty unpleasant and awkward. “Alex I’m serious,” I said placing the camera strap around my neck as I moved his hands away from me.

“Tell me something,” he said and I looked at him but still struggled to get his hands off me.

“What do you wanna know?” I asked with a heavy sigh. His grip on me wasn’t one that hard but it was somewhat sturdy and hard to get out of. If there was more space in the hallway, I would’ve totally pushed him away but it was really tight in here.

“Why don’t you feel the same way for me?” he said and I stopped struggling to look at him with an are-you-being-serious-right-now expression.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked him playing dumb.

“Brit, I like you,” he whispered into my ear giving me goosebumps. These weren’t the good kind. This was actually beginning to scare me.

“You don’t even know me,” I told him as I pushed him off of me. This caught him off guard so he fell onto the other side and I ran for the door.

I was about to reach the door when all of a sudden he yanked me back into his arms. Was he some kind of creeper or something?

“Let me go,” I said squirming as I tried to get myself away from him.

“Listen first-”

“I’m going to start screaming if you don’t let me go,” I threatened him. He released me and I started running not wanting to look back at him.

I needed to find Jack. I needed to see him so that I could feel alright again. I ran across the venue and searched far and wide but I didn’t see him at all.

I saw Zack and Rian talking to Vinny in the merch tent so I ran up to them and asked them if they knew where Jack was.

“Brit, are you okay?” Rian asked. “You seem a little pale,”

“I’m fine,” I told him. “I just need to know where Jack is,” I said looking at Zack and Vinny but their faces were both blank.

“Well, he was here a while ago but he said that he needed to go for a walk.” Vinny informed me. I nodded my thanks and sprinted to the gates. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and contacted Jack.

“Brit?” he said softly as he answered his phone.

“Where are you?” I asked hurriedly. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to break down right now but I felt tears starting to form in my eyes.

“I can see you,” he said not really answering my question.

I began looking around when suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around and crashed into Jack’s arms.

“Um, Brit,” he said. “Can you maybe move your camera before it forms a hole in my stomach?” he asked and I looked down. I forgot it was even there. I moved it to the side and hugged him tightly.

I didn’t speak. I just used this moment to calm myself down. I pushed back all the tears and the need to break down soon went away.

“You okay?” he asked me and I nodded and pushed away lightly.

“I just missed you,” I said and he smiled down and kissed me.

“I miss you too,” he said before pulling me into another comforting hug.

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to bring up the scene Alex made in the bus but I guess things like that can wait. This wasn’t the time to talk about that crap and besides, I didn’t want to ruin this moment.

“Are you playing today?” I asked him and he shook his head.

“Shows start tomorrow,” he told me and I smiled.

“You wanna go get some ice cream?” I asked and he smiled as he leaned down to kiss me.

“Why not?” he said and with that, he took my hand and got away for a while.