Farewell to Shady Glade

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." I said to myself as I ran back into the venue, searching for anyone that I could tell, that I could warn. "Jaxin!" I yelled, seeing the back of his head retreating around the corner. He turned around, looking for the culprit who called his name.
"Oh hey, Chris!" he exclaimed, coming close to me. He must've seen the look on my face, because his smile turned to worry. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"When's the last time you talked to Austin?" I asked and he looked away from me.
"Probably when he left tour, why?" he asked.
"Are you kicking him out of the band?" I just asked. His face went blank. My intuition told me what I probably should've known. The guys had been getting on so well with Jerry, no confrontation as they did with Austin, Of Mice & Men as a unit was more composed and collected then ever before. It felt right for them. I should have known.
"I, we, I don't--" he stammered and I waved my hands at him.
"It's no use, I basically already knew." I said in a frantic hushed voice.
"Did Shayley say something?" he asked automatically. I shook my head.
"Not everyone is in the dark about everything, Jax." I said and he just looked down.
"What about Austin?" he asked, looking back up at me.
"I just talked to him. He's coming to the show tomorrow and he's 'getting his band back.'" I said using air quotes.
"Getting his band back?" he said, confused.
"He's going to come to the show tomorrow and have a shit fit!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms in the air, frustrated with Jaxin. Jaxin just shook his head.
"I need to talk to the guys, now." He said, his voice urgent, his eyes turning to his cause. He started to walk away, and I didn't know if he meant for me to follow, but I collapsed into a nearby chair and put my head in my hands.

The guys couldn't do anything about Austin. Each one of them knew that he would come, and they knew they couldn't do anything about it. I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Each of the members of Of Mice was like family, minus Shayley, and Austin was too. I didn't want to be put in the middle of them, and I hoped to God that it didn't come to that.

"So…" I said to Shayley, trying to talk to him about the Austin epidemic.
"What?" he asked, his voice sounding a bit annoyed with me. I sighed and let go of the hold I had on him and laid back down on the pavement we were sitting on behind the venue. He sighed too and lay down next to me. I could feel the rocks cutting into my back, the hardness of the ground underneath me, but I didn't care. Feeling pain made me touch back to reality. "We can't do anything." He said again, like the rest had said to me numerous times before. It was the morning before Austin was to come to see them all, and we were all just waiting for him to show.
"I'm still nervous." I said, more to myself than to Shayley. He sat up and looked behind himself at me.
"What are you nervous about? This has nothing to do with you." He said and I sat up too.
"I'm nervous for you all, how this is going to turn out. I'm nervous for him, because I love him too." I said, getting defensive. "It involves me as much as the rest of you." I said and he looked away. We were bitter to one another over Austin, no less. I groaned to myself and he looked back at me. "I'm sorry." I said and he put his arm around me, pulling me into him.
"Me too. We're all on edge right now." He said and kissed the top of my head. I stared at the brick wall not too far off, wondering if this was a big of a deal as I was making it out to be.

I was pacing, back and forth in front of the venue. Kids were lined up, watching me. I didn't care that they were, laughing at me, they had no idea. My phone was clutched in my hand, so hard I was almost afraid of breaking it. It started to vibrate in my too hard grasp and I gasped, answering immediately. "Hey, Chris!" it was Austin. I said nothing for a minute, walking away from the crowd of passer bys and fans.
"Where the hell are you Austin?" I asked; my voice hushed as I continued to walk behind the venue and towards where the van was.
"I told you, I'm coming to see the guys tonight." He said, overly cheery, excited. I mumbled silently.
"Where are you right now?" I asked; wanting to catch him before the guys did.
"I'm parking near the venue. Where are you? I need to see you before I go on stage again!" he said, and I could hear the engine cut off as he turned his car off. I closed my eyes and cracked my neck, trying to come up with an answer.
"I'm in the ally behind the venue." I said, not lying to him. Lying would only make the situation a lot worse then it was.
"Okay, I'll be there in like a minute!" he said and before the line clicked, I could hear fans screaming his name. This was not going to turn out well.

I sat on the curb and waited, keeping my head in my hands. I didn't want to see Austin Carlile walk up to me, I didn't want to see his smiling face. "Chrissss." His voice came from around the corner, singing to me, calling my name. I sighed, it was now or never. I looked in front of me and stood up, facing the direction his voice was coming from.

He walked out from behind the wall, wearing a white v-neck and tight cut off jeans. He was beaming, absolutely glorious in all that was Austin Carlile. His tattoos covered his neck, his chest, and his right arm, and the color screamed out from behind his shirt. He came over to me, not even hesitating to say a word, and engulfed me in a hug. I started to laugh at him, unable to breathe, and hugged him back. All in all, I missed him. "Austin." I said his name when he let me go. He held me at arms length and gave me the once over.
"You look tired, worried, but happy. What happened while I was gone?" he asked, half amused. I didn't say anything, just smiled.
"I was worried, and I am tired, thanks for pointing it out." I said sarcastically, avoiding his question.
"Well come on then, the guys must be wondering where we are." He said, pulling me around and putting his arm around me, taking me into the venue.

I didn't know what the problem was in telling Austin about Shayley and me, I just felt like it wasn't the right time. I wanted to say something, to just blurt it out as he gushed to me about home and his family, about how easy it was to come back, but I couldn't. I wanted to be the one to tell my best friend about the love of my life, to tell him how happy one person could make me, but I couldn't. I guess I didn't know how.

They were all waiting. Jaxin, Jerry, Tino, Phil, and Shayley, all waiting for us. I walked in with Austin, his arm around me, and Shayley just watched us. I looked only at him, not the guys of the guys and their faces of determination. I ducked under Austin's arm and went straight for Shayley. I looked back at Austin, his smile was gone. He was just watching me as I sat on the couch next to Shayley, and he put his arm around me. Instantly, Austin turned red with anger. I just looked at him. "Mate, we have something to tell you." Jaxin said, treading on glass. Austin was puffing as he looked over to Jaxin. He breathed, inhale, exhale, looked back over to me once and then back to Jaxin. He put on a mask as soon as the emotion had come.
"Yeah?" he said. He continually looked back at me, but I guess I only noticed. "I'm so stoked to be back, you guys have no--" he started to say, but Jaxin held his hand up.
"We all have something to tell you." He said again and looked to Jerry, whom Austin just noticed. Austin looked over to where Jerry was sitting, and back to Jaxin.
"Jerry Roush? From Sky Eats Airplane?" he said, looking at Jaxin. I didn't know who the rhetorical question was geared at. "What's he doing here?" he asked, showing no emotion to the question.
"That's what we need to tell you Austin." Jaxin said, getting up and going to Austin. He didn't touch him, but got close enough. "I'm sorry, but with your health condition, we can't have you on. He came as a replacement, and he stuck. Sorry mate, we really are." He said and went to hug Austin. Austin flared on him, pushing him back and away from him.
"What is this shit?" Austin said, completely awestruck. He looked right at me, then back to Jaxin. "You guys are fucking kicking me out of the band?" he said and everyone was silent. We all watched him with careful eyes. "So you can't even answer me!" he screamed in Jaxin's face. He looked over to me. "Why couldn't you warn me? Why couldn't you fucking tell me? And you're fucking one of my best friends!" he said and got close to me. Shayley let go of me and stood up, nearly chest to chest with Austin.
"You're one of my bros, but I swear to God, if you touch her--" Shayley began his threat but Austin's snide remark came next.
"You'll what? Fuck me up?" he said with a smirk on his face. He reached over just enough to lightly smack my knee, making the comment all the worse. I couldn't see what Shayley's face looked like, but I did see him pull his arm back and punch Austin right in the face. I also saw Austin fall to the ground as the rest of the guys jumped from their spots to restrain the two men. "Fuck you Bourget! I'll kill you!" Austin screamed at him, jumping up as Phil and Tino grabbed him. Shayley didn't really need any restraints, he held himself together and calmed himself down. I stood up and grabbed his hand, making his breath even as Austin watched us. "Dumb whore! Trashy bitch!" Austin screamed at me, struggling with the two men holding him, and I looked away from the horrible unfolding scene in front of my eyes.

Phil and Tino managed to pull Austin away from the area, far enough that I couldn't hear his screams. I let go of Shayley's hand and sat down. The rest of the guys walked away from Shayley and went their separate ways, and I broke. My cries were silent as sobs raked my body and Shayley hushed me. "Why are you crying?" he said with a laugh. I shook my head, knowing if I tried to talk, my voice wouldn't hold its own. Shayley let me calm down, just holding me and stroking my hair.
"Like, what the fuck." I said when I knew I could speak. Shayley laughed at me. I laughed too, unable to contain my overflow of emotions. He sighed once we stopped together.
"Sorry I punched him." He said and I chuckled at him.
"Shayley Bourget, punching Austin Carlile. I wish I could've seen your face." I said, my voice highly amused. I could tell he was smiling at me, even if I couldn't see it. "I just want to go home." I whispered, knowing this wasn't the end of Austin, and it wasn't time to go home.