This Is a Reason for Broken Wings

I admit, it was weird talking to Matt about how I wasn't ever expected to conceive a child; I had never told anybody about it apart from Lissa and Val. But eh, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

As the days went by the guys played their first couple of shows on the tour and I soon found out what sort of mayhem it actually was working at the merch table. The girls sort of gave me a very brutal crash course in what to do and how to run things and, thankfully, after a while I got used to it.

My general day consisted of waking up at the butt crack of dawn to sort and set up the merch, sit at the table helping out the people who wanted to buy shit, talking one of the guys roadies into watching the merch while I snuck off to go watch my brothers set, bull shitting with the guys once they got done with their set and came to join me at the merch table, packing everything up once the day was done, and finally going back to the bus wanting nothing more than to sleep for twenty-four hours straight.

It was cool, I guess, meeting new people and talking to the guys' fans. However, there were those few sour crabs here and there that would pop up, turning my 'pleasant' day around completely in the opposite direction.

I didn't care that they gave me trouble; trust me, I showed them what the fuck was up. But what I did care about was that if I didn't watch myself with how I dealt with them, I was liable to find myself in jail for the night.

And then there were the dead beat assholes I had to deal with. For the first two weeks I kept getting hit on by a lot of the other bands roadies, and not to mention some of the band members themselves, but they soon learned not to fuck with me because either I'd fuck them up or one of the guys would.

Now, here we were, entering the third week of the Warped Tour. Papa Gates had offered to watch the merch table for me because he said he didn't really feel like watching the guys that day so I was off, searching for their stage that they'd be playing on.

Finally I found it, flashing my pass to the security so they let me through around the back. I spotted a group of guys standing around and instantly recognized Johnny's mohawk.

Smirking to myself I walked up behind them and jokingly grabbed Johnny's butt, rushing off as he turned around. I laughed a bit as his eyes landed in horror on JB, who was the closet to him, thinking that he was the one who grabbed his butt.

"What's up with you?" JB asked, spotting Johnny's expression.

"That wasn't fucking cool." Johnny said, scooting away from him nervously.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You just grabbed my ass-ahhhh!"

Johnny jumped and turned around in midair when I grabbed his butt again.

"Lauren, don't do that." He said when he caught sight of me doubling over in laughter.

"What, you don't like it when I touch your ass Johnny?" I said, trying to sound hurt.

"Oh, well, actually I-"

"I'd prefer you not to answer that, Johnny." Zacky said, raising an eyebrow at him, causing everyone standing around the 'circle' to laugh.

Zacky grinned a bit, watching Johnny's cheeks turn a light shade of red, and then he turned his gaze to me. I walked over and stood next to him, wrapping my arms around his middle and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, giving me a kiss on the forehead.

"Aww, how sweet." Amber laughed, walking over to join our group.

"Yeah, a real Kodak moment." Johnny mumbled, still butt hurt about what Zacky said.

I swear that guy ...

"Hey, you're supposed to be at the merch table." Zacky said blankly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to watch your guys' set." I said. "Papa Gates said he'd watch the table for me."

"Oh, okay ... We're just waiting for the guys to finish setting up our stuff."

"Groovy."

Before long I was booted out of my spot by Amber so I drifted on down the line, coming to a stop in between Johnny and Matt, seeing as how they were the only two who didn't have a girl attached to them.

"Hey Lauren, let's go get something to drink." Matt said suddenly, grabbing a hold of my hand to lead me to where ever the hell it was that we could get drinks.

I turned to glance back at the guys and found Johnny giving us the evil eye while the rest of the guys were preoccupied with their better halves. Matt let go of my hand as soon as he finished leading us through some mob, allowing me to walk beside him.

"So ... " He trailed off, walking casually with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"So ... " I said, mocking him.

He turned and flashed me his - holy crap, I can't believe I'm saying this - adorable smile, making me feel all weird like inside.

"We're going to the bar tonight since we have the next two days off." He said, turning his eyes back to the front.

"Um ... Okay." I said slowly.

Great, I'm gonna be stuck all by myself again on the bus tonight. Every time the gang went out to the bar Zacky wouldn't let me go because 1) I'm underage and 2) he doesn't want me to touch any alcohol whatsoever. I've been pretty good about my drinking and my drugs. Of course I'm only human and I caved into my cravings a couple times. But hey, isn't not that big of a deal, is it?

"Yeah ... And you're invited." Matt continued.

I let out a little laugh. "I'm 'invited'?"

"Hell yes." He said, flashing me another grin.

"Wow. How'd you guys talk my brother into letting me go?"

"I don't know ... I just said maybe you'd want to go and he said sure since you've been on good behavior." He joked.

"Awesome." I laughed.

Finally we made it to our destination we grabbed some mountain dew. On the way back we started talking about some random things and Matt had to stop and use the bathroom. I stood out side the Porto potties, waiting for him so we could get back to the stage because chances were that they already had everything set up.

I noticed some dude watching me about twenty feet away and for some reason I felt a chill run down my spine. I didn't like the look about him, there was just something about him that really gave me the creeps.

"Hi." He said, making his way over to me. "Who might you be?"

I stared at him, not really wanting to reply because there was this really weird vibe coming off the dude.

"I'm, uh, Lauren." I said awkwardly, trying not to make eye contact with him.

He must have noticed this because he let out a little laugh which made goose bumps ripple down my arms. Fuck Matt, I thought to myself, hurry the fuck up.

"You're Zacky's sister, aren't you?" He asked, taking a step closer, resulting in me taking a step away from him.

I instantly froze when I felt myself back into somebody, preventing me from furthering myself from the creep anymore. I felt their hands rest on my bare shoulders, tightening their grip when I tried to turn around, making my heart pound in my throat. For the first time in what must have been a zillion years I was genuinely scared for my life.

I felt my body start to shake as their hands moved from my shoulders and down to my hips. Feeling their hands brush against my exposed skin I let out a piercing scream that had bloody murder written all over it, and turned around to punch whoever the fuck the creep was.

"Owwwwwchhhh, holy shit Lauren." Matt said, his voice muffled by his hands he was holding over his extremely blood nose.

"Oh fuck." I said, feeling my mouth drop open as I stared at him. "I-I-I'm so sorry." I said weakly, rushing into the Porto potty to grab some extra toilet paper.

Matt had his eyes closed as if that'd help him block out the pain.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry Matt." I said, pushing his hands away to press the toilet paper to his nose, applying pressure on the sides of his nostrils so that it'd stop, or at least slow, the bleeding.

"Dude, what the hell was what for?" He asked, sounding a bit funny because I was basically pinching his nose shut just then.

"I ... I didn't know who you were." I blushed. "I thought that maybe ... I don't know ... " I trailed off, glancing around for the really creepy motherfucker, to find that he had disappeared.

I looked back up at Matt who was giving me a look I couldn't read. I bit my lip, pulling the paper away to find that the blood had stopped running.

"There you go." I said quietly, tossing the paper away. "You might want to go wash your face off before we head back though." I said, leading him over to a water faucet.

Once he was done washing off his face, I washed my hands, wiping them dry on my jeans. I jumped once more when Matt placed his hand on my arm.

"Lauren, are you okay?" He asked, turning me to face him.

I sighed to myself, seeing the concern in his eyes.
"Yeah dude, I'm fine." I said, answering a bit too fast.

"Lauren, what is it?" He asked, stopping me from turning around.

"It's nothing really ... I just got really creped out by some dude." I mumbled, feeling somewhat like an idiot.

"Did he say something to you?" He asked, lowering his voice as he tightened his grip on my arm.

"No ... I just got a really bad vibe from him. That's all." I said.

"Oh, okay." He said, letting me go. "But ... If someone ever did say anything to you or whatever, you know I could take care of them for you ... If you wanted."

I stared up at him, a bit taken a back by his seriousness.

"Oh ... uh ... Thanks?" I said as we took off once again.

"I'm serious, Lauren. If someone every disrespected you or whatever, I'd kick their ass for you." He said, glancing sideways at me. "That is, if you didn't already." He added with a smirk.

I returned a smile but deep inside I was still feeling a bit shook up by that dude.

Eh, don't worry about it Lauren, I told myself. Chances are that you'll never see that guy again for as long as you live.