The Punchline to the Joke Is Asking

I was backstage with my boys before their set, caught up in all their pre-show hype.
As usual, Jimmy and I started throwing glitter at Matt as he put in his vampire fangs, snickering when he growled at us.
“What would you do if I actually bit you?” Matt growled, having caught me when I tried to run away, and now holding me tightly against him.
“Cry until you felt bad.” I smiled at him innocently, and he released me with a sigh.
“I hate you.”
“Love you, too.” I hugged him, something inside me panicking. Did he mean that?
Relief washed over me when he hugged me back. “Yeah, yeah. You know you’ve got us all whipped, Jailbait.”
I giggled. “Yup.”
He smiled down at me, and there was something in his expression that sent a red flag up in my head. I only worried more when he took off his favorite hat and dropped it onto my head, tipping it backwards like he wore it.
Syn hugged me next. “As great at you are, you don’t hold the neck of your guitar right. Keep your thumb behind it, not on top.” Before I could reply, he pushed me into Johnny’s waiting arms.
“Shrimp, you need to start eating so you can get big and strong like the rest of us.”
Zacky was next, and I was very worried by then.
“Just roll with it, Jailbait. Everything works out.” Then he passed me to Jimmy, who I immediately clung to.
“Why does everything sound like ‘goodbye’?” I whispered in fear, meeting his sad blue eyes.
“Because it might be. We don’t want you to run, but we think it’s better to be safe than sorry.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but that was okay. I could let him leave it at that and be happy.
“I… I don’t want to run from you guys. I like it here.” I buried my face in his chest, barely able to hear the reassuring beat of his heart over the crowd, demanding their dose of A7X.
“We want you to stick around, too.” Jimmy mumbled. “But you need to see Pete again and settle things. Just… please be here when we come offstage, okay?”
He was pouting, but this one wasn’t his usual playful one. This one was for real.
I nodded, wide eyed.
“Promise?” Jimmy knew what he was asking. I never promised anything unless I was 100% sure I could follow through. I’d never broken a promise in my life.
I swallowed, almost choking on the lump in my throat.
“I promise.”
Jimmy smiled fleetingly at me, then kissed my forehead and followed the guys onstage.

Throughout their set, I couldn’t focus on their music. I kept waiting for someone to come and drag me away for letting my guard down.
And I couldn’t even run.

When they finally stumbled offstage, laughing, Jimmy’s face lit up and he hugged me, picking me up and spinning me around.
“You stayed!” He grinned, putting me down but still hugging me.
“Of course. I promised.” I mumbled.
“Jailbait might have us whipped, but I think we’ve got her, too.” Matt laughed, swatting down the brim of his hat, which I was still wearing. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on taking it off, especially if Pete came for me.
I grinned. “I’d call it even, then.”
“Relax.” Jimmy said quietly to me. “All we told Pete is that we’d be swinging by later to discuss something important. We just wanted to say goodbye on the off chance he came to see us and found you.”
I couldn’t help but relax like Jimmy said. “Man, I was freaked. I was waiting for the guys to like, jump me or something.”
Jimmy snickered at my paranoia.
“Laugh all you want, if I wasn’t this jumpy, I’d’ve died years ago.” He shut up after that.

Instead of heading for the hotel like we usually did, we took the tour bus to Pete’s house. I spent the whole way there nervously playing my guitar, trying to play faster and more complicated melodies with each passing minute, until I broke a string.
I stared in shock at the wire, then the small cut dripping blood on the back of my hand. I just blinked, not understanding what had happened for a minute.
“Fuck.” I finally scowled, fishing through my guitar case for the extra strings I always kept on me. That was usually where all the money I earned went- I had a million extra strings hidden away in there.
“That doesn’t happen a lot, does it?” Syn asked, amused by my overreaction.
“Five years ago, December, I was in Central Park.” I growled. “I broke a string because Kyle was talking to me while I was tuning.”
“Oooh.” Johnny, Matt, and Jimmy snickered together.
“Was Kyle being sweet on our little Jailbait?” Zacky snickered as I started tuning the new string.
“No. He was threatening me, actually.” I looked up, satisfied with my tuning job, to see the guys scowling. “Oh, stop it. I can take care of myself.”
“We know.” Zacky sighed, his face softening.
“Doesn’t mean we like it.” Jimmy winked at me, and I couldn’t help but grin back.

“Jailbait, we’re here.” Syn said quietly as the bus rolled to a stop outside a very familiar house.
I glanced out the window and felt my heart jump into my throat, thudding in a way I wasn’t sure I liked.
“They’re… all of them. That’s Gerard’s car… and Brendon’s and Bill’s and Frankie’s…” I mumbled, swallowing nervously.
“We didn’t know everyone would be here.” Zacky mumbled apologetically. It was the first time I’d heard him speak unclearly, like he wasn’t sure of himself.
I set my shoulders, putting my guitar down and leaving it on the couch as I stood up.
“Don’t worry, Zacky; everything will work out. It always does.”