Save your heart.

I went back in and waited for the concert to finish. Dakota and I, as we were at the back of the crowd, very close to the exit door, were the first ones to go out. We walked to another entrance to the venue to go backstage, where the guys where. On our way there, we talked a bit.

"So?" Dakota said.

"So what?" I replied.

"Are you feeling okay? Are you sad? What's happening inside your brain?" Dakota stopped and looked at me. We still had some time; the guys would go out and chat with the fans, take some photos with them and whatnot.

"I think I need to talk to John..." We arrived to the door but instead of going in, we sat down, our backs against the wall.

"That's good."

"Yeah, I though I was so over him" I sighed "but the truth is, I'm still in love, and always was."

"You've been behaving different these months..." Dakota confessed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's a delicate issue, you know...I wasn't gonna demand you to be the same person. He literally became your whole world, and then your world smashed against a brick wall. And then, I didn't know what to expect. I thought the worst. I thought you'd be absent again. I though I lost you again. And I didn't know what to do, Jessie." What she said made my eyes water a little.

"I love you Dakota." I said after some little time.

"Me too, Jessie."

"But should have told me something. I didn't know it had affected you this much."

"Collateral damage, they call it."

I really had no clue Dakota was affected that much. I could feel the pain in her words, how me, the only person physically present in her life, wasn't there for her. Garrett was touring, and I was somewhere else. I wasn't there for her. I didn't take care of her I promised Garrett. What a lame friend I am.

"Sorry." I said. "For being away." I chuckled. "You probably felt like Garrett was closer than I was."

"In fact, you were there. It was not like, you know, like when your parents passed away." She hesitated when she said that my parents passed away, but I nodded and she kept talking "It was more like you where faking it. Faking your happiness. Faking that you didn't miss John and faking that you were trying to pass the page. And like I said, I was the one who didn't know what to do. Therefore, I apologize."

"What? No! It was my fault!"

"Really? Are we going to start arguing now?" Dakota chuckled.

Suddenly, I saw a couple walking to the parking lot.

"Oh my God, Dakota, that's my brother and I didn't even remember he was coming!"

"Run Forrest, run!" She said. "I'll wait here."

I thumbed her up and ran towards my brother, calling his name.

"Hello there, Jess." He greeted me.

"Hello there, James." I turned to Kate and introduced myself. "You must be Kate, right? My name is Jessie, but you can call me Jess. I'm James' sister and it's really nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Jess." Kate said chuckling.

I talked to them not for a long time and James let me know he had to talk to me. I could tell that by the way he looked at me -we both thought we had telepathy when we were kids-. I guess he was worried. After all, he was my brother and saw that something happened between John and I; he was at the concert. Kate left because she had to change her shoes, she was wearing heels and couldn't walk anymore.

"Don't worry James." My brother wanted to walk her to the car.

"I'll be there right now." He said.

"Okay."

After making sure Kate couldn't hear us, James started talking again, but a little lower.

"The concert was great."

"Such a shame I haven't seen the whole set."

"But you were there wh-..."

"Yeah."

"We have to talk." He said and I nodded "You can come this week. And you can bring food if you want to."

"Okay, I see someone's a little bit needy on the fridge side." We both chuckled. "But yeah, I'll go around there on Tuesday or so."

"Great."

"Now run, you've got a damsel waiting for you." I smiled to him, and he smiled back.

"See you on Tuesday then!"

I walked back to the backstage door and Dakota stood up as I got closer.

"Ready to get in?" She asked.

"Yeah. You must be anxious, though."

"Kind of."

"Have I ever told you I love Garrett? And that I love you? And that I love you both so much? And that I want you to marry in the future?" I said as we walked in.

"You actually haven't." She said laughing.

"Well, now you know." I laughed, too.