Watch You Take The Fall

The atmosphere in my hotel room was thick with tension. Silence swirled around the six of us as I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at my hands. For the first time since I’d met them, I felt uncomfortable around All Time Low and Flyzik. I couldn’t explain why, even if I wanted to.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” That was it. I didn’t want to answer questions, especially not that one. I kept my eyes locked on my intertwined hands as I fought to come up with a reasonable explanation. I failed.
“I don’t know.” That’s it, use answers that don’t require many words. That’s the way forward.
“Do you not trust us?” More silence filled the air. I couldn’t even think of anything to say. Of course I trusted them.
“I trust you.”
“Then why didn’t you tell us?”
“I don’t know.” My answers got quieter and quieter each time I was forced to utter one. Interrogation was not something I wanted right now.
“We could have helped.”
“No you couldn’t”
“We could have at least tried.”
“There’s nothing you could have done.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Don’t I? You’re right, I don’t know absolutely everything but I do know that there was nothing you could have done. Please, just stop. Can you leave me alone now?”
“We shoul-“
“No, come on guys. Leave her to it.” I glanced up to see who had said that, and met the eyes of Alex. He shepherded the other four to the door and turned to close it behind him. I thought he’d left when I dropped off the bed onto my knees and buried my head in my hands, feeling like it weighed a tonne. I couldn’t carry it anymore. Still no tears escaped as I knotted my fingers in my hair. Suddenly, an arm was around my shoulder and there was the dull sound of someone hitting the floor. Hesitantly, I leant slightly against the body next to me. That was all he needed. I was wrapped into a hug so tight that if I wasn’t already broken, I’d be shattered on the floor.
“It’s hard, I know it is. I’m not asking you to talk, I’m not asking you to explain. I just want you to know that there will always be someone here for you. No matter what time of day or night, no matter how stupid you think it sounds, there will always be someone here for you. I’m not just talking about me, that goes for all the band and crew, okay? We love you, even if we have a weird way of showing it sometimes. They weren’t trying to pressure you into saying anything or explaining before, they just don’t know how to act. Trust me when I say that we want to help you through this.” I couldn’t say anything. I was in shock. It was all too much to take in. My brain was overloading and would short circuit at any moment. Very few people had ever cared that much before.
“C’mon Sie” And then I was being gently lifted from the floor, my hands dropping to my sides. I was gently placed on the bed and I rolled onto my side, tucking myself into a tight ball. This was horribly reminiscent of when I got the news.
“I’ll leave if you want. Just remember what I said, okay?” I made no noise, but I tucked myself up tighter and scrunched the blanket between my hands. He had reached the door and was halfway out of it by the time I found my voice.
“Alex?”
“Sie?”
“Could you s-stay please? If it’s not too much trouble?” He didn’t make a noise, but I heard the door softly shut and footsteps towards the bed. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut as he climbed onto the bed beside me and placed one hand on top of mine.
“Always.”