Last Train Home

Brian’s POV:

I stumbled out of the bar, Johnny, Arin, Matt, Jason, Zacky and his girlfriend, Gena, close behind me. Okay, I’d had enough to drink. It was time to head back to the bus.

We were all just a little bit worried about what we were going to find when we got back. We’d left Haley doing paperwork and Matt drinking, as usual… hopefully we’d find them doing the same thing when we got back.

“Taxi!”

The cab pulled over and we all piled in. I told him the address of the arena and then paid him when he dropped us off.

…Something wasn’t right. The lights were still on in the bus but I couldn’t see anyone sitting in the bunk area through the open window.

“MATT! GET OFF OF ME!” Haley screamed.

I ran up to the bus door, opening it as quickly as I could. Crap, crap, crap! I knew we shouldn’t have left them on their own together.

“IT’S YOUR FAULT THAT JIMMY’S GONE! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”

I ran into the bunk area to find that Matt had Haley pinned to one of the bunks and was slapping her every time she tried to say something.

“MATT! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!”

He looked up, glaring daggers at me. He stepped away from her though and she used the space to make her escape. She made a mad dash for the comfort of Johnny, Jason and Matt’s arms.

“Go get her cleaned up guys. Matt, come with me!”

I grabbed his arm and dragged him into the back room of the bus.

“What?”
“What the hell’s gotten into you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just in case you haven’t realized… That’s NATALIE out there. NATALIE, the girl who’s heart YOU broke. Jimmy’s not gone because of HER! She thought that she was doing the right thing when she left us. Plus, she was hurt, she was in so much pain.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s obvious. Just take one look at her and I mean take a GOOD look at her, not just a glance, really have a look at her. She’s not the same Natalie that we all love. She’s changed because YOU hurt her. I thought that you would WANT her back. All the whining you’ve done about how much you miss her.”
“Yeah, well, like you said Syn, people change. What about me? What about my feelings? She hurt ME too.”
“You know what Matt we’re all so sick of your shit! You gotta pull your act together man if you EVER want us to be friends like we used to.”

With that I stormed off, into the kitchen where Natalie sat, crying into Jason’s shirt while Gena rubbed her arm comfortingly. She looked up when I came in and I motioned for her to come over to me.

She threw her arms around my neck and I wrapped my own tightly around her waist.

“Hey, look at me. Let me see the damage.”

I lifted her head up and gently turned her head to the side to see the bright red handprint Matt had left on her cheek.

“It hurts less than this.” She said, holding her hand over her heart.
“I know Natalie. I know. He’s become a douche bag lately, even more than usual. I just hope that he realizes what he’s doing before it’s too late. Before everyone he knows leaves him.”

She pushed away from me then and stared into my eyes with a look of disgust on her face.

“What?”
“You’d seriously just ditch him when he needs you most?”
“When he’s being nothing more than a selfish egotistical bastard? Yeah.”
“I couldn’t. Not after seeing how much damage I’ve caused by doing it once.”
“Natalie, listen to me. What he is NOW… that’s not your fault. He did this to himself. He just pushed everyone away. He doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care about the guys, about his sister… he doesn’t give a flying fuck about the fans anymore… he needs to pull his act together.”
“Yeah, and so help me God I will FORCE all of you if I have to, to help me, help him through this. Believe it or not, I understand EXACTLY what he’s going through. He lost Jimmy… I know you ALL did but Jimmy was to him what Oli was to me! Believe me when I say losing someone THAT close to you fucking HURTS! Is he taking things a bit too far? Yeah, he is. But I don’t care if it’s the last thing I do, I’m gonna stick by him and get him through this.”

They all nodded in agreement and so I breathed out a sigh of relief and headed to mine and Johnny’s bunk. I was exhausted now and all I wanted was to get some sleep but the last thing I heard before sleep took me, was the sound of Matt mumbling to himself over and over. ‘I miss you Jimmy, Natalie I’m so sorry.’