This Deafening Silence

When I woke up from our short group power nap, I was alone. Well, not alone…someone was running their fingers through my hair. I grinned at the feeling of that familiar female body flush against my back since we were both lying down on the couch in the backstage lounge. God, I’ve missed it so much over this tour. “Who let you back here?” I demanded playfully.

Maddie laughed, pressing a kiss to my neck. “Zack let me in with Bailey.”

“Oh…figures,” I sighed before turning around and hugging her tightly. “Hey there, gorgeous.”

Maddie only giggled, burying her face in my chest. I smiled, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “It’s so good to have you home,” Maddie sighed, slipping her arms around my waist.

“It’s good to be home,” I added, covering my mouth as I yawned and rubbed my eyes. “You’re watching the show from side stage, right?”

“Of course!” said Maddie, sitting up now to stretch. She hadn’t changed too much after rehab. In fact, she looked a lot better. Tonight, she was absolutely radiant. I loved it when she wore dresses, because she didn’t wear dresses often. This dress was perfect on her. But I was pretty biased.

“I think you should get on stage now,” Maddie sighed, grabbing my hands and trying to pull me to my feet. “Alex…come on,” Maddie laughed, pulling insistently.

“Five more minutes… Hey!” I complained when I fell to the floor with a thud. I had to do a double take of Maddie. She wasn’t that strong before!

Maddie laughed, but I did finally get up, rubbing my side as I did so. “Y-You should get ready,” Maddie whispered when I held her close, our lips nearly touching.

“I’m not ready without my good luck kiss,” I told her with a smile, leaning down to capture her lips in mine. I felt like I was being really aggressive with the kiss at first, but it was just, I just missed her so much. It had been over a year since we’d seen each other last. I was a little…um, excited to be kissing her again after so long. I was glad Maddie just rolled with it.

“Alex,” Maddie gasped out when she broke the kiss a few minutes later, pushing the straps of her dress back up her shoulders and pulling her dress back down. Guess I let my hands wander a little more than I should have right now. “Later,” Maddie tried to say firmly, but she did half moan when I took her ear between my teeth, gently, playfully biting it. “L-Later!”

“Later,” I repeated firmly, draping my arm around her shoulders and walking out of the lounge with her.

“That was quick,” Jack scoffed, and I frowned. He was still pretty messed up after Taylor, though, so I let his snide remark slide this time around. He really needed to tone it down. Rian hit the back of Jack’s head with his drum stick, so Jack grudgingly shut up.

I walked Maddie backstage and we checked out the crowd from there. Home shows were always the best. The venue was beyond packed. I was excited for tonight. After one last quick kiss from Maddie, we went onstage, starting with Lost in Stereo. Our set was a decent length. Not that I didn’t enjoy the show, but I was dying to be with my Maddie-bear again.

The crowd had so much energy, and it was like all that energy reached a peak when we started to play Dear Maria. We liked to end sets with this song. I got up on one of the speakers to sing and see the crowd better. I was about to hop off it when I slipped or tripped or some other shit.

My head slammed into one of the overhead speakers and the world blacked out. When I came to a few seconds later, Flyzik was trying to get me on my feet and they were still playing the outro of Dear Maria. I finished singing the song, but, man, was I fucked up.

I waved and smiled at the crowd, but I wish that didn’t just happen to me…