Crossroads

*Lucy's POV*

I opened my eyes to the sun bright in my room. Matt was no where to be found however on my beside table sat my phone, a sticky note pulled up with a note written on it.

Lucy,
Went to play basketball with the guys before we head into the studio. I’ll probably be back home late. Stop by the studio if you want to. Love you.
-Matt

I yawned and sat up glancing at the clock. It was a little after 9 in the morning and much earlier than I had been up in a long time. The choice of whether or not I was going to be going back to sleep was non existent. Despite the fact that I’d gone to bed extremely late I was no longer tired.

The events of the previous night had been hectic to say the least. The creeper that had been stalking Joanna and I had been caught when the dumb ass had had the balls to come up to the door. That bit was a tad hazy due to my inebriated condition but I remembered the after events.

Zacky was cheating on Joanna with the mother of what was apparently his son. Unable to take the fact that her boyfriend was lying cheating asshole she had left. Thanks to the text Max had sent me she was safe with him and Craig at their beach house.

The chaos hadn’t ended with that though. Aden and Brian had decided that they should move back in at 10 at night because apparently Jude didn‘t sleep well since he wasn‘t in his crib. That had entailed going over to Papa Gate’s and Suzie’s house and moving all of Jude’s stuff back home. The whole charade had lasted until 2 in the morning.

Sighing I climbed out of bed I grabbed a pair of jeans, a Cupcake Cult t-shirt and headed to the bathroom. After a quick shower I dried my hair and pulled it into a ponytail before swiping on some eyeliner.

On my way back to my room I heard Jude cooing. Smiling I stuck my head in the door to see Aden sitting on the floor playing with him. She looked wrecked. Her hair was messy and she had dark circles under her eyes. I knew it was mixture of Jude not sleeping well at Papa Gate’s and the fact she had been worried as fuck and probably losing a lot of sleep over the fact there was a psycho hunting down 2 of her friends and could come for her and her son any day.

“Hey.” I said walking over and sitting down with them, Jude giving me a toothless smile.

“Hey…how’d you sleep?” she asked.

“Better than you…you look dead on your feet.” I replied.

She gave a small laugh, “I’m fine.”

“No you’re not. You’re tired as fuck and I can see it in your face. Why don’t you let me take Jude for the day? That way you can get some sleep and maybe go down and see Brian at the studio later.” I said.

“Are you sure? I mean he’s kind of a handful.” Aden replied.

“Aden…I’m sure. C’mon you know I’m great with kids. Besides all I’m not really planning on doing much of anything today beside take some more of Joanna’s stuff to her. Besides you know you could use the sleep.” I replied.

Aden sighed, “You’re right. I’m completely dead right now. Alright you can take him for the day. His diaper bag is in the living room on the couch and there are bottles in the fridge.” she said standing up.

“Alright. I promise you he’ll be fine. Now go sleep.” I said shooing her out of the nursery.

“Okay kids it’s you and me today. You wanna go see Jojo?” I asked as I picked him up.

He cooed and clapped his hands so I took that as a yes. I laid him down and changed his diaper before settling him on my hip so I could find him something to wear. From his drawers I pulled out a pair of jeans and a yellow t-shirt with a guitar on it. I put him in his clothes before putting a pair of mini-Converse sneakers on his feet.

Once he was dressed I carried him downstairs and settled him in his playpen before retrieving his diaper bag and taking it to the kitchen to fill it with bottles. When that was done I headed upstairs to grab some stuff for Joanna.

I dug out one of her old tour suitcases and began to fill it with things I knew she’d need. I filled it with jeans and t-shirts first before piling in pajamas. I had just grabbed her laptop and put her favorite guitar into a case when there was movement behind me. I turned and saw Zack standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m getting some things for Joanna. What are you doing here? I thought you were all playing basketball then heading to the studio.” I replied turning back around and shutting the case.

“I came home to take a shower. So she’s not coming back?” he asked.

“After how you fucked her over? I hope she leaves your stupid ass for someone who deserves her. I don’t blame her either.” I replied.

“Shut up Lucy you don’t know what the fuck you’re even talking about.” he replied.

“I don’t? Who the fuck do you think it was that was comforting her every time you accused her of fucking Gabe? Hmm? Sure as hell wasn’t your ass. What’s even worse is that in the end YOU’RE the one that cheated.” I said with a bitter laugh as I zipped up the suitcase.

“Lucy you need to fucking stay out of this. It’s between Joanna and I.” He said.

“And what if I don’t? Are you going to fucking hit me again?” I spat.

“You know damn well that was an accident!” Zacky yelled.

“Whatever you say. Now if you’ll excuse me I have things to take to your EX girlfriend.” I said and picked up the suitcase and the guitar and shoved my way past him.

I loaded the things into the car before retrieving Jude and his diaper bag. I hooked him in the car seat I had in my car (we had one in each car) and gave him a bottle because he was getting fussy. Once he was settled I got in and we headed to Craig and Max’s.

On the way the Beastie Boys’ ‘Fight For Your Right To Party’ came on. I began to sing along and in my rearview mirror I caught sight of Jude in the small mirror the reflected him so I could see him while driving, laughing as I sang. On the way there I spotted a Starbucks. I grabbed coffee for Joanna, Max, Craig and myself before heading back out on the road.

We reached the beach house in no time and I beeped three times so that someone could come help me get the stuff from the back. A moment later Max came walking out with Craig and Joanna behind him.

“I brought you some more of your shit.” I smiled.

“Oh my god! I LOVE YOU!” Joanna grinned as she pulled out her guitar and grabbed her coffee.

“And who does this belong to?” Craig asked bouncing Jace on his hip.

“That would be our friend Aden’s. I offered to give her a break today. She’s really tired.” I replied.

“What’s his name?” Craig asked.

“Jude.”

“Well aren’t you adorable?” Craig smiled and Jude smiled back at him.

Max, Joanna and I carried everything inside and Craig took Jude.

“God I miss Leila.” he said as he played with Jude a few moments later.

“Your daughter right?” Joanna asked.

“Yeah. She lives with her mom in Phoenix and I see her every few weeks.” he replied.

After that silence filled the room for a few moments before I noticed something. The radio was on in the background and I recognized the song. It was one of ours called ‘The Darkest Dream’. Smiling I jumped up and blasted the radio.

Joanna smiled and jumped up starting to play air guitar. Lexi’s voice filled the room and when my bits came in I screamed them at the top of my lungs. Max thrashed about the living room fingering the bass parts and Craig propped Jude up on the couch and began to headbang. Jude was laughing like crazy the entire time.

When the song ended we all collapsed laughing.

“You guys are pretty fucking wicked.” Max said as he sipped his coffee.

“Thanks.” we both replied at the same time.

“Yeah when are you guys going on tour again? I’d love to get a chance to check you guys out live.” Craig said.

“Actually we have a show coming up late next month.” I replied.

“We do?” Joanna replied whipping her head in my direction.

“Yeah…that festival up in Seattle….remember?” I asked.

“Holy shit how did I forget?” she said.

“Uh…creepy stalker and asshole boyfriend?” I replied.

“True. God I can’t wait. I miss being on stage.”

“We will definitely have to come check you out.” Max replied.

“Hey lets go for a walk! I’m tired of sitting here.” Craig said suddenly.

“Sounds good.” I replied.

“Well then to the beach we go.” Max smiled.

I grabbed the baby carrier from Jude’s diaper bag and clipped it on, putting Jude inside. We headed down to the beach and walked for awhile talking about our upcoming show and things like that. Soon Jude fell asleep against my chest and I decided it was time to head back up to the house.

When we got back I laid Jude on Craig’s bed since it was closest to the living room. I propped pillows up around him so he wouldn’t roll off and set up the baby monitor I’d stashed in the diaper bag just in case.

“We’re going to store…you want anything?” Joanna asked when I walked back out from the bedroom.

“Um…Diet Coke?” I asked.

“Sure thing.” Joanna nodded and her and Craig left.

Max and I settled down on the couch and started watching Criminal Minds. About twenty minuets later there was a knock on the door. Max answered it and returned a few minuets later with Brian and Jimmy flanking him.

“Hey Luce…we came to get Jude before we head to the studio…Aden’s missing him like crazy.” Brian said.

“Oh! He’s in Craig’s room. C’mon and I’ll get him for you.” I said and walked to the bedroom with Brian.

I gently lifted Jude up and handed him to Brian who cradled him in his arms. It was a sweet sight. Brian with his tattooed arms and eyeliner holding his son who snuggled closer into his chest the moment Brian touched him. We walked out and I handed Jimmy the diaper bag and told them goodbye.

Once the door was shut behind me I flopped onto the couch next to Max.

“I’ve seen this one.” he said staring at the TV.

“So have I.” I replied.

“Wanna do something a little more fun?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“Sure.” I smiled and Max got up and headed to his room.

He returned a while later with a baggy of Oxys. He cleared off the glass topped coffee table and began to crush and line up the powder. I sat down on the other side of the table and looked at Max.

“This is going to be a little bit more than you did the other night but you should be fine.” he smiled and handed me a bit of straw.

I snorted 2 lines, the familiar burning then a few minuets later the wash of euphoria.

“Amazing huh?” Max laughed after he had done his lines.

“Fuck. Yes.” I replied.

He laughed and walked over to the couch. I stood and joined him, resting my head in his lap. We sat there and Max played with my curls. We talked but for the life of me I can’t tell you what about just that sometime in there we ended up on the floor.

Sometime later the door opened and a few moments later Joanna’s voice called out from somewhere in the house.

“We’re home!!!”

“Hi!” Max and I replied in unison.

Craig appeared over the back of the couch and his face paled, “Oh fuck.”

“What happened?” I asked looking around.

A few seconds later Joanna appeared, “Lucy….look at me.” she said kneeling down beside me and grabbing my face.

“Hi.” I giggled looking up at her.

“Lucy….where is Jude?” she asked.

Jude? Who was Jude? Suddenly it hit me. Aden’s baby.

“He’s not here.” I replied.

“I know. He’s not in the bedroom where he was when I left. Where is he now?” she asked calmly.

“He took him.” I replied looking at her.

“Who took him?” Joanna asked her voice rising.

“The guy…with the arms…” I said.

“Okay but what guy?” she asked

“The guy with the hair and the face…and the arms…holding Jude….holding…” I trailed trying to remember the name.

“He was holding Jude? Lucy do you remember his name?”

“Uh…you know him…the guy…the arms…Jude…uh…Daddy…” I replied.

“Brian? Did Brian take Jude?” she asked.

“Yeah! That’s him!” I replied with a laugh.

“Thank god!” she said exhaling.

“THANK YOU GOD!” I screamed and Max burst out laughing.

“Lucy were you like this when they were here?” Joanna asked looking at me again.

“Uh…yes…wait….no….no…after.” I replied.

“Good. Look lets get you and Max to bed okay?” Joanna asked.

“Bed?” I asked.

“Yes…bed….‘leepy poo.” she replied and tried to pull me up but when she couldn’t she enlisted Craig’s help.

“C’mon Lucy.” Craig said and picked me up.

“Holy fuck! I’m flying!” I screamed.

“Yeah…flying c’mon.” Craig laughed.

A few minuets later Craig laid me down and a few minuets later Craig walked back through the door half carrying Max. He laid Max down beside me and pulled the blankets up around us. A few moments later he flipped off the light and left.

I turned over and curled up next to Max who held me close, burying his face in my hair. Soon we were both out.

*Joanna's POV*

I closed the door behind me as I followed Craig into the hallway. I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “They can’t keep this up. I mean, every once in a while is fine, trust me, I like to let go every now and then too but, they are getting out of control. Those are our best friends Craig, we have to do something.” I said looking at him.

“I’m not his parent Joanna.” He said, helplessness and frustration coating his words. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I know what will help Lucy get her shit together.” I said pulling out my phone.

“Who are you calling?” he asked rather urgently.

“The one person who will get her ass in check.” I replied as I dialed the number.

“Hey Joanna.”

“Matt. I need your help.”

“Whoa. What’s wrong?” he asked concerned.

“Your girlfriend. She’s getting out of control. I can’t keep saving her ass!” I said starting to get loud, my New York accent getting thick and growing more colorful. “I refuse to cover for her. I’m not looking to be a snitch but this is going affecting her health along with her relationships with people! Help me set her ass straight!”

He was silent for a moment, “What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Oh come on Matt! Are you really that oblivious?!” I yelled.

“Well, Zee did tell me about the pot in Vegas. I let that slide. It was just a little weed.” He replied.

“YEAH! And what about the Oxy’s she’s been sucking up her nose every night to sleep! You know I found her out on the back porch, ASLEEP, when the psychotic fuck was still loose?! Yeah! I covered her ass then! To be quite honest, I don’t know if Oxy’s and weed is all she’s limiting herself to. All I know is her ass needs to be straightened out before something bad happens!”

All was silent for a moment. I couldn’t hold back any longer, “You know what Matt, don’t make me do this alone. I’ve already lost one important person this week don’t make me lose another.” I said hanging up the phone before sliding it back into my pocket. All I could do now is hope everything turned out well and hope I wouldn’t lose my best friend.