Bones We Can Fix

It was half way through All Time Low’s set that it happened. I was almost at the barrier with my best mate Vee and as Alex jumped from the stage, predictably the audience surged forwards. I felt it happen as I was knocked sideways. I went over on my ankle. At first I thought I had just twisted it, but as I tried to regain balance and put weight on it a stabbing pain shot through my foot and my ankle. I couldn’t put any weight on it. I couldn’t move it. I felt the tears of pain rushing to my eyes.

‘Vee!’ I yelled over the music. ‘My ankle… I’ve got to go.’

I don’t know if she heard me but as I gritted my teeth and forced my way forward to grab the attention of a security guard, she followed.

I told the guard what happened and he pulled me and Vee over the barrier proceeding to carry me off to first aid. I couldn’t believe it. I had never been to America before, in fact I’d never been to a festival before, or broken a bone before. I was so annoyed. Me and Vee loved All Time Low; them, You Me At Six and Paramore were pretty much the reason we were there and we were now missing half their set.

‘I’m afraid we are going to have to call an ambulance,’ said the first aider, pulling me out of my frustrated daydream.

I sighed a sigh of annoyance. Vee was sitting on the other side of the room looking at me sympathetically.

Just as the first aider reached for her phone a slender blonde haired guy burst into the tent.

‘Can I help?’ the first aider asked clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

‘Uh, yeah, sorry,’ the blonde stammered. ‘Max was dicking about and he’s cut his arm, we kinda want someone to check it’s not infected or anything.’

Me and Vee exchanged a glance and she rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. It had to be Max Helyer, didn’t it? The nutter. I always wound Vee up, saying her and Max had been separated at birth, they were so similar. I was actually surprised I had ended up in first aid not her.

‘Can I just phone an ambulance for this young lady, then I’ll come with you?’
‘Sure, I doubt his arm will fall off,’ smiled Dan Flint.

The first aider didn’t seem to appreciate the humour as she huffed, turning back to her phone.

‘What’s happened to you then, darling?’ he asked me.

‘Broken ankle,’ I muttered. I didn’t care who was asking or what band they were in, I was in a foul mood.

‘Shit! What a way to spend a festival,’ Dan replied sitting next to me.

‘Really?’ I half snapped.

‘Ignore her,’ said Vee. ‘She’s normally lovely but get between her and her music and she’ll flip.’

Dan smiled again. ‘Understandable. What are your names then?’

‘Vee,’ replied Vee. ‘Well, Vanessa actually, but no-one apart from my dad ever calls me that.’

‘Fair enough,’ he replied, and then looked to me.

‘Sienna,’ I replied.

‘Nice,’ Dan nodded. ‘I’m Dan.’

‘You don’t say,’ I murmured.

I didn’t mean for anyone to hear but he clearly did as his brow furrowed.

‘You’re from You Me At fucking Six! I think I know what your name is!’ I said in response to his look.

‘Yet again, Dan, you can ignore her!’ Vee said before turning to me. ‘Be thankful this didn’t happen halfway through their set!’

I sighed. I knew she was right. I should have considered myself lucky I had managed to see You Me At Six and half of All Time Low (the half where they played my two favourite songs, Time Bomb and Poppin’ Champagne) but I was still going to miss all of Paramore’s set, wasn’t I?

It was then that we heard the sirens.

‘Damn it,’ said Dan, standing up, ‘I completely forgot about Max! Look, if they let you come back, do you wanna hang out back stage with me and the boys? You might be safer than being out in the crowds.’

‘I guess. It’s not like I’m gonna be able to see Paramore anyway,’ I complained.
Then Dan turned to Vee, ‘I’ll tell the guards to let you two back in if you can, tell them you’re with You Me At Six and they’ll bring you to us.’

He winked then. Something that should have cheered me up, especially given how blue his eyes were, but it didn’t. Nothing much did.

Once at the hospital they x-rayed my ankle to confirm what I already knew, it was broken. Brilliant! They said it wasn’t too bad and should only take a month to heal if I didn’t put any weight on it. They then strapped it up with one of those removable casts and gave me some crutches and some painkillers, telling me there was nothing more they could do. Then we returned to Warped.

We approached the back stage area, just like Dan had told us to.

‘We’re with You Me At Six,’ said Vee.

‘Names?’ asked the guard.

‘Vee and Sienna,’ she said.

‘Ok, friends of Dan’s, are you?’ he asked as he started to lead us to them.

‘Kinda,’ said Vee.

It wasn’t until we got there that I actually said anything.

‘Hey girls!’ said Dan as we walked over. ‘They let you come back, then?’

‘No,’ I said matter-of-factly.

‘Are you being sarcastic or...?’ said Dan.

‘No,’ I said again. ‘They genuinely told me not to come back. So I jumped in a cab and came straight here. The broken ankle has ruined things enough, without being told I can’t come back and hang with you guys.’

‘Well, if you’re lucky...’ Dan started.

‘DANIEL? YOU’LL BE LATE!’ came a voice.

Dan looked round. ‘Ok, that’s my manager and I’m supposed to be doing press at the moment,’ he said, pretending to look guilty. ‘JOSH?’ he yelled at the bus. ‘JOSH! WE HAVE GUESTS, LOOK AFTER THEM!’ Then he turned back to us, ‘Really sorry, I’ll be back!’

And with that Dan disappeared.

‘Hey!’ came a chirpy voice from behind us.

We turned to see Josh Franceschi poking his head out of the tour bus.

‘Come on in,’ he said gesturing for us to join him.

I struggled up the stairs and Josh told me to sit down straight away. We made all the necessary introductions, me not talking much, but managing not to be rude. Just as we began to slip into a natural conversation, a small, energetic, shrieking young man bounded onto the bus.

‘And how much caffeine have you had then?’ Josh asked as Max slumped on the chair next to him, before starting to fidget again.

‘I dunno,’ he said casually. ‘A couple of coffee’s and some energy drinks.’

Josh put his face in his hands in exasperation.

‘Come on! It’s the Warped vibe!’ Max said, a large grin on his face.

Me and Vee, yet again exchanged a look, each of us smiling slightly as we heard the word ‘vibe’.

‘Oh, hi,’ said Max, noticing us. ‘You must be Dan’s friends? I’m Max.’

‘I’m Sienna,’ I said.

‘Vee,’ she smiled, waving. ‘You’re arm didn’t fall of then?’

‘Nah, they just cleaned it and wrapped it up,’ he said waving round his bandaged forearm.

I noticed Vee staring slightly, probably at all the tattoos. He was only wearing a t-shirt so you could see his sleeve. Vee had always had a thing for tattoos, having one herself she found others’ fascinating.

The three of us then began talking; Vee and Max pretty much carried the conversation. It wasn’t too long though before Dan returned.

‘Sorry about that!’ he said strolling onto the bus. ‘Bloody interviews! Anyway, who wants a drink?’ he asked heading to the fridge.

We all gave our orders and Dan obliged.

‘Ladies first,’ he said, giving me and Vee our drinks first. ‘So, I think I was half way through saying something before I had to rush off.’

‘Yes, you were actually,’ said Vee, over pronouncing her words. Max was rubbing off on her, and Dan had just given her a Monster. This wasn’t going to end well!

‘Well, I don’t know if you know or not but You Me At Six and Paramore are pretty good mates and I’ve had a word with some people, how would you like to watch Paramore from side of stage?’

‘Oh my God, Dan!’ I squealed. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Dead serious.’

‘Thank you so much! I would jump up and hug you but...’ I glanced down at my encased ankle.

‘That’s fine, you can owe me a hug,’ Dan smiled.

Half an hour later someone started banging on the bus door and Josh got up to see who it was.

‘Hey you! We’re off to play, you guys coming now or what?’ said a voice with a thick Tennessee accent.

‘We sure are,’ smiled Josh and then turned to the rest of us. ‘Alright then girls, Pa-ra-more!’

Vee screamed and began to run off the bus closely followed by Max. Dan then helped me get up and ready with my crutches and we headed off the bus too.

‘Right, do I get that hug yet?’ said Dan.

I simply smiled and hugged him as we turned to see Hayley Williams.

‘How you doing?’ she asked me.

‘I’ve been better!’ I replied, stating the obvious, and we all trooped off towards the stage.

Once Paramore were on and performing I sat down, unfortunately, but there was no way I was sitting through Misery Business! I had Dan one side of me and Josh the other while Vee and Max danced around, no doubt burning off the caffeine. It was amazing. As much as I would have loved to have been standing out in the crowd going proper crazy, it was better to be here than missing out completely.

As Misery Business started Hayley called Josh out to do some extra vocals as he sometimes did and I stood up, with the help of crutches and despite Dan’s protests. It was amazing, as I expected and afterwards I got to talk to all of Paramore and then Dan invited both me and Vee back to the bus again.

When we got there, Chris and Matt were sitting there with a girl I didn’t recognise.

Dan explained why there were two random girls with him, one of whom was on crutches, and then made the introductions. It turns out the other girl was Matt’s girlfriend, Jessica, as I could have guessed as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Once again Dan headed to the fridge, throwing out beer for the guys, another Monster for Vee and coke for me and Jessica. I rolled my eyes at Vee and buried my face in my hands.

‘Seriously, Vee?’ I asked as she opened the can.

She simply shrugged and sat down next to Max. I couldn’t believe how close the two of them seemed already. As the conversation began, we began to learn more about each other. It turned out me and Jessica had quite a lot in common, we liked all the same music, television shows, comedians and films, and the two of us detached from the main conversation and started recommending various DVDs and albums for the other to buy.

Suddenly, Vee and Max jumped up and ran off the bus. I sighed and twisted myself on the sofa to watch them out of the window. I was so annoyed. How come she got to come back here and just run around, enjoying all the backstage space, while I was stuck with an ankle in cast and nothing to do but sit and talk to what was essentially a group of strangers. Dan obviously noticed the look on my face as he leant over and placed a hand on my knee.

‘You ok?’ he asked me.

‘I guess,’ I said.

I knew I must have been coming across as really ungrateful, but I just didn’t really know what to do with myself. I wanted some space to myself, just to be able to think clearly about what was going on, but at the same time I didn’t want to have to be alone, or miss anytime that could be spent with You Me At Six.

‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ I said, standing up and reaching for my crutches.

Josh stood to help me and pass my crutches over and I snapped. ‘I think I can pick up two sticks of metal by myself! It’s my ankle that’s injured not my fucking hands!’

I knew I was going to regret that as I saw Josh look down and sink back into his seat. I stepped off the bus to sit on one of the plastic chairs by where Vee and Max were messing around together. She noticed however and walked over.

‘Hey, See,’ she said, a huge smile on her face and her cheeks slightly flushed from all the exercise. ‘This is brilliant! Can you believe we are actually hanging out with You Me At Six?’

‘Brilliant? Really? Are you actually being serious?’ I said, my temper, yet again, getting the better of me. ‘The reason we are back here is because of me and the fact that I have injured myself, yet you are out here messing around with the guy who is apparently your fucking soul mate and more important than your best friend, who is stuck on a tour bus with a load of people who are technically strangers! You have no idea how painful and uncomfortable my ankle is right now!’

‘Right, I’m just going to leave you to your thoughts. Of course I’m upset for you, I know it can’t be fun having a broken ankle, but I’m sorry I wanna make the most of this. You’re just in a bad mood,’ said Vee walking away.

Part of me just wanted to retort, tell her that if she cared that much she wouldn’t just run off with Max again, but, thankfully, the rational part of me won, so I just sat, head buried in my hands and tried desperately hard not to cry. I knew I needed another painkiller; I just couldn’t be bothered to move.

Then, I felt a hand on the top of my back and jumped slightly.

‘Sorry,’ said Dan as I looked up into his clear blue eyes. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were ok? You were really short with Josh just now, but he’s only trying to help you.’

‘I know,’ I said, as the tears finally fell. ‘I just can’t believe this happened. This is not how I had planned on meeting You Me At Six for the first time.’

I felt so guilty. I knew Josh was just being nice, and I didn’t want to make him feel bad. Little did I know that when the guys had seen Vee leave me, Josh had stood to come and make sure I was ok but remembering how I had spoken to him, sat again, leaving Dan to come out. Thankfully, Dan didn’t tell me this, otherwise I would have been even more upset.

‘Sienna, why don’t you come back to the bus...’ Dan started.

‘I just want to sit on my own,’ I retorted.

‘If you listen to me,’ Dan said, looking me straight in the eye. ‘Why don’t you come to the bus, take some more painkillers and just sit in the back lounge, maybe try and get some sleep?’

I sighed and nodded. Dan was seriously the perfect person for me to have around, he didn’t lose patience with me and walk off and nor was he offended by me. He stood me up and helped me back to the bus and into the back lounge, leaving me there to get my tablets. I was surprised, however, when it wasn’t Dan that came back.

‘Josh?’

He simply smiled and nodded, handing me a glass of water and two painkillers.

‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘I’m really sorry about earlier.’

‘No worries,’ he said. ‘I’ll leave you to sort yourself out.’

And with that he left.