Seize The Day.

Her jaw dropped, “Are you serious?! I’d love to!!” She was jumping up and down in place in excitement when Brian put his hand on her shoulder to keep her on the ground for a few seconds. “Alright,” he said with a laugh, “calm down. You can come on the bus if you can keep both feet on the ground, deal?” She blushed, “Okay, deal.”
She followed the guys out the back of the arena out to the bus. She figured it was about the size of five of her bedrooms. All of the guys went in but Zacky who was holding the door open for her as she slowly walked alongside the bus in awe. She snapped out of her trance when she saw him standing there waiting for her. She looked down at the ground and went to tuck her hair behind her ear, “Oh, sorry.” He laughed as he helped her up into the bus, “Don’t be. You shoulda seen me the first time I saw this thing. I had never seen anything like it; it was literally my house on a set of wheels, only this had more alcohol.” She laughed as she sat down on the couch next to Johnny. She looked around, “Okay, this bus has gotta be bigger than I thought. How did all the guys manage to disappear already?” Johnny laughed, “They’re changing into clothes that they can actually breathe in. Except for Arin, he was practically naked already to begin with.” Jenny giggled and Zacky shook his head in amusement, “You’re such a teenager.” She shrugged, “I’m only gonna be one once, I’m gonna obsess and giggle while I’ve got the chance.”
Zacky sat down in a chair across from her and Johnny and Johnny put his arm around her shoulder, “So, now you’ve gotta keep up your end of the bargain here. What’s your story?” She sighed and leaned her head back against the couch, “Where do you want me to start?” Zacky gestured towards her arm, “How about with that.” She looked up at him, “Do you guys just, have a radar for that or something?” The guys shrugged, “I guess you could say that.” Jenny hung her head, “Alright. Well, it started back at the end of my sixth grade year. Now, for my whole life, my dad has been abusing me and my mom left when I was little, so things haven’t exactly the best, ya know? So, when I was finally old enough to understand how fucked up things were, that’s when it all started. And then, as time went on, more drama with high school and grades came into play. So that combined with the family drama that was already there, it got worse. And then, one of my friends killed themselves. Talk about a shot to the heart. That was back when I was thirteen. And then, about two weeks later, another one of my friends did the same. So, yea, things just haven’t gotten much better. The only thing that makes up for any of it is my friends Corey and Melody. Between them, music, and, well, that, it’s the only way I can stick around.”
Jenny had been staring at her hands the whole time, so when she finally looked up, she looked at the guys and saw them staring at her in disbelief. Johnny pulled her into a hug and Zacky came over and joined on in. Matt and Brian walked back out and saw them, “Group hug?” Jenny gave a small laugh and nodded as she wiped the tears away. So they both flopped on top of Zacky and Johnny. Then Arin walked out of from wherever he was changing, “Dog pile!” and he jumped on top of everyone.
When they all un-layered from being on top of each other, Jenny looked at all the guys, “Can I ask you guys something?” Matt nodded at her, “Shoot.” She looked down at her hands, “How do you deal with Jimmy being gone? I mean, my friends have been gone for a little more than five years now and it still stings like it happened yesterday. I just, I want it to get better.” Johnny pulled her close as he swung his legs up onto the couch, “There’s no fixed way to deal with it really. I think that eventually, you come to terms with the fact that they’re in a better place now. And I’m fully aware of how cliché that sounds, but it’s true. It’s never going to not hurt, but it’ll become bearable at the least.” Syn nodded as Johnny spoke, and Jenny could see Zacky doing the same. Matt stood up and went to the fridge and pulled out two beers. He tossed one to her and she handed it to Johnny so he could open it. Matt looked at her, “I don’t know how you’re dealing with it so well. We lost one friend and it took such a huge toll on us, I can’t imagine losing two. But, I do know that if you’ve made it this far, you’ve got some serious balls. Not many people could’ve made it through all that.” She took a sip of her beer and nodded, “I wouldn’t exactly say I’m dealing with it very well, but whatever you wanna think.”
She set her beer down on the table next to her and lightly tugged down on her sleeves. It was so second mature. When he saw her doing that, Johnny took his arm from around her shoulder and pulled up both of her sleeves. Jenny turned to him in shock and tried to pull them back down again but he stopped her. At this point, Arin slid out of the room and went towards the front of the bus. Johnny held her arms out in front of her, “I don’t like seeing beautiful young girls like you do this to themselves. None of us do. Not Jimmy, and not either of your friends.” Jenny’s tears fell and hit the scars on her arms. Some of them a few years old, and some of them only a few days old. He let go of her arms and pulled her into a hug.
He reached up and took the necklace off from around his neck and put it around Jenny’s. Syn and Zacky gave small gasps and Matt almost stood up to stop him. Jenny’s eyes grew wider than they had all night, “What? No! I won’t take this from you! This is your piece of Jimmy! You’re not giving this up. Not to me, not to anyone!” Brian spoke up, “Johnny, the fuck are you doing man?” Johnny glared at him and Syn left the room and went to the back of the bus. Matt and Zacky saw that this was about to take an extremely personal turn so Matt went up with Arin and Zach went back with Brian. Jenny went to take the necklace off but Johnny stopped her, “Keep it.” Jenny looked up at him, and she was actually a little angry with him, “No! I’m not going to take this from you. This is one of the few things you’ve got left of Jimmy and I refuse to accept it. You’ll regret it and the guys will never forgive you for it. I mean, look how pissed Brian just got! No, I’m not taking it.” Johnny put his hand on hers to get her to quiet down, “Look, I don’t care how pissed Syn or any of the guys get at me. They’ll get over it. And yes, it’s a piece of Jimmy, but it’s not the only one I have okay? You need a piece of him just as much as I do. Now, I’m giving you this, but on one condition.” Jenny wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at him, his eyes so full of hurt and love at the same time. She wiped another tear away and said, “Oh yea, what’s that?” He waited for her to look him in the eye, “You can have this if you promise me that you won’t do that to yourself anymore,” he said as he nodded towards her arm. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and just let her cry it out.
While all of that was happening, Zacky was trying to calm Brian down in the back of the bus. Syn punched the wall, “How can he do that?! Just, just give away that piece of Jimmy?! He was our best friend! And he’s just giving him away like it’s no big deal!” He hit the wall again and finally leaned his head against it. Zacky sat down on the table behind him, “Look, I’m not happy about what he’s doing either okay? But you know Seward, he’s got a reason for everything. No matter how psychotic it may be and-” Syn cut him off, “There is no reason good enough for what he’s doing alright!” Now Zacky was getting frustrated his green eyes seemed to turn a cold icy gray; he grabbed Brian’s hand to keep him from hitting the wall again. “Enough man!” he said as he turned Syn to face him, “Look, we all know that you and Jimmy were best friends. But I think you’re forgetting that he was Johnny’s best friend too. You’re not the only one who was hurt by losing him. Johnny was just as crushed as you were. So, I know you’re not happy with what he’s doing, but at least respect it alright? Don’t be an asshole to him about it.”
Syn glared at him and ripped his arm out of Zacky’s grasp. Brian’s deep brown eyes seemed to lose their crazy sparkle as he lay down on the bed and pulled the curtain in front of it closed. Zacky just stood there in silence and ran his hand through his hair. “What the fuck am I doing?” he thought to himself as he made his way to the other part of the bus, “What am I doing?”
Matt softly walked back to where Johnny and Jenny were and whispered, “Can we go? Or…?” Johnny nodded, “Go.” Matt nodded and went back up to the front of the bus.
Johnny listened for a minute and noticed that Jenny’s crying had stopped and that she was actually asleep. Zacky came walking through and Johnny waved to him, “Yo, toss me that blanket?” Zacky tossed it to him and Johnny tossed him Jenny’s beer in return. Zacky gestured towards Jenny, “She asleep?” Johnny nodded. Zacky sat down in the chair he had been sitting in before, “Look man, Brian’s pretty fucking pissed about the necklace thing. And, not gonna lie, I’m kinda upset about it to. It’s not just something you give away to every sob story you hear.” Johnny glared at him, “Look, she went through the same thing we did. Only she lost two of her friends. She’s barely got anything left. I gave her that necklace on one condition. And I’m not just going to let her suffer for something she had no control over. She needs someone man. And I think Jimmy could do her some good.” Zacky sat there in silence for a minute, just thinking. You could see a few tears growing in his eyes; he blinked trying to fight them back into hiding. He finally looked up at Johnny, “Alright man, look, I respect what you’re trying to do. But just, it’s gonna take a while for it to sink in with Brian okay? So don’t, ya know, rub it in his face or anything.” Johnny nodded at him as Zacky walked out of the room.
He draped the blanket over himself and Jenny as he took her hair out of the ponytail she had put it in and he tousled it a little bit. He kissed the top of her head and looked up at the ceiling of the bus. He looked down at Jenny, and he just couldn’t understand, how could a girl who seemed so happy have such a horrible story behind her? Just as he was thinking that Syn walked out and grabbed a beer. It hit him; Syn and Jenny were so similar; they were the people that everyone saw as invincible even though they were the exact opposite. He looked at Brian and he just glared at Johnny in return. Johnny almost said something to him, but Brian closed the door to the fridge and headed back to where he’d come from.
Johnny went back to staring at the ceiling. Jenny started to turn a little in her sleep so he lifted his arms up so he wouldn’t wake her. Her head landed right on his chest and he smiled down at her. He saw the chain of the necklace peeking up through her hair. He looked at it, thinking of whether she’d keep her end of the promise. He thought back to when he was her age, it wasn’t all too long ago, or at least, it didn’t seem like it. But he knew that if he had promised one of his idols that he wouldn’t do something, he wouldn’t. He just hoped that Jenny was the same way.
He reached over and turned the light off. All he could hear was the sound of his and Jenny’s breathing. He heard the bus start, and he knew they were off to their next location, and that Jenny was in for one hell of a surprise when she woke up.