Unison

Tony's POV

"You have some explaining to do," I slur as I burst into the All Time Low bus without knocking or calling or anything. I catch the bastard mid-yawn. Even though I waited until just before bus call, just so I knew he would be here, my anger hasn't subsided. I couldn't keep myself from going to Alex and talking to him about this. Who the fuck is he to give Maddy the right to come backstage? Especially when he knew that's exactly where I would be. Fucking trouble maker. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for him.

Alex is looking up at me from where he's sitting on his laptop at the table, legs up and resting on the booth opposite him. He's got a beer in reach and headphones in. He pulls them out, letting them fall to the table by his arm. "What's going on?"

"Why the fuck would you let her backstage?" I'm drunk and I know I am, but my anger seems to have a purpose. "You think it's funny that Christine's sick and now you can just bring Maddy around and fuck things up for me a little more?"

Alex stands, closing his laptop, his jaw clenched. "I don't know what you're talking about, dude. I gave Maddy that pass because there are other people here she wanted to spend time with. It's not all about you."

I roll my eyes. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Mike said earlier that you bought her the ticket." I lean back against the pink marble counter, my body heavy. I must have been too in shock earlier from seeing her to have really caught on when he said it, that Alex got her the ticket and that's why she was there. "And you let her backstage. You let her come and you shouldn't have."

"Maddy has the right to come to any show she wants. I gave her those tickets because she's never seen us play live before. Ever. She was going to come for just our seat and then go back onto the bus, but she wanted to see Vic and Mike, too. Did you ever even think of that?"

I pause, realizing that I hadn't, but I can't admit that to him. I'm too pissed and drunk and all that matters is that he knows I hate him. "What does Mike know? He was too fucking calm backstage earlier when she showed up. What are you all keeping from me?"

Alex's face relaxes as he sighs out, but his jaw remains clenched. There's something there, I can tell. "That's between you and him," he says finally.

I shake my head in disbelief. "Fuck you, Alex." I turn around and holding onto the railing as I make my way back outside. He doesn't say anything and just lets me go.

I make my way down the street towards the bar I left the guys in to drive her home. Hopefully they're still there, because I have to talk to Mike. He seemed too fucking calm when Maddy appeared backstage earlier. It takes me a little while to spot him, but thankfully he's too tall to hide in a crowd. I walk right up to him and grab a fistful of his shirt.

"We need to talk," I spit.

"Chill out. Let go of me."

I let go. "Follow me." I turn and walk out of the bar. When I reach the sidewalk again, I'm pleased to see that he was right behind me. He sticks his hands into the pockets of his black skinny jeans and waits for me to begin. "Can you please explain to me what's going on?" I sound more desperate then anything.

He just looks at me for a few seconds, opening his mouth like he's going to say something but then he just shuts it again. Finally, he asks, "is this about Maddy?"

"What do you think?" I say sarcastically.

"What do you want to know?"

"I want to know why the fuck she showed up tonight! How about that?!"

"I already told you," he reminds me calmly, "Alex bought her a ticket for her birthday."

"That's what I'm asking. How do you know Alex bought her the ticket?"

He pauses for too long before answer for it to be the truth. "He told me."

"Don't fucking lie to me, Mike!" I yell. "I want to know the truth," I tell him between gritted teeth. "I bet you've been talking to her all along. I bet you've been going behind my back ever since she left."

Instead of replying, he walks right by me and slips back into the bar before I can reach out and grab him.

Maddy's POV

My hear whirls when I wake up the next morning so much that I skip breakfast. Instead, I take a long shower, washing off the residue of the concert last night and any trace of him that may be left on my skin. It hurts to imagine him washing down the drain with the suds, as cliché as it sounds, but that’s how I picture it. That was the last time I would touch him, and I wanted it off me so I could try to move on.

The house is too quiet. It’s been too quiet since the day Alex left, but there’s nothing I can do about it. When my cell phone rings, blaring out a Mumford & Sons song I’ve come to love for some reason, I jump at the unexpected noise. It’s not until disappointment hits me like a speeding bus that I realize a small piece of me had hoped it would be Tony, calling to remind me that last night really happened and it wasn’t just a figment of my overactive imagination. If not Tony, then at least Alex, just to make sure I’m okay or something. When I see it’s an unknown number, it’s like a slap in the face. Why would I think Tony would want to talk to me after last night? Why would I think Alex would feel the need to check up on me?

“Hello?” My voice sounds melancholy and disheartening. For some reason I care what whoever it is will think of me because of it.

“Hi. Is this Madilynn?” The women has some sort of accent that's a bit difficult to understand.

“Yes.” My mind flashes back to the job applications, the ones Jack didn’t rip up, that I had filled out and passed into various different places. I hope this isn’t one of the fast food 'restaurants'.

“This is Gregory’s Pizza,” the women tells me, making things look a bit better now that I know it’s not Burger King. “We were wondering if you’re available to come in for basic training tomorrow? Say, eleven AM?”

“That sounds great!” I tell her, my mood shifting significantly now that I’ll have something to fill my time with. “Thank you so much!”

“My pleasure, Madilynn," she says my name so beautifully with her accent that I don't even want to tell her she can call me Maddy. "I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I have an appointment with Sam later this afternoon, but I already know I’m going to skip. The last thing I want to do when I have an empty town house to come back to at night is to rehash old memories over and over again until I get down to the bottom of them, or at least until my hour is up. But then it will just be left to be continued next week, and the week after that. So as long as Alex is gone, not hovering over me to make sure I attend my counseling sessions, it’s not a priority. Although, I could tell her what happened last night. But that would involve telling her how drunk I got, and I didn't want to admit that. I knew that a long speech about drinking your problems away isn't effective would follow.

And then it hits me. Hannah must know something. She has to, being one of Christine's best friends and Mike's girlfriend; Mike, who's sort of right in the middle of it all. At first, I was hesitant to continue talking to her. Mike was even a push, but I couldn't bring myself to cut them all off completely, and Mike was like a last tie. They lived together now, so it was hard for Mike to sneak around her. Especially because when he'd call me, it'd usually be in the safety of his own house as not to risk anything. It was enough asking him to sneak around, even if he was willing to do it at the time if it meant keeping the bit of family we have intact. His only condition, keeping Hannah in the loop because she'd get suspicious if Mike was sneaking around on the phone all the time. Since then, I'd talked to Hannah irregularly. Irregularly meaning she would ask Mike to say hello for her when he was on the phone with me and she was around. Other then that, we didn't talk much.

But she must know something. Something about Christine or Tony or how they got together once I was gone. Who initiated it. None of this had mattered before I saw him last night, and now I wanted to know. I had forgotten, somehow, how warming his smile was - how it made me feel like I'm really worth something.

I pick my phone up off the kitchen counter. Her number's stashed away in my contacts, but even so, it's easy to find. My mind races a thousand miles a minute and I can't seem to rationally decide if this is a good decision or not.

The line rings out several times and I begin to think that she’s not going to answer, giving me plenty of time to hang up. Either way, she'd have a missed call from me now, so I didn't see the point in bailing just in case she did answer. Just before I suspect the voice mail to pick up, she answers.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Hannah,” I say and the pause, just to see if she’ll recognize me. “It’s Maddy.”

“Hey, honey!” she greets me cheerfully. A new tone in her voice now, as if she and I had kept constant contact, like we had always been best friends. “What’s going on? I haven’t heard from you in a while. How was your birthday? Mike said you went out to see them play."

"Yeah, I did see him. My birthday was great, actually. Twenty doesn't really feel that much different from nineteen." I laugh a little.

“How’s he doing?” she asks. “I miss him so much.”

“He’s good!” I reassure her, but I’m already getting tired of this stupid small talk, all preparation for the real questions. I feel like I’m trying to get her to build up trust in me just so I can take advantage of it. It feels wrong, but I also feel like I don’t have a choice.

“Well I'm glad you went out." She pauses and I can practically hear what she's thinking about how it was probably so awkward between Tony and I. "I hope things are working out for all of you. I mean, Tony, too."

“Tony and I actually spent some time together. He's dating Christine now?"

“Yes!" She doesn't seem the least bit hesitant to admit it to me. Hannah isn't completely trustworthy though, that I learned from experience. Maybe getting what I want to know out of her will be easy.

“You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want, but are you still close with her?”

There’s a long pause, but I didn’t expect anything else. “Is this why you called, Maddy?” She’s serious now, catching on.

“Not really,” I half lie. “I did really want to see how you’re doing. I miss talking to all of you and last night just refreshed that. I want to be apart of everything again. I was just wondering because I don’t want to overstep my bounds too early with him or her, or anyone really. I've been out of the picture for a while now. I want to get together with you and the boys, but I don’t want to make Christine feel uncomfortable,” not the truth, completely anyway. "Tony told me she's sick and I don't want to make things any harder for them then they already are."

“Oh, I understand. Yeah, Christine and I are still close. You're planning on coming out?"

"Of course. I want to visit when the tour’s over. I miss San Diego, and I need to meet Jamie.”

“She’s adorable!” Hannah exclaims and it’s almost like she’s forgotten the real center of this whole conversation momentarily. “I’d love for you to visit. Things haven’t really been the same since you left.”

“I’m worried about Christine, though.” I play it off like I don’t know she’s sick. "I don't want to come around if it'll make things more tense."

“Can I be honest with you?” she asks, her voice dropping so I have to really sort of strain to hear her. “Christine hasn’t been doing too well…. I don't know what Tony told you, but her cancer is spreading pretty quickly. They readmitted her into the hospital a couple nights ago because she couldn’t stop throwing up. I guess the treatments have stopped working and the cancer is unresponsive. Hopefully they can up the chemo and prevent it from spreading further, but they can’t really be sure of anything.” I can hear the emotion in her voice and I honestly feel bad for them all. “I mean, it had spread a bit before they even found it.”

Tony hadn’t told me about this. It was probably too personal for someone that's not really apart of his life anymore. Hannah’s tearful voice brings my attention back to her even though I’m still trying to rack my brain for something comforting to say. “They say if it spreads to her brain then there’s really nothing they can do,” she adds.

“I’m so sorry,” I tell her, and there’s sincerity to it. “No one deserves that.” Even though I don't know Christine well and she's dating Tony, she doesn't deserve to be sick like this. And Tony. Tony doesn't deserve so much dead weight constantly. First me, now her.

“I know, honey. I know. Christine’s such a sweetheart, too. I mean, I know you don’t know her well and you may have a bit of resentment or whatever….”

“I don’t,” I lie. “I left, he was fair game. I can’t blame her really.” The truth. “I would have done the same thing.” Even though I’d like to think I’m somehow better than Christine, I know that I’m not.

“Tony’s so strong for her,” she tells me. I think back to how tolerant he always was with me. So patient. No doubt he’d be just the same with Christine, and that makes my chest ache. “He didn’t want to leave her to tour, and who can blame him for feeling that way?”

Apparently, there’s really no blaming anyone here.

“You’re right,” I say, just to keep her talking. “Tony’s always been loyal like that.”

“Don’t hold it against me,” she begins, “but I’m honestly so glad that she has him. It’s like she has something to fight for now. I’m not sure she’d be so courageous if it weren’t for him.”

The typical qualities everyone obtains when they’re diagnosed with cancer - courageous, brave, strong.

“I’m glad she has him, too.” The biggest lie. “I know she’ll beat this.” A typical thing someone who knows someone with cancer would say.

“If you weren’t so far away I’d ask if you want to meet for lunch or something,” she says with a small laugh, and I know that the conversation about Tony’s part in Christine’s cancer is over. I’ve already got what I wanted to know, what I couldn’t ask Tony.

“I wish I was closer,” I tell her, which I guess, isn’t a complete lie. Although I love living with Alex and I know that I wouldn’t be able to contain being so close to Tony constantly. Hearing Vic and Mike go off to band practice, knowing he would be there and all I really would have to do is make up some excuse to tag along and no one would really question it. But it’s not that way, so I make hanging up with Hannah quickly.

“I’ve got to get ready for work,” I say, putting on my best disappointed voice. “I’ll talk to you soon! Call me anytime.”

We hang up and I’m left with the facts I somehow managed to squeeze out of her. I’m not proud of it and I feel a little dirt, prying into something that I really have no place in.

Christine’s cancer is spreading. If it gets to her brain then she won’t have much time left. Tony, always empathetic, is undoubtedly practically feeling the pain along with her, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s completely in love with her.