How Many Times Can You Race Around the Tree Before You Catch Me?

I looked at Mark.

“I am a female and Jake is a male. It wouldn’t sound very good.” I let go of Andrew and sat back down in my chair.

“Says who? It’s for three weeks, The kids are going to miss out on something no matter what and you know it.” Nikki pitched in to fight for me to not take over.

I would agree with Mark if I knew that the fans weren’t already going to take it negatively. Making a huge change with no notice wasn’t going to sit well with them. My eyes drifted to Jake’s sleeping form. Something we had forgotten through this is that we couldn’t leave Jake alone.

“Someone has to stay here with Jake….” The discussion ended and they all looked at Jake.

“We can’t lose another team member…” I shook my head.

“You can,” I pointed at James,” He’ll stay and Bryce can stick to TM and sound.”

“You mean to us that you aren’t going to help us?” I gave Bryce a blank stare.

“I’m not going to come back now that I’ve made my self available to another job. I can’t abandon them.”

What I said was only the truth. Jake may have been the one I had the issue with, but I wasn’t about to just slip back into my role with the guys.

“Jax,” Nikki’s voice made my chest hurt and I knew what was coming,”We cannot do this without you. I know you don’t want to let other people down, but we will literally cease to exist if you don’t help us. Please….Don’t do this…”

Standing, I grabbed my phone and swiftly exited the room. The plea he made to me made my head hurt and I had to remove myself from the situation, even if for a few minutes. I ended up in the parking lot of the hospital walking around. With the current situation, I had no idea what to do. What the guys wanted me to do was obvious. They wanted me to just take over for him, If I wasn’t afraid that it would turn into something permanent then I would do it. With Jake’s current health status I knew that there was no guarantee on anything.

My saving grace was a late night call from Jeremy about the fall tour. He was telling me how happy everyone was with the videos and he couldn’t wait to see the lights and stage with everything all together. My minimal response to the things he was saying is what alerted him to the situation.

“What’s wrong?” I sighed knowing he wasn’t an idiot.

“Jake’s in the hospital…” He was silent. I heard him say something to someone and some shuffling and finally a door closing.

“What happened?” I sat down against a pillar in the parking garage.

“He Od’ed,” I took in a breathe,”Heroin.” Jeremy’s quiet expletive was the next thing I heard.

“As much as I want to worry about Jake, he’s stable and he is already set up at a rehab center back home. The current issue is that the guys were told that if they drop off this tour they are being cut from the label…”

“Are you going to do what they’re asking?” I dropped my head between my knees. Again my eyes started to tear up.

“I can’t just go back Jeremy… I’m not a performance person and they know that.” He started humming.

“Are you asking for my opinion or do you just want me to listen?”

Did I want his opinion? I honestly didn’t know what to do. Unlike my usual ‘I know how to handle this’ mentality, I was at a loss for words.

“I don’t know what to do. I can’t not help them, but fuck Jeremy. I’m not a front person. I’m not a stage kid. I never was…”

Spots start to appear on my pants where the tears were hitting them. This was one of the worst situations I had ever been in. My best friend is in the hospital for a fucking heroin over dose. The band that I helped build from the ground up might go to shit. I had to help them, but I didn’t know what to do.

“Look, We both know that you’re going to help them. The question is how and what are you going to do?” I took a deep breath.

“Tell me what to do…” His quiet ‘fuck’ told me that he didn’t know what to do either. Then I heard a small bang from the other end of the phone that made me jump.

“Do you really want me to tell you what to do?” I nodded, even though he couldn’t see it.

“Here’s what you’re gonna do. Tomorrow, there’s a practice studio down the street from the venue. You’re going to take the guys and go there. Run through a full set list with all the possibilities that you can use for the live show and then decide what sounds best. Before you do all that, you have to notify the fans. Get the guys to the bus, get going to the venue, and record a video stating the current situation without going into a great amount of detail. Do not tell them he’s in the hospital, just say he won’t be able to continue on the tour. Then at the next show you’ll continue with what ever they were doing. You’ll do that until Jake is back or there’s a different replacement. Reassure them that it won’t be an issue and that you’ll be there to make the show great. That’s it. Don’t stretch yourselves too thin and don’t change the routine.” I carefully listened to his directions.

“Ok, that’s it. I’ll do that.” I sighed again.

“Go do that. Call me in the morning after you wake up and I’ll give you some vocal tips and some warm ups.” My jaw slacked a bit.

“Why do I need vocal tips?” He chuckled.

“I’ve known you and the guys for five years. You’re the only one that can sing. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”