24 Floors.

"Hey kid!" A bassy voice knocked me out of the trance All Time Low put me in. I tried to jump behind the empty instrument cases beside me, but the yellow shirt with “security” printed on it was quick to catch me.

Fuck, I was screwed. "Yeah?" I replied, trying to sound more confident than I was.

"You got a pass?"

His words didn't register in my brain over Alex finishing out an acoustic song. "What?"

"Your backstage pass. Where is it?" His gruff voice was stern, and for the first time I could remember, I regretted not doing as I was told.

“Uh...I, uh...I’m with the band performing. They said I would be fine without one as long as I s-stayed side stage.” I lied through my teeth, but the guard clearly didn’t buy it.

“Nice try, kid. I’m giving you five seconds to find your way back into the crowd before I call police.” I froze. What if I went out and couldn’t find my way back? Would they be mad, and more importantly, where would I go? “Come on.” He shoved me towards the backstage exit.

“Seriously, ask them right after they’re done with their set! I swear I’m with them.” My voice was whiny, begging. The tranquility I had felt before was gone, along with its soothing effect.

“Oh, no. You’re not getting a free onstage show.” I looked out to the band desperately, hoping someone, anyone was watching me.

Anyone but Jack.

Unfortunately, he was the closest one to my side of the stage, and the only one who could see the confrontation taking place. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in the situation; it didn’t take him long to realize what was happening. His gaze flickered between us and the fans laughing at Alex’s banter before he took a few steps towards us. His stature held tension and anger. “The kid’s with us.” He grunted. What was up with everyone calling me ‘kid’? I may have been in no position to fight it, but I resented it. I would bring it up later if I ended up staying with All Time Low for more than the next few hours.

“See?” I sneered at the large man, shaking his hand off my shoulder rougher than necessary.

“Just make sure he has a pass next time. I’ll let you off with a warning.” Jack nodded before running back on stage to start the next song. I could see the prying eyes of hundreds and the worried ones of the three men onstage. Hoping where I stood was too dark for anyone other than the band to see me, I snuck back to my spot, ignoring the exasperation radiating off of All Time Low.



“What the fuck was that?” Alex cornered me not long after he ran off stage; in fact, it was the absolute first thing he did.

“What the fuck was what?” I smirked.

He stepped closer, getting in my face. “Watch your language. You know exactly what.”

I laughed, hard and cynical. “Don’t tell me to watch my language.” Jack tried to run past us to avoid the confrontation. “It’s not like you’re my parent!”

The man went rigid. Time seemed to slow as Jack turned on his heels. His eyes were blazing. “Watch. Your. Fucking. Language.”

It wouldn’t take much more to push him over the edge, but I was already gone. I didn’t care about the group of people gathering to watch or what they would think of me. “Oh, don’t you dare try to pull the parent card. You don’t even think you’re my father.” I snarled, elbowing Alex out of the way and facing Jack head on. Maybe he was infuriated, but I was seething, red blurring the edges of my vision. “That’s not something you can pick and choose and only use when it’s convenient!” Father or not, all the years of pent up anger were coming out on Jack. I couldn’t stop it, and no one seemed to want to end it. “Where the hell were you when I was born? Probably fucking some other girl while my mom almost died giving birth to me! When our first house got repossessed, where were you? More worried about buying some new guitar, huh? Maybe we’re related by blood, but you will never be my father. You gave up that title when you gave me up and walked away.”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know about you when your mom ran away from me, Jayden?” He spat. It was the first time he’d used my actual name, and it held more sting than venom. “Don’t act like you know shit, because you don’t know anything.” His feet glided toward me. The predator was trying to close in on his prey.

I wasn’t going down without a fight. In a swift movement, my arms had Jack’s pinned against a wall. We were pretty evenly matched; I could just barely keep him held where he was. I waited for the hands on my body to pull me away, but after a few seconds of nothing - although I did hear Alex fighting against someone’s arms - I continued. “I know you weren’t there for me when I needed you, and it doesn’t take a genius to see you clearly don’t give a single shit about me! You know what, dad? You can go fuck yourself and shove that father act up your ass.” I backed away from Jack slowly, waiting for a second attack. He stared at me, a violent look in his eyes, but he restrained himself. Only when I reached the exit did I let my back turn to him, and only so I could run out of the venue as fast as possible.

The late night air had me shivering in my t-shirt, but at the moment there was nothing that could have made me go back inside that venue. I folded my arms across my chest as kids and parents trickled out of the doors, tired smiles on their faces as they headed home.

Would I ever see my home again?

Sure, I had the important things I needed, but had I known I wasn’t coming back, I would have brought a lot more. The thought in itself of never returning home brought tears to my eyes, but I refused to let them fall, refused to even think about anything but finding my mom’s shiny red car in the surprisingly well-lit parking lot.

There were a lot of red cars, but one by one, all of them cleared out. At some point enough vehicles had left that I could see the entire lot, and not a single one of the remaining cars resembled my mother’s. She’s just running late, my mind tried to soothe, but every passing second that she didn’t show up let more doubt seep into my mind. By the time I had been standing outside for almost three hours, mist had soaked through my clothes and I let my shoulders slump in defeat.

My mother abandoned me.

“Oh, Jayden.” Rian’s voice sighed behind me in pity and an umbrella shielded me from the rain. “We’ve gotta get going, and we can’t leave you here given the circumstances. Alex is already on the bus trying to track down your mom, and once Jack gets out of the showers, we’re heading out.”

“She’ll be here.” I croaked, throat thick with tears.

“Jayden,” Zack’s strong arms brushed across my shoulders. “Please, come with us. I swear we’re going to find her as soon as we can, but it’s not going to happen tonight. We already have your stuff on the bus - just think of this as a vacation!”

My floodgates broke the second “vacation” left Zack’s mouth. I would have fell to my knees had he not been so close to me. He didn’t care that I was dripping wet; he let me jump on his back and gave me a piggy-back ride to the bus nonetheless, Rian trailing behind us and making sure we didn’t get any wetter.

By the time the bus was in view, sobs were shaking my body. “I d-don’t want to go ins-s-side yet.” I sniffled. Alex was inside, and soon enough Jack would be too, along with the rest of the crew I had yet to formally meet. I didn’t need their first impression of me to be something along the lines of “mentally-unstable-emotional-kid”. Granted, they might have understood tonight, but there was no way I would give Jack or Alex the satisfaction of seeing me like this. “J-Just stop for a f-few m-m-minutes, please?” I begged. I felt Zack nod and seconds later my feet hit the ground.

Rian only took one look at my face before holding his free arm out to me. “Come here, bud.”

Rian’s hugs were just as comfortable - but not quite as warm - as Zack’s hugs. However, when Zack joined the embrace, sandwiching my body between the two, my knees buckled once again at the display of affection these two guys who had met me mere hours ago were giving me. My mom had never been one for showing her love for me, and I hadn’t realized how much I needed a hug until this afternoon.

As comfortable as I would have been with standing there all night, after a few short minutes, we pulled apart and finished our walk to the bus. The first thing I noticed when we stepped inside was that Jack had beaten us to the bus, and it was silent besides his military-like commands.

“...Jayden will sleep in my bunk and I’ll sleep with Alex. I know none of this is ideal but hopefully it will only last for a few days. Now,” He grabbed a rather large, unopened bottle of Jack Daniel’s off the counter beside him. “I’m going to bed, and if anyone besides Alex tries to bother me tonight, I swear to god I will kick you off this tour.” Directly following his threat, he pushed past the group to where I assumed the bunks were. All eyes immediately turned to me; some were curious, some furious.

The disappearing lump in my throat reappeared with force when I realized what a long night this would be.