Status: Hoping to upload a chapter every Saturday, a little weekend treat :)

Getting Surreal

XVII

About three weeks later, and Becks found herself sitting on top of an amp backstage watching Saosin go through their sound check. Out of all the bands playing (other than MCR, of course), Becks liked Saosin the best. Their music was great and the dudes were all chill.

As she watched, she felt someone walk up behind her and looked to her left to see Frank leaning on the amp she was perched on. “Hi!” He shouted to her so she could hear over the music. She shot him a big smile and patted the small space on the amp next to her, scooting over as much as she could to make sure he could fit.

“Shouldn’t you be warming up or something?” She asked, leaning into him and speaking into his ear before turning her head a little and letting him speak in hers.

“Shouldn’t you be tuning my guitars or something?” He retorted.

She shook her head. “Already done!” Frank smiled and nodded.
“I know.” She raised her eyebrow as if to say ‘oh really?’ Frank’s smile grew and he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her a little closer. “Oh yeah. You’ve never let me down.” And with that, he leaned in and planted a small kiss in her hair. Becks just smiled and they sat there, sharing the top of the small amp together, watching the rest of the sound check.

She really liked Frank. She’d only known him for about a month and a half, but she was living with him and his band on tour, sharing a tour bus (and the busses really weren’t all that big), and she really felt like she’d gotten to know each of them pretty well.

She could say easily that, at this point, Frank was her best friend. The two of them were constantly getting into shenanigans when they were together…so much so, that Gerard had taken to calling them the ‘Terrible Two,’ a title of which they were both proud. He was loud, he was crazy, he was fun, and any time she spent with him was always great. It felt like they’d been friends forever.

She’d gotten close to all the guys, but she was definitely closest with Frank and Mikey. Frank was her best friend, somebody she could always go to for a laugh and a good time. Mikey? She felt maybe even closer to him than Frank, but it was something different. Something she just couldn’t quite put her finger on….

“Hey, come on,” Frank said into her ear, drawing her out of her thoughts. He hopped off the amp and held out a hand to her, noting her questioning gaze. “Lunch.” Becks couldn’t hear what he said, over the guitars and drums, but she could sure read his lips, and she immediately grabbed his hand and slid off the amp, smiling in excitement, only just realizing how hungry she was.

The pair were skipping down the hallway towards the designated lunchroom, hand in hand and giggling like fools when Frank stopped suddenly, pulling Becks to a halt with him and earning a “Whoa!” She looked at Frank, wondering about the sudden stop. “What was that for?”

“Wanna bet I can vault that amp there and you can’t?”

Becks stood up straight and crossed her arms, looking to the very large amp he was pointing at. “Hmm,” she tilted her head as she thought. “Stakes?”

“Hows about…” Frank kicked at the ground. “Loser buys the winner’s drinks, the rest of tour.”

“Hmm,” she paused a second to think on it. “Taste of Chaos tour. I’m not betting any higher than that.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Sissy.”

“Dude. I’m a white chick. I have zero,” she made the number with her fingers in front of his face, “percent faith in my jumping skills or lack thereof.” At this, Frank laughed.

“Alright, deal.” They both nodded at each other in agreement. “Ladies first,” he bowed slightly and held his arms out towards the amp. Becks shook her head.

“Nuh-uh, sunshine. All you.”

Frank rolled his eyes, but ducked down a little, bracing, then shot off towards the amp and jumped, just barely clearing it and skidding to an awkward stop on the other side. “Fuck yeah!” He shouted, throwing his arms in the air. He turned, looking at his tech. “Alright, sunshine,” he mimicked her words, backing up to give her room, “your go.”

Becks nodded idly, bouncing in place a little, trying to pump herself up. Then, like Frank, she braced down for a second before sprinting off towards the amp and pushing off the ground as hard as she could when it was right in front of her, and for a split second, it seemed like she was going to make it.

And then the slight tear in the knee of her jeans caught on a jagged strip of framing on the top of the amp and it changed her trajectory just enough to send her smashing into some of the wooden cabinetry along the wall before she crashed to the ground in a heap.

“Oh, fuck!” Frank shouted, running over to where she fell, dropping to his knees and reaching out for her. “Becks!” He hissed. She was curled up facing the wall, her back to him and she was shaking. Hard.

Time seemed to slow down and Frank was struggling to breathe.

“Dude,” she said at last, turning to look at him.

And Frank couldn’t believe it.

She was giggling. No, she was fucking giggling.

“Are you okay?” The words rushed out of his mouth, but she seemed to be thinking along other lines.

“Did you see that?” She asked him, laughing as she sat up. “Ouch!” She said suddenly, grabbing her leg. “That was freaking awesome.” In spite of her clear pain, she still seemed amused with it all.

“You’re insane, you know that?” Frank asked her, deadpan. “I fucking thought you died, and…oh, shit. Becks, you’re bleeding.” When she’d turned her head to smile up at him, all he could see was the blood streaming down the right side of her face.

“What?” She asked, apparently oblivious. That is, oblivious until Frank grabbed her face to inspect the cut, brushing the gash lightly with his fingertips. “Ah, fuck,” she yanked away from his grasp in pain, holding a hand up to her head and bringing it back to find blood all over her fingers. “Cool.” She said quietly and winced a look up at the wooden cabinet that was now barely hanging on the wall, knocked askew, with one half of it crumpled in on itself.

“Are you okay?” Frank repeated to her, gently turning her head this way and that before moving on to her limbs, prodding lightly, inspecting for any other injuries. Her left elbow was also bleeding a bit, and her right knee looked a bit rough, too, but everything else seemed okay.

“Yeah, I’m cool,” she said, looking down at herself, as she pressed her hand back against her head, applying pressure to where it was really starting to hurt, now that the shock was wearing off.

“Okay, I think we need to, uh, get you to the nurse or whatever,” Frank said, grabbing her under her arms and pulling her up with him, definitely noticing the small grunt of pain she tried to hide as they stood. “You good?”

“Yeah, I, uh, whoa,” she stumbled a bit on her feet and Frank grabbed for her, holding her steady.

“Shit,” he said through gritted teeth. “Come on, I got you.” He grabbed her arm and threw it over his shoulders before wrapping his own around her waist to help bear her weight as they walked…well, hobbled slowly down the hall to find where the tour doctor had set up shop.

“Oh, shit,” Becks cried out suddenly, and Frank’s head whipped around to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I ripped my jeans,” she frowned at him. “My favorite pair.”

“I swear, you’re gonna give me a fucking heart attack,” he replied. “I thought you were dying or something.”

“Nah,” she gave him a small smile. “It’s cool.”

The pair made it near the end of the hallway when she stumbled again, Frank’s hold on her the only thing that kept her up.

“Shit, Becks,” Frank hissed, adjusting a little to hoist her back up properly. “You good?”

“Yeah,” she waved a hand dismissively, but her eyes were screwed shut. “I just…‘m a little dizzy, is all,” she said weakly.

“Fuck,” he whispered, noting that she was looking pretty pale. “I got you, we’re almost there.”

---

“Frank, what the fuck.” Gerard said as he followed the guitar player into the makeshift tour infirmary, Mikey close on his heels, his eyes landing on Becks who looked to be covered in bandages and was being checked over by the nurse.

All the Way brothers knew was that they were just finishing up their lunch when Frank had run into the lunchroom, looking wild-eyed and covered in what looked like blood, yelling at them that Becks was hurt, and then they were running after him to where she was being treated.

“Oh, hey!” Becks greeted cheerfully when she spotted the guys entering the room, her arm lifted as the nurse was finishing wrapping a bandage around her elbow.

“Fuck, Becks,” Mikey said under his breath, immediately walking straight up to Becks and gently cupping her face with his hands so he could get a better look at her. There was a large bandage wrapped around her head, blood matting a lot of her dirty blonde hair on the right side, and she was started to sport something of a black eye; a bruise that spread from her right temple to the top of her cheekbone, making her bright eyes stand out even more. “God,” he breathed, staring down at her in open concern, “you okay?”

“’m fine, Mikey,” she said fondly, smiling at him and then she swiped her free hand at his face in a joking manner. He didn’t miss the slight slur of her words or the weakness with which she said them and was about to respond when the nurse’s voice cut through.

“Excuse me, but I’m going to need a moment of privacy to discuss some matters with Ms. Beck,” she said, shooing Mikey away from the girl before ushering him, Frank, and Gerard, the pair that had been watching from the door, out of the room. Mikey took a look over his shoulder when he reached the door and caught the goofy grin Becks gave him, returning a soft smile before shutting it behind him and losing sight of her.

“So what the fuck happened?” Gerard asked Frank, who slid down the wall so that he was sitting on the ground, leaned against the wall to the infirmary and rubbing nervously at the back of his neck.

“We were, uh,” Frank cleared his throat. “We were headed to lunch and there was this big amp in the hall and I kinda, um…I bet her that she couldn’t jump it.” He winced, thinking back on how stupid idea was and looked up sheepishly at the brothers.

“She took the deal?” Mikey asked, incredulous.

“What the fuck do you think?” Frank snapped slightly. “Becks doesn’t back down from anything. She’s got fuckin’ balls of steel.”

“God, the two of you are a menace to society, I fucking swear,” Gerard moaned, rubbing a hand down his face. “So what then?”

“Uh, well,” Frank sighed through his nose, “it looked like she was gonna clear it, but I think her jeans caught or something, and she ended up smashing,” he gestured wildly with his hands to demonstrate what happened, “into the fucking cabinet on the wall.” His hands dropped and he was chewing on his lip nervously. “She-she seemed okay at first, she was laughing, but…” he let out a frustrated groan then fell silent, Gerard nodding as he took it all in and Mikey just stared silently at the ground.

The door opened suddenly and they all turned to see a smiling Becks, the doctor right behind her.

“She’s got a pretty nasty concussion and some scrapes and bruises but other than that, she’s alright.” The doctor said, and the guys let out a collective sigh. “She needs to take it easy for the next week, okay?” She seemed to have chosen Gerard to be the responsible one, because she was directing all her words to him. “I don’t want her backstage during any of the shows for at least the next three days, no physical exertion, and definitely no alcohol.” The last instruction earned a groan from Becks and followed immediately by a reprimanding look from the nurse.

“Okay,” Becks sad quietly, looking down at her shoes and blushing lightly from her scolding.

The nurse continued, “She’s on some painkillers at the moment, so she might be out of it for the next while, don’t let her drive or mess with any machinery or anything heavy.” Gerard nodded strongly, showing that he understood. “I didn’t give her any stitches, but if she seems to still be bleeding by tonight, bring her back to me.” Then, she turned to Frank, who had leapt up to his feet the second the door had opened. “And you,” she said, pointing at him, her voice low, “be more careful next time.” And with that, she disappeared back into the infirmary, the door clicking shut behind her.

“Thank God,” Frank breathed out, immediately pulling Becks into a careful hug. “I was so scared you were really hurt,” he whispered as he burrowed his face in her shoulder. Becks held him tight and her fingers played with his hair.

“I’m fine, Frankie,” she cooed. “It’s all kinda cool, really. I feel friggin’ epic!” At this, Frank chuckled and pulled back a little, staring hard at her face, his fingers ghosting over the bruise around her eye that still had some blood caked on it, tracing its shape. “I’m okay,” she reaffirmed him.

“Promise?” His eyes finally left the nasty bruise and met hers. They were shining bright like they always did, if only a little unfocused.

“Promise,” she whispered, giving him a gentle squeeze. Finally, Frank smiled a shy smile then stepped back.

“Oh, and deal’s off,” Frank said as Gerard pulled her into a gentle hug. She gave him an incredulous look from over the singer’s shoulder. She opened her mouth to argue, but Frank shook his head. “I almost fucking got you killed. Deal’s off.” Becks rolled her eyes as she pulled away from Gerard.

“What did you guys bet, anyways?” Mike asked as he took his turn hugging Becks. She laughed into his chest but shook her head a little.

“Uhh…loser buys the winner’s drinks the rest of tour,” Frank explained, rubbing at the back of his neck again and letting out a slightly uncomfortable chuckle.

“You fucking idiots,” Gerard said, shaking his head.

“That’s what you almost killed yourself over?” Mikey asked Becks. She pulled back from him enough to look up at him and give him a huge shit-eating grin.

“You bet,” she replied, not being able to resist burying her face back into him. He was warm and he smelled good and he was Mikey. Aaaand maybe (only if she were honest) the drugs were starting to make everything a little fuzzy. “You should see the other guy,” she mumbled into his shirt.

“Actually, yeah,” Gerard piped up, looking at Frank. “Can we see where?”

“Uh, yeah,” Frank said, then started down the hall. “This way.” Gerard followed closely in his step. Mikey went to follow as well, but Becks refused to let go of him.

“We gonna go, too?” he chuckled, looking down at her.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed and nodded, finally detaching herself and going to take a step but stumbling something awful.

“Whoa, whoa,” Mikey grabbed onto her to hold her up until she seemed steady. “You good?”

Becks frowned. “My feet, uh, aren’t working, um…”she went for another step but almost fell again. Mikey cursed under his breath
.
“Becks,” he said, seeing Frank and Gerard waiting for them at the end of the hall and holding up his index finger in a ‘one minute’ gesture. “Lemme carry you.”

“No-no, you don’ havtoo.”

“Ohh, but I think I do.”

Her frown deepened, then she smiled lazily. “Piggyback?” Mikey smiled, too.

“Yeah, okay.” He crouched down and she clambered onto his back. “Ready?” She nodded into his back and he stood up. “Alright. Let’s go see how much damage you did,” he said, heading to catch up with Frank and Gerard.
♠ ♠ ♠
Happy Saturday :)