Hospital Beds and Memories

It was a couple of days later and Jack and I were getting ready to go to the concert my brother had been freaking out about for ages now. He was afraid he was going to mess up the lyrics, maybe play the wrong chords, or even slip up during a riff. Even though he had been up on stage before, this was still very nerve wrecking. The venue they were playing at, which was one Jack knew very well, was sold out completely. Even when extra tickets were being sold, they were gone in no time. This was the fastest one of their concerts had ever sold out. It was a big deal to my brother and John, but even bigger to the two other guys. I hadn’t met them yet, but I did know they both came from small bands that rarely got gigs. This must have been like an impossible dream for them. But here they were, the four of them together in a band, playing at one of the bigger venues with no tickets left to buy. Even the VIP tickets had all been bought. I mean, how great is that?! I could only imagine how excited they were about kids wanting to listen to them, and only them.

Ok, so back to Jack and I getting ready. That was sort of a lie. It was only Jack really getting ready, while I was still in bed groaning. I was still having cramps, and wasn’t looking forward to being around my brother for hours straight. He always found ways to make fun of me when I was like this which only made everything a whole lot worse. Luckily for me though, Jack wasn’t one of those people and tried his best not to say or do the wrong things. Weirdly enough we didn’t have any more fights out of nowhere that escalated in no time. That would have gone completely wrong.

I turned around on my side to see Jack walk out of the bathroom with still only a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair was dried and styled in his usual slightly spiked up hair. “When are we leaving again?”

“In 45 minutes,” Jack said casually while going through all his clothes, dropping his towel and putting on some boxers.

“That means I should probably actually take a shower and shit...” I groaned and tried sitting up before giving up and letting my head fall back into the pillows. “I don’t want to.”

“Come on...” He shuffled over to me while putting on a shirt. Without any time to ask him what he was going to do, he grabbed my hands and literally pulled me out of the bed and all the way to the bathroom. I was grumbling the entire time, but as soon as he turned on the water and actually started taking my clothes off for me, I quickly jumped awake.

“Okay, okay,” I ushered him out of the bathroom and did the rest of it myself. Even though Jack and I didn’t fight, I did not necessarily want him to see me naked. I couldn’t be the only one like that, right?

When in the shower, I suddenly realized that Jack had told me we only had 45 minutes. Yes, I could get ready in way less time, but I still wanted time to get some food before we left. If I didn’t hurry up, I wouldn’t get to do that anymore. And I needed food, it was a must. So, thinking about all the cereal and other food we had in the kitchen, I quickly finished off my shower before rushing to quickly put on some eye makeup, dry my hair, and put on some clothes Cameron would approve of. It was basically like one of those events your parents would drag you to as a child or teenager and they would disapprove everything you wanted to wear. I did not need that happening today. So what better way was there than to wear clothes he gave me? Black jeans, red high top converse, and an army green jacket it was.

When I decided there was nothing else I could do about the mess I was, I ran downstairs as fast as I could. All I wanted was some food, was that really a crime? Fortunately, Jack was already getting a bowl of cereal ready for himself. I just walked past him and grabbed a spoon before stealing his bowl and sitting at the kitchen table to eat it. Just because I was hungry did not necessarily mean that I was actually feeling like making something to eat.

“That was mine.” Jack pointed at the bowl, which I was greedily eating out of, as if I hadn’t even realized.

I stuffed some more in my mouth, causing me to have to speak to him with half my mouth full. “Now it’s mine.”

He pouted at me, giving me the cutest puppy dog face I had ever seen. “But I like cooookie crisp.”

“I do too.” I tried my best to ignore the look he was giving me; I was way too hungry to give in to the sad face. If I caved in once, I would always cave in, and Jack would use that to his advantage

“But that was the last of it.” He continued to bat his eyelashes while secretly making a plan to somehow get the bowl back while there was still enough for him in it.

However, I totally recognized the gaze he gave the bowl, and clutched onto it so he would literally have to pry my fingers off of it, but at the same time the look was really getting to me. So, I gave in and sighed, “I guess we can share it.”

Jack immediately perked up and suddenly managed to make a spoon magically appear from behind his back. That sneaky little fucker already had a whole plan to get the breakfast back. But then again, this was Jack we were talking about; he probably was planning on threatening me with that harmless metal utensil.

---

After being in the car for a whole five minutes, we had to drive back home because we forgot the backstage passes. Then, backstage passes in hand, we drove all the way to the venue with barely any traffic. We were hit by a couple of fans that were waiting to enter and recognized Jack. I waited while inevitably more of them realized it was Jack from All Time Low and also wanted their selfies with the guitarist. It was bound to happen. In this genre, kids who listened to the ‘smaller’ bands, would also know about the bigger bands. I mean, who wouldn’t take the chance to get a photo taken with one of their idols? At least the fans here didn’t hate me as much. Those who followed the band before they broke up, knew about me and what I was like. I would go to the Baltimore shows whenever they played here, and back then things were a lot more personal than now. So, I met a lot of fans that were obsessed with my brother’s music. These were the fans that stood up against the ones that hated on me just for dating Jack. However, I still wasn’t asked for as many selfies as Jack.

Only when I got a text from Cameron saying that he needed us to come now, did Jack and I say goodbye to everybody. After the security guard at the back of the venue checked our backstage passes and double checked my ID, we finally got to go inside. I was lucky to have Jack with me, because he knew exactly where the stage was. If I were all by myself I probably would have gotten lost since there were only signs places every couple of turns. As soon as we neared the place we needed to be, I could hear Cameron’s voice booming through the speakers, making some very cheesy jokes. Oh, what great humour he had.

When Cam saw me standing side stage he grinned before shouting out my name, causing the speakers to buzz from the noise level. “You’re finally here!” He continued to rush over to me, taking his blue guitar off and handing it to me. “Can you tune this?”

I chuckled in a confused state, still taking the guitar from him nonetheless. “Don’t you have a guitar tech to do that?”

“Usually, yes,” He jumped around hyperly, excited to play on stage again, “But he had a family emergency and couldn't make it. And Charlie’s guitar tech is freaking the fuck out because the guitar case fell over, messing up some of them and breaking some of the strings. We are basically fucked.”

I rolled my eyes and got to work. Jack was also completely useless; All Time Low had fancy guitars that wouldn’t go out of tune, and if they did they had guitar techs to do the job, so he was basically as clueless as Cam was. Even though I only had, as Cam would say, six guitars I had to tune, I immediately got more jobs. It was like I was just another one of their roadies, which fucking sucked (no offense to any roadies out there). I was fine with helping a bit, but I was running around more than anybody here. And Jack just got to watch! I was the one here that was terminally ill!

“Field, I need you to soundcheck that microphone.” He pointed at a microphone with green tape lying on a lonely riser. Finally, a normal request. Thank God for that. Jack didn’t know, but the only reason we actually had to come this early was for me to soundcheck that one fucking microphone, not for everything else I had been forced to do.

So, I picked up the microphone while still sorting out the guitar picks, seeing which ones were whose, while Cam started off the song with the others (who I still didn’t get to fucking meet, because I was all over the place the entire time). After I recognized which song was playing, I started singing in the chorus, just like in the recording. Cam and I always sang along to Not That Beautiful by Papa Roach, so I didn’t have any problem with the lyrics. I had to keep running back and forth while singing to give the guys the right picks and stick them to the microphone stand. However, I was lucky enough to be able to finish everything off before the rapping part, meaning I could do that freely.

The sound guy requested for us to do another song, since he didn’t have enough of me singing to get all the levels right. So, the new guitarist, who I figured was called Charlie, because Cameron had called him that before, started off a new song that luckily I knew as well. Maybe having lived around Cam for so long did have a couple of benefits. So, as soon as the girl part came in the song Not Gonna Die by Skillet, I sang as loud as I could. But there was one line that hit me. "The last thing I heard was you whispering goodbye, and then I heard you flat line." That could be us. I could be dying while Cam was witnessing everything, and that thought made me shiver. He would never deserve to see me die, I could not do that to him.

So, not wanting to speed up the possibility of that process, I put down the microphone again, first checking if everything was ok sound check wise. After that I announced that I was going to take a nap, dragging Jack along with me to the dressing room. Everybody laughed at me, thinking I was joking, but I was being very serious. I just wasn’t able to so much anymore, my energy drained in no time and I still wanted--no, I needed--to be able to make it through the whole show.

----

Yes, I took that nap. It helped a lot. And, yes, I did get to meet the rest of the band. I was right; the guitarist was indeed called Charlie. He was actually pretty good looking. He had brown hair that was a bit longer on the top, combed back, a scruffy stubble similar to Jack's, and very simple auburn eyes. But, like I had confessed to Jack weeks before, I didn’t actually feel anything for the guy. I just knew so many teenage girls would swoon over him, especially since he really wasn’t the shyest guy around. And then there was also the new drummer, Carter, who had a totally different physique. Girls were probably also going to freak out over him, but rather than have a body like Charlie, who was pretty ripped, he was tall and not as buff.

But watching the four guys playing on stage was amazing. The two pairs had only known each other for a couple of months, but they already played and acted like they had been best friends forever, not two guys joining a band that already had two people in it. I couldn’t even imagine them meeting each other a while ago, in an office, maybe only having met each other once before getting a record deal.

John’s wife and daughter decided to join us and watch as well. Usually, I would stay backstage with Emily and look after her, while Trisha would be able to watch the show. I liked babysitting, and Trisha deserved to have a break once in awhile so I really didn’t mind doing it. However, Emily actually got to watch as well this time, though she did have earmuffs on so the sound wouldn’t ruin her ears. I held her high on my shoulders so she could have a good view of her father playing on the opposite side of the stage, while Trisha and I were singing along loudly. Jack didn’t know any of the lyrics, and he could only laugh when we were belting along the lyrics to their song Breaking Ground. It was still fun, but I knew Jack was so going to make fun of me screaming the same words as the brother was singing.

And then they had played 12 songs already. One of the crew members came over and clipped a sound box to my jeans. I put in the in-ear monitors while Jack was giving me a confused and worried look. He probably hadn’t figured out that me soundchecking that microphone actually had a significance. The band finished the previous song and everybody but Cam and John came off stage, waiting on the other side.

I looked down at Emily, who seemed so infatuated by all the people walking around, “I’m going to have to give you back to your mom.”

“No!” She pouted and complained.

“I can’t take you out on stage with me,” I told her guiltily before sneakily adding, “Unless you want me to, of course.”

She shook her head furiously, terrified of all the screaming fans and the bright lights. “No. No. No. But I want to be held by Uncle Jacky!”

“Do you now?” I grinned at the name she had already given Jack despite not having known him for that long, and took the microphone somebody was offering me.

She nodded her head, so I handed her to Jack who couldn’t help but grin at the little girl. The mother, who had technically just been rejected, couldn’t help but laugh as well. “Already got the uncle title, Jack? You’ve got to be careful now.”

“I’m not planning on leaving any time soon.” Jack winked at me, causing me to roll my eyes at his cheesiness. He had made it pretty clear on several occasions that he was planning on keeping me forever, so it had basically turned into an inside joke.

And then Cameron started talking through the microphone, making a joke before actually getting into the next part, “I’m pretty surprised I haven’t majorly fucked up and somehow tripped myself yet. But, anyway, my friend Charlie here and I decided to slow it down a bit and play an acoustic song for you guys,” they both had an acoustic guitar in the arms and both had a microphone to sing through. Had I told you yet that Charlie was a pretty decent singer and did all the live backup vocals? “This song is called Around The World And Back.”

The first couple of chords sounded through the venue and I could feel the nerves shoot through me. Jack had finally figured out what was going down, and quickly whispered some encouraging words to me. I waited for my cue before stepping out on stage. My heart was beating fast while I waited for the short instrumental part to pass by. And before I even knew it I started singing “Been around the world and back this year…”

The crowd sang along, and I couldn’t help but smile at how happy these kids were to be here. It didn’t matter that I was singing a love song with my brother, all that matter was that I was up here, singing our song together. Occasionally, Charlie would do backup vocals for me as well, and sometimes Cam would sing along with me, or I would be singing along with him. I understood why he loved doing this so much; I understood why Jack and any other musicians loved doing this.

We finished off the song and Cameron thanked me before I walked back side stage. I gave back all the equipment given to me, before returning to my friends. Jack grinned widely, very happy with the surprise I had planned. He always wanted me to ‘show off my talent’ or ‘sing with Alex on stage’, and now I did it with my brother. But I was going to keep it at that. I would sing with anybody, but only on stage with Cam right beside me. Knowing those people were there to see my brother somehow comforted me, while All Time Low’s fans made my social anxiety suddenly peak.

“You did great,” Jack whispered in my ear before kissing me softly, Emily squirming around saying kissing was disgusting. But at that moment I didn't care anymore. This was the happiest I had seen Jack in a while.