Scream

Turns out Sheila had a personal blog where she could post whatever she wanted.

The interview was everywhere within 24 hours.

"You need to understand that I was protecting her," Brian said into his phone. "He was saying predatory things about her-" He stopped and listened. "No, you don't need to reconsider me as a guardian. She is perfectly safe, probably as safe as it gets... Dr. Serandon, please. This is nothing... I know this is a big deal. I'm aware... Thank you." He hung up and threw the phone at the floor, making me jump. He glanced at me, taking a deep breath.

"What did she say?" I asked quietly.

"To make sure it doesn't happen again, that you shouldn't have to deal with this," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're not dealing with anything, you're fine. Right?"

I nodded.

"Exactly. And you would tell me if you were having a hard time?"

"Yes, Brian. But I don't understand how this is legal."

He placed his hands on his hips. "It's her personal blog, she can do whatever she wants. She didn't post the audio, she just typed it out. She can say whatever she wants on there."

I watched him as he paced, unsure of what else to say. The guys were pissed, too, because this obviously affected the band. And now, to make it all so much better, the girls were questioning why they were all so worried if it wasn't true.

"Michelle texted me last night," Brian said. All my blood started to boil. Any time I heard her name I got so angry.

"What did she say?" I asked monotonously. If I freaked out, I'd be making this harder for him.

He laughed, but there wasn't humor. "She had the fucking audacity to ask if you're the girl I left her for. Like what do I even say to that? She really thought it was a good fucking idea to text me that. I didn't even answer, if I did it just would've been me cursing her out."

I twisted the ring on my finger as I continued to watch him. My phone lit up in front of me and I saw I received a text from Matt.

How is he?

I texted back, "Pissed off."

"Is that Matt?" Brian asked.

"Yeah," I said as I received another. This one was from Tyler.

Saw the interview.

I ignored it and set my phone back down. I wasn't dealing with that right now, I had enough on my plate.

"How are we going to do the show tonight?" Brian asked, sitting next to me.

"Forget about all this. Focus on the music and why you're doing it in the first place," I said.

"Why am I?" he asked, looking at me with sadness covering his face.

"Because you love it. Don't let some bitch ruin it for you. Your true fans won't believe her."

He looked down, contemplating that and cracked his knuckles out of habit.

"Would you mind if I drank tonight?"

"Not at all, I get it," I said, rubbing his back assuredly. We sat in silence for a while before our bus door opened. I rested my hands on my lap as Matt walked in.

"Hey, are you ready to rehearse?" he asked, looking at Brian.

"Yeah," Brian replied. He squeezed my shoulder before standing and walking over to Matt.

"You go on, I wanna talk to Court," Matt said. Brian glanced at me before nodding and walked past him out of the bus. Matt sat next to me where Brian was.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said truthfully. "It's stressful."

"I know," he said. "Val left."

"What?" I exclaimed. "What do you mean? Why?"

"We didn't break up, but she said it was too much. She forgot what it was like to be on the road in the first place, she's been in a mood ever since this tour started."

"She doesn't know, right?"

"Not about you and Brian, no."

I looked down as I said, "But she knows about you and me."

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Why did you tell her?"

"I wasn't going to lie to her, Courtney."

"So she asked?"

"Yes, she did," he said hesitantly.

I nodded. "You should probably rehearse."

"Are you gonna come out tonight?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Might be best if I don't."

He put his arm around my shoulder and held me against him. "Don't let all this bullshit influence you whatsoever. It'll blow over." I nodded again and he let go, leaving to join the rest of the band. My phone started vibrating so I picked it up and looked at it.

"What?" I answered.

"Hey now," Tyler said, "I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Yeah, it's fine. Stressful."

"I bet... but you'll never guess where I am."

"I'm assuming not the hospital."

"Fuck no," he chuckled. "Detroit."

"Like... the same Detroit Avenged Sevenfold is playing at tonight?"

"I didn't know there was another one."

I laughed softly. "Why are you here?"

"Visiting family, but I saw you would most likely be here, too."

I knew what was coming next.

"Do you wanna hang?" he asked.

"It would have to be after they start playing," I said. "The less questions, the better."

"Understandable. I can meet you there around 9:15."

"Sounds good."

"See you then."

"See ya," I said, ending the call. I couldn't help but smile. It might be good to hang out with someone not related to the band somehow. I looked at the time and saw it was 4:45. That gave me plenty of time to hang with the guys for a bit and get ready. I felt exponentially better than I did an hour ago.

***

I stepped off the bus as soon as I heard "Nightmare" start. I told them I was gonna take a nap, which meant I'd be "awake" in time for the end of the concert. I snuck over to the side gate where I told Tyler to meet me. I didn't see anything until I got closer and saw a tall figure in all black. He looked up and I saw that smile I'd loved all of last year.

"Tyler!" I said excitedly, jogging over. His arms opened and caught me in them. We stood there for a while, just appreciating that we were together. He had this aura of warmth and care, it was exactly what I needed right now.

"So," he said as we broke apart and started walking. "How has he been?"

"Great, besides this whole interview thing," I said. "How are your parents?"

"Same as always. My dad keeps trying to pressure me into mechanics and my mom is constantly on me about my meds and how I'm doing."

"That's not a bad thing, necessarily."

"But it gets to be overwhelming when it's the middle of the night and she wakes me up just to ask if I took them."

"Oh," I said, chuckling. "Yeah, that sucks."

"It does... what did you wanna do for two hours?"

I felt him looking at me and suddenly I got slightly self-conscious. "Just talk, I guess. I'm happy with that."

"I am, too," he said, slipping his hand into mine.

"So you haven't talked to anyone from the hospital?" I asked, lacing my fingers with his. I knew I had a goofy smile on my face but I couldn't help it.

"I talk to Rachel every now and then. You remember her, right?" I nodded. "She's going really well... Do you remember Korryn?"

I scoffed. "How could I forget her?" She was a royal bitch, I swore there wasn't anything actually wrong with her.

"Rachel told me she died."

I stopped in my tracks. "What?"

"She killed herself."

I stared at him. "Jesus, I feel like shit now. I thought such bad things about her."

"She wasn't the nicest. No one liked her, but it's still a shame."

I continued walking, thinking about her. "Yeah. It is."

***

I managed to avoid Brian-talk the entire two hours I was with Tyler. I didn't want to lie to him, so any time I felt it going in that direction, I changed it to something normal. We tried not to talk about the hospital, either. It was strangely normal. I was a teenager hanging out with another teenager. It was almost surreal.

We made it back to the gate we met at and he pulled me into a hug.

"We need to hang out again when we get back to Cali," he murmured against my hair.

"We will," I said. "I promise."

We pulled back enough to look at each other, both of us with small smiles. I stepped back and he did the same.

"I'll text you," he said.

"Okay," I answered. He walked backward until he almost tripped and I had to stop myself from laughing. He turned around and I stayed still until I saw he was out of sight. I sighed happily and walked through the gate. Until I saw him.

"Courtney," Brian said, standing a few feet away from our bus. My heart dropped into my stomach.

"Hey," I said shakily.

"Who was that?" He was so calm. It terrified me. I didn't say anything. He looked around and licked his lips. "Get in the bus."

I didn't even think to object. I walked briskly past him with my pulse in my ears and felt him on my trail. As soon as we were both in our room, he shut and locked the door.

"Who the fuck was that?" he demanded, still somewhat calm. He took slow steps toward me and I backed myself into the corner.

"Nobody," I said, and no sooner did the word leave my lips his hand wrapped around my throat. I held onto his wrist, feeling tears brim my eyes. I stared at him in shock, but I only saw anger in his eyes.

"Tell me the truth," he whispered.

"Tyler," I said, my voice cracking.

"Who is that?"

"He's from the hospital."

"How did he know you were here?"

"He called me earlier, he knew the band was playing here. He wanted to see me." His hand tightened the slightest bit.

"How did he have your number?"

I had no choice but to tell the truth, I didn't want to know what would happen if I lied to him. "He found me online."

"You can kiss that phone and computer goodbye," he said with a smirk. "I see that he likes you."

I didn't say anything.

"And you like him."

I shook my head and his hand tightened again. I pulled on his wrist but he didn't budge.

"I'm not stupid, Courtney. I saw you holding hands and he almost kissed you. You would've let him, too."

"No, I wouldn't-"

"Don't fucking lie to me, whore," he spat. "I'm going back out there with the guys to meet fans, and I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Don't leave this room. Got it?"

I nodded hurriedly and he let go. He walked out, slamming the door shut behind him. I slid down the wall to the floor and cried, watching the time. Twenty minutes passed before I heard any of the guys, but I didn't hear Brian. I went into the bathroom to make sure I didn't look like a mess and went outside. I saw Matt walking toward his bus, stumbling over himself once.

"Where's Brian?" I asked him, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I'm not sure, he kind of disappeared. Is everything okay?" he asked, probably seeing my eyes.

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to him," I said, faking a smile.

"I'll be in my bus if you can't find him, okay?"

I nodded and he walked in, shutting the door behind him. I walked around the lot for a while before making my way over to the VIP section, it was the only place I hadn't checked. Maybe he didn't want to come back to the bus yet. I heard a voice so I peeked around the corner. I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from screaming.

Brian was in a chair with some girl straddling him and his tongue was down her throat.

I turned back around the corner and held my chest, feeling it burn with the image of what I just saw. I slowly walked back to the buses and sat on one of the empty coolers. I kept my cries as silent as I could as to not attract attention. I took deep breaths to calm myself while I thought over everything.

He was drunk. He had to be. He asked if it would be okay to drink tonight, and I said yes like the dumbass I was. Did that excuse his actions? Of course not, but I at least had somewhat of a reason and that was all I wanted. But now I had to figure out what I was going to do.

I looked up and it was obvious.

I stood and walked over to Matt's door, knocking twice.

Notes

Chapter title credit: KISS
Shit is getting intense. I already have the next chapter title picked out which is exciting. This could actually be a hint of it & of what's to come if you find the right post.
Thanks for reading, don't forget to comment!