14 Days

As she looked around at the faces trained on her, the noise of Almost Easy filled the awkward silence that had overcome the group. While Matty and JB had a look of shock on their face, Dan was just nodding along, clearly already on board with what he just witnessed. Joe and Arejay mirrored the Berry brothers, Lzzy smiling widely at the display of affection, but Evie visibly cringed as she took in the myriad of emotions crossing her brothers features. Confusion, unease, disappointment. It was a trifecta Evie was unprepared for, and had no idea how to fix.

She was grateful the band’s closing song was one of the shorter on the setlist, eager for the gig to be over so she could talk with her brother and smooth things over. She had not meant to tell him about Brian that way, hell she hadn’t even decided if she would tell him about it at all. As the song was winding down, Evie kept sending glances his way, unable to leave her position until the end of the show, yet worried about his reaction. Part of her was eased as Lzzy sidled up next to Josh, chatting his ear off with only God knows what to keep his mind occupied and not marinating in his sisters lack of honesty.

What she could not escape from was the Berry brothers. They joined her on either side the moment she returned from the kiss, JB immediately demanding to know what just happened.

“We kissed?” Evie offered, keeping her answer short. This did not appease the boys. “Are you guys together?” JB asked, clearly being the more verbal of the twins.

“Sort of,” Evie answered, sticking to a two word answer.

“How is that going to work?” JB questioned, his attention now solely on Evie as the song hit the second chorus. “I mean, are you doing the long distance thing? Are you going to stay on tour with us even though Chris will be back? Will you just come along for the ride? Are you going to come live in Cali with us all? What about your band? How is both of you touring going to work out?”

“Jase, cut it out,” Matty told him, sending a sharp, pointed look to his brother. For a breath the pair were locked in a staring contest, silently communicating through eyebrow lifts. With a small huff, JB lost interest in the pair now his chance to extract information had been taken away.

“Thanks,” Evie said to Matty.

“No worries. He is like a dog with a bone when it comes to gossip,” Matty replied, sending her a tight smile before his attention returned to the stage.

Evie’s eyebrows furrowed at his reaction. He had clearly been as shocked as JB, yet taking it in a completely different way than the other Berry. She had expected at least one question or demand of an explanation, but it became clear to Evie that he clearly didn’t care as much as his brother. Unsure whether or not that was a good thing, she mirrored the tech’s and focused on the outro to the song, letting Jimmy’s signature double rides give her goosebumps for the last time.

The crowd let out a roar as the song concluded, the boys throwing picks, sticks and setlists into the masses before taking their leave. JB flew from beside her to the stage to help the festival crew remove Jimmy’s kit correctly. Matty, at a loss of what else to do, followed JB and helped him take the kit apart. This left Evie to take each of the guitars from the boys, shouldering Johnny’s bass before taking each guitar from Zacky and Brian in each hand. She murmured her praise as each member passed her before diving into the depths of backstage to cool down from their performance. Evie packed away the gear in silence, ignoring the buzz of stage hands around her.

She locked the boxes, making sure everything was secure before she called it a night. She had been so focused in her job and her own mind, she had failed to notice someone waiting around for her, so as she turned to make her way from the stage, she jumped slightly as her brother greeted her with arms crossed.

“Good show,” he commented, breaking the silence between the siblings.

“Yeah, they are crazy talented,” she replied, a tinge of pride coming through in her tone. Josh picked up on it immediately, the inflection adding to his current internal war.

“They are, but I meant you, too,” he told her, his features finally breaking and showing the softer side Evie knew well.

“Oh. Thanks,” she said, the praise making her insides warm.

“So,” Josh started, finally leading the pair away from the stage and aimlessly into the bowels of backstage. His tone immediately alerted Evie that the small talk and pleasantries were over. “You left that detail out of your stories about the last two weeks.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda… new?” She offered lamely, awkwardly rubbing at the back of her neck in a nervous tick.

Josh was silent for a moment, unsure exactly how to continue. Part of him wanted to question her for hours, demand to know exactly what she was thinking, and yell at her for being naive enough to fall for a rockstar’s charm. Another part of him wanted to go over to Brian and interrogate him, see for himself if he was actually good enough for his sister. Both options he knew would upset Evie, but he couldn’t just leave it be, especially after that public display of affection.

“I don’t know what to do here, Ev,” he told her honestly. He knew that honesty was the only way to go, she would know immediately if he was hiding anything from her. He had believed he knew her well enough to know the same, but it was becoming clear that Evie was starting to walk her own path, and that included a little distance between the siblings.

“You don’t need to do anything,” she told him, reaching out and grabbing his arm, making him come to a stop. She looked at him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “Like I said, it’s new. It is going to be weird and hard and shitty, but I am not 16 anymore, I don’t need you to try and protect me from boys. This wasn’t a rash decision.”

“I know you’re not 16, but you are still my baby sister. It is a law in the Big Brother Code that I look out for you, especially if you are in love with a rock god,” he replied, trying to lighten the mood, yet get his point across.

He had always feared her working alongside him in the music industry solely because he knew what dickheads musicians were, their reputation for loving and leaving women not an exaggeration. To his knowledge, she had steered clear of most of them, and for that he was more than grateful, but now the time had finally come and he wasn’t entirely sure how he could continue to protect her if she was jumping into things with Brian head first. A musician of that caliber with a band only getting more and more popular raised huge red flags to Josh, ones he wasn’t sure how Evie could miss.

“Whoa now,” Evie said, unable to stop from laughing at his phrasing, “I am not in love with him!”

Josh was silent, leaving his immediate thoughts unspoken. She may not be in love yet, but it was only a matter of time, he could tell. It was on her face the as they were walking off stage together, and the moment he kissed her, he could see it on his, too. She may not be head over heels yet, but she was definitely heading down the path and exceeding the speed limit.

“Okay, big brother chat over,” he said, his mind still racing a mile a minute but choosing to give her a break. They still had an entire flight home tomorrow for him to question her and figure out just how much trouble she was getting herself in to.

“I love you, you know,” she said, pulling him in and wrapping her arms firmly around him.

“And I love you. I just worry,” he told her, feeling his anxiety for her start to ebb away.

“I know you do. But this time, I promise you have nothing to worry about,” she assured him, pulling away and giving him a reassuring smile. “Now, let’s enjoy the rest of this festival and its booze! First round is on me.”

“Sold!” He agreed, hoping the alcohol would help at least quiet the riot of negative thoughts and the sinking feeling he had in his gut.

With a huge grin, Evie wrapped her arm around her brother’s, leading them both towards the bar tents. She could almost see the worry and alarm still on Josh’s face, knowing that even though his questions had relented for now, the conversation was far from over. Instead of letting that send her into her own spiral of anxiety, she needed to push past it for the both of them, not letting the typical Smith overthinking gene take hold and ruin the last night of the festival for either of them.

The pair found themselves in line at a bar, stopping by the first they happened across on their quest for alcohol. Ready to truly experience the perks of backstage festival life, they started with a jagerbomb at the bar and took a beer for the road as they searched for a familiar face among crews and musicians alike. They quickly scouted out the rest of Halestorm, the band lucky enough to snag a table early on, and joined the group.

“Thought you would be with your new band,” Troy’s snide voice cut through to Evie, his level low enough that she was the only one to catch his words over the loud welcoming of the rest of the group. Evie took a deep breath, reigning in the rage bubbling to the surface just from his presence, let alone his words.

“Seems I just can’t get enough of my Halestorm family,” she replied, her tone cool enough to warn him that she was not in the mood, yet pleasant enough not to show her cards. Now was not the time to call him out, she reminded herself.

“Evie! You finally joined us!” Lzzy called out from across the table, her timing impeccable to further prove Evie’s point. “Come sit here!”

“And they can’t get enough of me,” she added, giving a now quiet Troy a scathing look before moving around the table and sitting next to her best friend. Unable to help herself,

Evie chuckled as she observed Troy rise from his own seat and wander away from the group, clearly upset that Evie had so easily bested him within seconds of her arrival. Her attention was not on Troy for long, Lzzy almost immediately stealing it with praise and questions about the Avenged Sevenfold performance.

Evie sipped at her beer, nodding along and making sounds of affirmation in time to the conversations around her to make it appear that she was actually paying attention to her immediate surroundings. Instead, her eyes had spotted the group that had finally joined the party, her gaze immediately falling on Brian. He was entwined with Jimmy, one arm around each other to hold on to one another upright as they laughed loudly. With their attention firmly on a now drenched Johnny, Evie could piece together why the two were in stitches and completely oblivious to the scene they were creating. Johnny, in true Johnny spirit, tried to one-up the cackling duo and upended the drink in Jimmy’s hands. Unfortunately for the bassist, Jimmy had clearly anticipated his attempt at retribution, and managed to angle the cup so the contents flew right back towards Johnny. Unable to help herself, Evie cracked a smirk as Johnny tried shaking himself dry like a dog, the end result only making Brian and Jimmy laugh harder.

Still feeling on edge about Evie’s latest revelation, Josh couldn’t help but take a similar silent route to his sister. As Joe started talking to him about a band they had seen earlier in the day, Josh nodded along and quickly enlisted Arejay’s help in holding most of the conversation. While the two others chatted away, he followed Evie’s eyeline and saw the tail end of the commotion surrounding her new boyfriend and his two bandmates. He continued to watch on as the two locked eyes, Brian silently inviting Evie over to join them, and watched in slight shock as she quickly rose and left to join him.

As she stepped close enough, Brian untangled himself from their tall drummer and instead brought Evie into his chest, the pair hugging for a brief moment before Evie stepped away slightly to join in the conversation with the other three. Even from his position 50 feet away, Josh could tell that they were discussing the new coupling, the evidence was clear as the now-saturated Johnny repeatedly pointed between the pair with a look of confusion on his face. Knowing that he was not the last to find out helped slow Josh’s racing mind, and seeing Brian kiss the top of Evie’s head in a sweet, unabashed gesture gave him a little more faith in her choice in men.

“She will be fine,” Lzzy said, leaning across the table to break Josh’s gaze. His attention fell on the singer and he could see the conviction in her eyes. “You can’t be sure of that,” he replied weakly.

“Neither can you, but you do have to trust her choice,” Lzzy told him, almost a warning in her tone.

“I know,” he agreed, the words easier to agree to than the action. “Brian seems like a good guy that might even be worthy of our girl,” Lzzy said, a small smirk on her lips. A small glimmer of hope rose up in Josh as he realised that he was not the only one worried for Evie, and that he had backup in Lzzy. “Just let her enjoy her night, we can grill her properly tomorrow.”

“That is a plan I can get behind,” he said as he raised his glass. Lzzy mimicked his motion before returning to the conversation she had just left.

Unable to help himself, Josh glanced over at his sister again, his anxiety thawing further as he watched Evie break into laughter as Jimmy gestured wildly and Brian shook his head at his friend’s storytelling. Brian removed his arm from around Evie’s waist for a moment before adjusting the distance between Jimmy’s hands from well over a foot to at most 6 inches. The group burst into laughter once again, the noise even reaching Josh’s ears due to the volume increase. As they calmed down, he saw Jimmy grab Evie’s hands and pull her away into the makeshift dance floor, each of them smiling widely as they started moving to the music being DJ’ed.

Seeing her so thoroughly happy forced Josh to notice that Evie’s future was starting to look further and further away from his own. Where he had once assumed that she would stay part of their tour crew forever, he was now realising that it was nothing more than a pipe dream, and that she could be happy elsewhere. No longer willing to venture down that train of thought, Josh threw back the rest of his drink and tried to lose himself in the conversation pulsing around him.

Notes

Something is better than nothing?
I apologise for my absence. Real life both sucks, and is also awesome sometimes!
Thanks for sticking around!
xoxo
Sas