Limits

There he was on stage, wild and ten times more feral then normally. His once bright hazel eyes were now an almost insane black. He smiled at the girls in the front row, grabbing some of their awaiting hands. I stood to the side of the stage, camera in hand. I did my best not to capture some of the more slutty fans flashing their chests.I had to get in the crowd for better shots, for shots of his face and what he was.

Standing to the side of the mosh pit, I took more photos of the countless poses he had done.I captured some of Frank, Mikey and Ray, and climbed back on stage for Bob. As I held my camera up to take a photo, a full can of Pepsi came slamming against the side of my skull. I dropped my camera in shock, my other hand going around touching the bloody corner of my eye where the can hit.

I felt dizzy, holding onto to the side of the stage like my life depended on it. Frank came over to me, bending down next to me still playing the lead intro to I’m not Okay I Promise.

“Are you okay?” He yelled over the music.
“Yeah,” I stuttered. “Just give me a second.”

He nodded getting back up and going to his side of the stage. Gee didn’t bother to look over at me, but that didn’t surprise me. He was too focused on what he was doing to notice that I had even been hit on the side of the head.Leaning against the bars, I felt my eyes fading in and out, my vision blurring. How can a can of Pepsi have such an effect on someone?

I sighed as my eyes closed a final time, the sound of loud music fading into the darkness. I felt my body slump completely against the stage before passing out. I felt a cool cloth pressed against my forehead, the panicked voices around me. I recognized Frank’s among the rest of them; I also knew it was Gerard above me, the scent of his cologne and slight vodka surrounding him.

“Stop, panicking isn’t going to wake her up. Mikey go and a get a band aid, she’s bleeding a bit.”
I felt the cloth move to the side of my eye were a throbbing pain had taken place. He moved it back and forth softly against the wound before drying it. I heard the sound of a band aid being opened before my eyes caught up with the rest of me. I was laying with my head in Gee’s lap and we were no longer in the music hall.

“J.C? Are you alright?” Frank asked seeing me wake up.
“Something hit me.” I said slowly.
“Someone threw a can.” Gee growled.

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. Was Gerard upset by my injury?
I began to sit up, but both Gee and Frank stopped me, Gerard’s hands on my shoulders with Frank’s on my stomach.

“I wouldn’t get up so soon. You’ve been out for about 30 minutes. We were pretty close to calling an ambulance if you hadn’t woken up any sooner.” Frank smiled.

It didn’t surprise me that a bunch of twenty year old boys had no clue as to how to wake up a fainted person.I was sat up, leaned against Gee. As he commanded the band to get various items, I felt his calming voice next to my ear.

“Take it easy J.C; the bus should be here soon.” He said. I watched the band put the last of equipment by the door, Frank being the quickest of all of them.

“As soon as we get in eat and lay down. I don’t think you’ve eaten anything today either.”

Frank was right, but I didn’t do it purposely. I had been busy with photography things that entire day that I had neglected my own stomach. Still, my eye was throbbing like a bitch and I felt childish for how much I was depending on Gee and Frank at the moment.I had promised Mikey we would watch Donnie Darko, but at the rate things were doing, we probably wouldn’t get to it.

Gee abruptly stood up, picking me up as if I weighed nothing and carried me out into the freezing December air. I wiggled closer to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and curling in. He cooed, telling me we were almost there. I still felt faint, the full dizzy effect yet to wear off.The bus door opened and Gee carried us in, Frank trailing just a few steps behind.

“I wonder who would throw a damn can at a photographer.” Ray wondered aloud. I heard myself laugh, and mutter something about idiocy. I didn’t know much about what I was saying, but Gee was excusing my incoherent comments with the excuse that I was still lucid, which in all realism, I was.

He put me down, his arms still holding me up while he frequently asked if I was still alright, each time I nodded.

Right now all I really wanted was to be alone and if I had to be around anybody, I wanted it to be Frankie. I felt a strange dependence on my best friend right now, and he seemed to have noticed as he came over and took Gerard’s place. We sat down on the couch while the rest of the band went out to get food.

“I’ve never seen him act like that before.” Frank commented while getting a cold Big Red from the fridge. I smiled as he handed to me, the memories of back home flooding into mind. It seemed back home the only kind of drink they had was cream soda.

“Who? Gerard?” I asked.

“Yeah. Normally he would have thrown something like that away. He would have let the rest of us take care of it. You’re changing him J.C.” Frank smirked, lifting his own can to his lips.

“Or you’re his best friend and I’m your best friend so he felt he needed to?” I suggested.

“No,” Frank laughed. “I’ve had another girl on tour before and he treated her like dirt. The moment you came along you proved that you weren’t taking any of his bullshit so I guess he’s accepted it.” Frank smiled.

I didn’t believe that Gee wasn’t going to bother me. I counted all the times he had reeled out and expected me to come and save him even if all I had to go by on finding him was the incoherent name of a restaurant I had never heard of.

“You and Gee are stuck in the rat race. One day you’re good friends and maybe a bit on the side of lovers, the next you both fucking hate each other. Which one is it J.C? Are you having feels for Gee?” Frank smirked again, and I could only imagine the field day he must be having.

“I don’t know.” I answered truthfully. “Every time I want to get closer, he pushes me away.” I sighed.

“That’s just Gee. He did that to all of us. You just have to prove that he can trust you. He’s not dependent on you because he knows that you’re only going to be here for this tour.”

I hadn’t yet told Frank I had been thinking about staying longer. Of course he would be quick to presume it was because I wanted to spend more time with Gee, but really it was to spend time with the entire band. I hadn’t spent much time with anyone but the Ways and Frank. I hadn’t spent hardly any time with Ray or Bob.

Frank hadn’t either, and I knew I was responsible for that one. He had spent so much time with Gee and I that he hadn’t spent much time with anyone else.

“Maybe I should stay on for another tour.” I said softly.

Surprisingly, Frank smiled instead of his usual smirk.

“I think you should too.”

Notes

This isn't a filler chapter, it's meant to go more into the relationship between J.C and Frank and Gerard since she's been on tour. This chapter meant something, and you should definitely keep it in the back of our mind ;) x