Bad Management

Frank’s P.O.V

When Michael had come back to the bus he was not happy. We told him to grab a guitar and join the band but he decided to sit on the side and nervously picked at the fray of his jeans. I heard Sophia ask if George was back and he just nodded, grabbing the beer bottle off the table that she had put there for him and taking a huge swig of it. Either they’d had an argument about before, it wasn’t a lipstick she bought or both. I noticed Sophia keep glancing over at him and I could tell that she was dying to ask him what had happened but was refraining herself. “I hope they’re ok.” Molly whispered from the side of me as I looked over at her biting her lip. Sophia had already told her about George’s temper change after her accident and explained that it wasn’t Molly’s fault, but that seemed to fall on deaf ears as Molly looked completely guilty.
“They’ll be fine. He probably doesn’t like the shade.” I whispered back, placing my hand on her knee under the table and stroking gently as she smiled up at me to show she appreciated my efforts to calm her down. I’d learnt so much about her these past few hours; every time our photoshoots were sent off to George’s amazing editor it turned out that it was Molly who was proofing and touching them up. She was 2 years older than George and was supposed to move over with her and Sophia but had to stay because her boyfriend had proposed and couldn’t move because of his job. She’d told me stories from growing up with the other two and how different they both were to themselves now. With every story she told me I found myself getting more and more fascinated by her and a familiar feeling was washing over my body as I tried to focus on her voice.

Michael had stayed for a few hours before slipping off, mainly unnoticed, to his bus. I glanced at Sophia who was watching him through the window walking back to his bus as I bit my lip. I knew it was only a matter of time before she’d follow him over to check what was going on, but, something told me that this was a time that she couldn’t help; they needed to do whatever it was by themselves. I kept checking on her, as she kept checking on their bus whilst everybody else was blind to us and playing Rock Band. I’d just got up to go to the bathroom about an hour after Michael had left figuring it would be safe to leave her; she hadn’t gone yet so she probably wasn’t going to go. I was just drying my hands when the door slipped open and Molly came in. “We have a problem; Sophia is heading for their bus. I noticed you was watching to make sure she didn’t. Go.” She told me opening the door as I rushed out and off the bus quickly. I jogged over to their bus but I was too late she was already there jumping up and down at the window shouting out about them making a baby. I ran over and practically tackled her to the floor with a squeal coming from her.
“What the hell Frank?” She shouted as I stood up helping her up slowly.
“Leave them alone. They obviously need space to sort whatever it is they need to sort out.” I told her, pleading with her to listen and make her way back to our bus.
“But what if she reacts badly. She might need calming down.” She tried to reason with me as I shook my head.
“Michael knows what he’s doing. Leave them alone.” I shouted a little louder moving closer to her to pick her up over my shoulder. I’d just lifted her up when we heard the bus door open. I turned round to look at whoever was standing there and it was Michael, he looked as pale as a ghost.
“You should come in.” He mumbled as he opened the door further as I let Sophia slide down.

She practically ran up the stairs, me closely behind her as we saw George sat on the sofa looking distractedly out of the window.
“Hey you, you ok?” Sophia’s soft concerned voice rang out as George shook her head and looked over at us with a soft smile on her lips.
“Yeah I’m fine. I’m sorry for running off before. It was childish of me so sorry.” She nodded slightly as Michael sat opposite her holding her hand closest to us as the other held something out of sight. We were about to tell her it was all OK but she spoke first. “You wanted to know what lipstick I’d bought well, it’s not exactly lipstick, but…” She paused before holding the white stick up. My mouth dropped as did Sophia’s who for once was speechless.
“Is that a?” I paused as they both nodded, Sophia made her way over to them both with a questioning look.
“We’re not.” Michael shook his head, “but we thought you guys should know at least why she didn’t want any of us to see what was in the bag.” He carried on as he smiled at us. There was something about both of their smiles that was sad and I couldn’t figure out if it’s because they wanted a baby or not.
“Did you both want it to be positive?” I asked biting my lip and immediately regretting what I’d just asked.
“No.” She spoke out. “Yes?” She sounded so confused. “If I was pregnant then it would explain so much about changes that have been happening these past few weeks.” She explained.
“Your memory, your moods, your fainting?” Sophia finally spoke up as George nodded. Wait fainting?
“We’ve decided that we’re going to stay here for a few months. We’re going to book in with a specialist over here and see if they can explain it. We don’t think the travel will help the situation because she isn’t the best flyer is she?” He laughed a little as he squeezed her hand. They had an idea what it was causing this, and they had a good idea that it wasn’t good.

Notes