“Please don’t, just listen to me okay?” He wipes my face with his free hand, but the tears don’t stop. “I didn’t want them to ask you, I begged John just to give you some space. He talked Chris into it by saying that it would be better for both of you, and mom would be happy to have you but I know you couldn’t stand to be that far away from your brother. Chris thinks if he doesn’t go along with this then John will try to get him fired. Well that can’t happen, I say who goes and who stays and I will get rid of John before I get rid of Chris!” I don’t know if he is still talking to me or if he is just talking out loud but I’m still angry.
“Why the hell does everyone kiss your ass!? You can fire your own brother and no one has a say in it?” I try to take my hand back but he just grips it tighter then looks me dead in the eyes.
“This is my band, I am the lead singer the fans know my voice no one else’s. I write ninety percent of the songs. I started Freak Street and it would be nothing without me. I brought my brother along with me, he would be nothing if it weren’t for me!” He growls at me. My eyes are wide with fear, he is gripping my hand tighter and tighter.
“Justin you’re hurting my hand.” He looks down at it then releases it. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know this is your band, I do research on all the bands we tour with before I step on the bus. You had your first number one single when you were sixteen, now you have two double platinum albums and are heading lining a sold out world tour. The same tour your brother wants me off of.” I can tell we have both calmed down a little but not much.
“I am the head of this band, and what I say goes. Not only in the band but on that bus too. I don’t care what John says, I know Chris doesn’t want you to go and I don’t want you to go either. And if you look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want to go, then I’ll make sure you stay with us. And I promise it will never be brought up again.” I lock eyes with him, we are sitting so close that I can feel he is shaking just as bad as I am.
“I don’t want to go.” I say but my voice is cracking.
“Then it’s final you are not leaving us.” He wraps me in his arms and I fall a part.
Twenty minutes later this is how Chris found us. Justin holding me while I cry into my hands. Chris reaches for me and pulls me up and hugs me hard saying ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again. Justin asks Chris to keep me here for a few minutes while he speaks with his brother. I watch him running back over to the bus. Chris just holds me as I start to clam down. We go and sit down on a bench close by.
“I will not let them make you leave, I will quit before that happens.” He says still holding me to him, I pull away so I can look at his face.
“You won’t need to do that, Justin won’t let you quit.” I half smile then shake my head.
“Do you know something I don’t? Because John is serious about this.” He’s mad but not at me.
“I want to wait till we talk to Justin again before I say anything. But just know that we are not going anywhere, and that I have made my first true friend other than you.” I smile up at him. He just pulls me back into a hug and doesn’t ask any more questions.
We are both watching the buses, I don’t want to go back until we talk to Justin. I see a black cab pull up to the buses and John comes out with three bags! He gets in the cab and yells something at the bus but I couldn’t hear what it was, then the cab pulls off. I look at Chris and he is as scared as I am. When I look back over at the buses I see Justin waving at us to come back over.
As I walk back onto the bus I’m not sure what to do. I just sit on the couch close to the door. Did he fire his brother? Oh God what is going on?
“Chris, we need to talk.” Justin says while coming to sit beside me. Chris is sitting across from us. “Look John is out of the band. What he pulled today was uncalled for. He has been acting like big shit for a while now, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I need you to stay with us, I need you both to stay.” He looks over at me and smiles. “Chris I like your sister, I like how easy she is to talk to, and I think she may like me,” He nudges my leg with his “but I don’t want you to be uneasy about this. All I can give anyone in my life right now is a friendship, my life is too crazy for anything else. You will see in the next few months what I am talking about. If you stay I would like your permission to hang out with Flower whenever I can.”
“I’ll stay, and you have my permission as long as you promise to never hurt her.” Chris gives Justin his best ‘I’ll kick your ass if you hurt my sister’ face.
“I promise.” Justin jumps up and hugs Chris then pulls me
