396 Miles From Home- an original story

Chapter Fourteen

"You know when the sun forgets to shine.

I'll be there to hold you through the night

We'll be running so fast, we could fly. Tonight.

And even when we're miles and miles apart

I promise it will never be dark

I know, we're inseparable."

~ Inseparable, The Jonas Brothers

Alec's POV

Later, after the soundcheck, I was walking the main hallway backstage, looking for Finley. There was a speaker blasting music as we all messed around to burn off the nerves. Izzy and Kit were dancing around while Emma and Nelly rode longboards up and down the hallway. I stepped through the stage door and was met with instant silence and a few guitars. Liam and Finley were sitting on the end of the stage, strumming acoustic guitars. They both looked up as I walked over. Liam stopped playing and Finley followed.

"You guys nervous or something?" I joked.

"Like you aren't." Finley scoffed.

"Of course, we're nervous. This isn't just an ordinary venue, its Madison Square Garden." Liam said, shaking his head.

"No shit. Thanks for the reminder." Finley mumbled, looking scared and a little sick. I sat down in front of her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Hey, it'll be okay. You're gonna do amazing tonight. You always do." I whispered. She looked up and smiled at me.

"I'm usually the one telling you that." She laughed. Liam was oblivious to us, back in his own world.

"I know. But for once, let me be strong for you." She laughed and laid her guitar down, moving into my arms.

"For once, you can be strong for me."

We both started laughing as Liam started playing 'Only Us' from Dear Evan Hansen. Finley moved out of my arms and started singing along.

"I don't need you to sell me on reasons to want you. I don't need you to search for the proof that I should..." I laughed and stood up, pulling her up with me and leading her in my crappy attempt at a waltz.

"I never thought there'd be someone like you who would want me. So, I give you 10,000 reasons to not let me go..." By that point, all my worries of tonight had melted away. Even with Nelly and Kit watching and recording us, and Liam on stage behind us, it still felt like it was just Finley and me.

"It'll be us; it'll be us and only us. And what came before won't count anymore or matter. We can try that. It'll be you and it'll be me. That's all we need it to be. And the rest of the world falls away." We both stopped dancing, our foreheads touching.

"The world falls away. And it's only us." We sang to each other, then our lips were crashing against one another. Suddenly, our little bubble had been broken and Liam and the girls were clapping for us.

"Good show! Good show!" Nelly yelled.

"Do that tonight and we'll all be fine!" Kit added. Fin buried her head into my chest, laughing hysterically. I was laughing too as my arms snaked around her waist.

Cassie came bustling in, shooing us all off stage and back to our green rooms. Finley and I dropped hands as we walked into our separate green rooms.

"Anyone else feel like they're gonna puke?" Ethan mumbled. We all raised our hands.

"But we'll be fine. We always are." Nelly said. I sat down heavily on the couch and closed my eyes. I took a few deep breaths calming myself down. A few minutes later, we were standing side-stage.

"Nothing's better than this!" Liam yelled, putting his hand in the middle of our circle. We piled our hands on top of his, chorusing 'nothing's better than this!' and running on stage.

Later, I was standing side-stage watching the girls set. They were doing amazing too. It was probably the best show of the entire tour, and it had everything to do with the fact that we had almost sold out Madison Square Garden. I watched a couple more songs, then headed back to the green room for a shower and then onto the bus for some much needed sleep.

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The next few days flew by in a blur of shows, sleeping on the bus, and a different city every night. We had been non-stop since New York. I hadn't felt good all day and right after my set that night in Baltimore, I went straight back to our hotel. We got to sleep in a hotel tonight because tomorrow was a travel day down to Myrtle Beach, where we would finally have a break. It was only one day, but it meant we had two days off before our next show.

I was pacing around my hotel room, waiting not so patiently for Finley to get back. I had seen some hate filled tweets directed at me earlier and it was bothering me. The lack of sleep was catching up with me and making my anxiety even worse. Plus, this stupid cold or whatever I had caught wasn't helping anything. I sighed and took my guitar over to the bed, trying to distract myself by trying to remember the cords to our new song. I didn't pay any attention to the door falling closed behind Finley, who was still laughing at something someone had said. It died in her throat when she saw me. I glanced over at her as she crawled onto the bed, rubbing my shoulders.

"You okay?" she asked. I sighed and laid my guitar down, relaxing into her hands.

"Not really, I guess. I'm tired and getting sick. And there's hate and I'm just tired." I said.

"Oh. Did you take medicine?" she asked. I laughed a little.

"Yes mom." She hit my shoulder gently.

"Asshole. Anyway, I'm sorry about the hate. Do you wanna talk about it?" I shook my head.

"It doesn't matter."

"But it does. It shouldn't, but it does."

"You're right, it does. I don't know just the same shit. Guess I was being a douche to some gay kids and people are calling me homophobic? I don't even know. If I wasn't so tired and burnt out, I'd probably laugh about it all." I explained.

"So, it's only bothering you because your tired?" she asked.

"Basically. I'm just so stressed. Like so much so I could..." I trailed off.

"Cry?" she suggested. I let out a laugh.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That's understandable. Emotions run high towards the end of tour. That's why we decided to do a week break before the final show, so we could rest and recharge and get our heads straight to give the final show our all. When this all gets to be too much, touring and being away from home. Missing my parents and my friends, being on the road, all of it, I live by a quote from Supernatural. 'Decide to be fine until the end of the week. Then get up and do it again the next week.' Someone told Dean that in one episode and I've lived by it ever since."

"So, fake it?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"Fake it till you make it." She laughed. "Dean basically asks the same thing and the first guy says, 'do it right, with a smile, or don't do it at all.' He's basically saying that if you can't live and be happy when the world is shit, then you shouldn't be doing it at all. The shows a lot darker than I'm trying to make it, but it really is true. If you can't do it right, don't do it at all. It works for a lot of things." She laughed and I did too.

"We'll be okay."

"Yeah, we will be." She whispered. She got off the bed and started getting ready to go to sleep. I moved around and got under the covers, falling asleep before she even got back into bed.