Brian’s POV:
I stumbled out of the bar, Johnny, Arin, Matt, Jason, Zacky and his girlfriend, Hannah, close behind me. Okay, I’d had enough to drink. It was time to head back to the bus.
We were all just a little bit worried about what we were going to find when we got back. We’d left Haley doing paperwork and Matt drowning himself in whiskey; nothing unusual there. Hopefully we’d find them doing the same thing when we got back.
“Taxi!”
The cab pulled over and we all piled in. I told him the address of the arena and then paid him when he dropped us off.
Something wasn’t right. The lights were still on in the bus but I couldn’t see anyone sitting in the bunk area through the open window but then we all heard a loud thud and then a scream.
“Matt! Get off of me! Please! You’re hurting me!” Haley screamed.
I ran up to the bus door, opening it as quickly as I could. Crap, crap, crap! I knew we shouldn’t have left them on their own together.
“It’s your fault he’s gone! It’s your entire fault!”
I ran inside with the others close behind me and stopped as I saw Matt raise his hand and smack her around the face. I lost control of my temper and stepped forward.
“Matt! Get the fuck away from her!”
He looked up, glaring daggers at me. He stepped away from her though and she used the space to make her escape. She made a mad dash for the safety of the twins’ arms.
“Go get her cleaned up guys. Matt, come with me!”
I grabbed his arm and dragged him into the back room of the bus.
“What?” He sneered at me.
“What the hell’s gotten into you?” I hissed at him, letting go of him.
“What do you mean?”
“Just in case you haven’t realized… That’s Natalie out there.” I pointed to the lounge and just stared at him, searching for any sort of reaction, any sign of remorse. “Natalie Hunter, the girl whose heart you broke. Jimmy’s not gone because of her! Don’t you dare try and blame her! What would he say man? What do you think Jimmy would say to you if he could see you now?”
He shrugged and turned away pinching the bridge of his nose as his muscles tensed and he took a deep breath.
“That’s just my point! He’s gone Brian! He’s gone and I blame her!” He yelled in my face.
“Matt, I don’t know what is going on with you but I think we both know you don’t believe that! She has done nothing! Do you realize what you’ve done? You’ve hit her! You’ve hit Natalie, the girl that you promised you would never hurt!”
“She left without a reason, she broke her promise first.” He muttered, glaring at me.
“Without a reason? How’s this… Her best friend broke her heart and broke her!”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s obvious. Just take one look at her and I mean take a good look at her, not just a glance, really have a look at her. She’s not the same Natalie that we all love. She’s changed because you hurt her. I thought that you would want her back. All the whining you’ve done about how much you miss her.”
“Yeah, well, like you said Syn, people change. What about me? What about my feelings? She hurt me too.”
“You know what Matt we’re all so sick of your shit! You gotta pull your act together man if you ever want us to be friends like we used to.”
With that I stormed off, into the kitchen where Natalie sat, crying into Jason’s shirt while Hannah rubbed her arm comfortingly. She looked up when I came in and I motioned for her to come over to me. She threw her arms around my neck and I wrapped my own tightly around her.
“Hey, look at me. Let me see the damage.” I said softly.
I lifted her chin up and gently turned her head to the side to see the bright red handprint Matt had left on her cheek.
“It hurts less than this.” She choked out, holding her hand over her heart.
“I know Natalie. I know. He’s become a douche bag lately, even more than usual. I just hope that he realizes what he’s doing before it’s too late. Before everyone he knows leaves him.”
She pushed away from me then and stared into my eyes with a look of disgust on her face, confusion flooding mine.
“What?”
“You’d seriously just ditch him when he needs you most?”
“When he’s being nothing more than a selfish egotistical bastard? Yeah, I think I would. It might teach him a lesson.”
“I couldn’t. Not after seeing how much damage I’ve caused by doing it once.”
“Natalie, listen to me. What he is now… that’s not your fault. He did this to himself. He just pushed everyone away. He doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care about the guys, about his sister… he doesn’t give a flying fuck about the fans anymore… he needs to pull his act together.”
“Yeah, and so help me God I will force all of you if I have to, to help me, help him through this. Believe it or not, I understand exactly what he’s going through. He lost Jimmy… I know you all did but Jimmy was to him what Oli was to me! Is he taking things a bit too far? Yeah, he is. But I don’t care if it’s the last thing I do, I’m gonna stick by him and get him through this.”
We all nodded in agreement and she quickly breathed out a sigh of relief as I stepped back and nodded.
“Fine, but this happens again I’m not just going to let it slide even if you would.”
She nodded and I hugged her once more before she disappeared off to her bunk.
