Deer in the Headlights

Part 38 - We've Got Your Back

[Breanne's POV - Same timeframe as the phonecall]

“Thanks, bye.” I look across as Adam hangs up, his dark eyes staring at his phone for a moment till he stuffs it back into his pocket and looks out the window; I noticed immediately how he was biting his lip, his eyes squinting in a way that looked like he was holding back tears.

“You alright Adam?” I ask softly from across the bus. Adam meets my gaze for a moment; his eyes had a glazed look to them, his expression far away.

Before I could stop him he hastily got up and rushed down the hall of the bus, a thud a second later indicated he’d gotten off the bus. Turning around I look through the window and watch him running away down the parking lot, his long legs stretching out giving him an unexpected amount of speed and power.

A warm hand on my shoulder causes me to turn away from the window. It was Daniel.

His kind eyes were looking at me sadly, I know he’d seen what’d happened.

“Is he okay?” I shrug my shoulders and pull a face, my actions alone seeming to answer the question for him as he nods his head and looks out of the window for a moment, a faraway look in his eyes.

“Breanne will you go after him?” He asks after a moment’s pause. “There’s definitely something going on and I think you’re the best person here to talk with him.” He adds, his eyes almost pleading with me to go. Smiling sweetly I nod my head.

“Sure, I’m worried about him too, I hope he’s okay.” I say a little distractedly. It was completely out of character for Adam to be so flighty, we all knew he was shy but this seemed different, in the moment I’d looked into his eyes I’d seen deep sadness, heavy and dark.

 I had to find him.

Saying my farewell to Daniel I step out of the bus and wander out over the parking lot, smiling lightly as I feel the delicate rays of morning sun hitting my skin. It really was a beautiful town we were staying in, right by the sea and tucked away into a little harbour was the night’s venue we’d be playing at tomorrow; for today at least we had the day off to explore and settle back into tour life.

It took me the better part of ten minutes but eventually I tracked down Adam; rather by chance I’d noticed a lone figure sat huddled on one of the wooden slat piers. Walking up to the person I realised immediately it was Adam. His tall frame sat huddled on the edge of the pier with his legs dangling over the side, his eyes staring off out to the sea beyond the harbour.

Slowly walking up to him I make sure to hit my feet on the boards so he’d hear my approach, the last thing I wanted to do was panic him further. Tilting his head at the noise Adam hesitantly looks up at me as I come to sit beside him, carefully placing my legs over the side like he had done.

A silence quickly envelopes us but I don’t make a move to fill it, I wanted Adam to relax before he spoke, I’d seen Brielle do this once before. She really took her time with his shyness and it was something I think he really appreciated; gradually it seemed to pay off too as he slowly brought his gaze to mine. I could see he’d been crying, the skin around his eyes was raw from where he’d rubbed away tears, and still visible in his big brown eyes were the watery remnants of those tears, the sight made my heart cry out for him; he was such an innocent guy it hurt me to think he was upset.

“Sorry for bolting Breanne.” He says softly, his gaze wavering as he seemed to hesitate. I smile kindly at him in an attempt to reassure him, I realised it was going to take him some courage to speak out.

“Are you okay now Adam?” He swallows a lump in his throat and shrugs his shoulders awkwardly. I didn’t think he was going to reply to me but at the last second he cleared his throat and began to speak.