Chapter 4

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Jump ahead a month
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I stood in the wings with the ukulele pressed hard against my chest. Tyler had my hand in his squeezing it tightly.
"Are you ready?" He asked, giving me a reassuring nod.
"I guess." I whispered. I slowly walked onto the stage breathing heavily. I got to my microphone and placed my ukulele down beside me. I took in the audience and channeled the adrenaline into confidence not fear. Josh started playing the drums and heavydirtysoul started. I mostly sang back up, but did the chorus with Tyler.
I played 'house of gold' and 'we don't believe what's on TV'.
I came off stage buzzing. I was invited to the meet and greet afterwards. So many people wanted to see me, everybody had something nice to say and that really helped with my confidence.

I sat in Tyler's dressing room with my sketch book open in front of me. There were a few little doodles on the page. I picked up my pencil and it started gliding across the page; it curved and twirled as if it was dancing. I was lost in a world of my own and I didn't even notice Tyler come into the room - he clearly didn't notice me either.
After a little while I looked over to the corner of the room and saw him scrunched up into a ball sobbing. I slowly got off the couch and made my way over to him; I sat cross legged head on with him.
"Tyler?" I whispered. His head shot up and our eyes locked - it wasn't loving, it was scary. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot, like mine had been after my nightmare about Renae. He wiped his tears away with his sleeve and sniffled. I put my hand on his cheek and lightly stroked it with my thumb. "Tyler hunny? What's going on?" I asked extremely concerned.
He again didn't speak.
My eyes filled with tears because I was scared for him; I didn't know what was going on in his head and he didn't feel like he could tell me. I rested my head on his knees and rubbed his ankles.
"I can't do this." He whispered croakily. I slowly lifted my head and our eyes locked again; both red and puffy.
"What do you mean?" I asked even more concerned.
"My head, it's killing me, my thoughts are choking me! My brain is sick." He cried.
"I'm here Ty. I'm always here, I'll help you."
"It's not that easy Ley."
"I know but it takes one crazy person to understand another." I said trying to lighten the mood.
"So... our brains are sick."
"And that's okay." I smiled. I pushed his knees apart and slid between his legs; I placed my head on his shoulder and hugged him tighter than I ever had. Moments later I pulled away and grabbed my sketchbook. I opened it to my last used page.
"Look at this." I pushed the book into Tyler's face. He held it firmly with both hands and concentrated on the picture.
"Is this us?" He asked. I nodded happily. It was two skeletons, a girl and boy, hugging in a nebula, surrounded by instruments, music notes and various song lyrics. A sweet smile appeared on Tyler's face; something I hadn't seen on him in weeks. He ripped the page off of the binding and I started frowning.
"Well what did you do that for?" I asked frustratedly.
"One second." Tyler left the room for about 10 minutes and came back holding a frame. He handed the black, antique rectangle to me. I slowly turned it around and saw my drawing behind the glass.
"This will hang proudly above our bed."
"It will look great when our bed actually arrives." I laughed.
We had finally found a new apartment in Anaheim. I wanted to be close to my family as I hadn't been near them my entire life. We frequently visited his parents in Ohio so it wasn't too bad.
"Well let's get our sick brains out here and go home." He smiled.

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Hope you enjoy this chapter.
-Jess

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