Falling Too (Tyler Joseph)

Chapter 21

"Why did I agree to this again?" I grumbled as I tugged at the sleeves of my black sweater as I turned to face Josh and Madison.

"Because it doesn't make sense for you and Tyler to be separated like this." Josh tells me as he holds the door open so we can all go out to Madison's car.

"So where is the concert hall?" I asked as I climbed into the back seat behind the driver's side.

Madison got behind the wheel before answering, "It's about twenty or so minutes from here."

During that ride, my mind wouldn't stop drifting back to the worries that I was doing my best to ignore. What if Tyler got one look at me and demanded that I leave? What if his mother would already beat him to it? Or what if Jamie was there to only make everything worse? I did all that I could to keep my thoughts positive and just focus on talking to Josh and Madison as we traveled to the venue. 

When we finally made it to the place, Josh had to basically beg me to get out of the car. He tried to reassure me that if anything went bad that he would be the one to take care of it. I mentally crossed my fingers that he could live up to his claim as I followed him inside. The place was dimly lit and as we made our way to the back I noticed that there was a small crowd standing around the stage, while nearly everyone else hung out near the bar. We found Madison standing near the backstage, waiting on us to catch up and I quickly noticed that she appeared stressed.

"Is everything alright?" Josh asked before I could.

She bit her lip momentarily and then explained, "Tyler seems like he's wanting to back out on performing."

I instantly feared that it was because I had shown up, but I still asked, "Do you have any idea why?"

"He said something about feeling like he didn't have the right stage presences..." She trailed off and then swiftly suggested, "How about you go try and talk him into it."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise at her words, "Why me?"

"I just figured that since he seemed so comfortable and in his element when you two performed at the festival, you could coax it back out of him."

I was about to argue against it when I paused, was she implying that I made Tyler comfortable with performing? I decided that I could question her about it later as I simply nodded and she lead us back to Tyler holding his head in his hands as he sat in the corner, with the other two other guys, Nick and Chris, standing on either side of him. They all looked frustrated, but I could tell that Tyler's emotions were more driven by anxiety. He barely glanced up at Madison, but his head snapped up as soon as he noticed me standing by her side.

A strange mixture of emotion crossed over his face before he spoke, "Ashley, what are you doing here?"

I cleared my throat, trying to rid the lump that had grown in it, "Madison invited me to come to watch your band."

He shook his head saying, "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think that's going to be happening."

I peered over at Madison as she gestured for the other three guys to leave the room with her, forcing Tyler and me to be alone together. I moved to kneel in front of him, attempting to meet his eyes at an odd angle.   

"And why is that?"

He sighed deeply, "I just feel like I'm not doing it right somehow. I don't know, I can't explain it."

"Well you should start off with what you think is wrong and try to work on that first, maybe the right way will show when you get rid of the wrongs."

His eyebrows twitched at that as he considered my suggestion. "I guess I could try to figure out how to appear less robotic when I perform."

I gave him a look of disbelief questioning, "When have you ever acted robotic? Every time I've seen you sing or play anything you have an energy coming off of you that I've never seen before. It's anything but robotic." 

Part of me regretted letting him know that I thought that way when I watched him, but it seemed to have the effect I was desiring.

A look of astonishment sprung up on his face as he blurted out, "That's it! I just have to pretend I'm in my basement..."

He trailed off before quietly finishing with, "Playing for you."

Before either of us could say a word his band members came back in the room wanting to know what was going to happen since they would need to go on stage in a few minutes. Tyler stood up from his seat declaring, "I'm ready."

Looks of relief flooded their features as they high fived Tyler and began getting their things together for the show. I gave Tyler a wave before hurrying off to the front to find Josh and Madison.

"He's going to do it." I inform them when I find them in front of the stage.

They both pulled me into a group hug.

"So are you two good again?" Josh asks when we let each other go.

I shrugged slightly, "I'm not exactly sure about that."

Suddenly the lights went down and they came out on stage, Tyler waved at us as he ran to sit behind his piano. A moment later several people crowded behind us and I felt fear ice my veins when I saw his mother stand on the other side of Madison, sending me a dirty look.

My attention is pulled back to the stage when Tyler speaks to the mic saying, "So, before we play our first song I'd like to thank someone that's here tonight. We've had a bit of a hard time here recently, but she's stuck by my side regardless of it. So, I dedicate this to my very best friend Ashley. This is 'Holding onto You'."

I felt Josh shake my shoulders as we both let out unnecessarily loud cheers.

"I'd say you two are more than good now." He says in my ear over the music.

All I can do is laugh and nod in agreement.