The Fear Of Falling Apart

-29-

Please please please read the authors note at the end!

Tanith's POV

My alarm woke me in the morning.

I begrudgingly rolled out of bed, Buddy right by my side. I trudged into the bathroom, brushing my hair and changing into some jeans and a Panic crew shirt from last year. I tie my hair up and put on my converse before heading downstairs to eat a quick breakfast.

"Morning Tan." Sarah greets holding my baby brother in her arms and kissing me on the head as I pass. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I did." I smile, grabbing the cereal from the top cupboard and a bowl from the drawer. "Where's dad?" I turn the coffee machine on and it begins to make my drink.

"I don't know." She shrugs. "He just told me he had to go do something and he'd be back soon." She sits Lucas in the highchair beside my seat. I grab a pre-mashed container of peas from the fridge and sit down. I take a few bites of my food before helping Lucas eat his. He swats my hands away, taking the spoon himself and taking over my job. "Okay, Lukey." I laugh.

Sarah takes out my hair tie and starts messing with my hair. "What are you doing?" I question.

"Changing things up." She responds. I shrug and return to eating my cereal. A few minutes later, my bowl was empty and Sarah was finished doing whatever it was she did with my hair.

"If you don't like it you can take it out." She assures me. I open the camera on my phone, smiling as I see what she did. She put a small braid in, and pushed it around so it sat differently. "I like it." I decide. "Thanks, Sarah."

"No problem, Tanith." She grins back. "Your dad doesn't seem to be too good with hair."

"He's definitely not." I nod, wiping Lucas' face and taking him out of the highchair. The three of us head into the living room. I set Lucas down on the floor and take out the large box of toys, tipping a few on the floor.

Sarah sits down beside him, and Buddy lays down on my lap. We stay there for a little while, and I take a bunch of photos for snapchat. Just as we're about to head out the door to school, Brendon returns.

"Tan, no school today!" He calls, the excitement in his voice carrying. I hear the door close behind him, and moments later he's standing in the doorway. "Band meeting." He grins, dancing around in that dorky way of his.

I smile back, jumping up and down a little.

He turns to his girlfriend, who's wearing a similar smile to the two of us. "Are you still able to drop Lucas off at the daycare?"

She nods, smiling. "Sure thing Bren. You guys should get going. I'll see you later." I race upstairs, Buddy right on my heels. I grab the emo quartet backpack someone gave me at the Reading meet and greet and shove my laptop and charger into it. I grab a notebook, my pencil case and a couple of picks.

I grab my custom guitar from the hook on my wall, putting it carefully into its hard case before running back downstairs and out the door. "Bye Sarah!"

I get into the passenger seat, putting my bag at my feet and my guitar in the back before fixing my hair a little bit. "Your hair looks nice today sweetie." Brendon smiles as he pulls out of the driveway.

"Thanks. Sarah did it." I smile back. He turns the radio on, changing the station until he's satisfied with what's playing.

"So why are we having a band meeting?" I ask.

"I wanna get back to working on the album." He says, a knowing look in his eye.

"Yes!" I cheer, pumping my fist in the air. "What are we doing today?"