Pathways // Gawsten [Book 2]

10 - Bittersweet Tragedy

Somehow, with the excitement of Geoff and Otto coming home and all the adjustments, they forget they're in the public eye. They forget that they have fans asking them questions, and that fans haven't seen them all together in a year. 

Things have changed, that's undeniable. Grace and Awsten - being the only ones still considerably in the public eye - had tried to remove themselves as much as possible. Not as much as Geoff, of course, who had deleted his social media. Everyone had been distant from social media and even being in the public eye, and no one outside of their close group new why. Everyone was oblivious to what had happened over the past year. Obviously, people knew Geoff and Otto were together, and Grace and Awsten were together, but there hadn't been any photos of any other pairings, which confused a lot of people. 

It was Jawn who had pointed it out. Only a few days after they returned home, Awsten was scrolling through Instagram, which prompted him to bring it up.

They were all sat in the main room. Grace was sat on Otto's lap, as usual, and she was showing him something on her laptop. They had earphones in, and everyone assumed it was some of the vlogs she'd done while he'd been gone. Geoff was sat in the chair, and Awsten was slouched down on the sofa. They were all the most relaxed they'd been in a long time, but they weren't about to be. 

"You know what's weird?" Jawn blurted out, getting the attention of everyone around him. He walked further into the main room so he was standing in the gap between the sofa and the chair. 

"What's weird?" Geoff asked, locking his own phone to look at Jawn,

"Your fans haven't seen waterparks together in nearly a year... All they've seen is Grace and Awsten and Geoff and Otto." 

Everyone looked at each other. They'd never thought of it like that. In the midst of it all, keeping the fans oblivious maybe wasn't kept such a priority. 

"Are fans asking questions?" Awsten asked, and Jawn shook his head.

"Considering you told them the band was going on hiatus, not really. But there are theories to why you went on hiatus... Most of them relate to the funeral in December, assuming y'all were grieving and needed time. No one bothered to pick up on the fact you weren't even in the same continent."

The air was suddenly filled with tension, and everything became more real again. The funeral, that they thought was Otto's but most definitely isn't because he's sat opposite them all right now. Although, it was a relief that no one had realised the true nature of what happened, or any of the secrets they were all holding. 

"Can't say that's a bad thing." Grace shrugged, and leaned back. She was right, and everyone knew it. Sure, it wasn't ideal, but it definitely wasn't bad.

"Speaking of the hiatus... Where do we stand on that?" Geoff asked suddenly, and it felt like the air had been knocked out of Awsten. He was oblivious to the fact his friends knew about the eighteen month probation period, but he knew he'd have to explain.

"When Geoff left, Claire and Richard came back and told us that we had eighteen months to sort our shit out. Our shit being, find a new drummer, get Geoff back in the band. The probation period doesn't end for at least another half a year yet." 

Geoff and Otto glanced at each other quickly, silently agreeing to keep their mouth shut about their knowledge on the situation. However, this did not go unnoticed by Grace and a pit began to form in her stomach. Something was definitely going on, and she was desperate to find it out. No more secrets, they'd agreed that. Sure, she wasn't necessarily keeping up to it, but it was still a rule, and no one was directly getting hurt by her secret. Not yet, at least. 

"There's something you don't know about that probation period." Geoff said guiltily, and Otto gave him a glare. 

"What?" Awsten asked, confused, and completely missing Otto shaking his head at Geoff.

"I was told about the probation period around the time you got arrested." He blurted out. Geoff watched Awsten's mouth drop open and he could see his brain trying to figure out this information.

"...What?" Awsten croaked out, still gaping at Geoff.

"It was the day after Otto left. Claire and Richard told me that if you were arrested, Waterparks was done for. If Otto was found dead, we could disband or go on probation. And they weren't options, they were orders." Geoff sighed, and looked down. He'd never told anyone that, and it had been weighing down on him since the day he found it out. But he knew they'd gone on probation before anyone else, since they never disbanded. 

"You couldn't have told me any of that?" Awsten asked, eyes blown wide. Geoff shook his head with his eyes still facing down,

"They said if I told anyone, I'd be removed from the band. It wasn't worth the risk, especially with the uncertainty."

The room filled with silence. Awsten was sure you'd be able to hear a pin drop, and the only real noise was the sound of people breathing. None of them had been expecting that. The situation was so fucked up, more than any of them could even comprehend. It had begun to go wrong the second Otto left, and none of them could do anything about it. 

None of them had even considered the band disbanding. Somehow, it had never crossed their mind. But now knowing, they could all see how it was a completely plausible idea. The band would've needed to break up if Otto was really dead, and that thought made Awsten angry. Someone knew Otto wasn't dead and that's why they didn't disband the band. Maybe in the back of his mind, he knew Otto wasn't dead, but that was a thought for another day.

"What's happening with the band?" Otto asked. He sounded vaguely upset, and Grace grabbed his hand, squeezing it a little.

"I'm down to just call the Madden brothers and tell them we want to become active again... fuck the hiatus." Geoff said, smiling slightly. He could see Otto perk up a bit at that, and even Grace seemed happy.

"I don't know if I want to." Awsten said, sounding so quiet. Geoff and Otto's eyes went wide and he looked away,
"We haven't been together for a year, we can't just bounce back into something like this." He defended,

"Awsten... Waterparks was our life, it's our profession." Otto said in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was before you decided to do a disappearing act." Awsten replied bitterly, immediately regretting it. His head shot up and he could instantly see the hurt on Otto's face. He shouldn't have said that, not at all. But Otto's face didn't crumble, instead it became stoic. He didn't dare look at Geoff, and the glare on Grace's face was enough to make the guilt completely overtake him.

"If I didn't disappear, you'd be dead right now. Think about which you'd rather have. This isn't about you anymore, Awsten. This hasn't been about you in a long time." Otto spat out. He patted Grace's legs so he could stand up, and he walked out of the room up the stairs. They heard his bedroom door close behind him loudly, and Awsten flinched.

Awsten felt bad. He still couldn't look at Geoff, and the glare Grace had was increasing. He knew he shouldn't have said that, and he didn't honestly know why he did. He could use the excuse he was still adjusting, but realistically he was still bitter about it, and everyone could tell.

"I'm sorry," Awsten mumbled, "I didn't mea-" He tried to continue but was cut off,

"Otto's right; this isn't about you anymore. If you're not over what happened last year, we can leave and come back when you are. We're trying to fix this, and you're not helping." Geoff said, and followed Otto's example by walking out of the room and up to Otto's room. They could briefly hear Geoff knock on Otto's door before the door closed once again. 

Awsten looked at Grace, hoping she'd maybe understand, but she had a disappointed look on her face. 

"We can't be bitter anymore, Awsten. They're right, they're trying to fix things. They uprooted their life for us to come back to the home they were being terrorised in... I know it's difficult, Aws, but even if you're not over it, you need to act like you are, for their sake."

Awsten looked down as Grace spoke. He knew she was right, but he had no idea to make the situation right. He suppose he could start by ringing their management, and getting them active as a band again.

He was determined to fix this, no matter what the cost. He was going to make things right.