Pathways // Gawsten [Book 2]

21 - Normal's Never Felt So Free

The shrill noise of Geoff's iPhone alarm jolted him awake. It was too early in the morning to be waking up, and all members of the household had had a late night the night before. They'd all been anxious waiting for the first day of tour, and now that it was finally here, it was keeping everyone awake. Sure, they'd had multiple band practices, but they hadn't played a show together in over a year. They weren't sure how the fans were going to react or what was going to happen.

Geoff groaned and leaned across to click the orange snooze button on his phone. He flopped back down and closed his eyes briefly, but jumped when he felt someone's lips connect to his cheek. He smiled, knowing it was non other than the purple-headed boy in his bed.

"Morning," Geoff whispered as he peeled his eyes open and saw Awsten propping himself up on his elbow.

"Good morning," Awsten smiled, "I can't believe we're touring again today," 

Geoff hummed in response and watched as Awsten craned his neck to look out the window. The curtains had a small gap in them and let the daylight shine through into the room. Everything was so calm and quiet throughout the house, and the small amount of light shining through gave the room a lovely, peaceful aura. 

That was until they heard muffled sobbing from the floor below them. Both Awsten and Geoff immediately looked at each other before shooting out of bed and scrambling to the door and down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they realised the sobbing was coming from Otto and Grace's room and both their hearts dropped.

Geoff put his hand out to stop Awsten moving further towards the room, just in case it was something bad. Something like last year. Geoff knew that it was a big possibility that something had happened again, why else would Grace be sobbing in Otto's room. He didn't want Awsten to see if it was. It had messed Awsten up big last time, seeing the empty room.

The door was already cracked open so he slowly pushed it open and relief flooded him when he saw Otto holding Grace as she cried. Otto looked up at the sound of the door and smiled sadly at Geoff when he saw him,

"Are you okay?" Geoff asked softly, and Otto shook his head.

Otto was sat on the side of the bed fully dressed, while Grace was still in her pyjamas and sobbing into his shoulder. Geoff could see that Otto was also getting upset and he couldn't help but think maybe something bad had happened,

"What's up?" Geoff said, and slowly walked into the room, quietly hearing Awsten's footsteps behind him.

Grace lifted her head from Otto's shoulder and wiped her eyes carefully,

"I don't want you guys to go." She whispered, and Geoff suddenly knew why Otto was getting upset to,
"I don't want to be alone, and I don't want to see you walk out that door again... I'm tired of seeing empty rooms in this house." She said as a few more tears fell down her face. 

Otto reached up and wiped her tears away, and she leaned back into him, this time leaning her head on his shoulder so Geoff could still see her face. Awsten was stood in the doorway listening and watching in when he had an idea,

"Maybe you don't have to be alone," Awsten suggested, and Otto gave him a confused look,
"I might have to pull a few strings but it's not like we don't have a spare bunk on the bus" He shrugged, and saw Otto tearing up too. 

Otto had gone through so much leaving Grace behind the first time, and now he was having leave her while she was pregnant  (not that Awsten and Geoff knew that). It was too much for him, and for the past fifteen minutes he'd sat with her while she cried. It was breaking his heart, but hearing that Awsten would let her come filled him with such happiness.

"Really?" Otto asked softly, "You'd do that?"

Awsten nodded and smiled,

"I'll go call right now." He said and left the room, walking downstairs into the kitchen. The three could hear him talking to Jawn quietly, and heard him on the phone.

Otto looked at Geoff, and Geoff moved forward to sit on the other side of Grace. She sniffled and looked at him before hugging him. He was slightly shocked, but hugged back.

"We'll never leave you again, okay? We're here to stay... Wherever we go, you go." Geoff said, and Grace pulled away smiling at him. A couple more tears fell down her face but she quickly wiped them away. 

"Thank you... I love you, Geoff." Grace said. It wasn't a shock to hear it coming from her mouth. It wasn't a rarity for them to tell each other that they loved each other, but it had been a while.

"I love you too, Grace. Now, you better pack." Geoff said as he smiled and left the room.

"And I love you the most," Otto said once Geoff had left and closed the door. He leant forward and kissed Grace, and felt her smile. Maybe it was going to be okay.

-

"Woah, this is so much bigger than any bus we've had before." Geoff said in awe as they entered the bus. Sure in the grand scheme of things it wasn't a big bus, but it was big enough for it to be comfortable for all of them.

"That's what she said," Awsten groaned as he lugged his suitcase onto the bus, eliciting a laugh from Jawn and Otto.

"But Geoff has a point, this is great especially considering how many of us there are." Jawn pointed out.

Usually, it was only five of them on the tour bus: the band, Jawn and the tour manager. This time, however, this time they had the band, Jawn, Lucas, Zakk and Grace. They'd gone from five to seven, leaving only one spare bunk. Usually their backpacks went in there, and Awsten's jumpers (and whatever weird shit he brought with him) went in another bunk, but this time they were going to have to fit them all together in one bunk.

"I want the bottom bunk again since it's bigger," Otto yelled, and rushed to put his backpack - and Grace's - in the bunk. Geoff chuckled and shook his head,

"Let's get settled because we really do have to leave soon," Lucas said, "You're forgetting the first show is tonight and not tomorrow."

-

Bouncing around on stage, playing their old songs, seeing their fans. It made all three of them think that nothing had changed and everything was okay. And maybe everything was.

The show had gone great, and they had a reaction from the fans they'd never seen before. It made them all so happy, and Geoff swore he saw Awsten tear up at one point. The second they ran off stage, they were bombarded with hugs from their friends,

"That was fucking awesome!" Jawn yelled, and pulled his friends in a hug,

"Yeah you guys were great," Zakk agreed.

They all just smiled, too out of breath and in too much disbelief to do much else.

"We're gonna head out for drinks before bus call, you all coming?" Lucas asked, but Geoff shook his head, gripping onto Awsten's hand.

"Me and Aws are gonna go back to the bus, maybe get an early night, but we'll see you guys later." Geoff smiled, breathing heavily still. Usually shows didn't make him this out of breath but he was sure it was also part of the adrenaline. 

Their friends nodded and walked away, joking and laughing. They all looked so happy.

"Why aren't we going?" Awsten asked, confused.

"Empty bus, hour to ourselves?" Geoff hinted and Awsten smirked,

"Well lets not waste any time." Awsten said as he pulled Geoff towards the venue exit and onto the bus, slowly undoing the buttons of his shirt as they walked.