If You Run (An All Time Low Fan Fiction)

Chapter Seven

Jack's POV

My heart stopped when I saw Tay walking towards me in the backstage hallway. I felt a smile creep onto my face as I started to run towards her, I don't know why I did it just felt like the right thing to do in the moment; now that I think about it it probably wasn't. I crashed into her and we both flew to the floor, luckily she wasn't hurt.

After we stood up and dusted ourselves down she gave me a hug and I felt the knotting sensation deep in my stomach come rushing back - it wasn't unpleasant though. As I introduced her to Rian and Zack I looked around expecting to see Alex but he wasn't there.

 "Yeah Alex is already in there with Cris. It was the funniest thing ever she was all like 'I..I'm..C..Cri'" Tay laughed imitating her friend I was soon to meet no doubt. 
"Fan is she?" Rian asked
"the biggest!" she replied. As we all turned to start walking to the door I reached out and grabbed Tay's arm. Her skin was strangely cold, her thin bracelet covered arms were pale and she jumped at my contact with her.

We stood oppisite each other, alone at last. 
"I didn't think you'd come" I said pushing my hands into the pockets of my skinny jeans
"I'm a man of my word, Barakat" She said with a wink which only made my smile grow even wider
"I'm glad you did"
"I'm glad I did too. Now let's get in there before Cris tries to rape Zack." i laughed at the thought of it as we walked into the room. 

All eyes were on us as we stood in the doorway. I scanned everyone uncomfortably before shouting "What?" at the exact same time as Tay making every one laugh. I glared at Alex as we sat down and he just looked back at me innocently. 

Tay looked just as surprised as me to see the friend she'd described as an 'obsessive fan' acting completely cool around everyone, even Zack.

When it was time to play, Matt showed Tay and Cris where to stand they were with Cass who'd arrived earlier. We walked past them to get on stage then we stood there and waited for the lights to come on.

Our first song was Six Feet Under The Stars, the kids in the audience went crazy. I loved seeing them having a good time, I looked back to where the girls were stood to see them dancing and singing along. Tay looked completely lost in the moment I could have stood and watched her all night but 1. that would be creepy and 2. I had a show to do.

When the song ended Alex started talking to the crowd. I glanced back to behind the curtain to see what looked like Cass and Cris asking Tay something she was blushing and looking at the ground. She looked so cute when she was shy. Next thing I knew she nodded and the other two started jumping all over the place with the biggest smiles ever. 

After a moment, she looked up and our eyes met. I waved and she waved back, smiling. I snapped out of my daze just in time for the start of Stay Awake. 

When it was time for Alex to sing Remembering Sunday I'd wanted to stand with Tay but Matt told me I had to go to the other side of the stage. I couldn't help myself, my eyes were fixed on her the whole song. Through the dim light backstage I could just make out her small figure opposite me. It was like I looked straight through Alex who was sat on a wooden stool in the middle of us and she was the only other person in the room. I could see her mouthing along to the words of the song. By the time it'd ended she was crying, I noticed her look around to check no one had saw her then wipe her face. I don't think she saw me.

Just one thing confused me about that: she said she didn't really know us so how did she know that song? Had she been lying just to get to know us? She'd been so convincing. 

I pushed that thought to the back of my mind as we headed back on stage for our very last song, like at every show, Dear Maria. 

"We're All Time Low. Thanks for having us, you've been amazing! This is our last song it's called Dear Maria" Alex shouted to every one. I looked out at the faces of our fans. Stood at the side was a man, maybe mid 40s, dressed in black. There was something about him I didn't like. 'He's probably just a dad who'd been dragged along so his kid could get in or something' I told myself but there was still something wrong about him. He was staring right past all of the commotion of the crowd, right past the four of us on stage and straight at the side stage curtain.