Shattered (twenty one pilots)

Haunted

Josh's POV

"Bye thank you for coming enjoy the show" I say for the thousandth time.

Ok so it's only 50 fans. We will make it.

What people don't realize about meet & greets is as exciting as it is for the fans it's almost twice as draining for us. Honestly they're the worst.

Don't get me wrong. I love our fans.

I wish I could tell everyone how much they mean to us and how important they are. But the thing about a meet & greet is its an awful way to meet people.
We only get about 2 minutes with each fan and we can tell there's never enough time for them to say everything they want. And then you can't stop thinking about the people outside who are probably devastated they didn't get the chance.

Plus ok. It makes my anxiety spike. But of course I can't really show side of me that to them.

They paid so much, took the time out of their schedules, and drove who knows how long to get here. Just to see us perform.

The least I can do is make things as pleasant as possible for them.

I think Tyler gets it though.
He doesn't get as anxious around people as I do but he's always been there for me.
Always taken the pressure off of me when the time comes.

"Alright guys here's the last one" the head security guard tells us.

She walks in almost as if she's haunted. I look at Tyler and he just smiles and shrugs.

"Hey how's it going?" I ask.

She clears her throat and slaps a grin across her face.
"I'm okay. Better now. It's so good to meet you two. I've loved your music for about 6 years now "

I look up at Tyler and I think he notices the shakiness in her voice too.

"Well that's amazing" Tyler begins, "thank you so much for supporting us. It seriously means everything and I'm happy you're here. We'll be sure to try and make tonight worthy of your support"

She smiles for real this time. And I can tell she's genuinely happy.

I reach out to her placing my hand on her shoulder and ask "So you want a photo right? How do you want us to pose?"

She flinches ever so slightly and I immediately let go. Dear god I hope I didn't hurt her. Perhaps my anxiety is worse than I thought.

She mumbles something to Tyler and stands in between us.
She looks up at me like she's waiting.

I put my arm over her shoulder and Tyler wraps his arm around her waist.

She's trembling.

Or is that me?

We all smile and take a few shots then let go.

She looks up at us both again and gingerly hugs us one by one.

Then as quickly as she came in she was gone.
Still. There's something about her.

I didn't even hear her name

Tyler and I stretch and walk back to our dressing rooms. We have about an hour until our set.

As we walk back in silence I can't help but think about that girl. There was something different about her than the rest of the fans.

The way she stuttered, the way she barely looked us in the eye. It's almost as if she was afraid.

"Josh" Tyler asks in the room

"Yes?" I question

"You're going to leave tread if you keep pacing"

I didn't even realize we made it to the room. Let along I was pacing.

Tyler looks at me and holds my hand
"Breathe. We're going to have a great show. We owe it to everyone who came to be apart of our band tonight. We can do this. Just clear your mind of all troubles and we will make it"

I listen to the sound of his voice trying to cleat my mind like he says. I keep my breaths low and even. Soon. I am calm again. I look him in the eye and surely say....

"We've got this"