The Flaw in your Heart

27. Bastille away in Oxford

Chapter 27

Dan’s POV

It was the weekend at last. One week since Tessa’s life changing diagnosis. I still wasn’t over it. At least she’d now broken up for half term; a full week for her to get a bit better before going back to school.

I was making me and Tess some toast for breakfast before I’d have to go and pack a bag to stay overnight in Oxford for the gigs we had this weekend. I was dreading going, to be honest. I didn’t want to leave Tess at home although I knew our neighbour Lisa would look after her well.

I picked up our plates of toast and walked back through to my room where Tessa was sat up in my bed watching YouTube videos on my laptop. I put her plate of toast down on the bedside table next to her and then joined her, glancing at the screen as I took a bit of my breakfast.

“Jim…” I began, trying to remember the name of the YouTuber she was watching.

“Chapman”, she finished.

“That’s it”, I said. “He’s the tall one, isn’t he?”

She nodded, turning to smile at me for a moment.

We watched a couple of Jim’s videos as we ate breakfast before I began to pack my bag to stay in the hotel tonight. Tess laughed at me as I scrambled around my room searching for a missing sock. I always had one that decided to go missing when I needed it most.

“I’ll go get dressed”, she said, getting out of bed slowly and making her way out to her room.

I went to quickly have a shower before going to get dressed in my usual black jeans and a t shirt. I flung on my grey hoody as it was pretty cold outside and then finished packing. I brought my bag round to the lounge where Tess was sat reading.

“I’m leaving in an hour”, I said to her.

She nodded, looking up from her book.

“Had your morning meds?” I asked her.

“Yeah”, she replied, nodding to the empty glass of water on the coffee table.

I smiled before sitting by her on the sofa. “Tess, if anything does happen to you, don’t hesitate to call me”, I said.

“I won’t”, she said. “But what if you’re in the middle of your gig?”

“I’ll drop the mic and come straight back”, I grinned, making her raise an eyebrow.

“What, and leave all your fans there? Stormers wouldn’t be best pleased with you if you did that!”

I laughed. “Well, if something did happen, I’d probably cut the gig short and do a big apology speech and blame you for it all”.

She laughed and leaned forward, hitting me with her book. “Don’t blame me! Not my fault my heart’s dodgy!”

I smiled, looking down at my lap. 

“Will you need your laptop tonight?” she asked.

“Maybe, did you want it?” I asked.

She nodded, grinning.

“Yeah sure, I’ll bring the iPad with me instead”, I smiled.

“Thanks”, she grinned. “I’ve got lots of YouTubers I want to watch!”

I chuckled as I got out my phone to check a few new emails.

***

Once an hour had passed and it was time for me to set off to meet the guys to drive to Oxford, I took Tess across to Lisa’s apartment to drop her off. She’d brought some things with her to keep herself occupied as well her night things, and I organised her medication so she wouldn’t forget to take it.