Looking after each other: Tour Edition

Part 4

They're sat on the tour bus as it closes the doors and begins to set off towards its next destination. Most people were quite tired given that it was nearly 11pm, they had a long journey ahead of them.

People were spread around the bus. Karim and Amy were sat together at the front of the coach, an earphone each as they both watched a video on his phone. Dianne was planning her next tiktok with help from saffron and katya. Most of the boys seemed to be at the back of the bus, no doubt planning new pranks, whilst the rest were just sat in the middle of the coach chatting. Everyone it seemed, apart from Alex.

Emma noticed that Alex was just sat there by herself, she had put her bag beside her in the seat and was sat on one of the singular seats rather than by a table so mostly people had just let her be, thinking maybe she was going to have a nap.
However, Emma was worried. She thought that Alex seemed sad and anxious.

Alex seemed to be quite fidgety, pushing her hair back off her shoulder she flapped her hand nervously near her face. Emma knew it had been a particularly stressful day for the girl. She carefully approached her and gestured to the seat next to her. When she nodded and picked up her bag, handing it to Emma, the woman put the bag in the overhead space and then sat down next to her.

She smiled a little as Alex lent into her side. They had been friends during the show but on the tour they had become quite close, the two of them had become a bit of a duo and they spent quite a bit of time together as they seemed to genuinely enjoy each other's company. Emma had been debating whether to come over to check on Alex but was glad that she had, she knew sometimes the girl might struggle to vocalise what she was feeling or what she needed but she had learnt to pick up on certain signs.

"You feeling okay?" Emma asked after a moment, putting her arm around her. It felt nice that Alex was comfortable enough around her to just lean her head on her shoulder like that and she was glad she could give her some support.

Alex shook her head and then sighed. Her gut reaction had been to say that she wasn't okay but truly she just didn't know. She felt stressed and overwhelmed. She was so grateful for Emma being there. It was unusual for her to feel this comfortable with someone so quickly, usually she took a long time to trust anyone but she supposed they had known each other since last September it was just during the tour they had really clicked and become closer. She sat up a little though instantly missed resting her head on Emma's shoulder, it had been a bit of an impulse move but one that hopefully showed that she felt comfortable and safe with her.

"I'm just feeling a bit low" Alex admitted, she wasn't even really sure why. It was possibly a combination of things. She missed Catherine and wished that she was still with them. She was used to being away from home but it felt like they had been travelling for so long now and it felt so different to the times back in the day when she went travelling with her football teammates. Several things had just gotten on top of her and made her anxiety rise.

She leant back into Emma's side, still flapping her hand but more to release the built up nervous energy. She felt the girl kiss her forehead and smiled.