The Rhythm Of Our Broken Hearts

Chapter Fifteen: Ohio Is for Lovers

Chapter Fifteen: Ohio Is for Lovers

Andy chewed at his lip ring nervously. The anxiety in his stomach mixed with the moving bus was causing him to feel sick. He let out a shaky breath, trying to force his mind from concocting worst-case scenarios. Try as he might, it didn't work.

Ohio. There was always apprehension at the thought of playing a show in his home state. While he did enjoy seeing his family, coming home also meant seeing all the people routing for him to fail. At first, he expected the people from his hometown to be proud of him. Wouldn't they want to celebrate him and his success? He had made something of his life, even after being told 'pick a new career' or that he'd never amount to anything. Yet, no one seemed to give a shit.

The radio stations didn't play his music. The 'cool' guys still thought he was a joke. And the people who told him he was crazy for wanting to be a rock star never admitted they were wrong. His parents and grandparents were the only ones in the whole state that seemed to care.

The singer still remembered the first tour they played Ohio. Several kids from his high school that had bullied him came. They flipped him off, screamed slurs at him, and hurled the same insults they'd used in school. Andy knew they wouldn't miss another chance to bring him down.

"Hey... are you okay?" Matt asked, nudging the younger man's arm.

Andy snapped out of his daydreaming, looking over at the man, "I'm fine..."

Matt sighed; he knew Andy had been dreading this stop the whole tour. The guitarist had tried to tell him to ignore those assholes, they didn't matter anymore. At the end of the day, Andy was the one on stage living his dream and they were still stuck in their hometown. The singer had a bad habit of fixating on the negative.

"Listen, you don't know anything bad is going to happen tonight. No use worrying about it now." He tried to soothe the boy, stroking the back of his hand.

"It happens every time we play a show here. It's not going to be any different tonight." Andy insisted.

"Well, then fuck it. Focus on the fact that your parents are going to take the whole band out to dinner after the show. That means free food for me." Matt teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Andy rolled his eyes at the comment. Instead of bringing him relief, it only brought up another issue. His parents. Should he tell them about Matt? It was possible they would figure it out for themselves; was that any better? His mom and dad both loved Matt. They had met him the last time they'd toured together, but that was then. Things were different now.

Over the past week, the two had grown even closer. After making the leap of intimacy they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Thanks to Andy's inability to be quiet both his band and Matt's had figured it out. Ashley had made some snide comments. But everyone else seemed to be rather unsurprised. It did make Andy nervous though, the more people who knew, the more likely it was to get out.

He wasn't ashamed to be with Matt, quite the opposite. He was afraid of what people would say. People already called him names for the way he looked. What would the fans say? He liked to think most of them would support him. But it also wasn't lost on him that a lot of his fans were fans because of his looks. If they realized he would never be interested in them, would they stick around?

"Not to put any pressure on you... but are you going to tell your parents? You know, about us." The older man asked, not sure how Andy would respond.

"I uh... I don't know..." Andy whispered, unsure of his answer.

He doubted his parents would care; they would be happy as long as he was. It was a big step though. It wasn't that Matt had never met his parents, he had. Things were different now, 'meeting the parents' made things serious.