Beneath The Static [The Wanted (Jay McGuiness<3)]

How It's Made: Breaking Points

When I finally wake up the next morning I'm in a cacoon of Max.

"Max." I grumble and wiggle.

"Hm?"

"Max, wake up." I whisper.

"Huh?" He shakes his head. "Oh. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Can I get up?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Max gets up and then helps me out of bed. My legs are weak and I almost fall but Max is right there to steady me. "Did you have any nightmares? I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't but fall full on to sleep."

"No worries." I smile.

"We have some really good news for you." He grins. "I think it's make you feel a little better." I gaze at him questioningly.

"They caught the guy." He tells me. "Really early this morning."

"What are they going to do to him?" I clench my jaw.

"Well, nothing now." Rage begins to coil itself inside my throat.

"What do you mean nothing?" I begin angrily.

"He's dead. They can't persecute a dead man."

"D-dead?" I stutter.

"Apparently, he was on steroids, cocaine and some other street drugs." He furrows his brow. "He attacked three other girls in the past two weeks."

"I hope he died a horrible death." Max looks at me in pure shock. None of them had ever before heard me be so cruel. "And I hope- I just pray that the other girls didn't get it as bad." I hang my head.

Max takes me on a walk around the building with one arm firmly around my waist for support and the other ready to catch me at any moment.

"How is everybody?" I ask him after a few minutes.

"I can't even believe you're asking how everybody else is doing." He shakes his head. "We're all fine. Shakin' up sure and worried about you but fine."

Except for Jay, right? Because he doesn't give a shit. I wanted to say it but I couldn't.

"You guys should be out enjoying your time off." I tell him.

"You don't get it." He finally snaps which makes me jump a little bit. He turns me so that I'm looking up at him. "We can't. This is really hurting all of us. You mean so much to us and leaving you by yourself just isn't an option."

"Just like leaving me to be normal wasn't an option." I shoot back.

"Exactly. No matter how many people know our names, we're still just people. People meet other people that change their lives. Not one of us would change that night in New York. Not a single second. The only thing I ever wished I could do better was be a better friend and I'm doing that now. We're doing that now." Max closes his eyes and takes a breath. "Our lives would be missing something special if we ever lost you."

I didn't know what to say. Max had never struck me as the emotional type but here he was. I never asked for them to be there. Nor did they have any real obligation to me. Yet they were here. They kept the nightmares away because they couldn't heal the pain. We only got to chat in person every few months but those times were the best of my life. Maybe, I'd been looking at it all wrong. Maybe I was being selfish when it came to not telling people about my famous friends seeing as they had no problem telling people about me.

Then it strikes me. I shouldn't even care that they're famous. Sure it was a factor but it shouldn't rule how I felt about them.

I fling my arms around Max's neck.