New Kid On An Old Block

Chapter Nine

(A/N: Time jump, also writing the hospital scenario from an experience I'd read about)

Our band grew so much over the years.
Here we are, 10 years later. 
24 years old for Rian and I. 23 for Jack and Zack.
Living our fucking dream come true.

I walked off stage, sweaty and disgusting, and yet there he was, meeting me at the dressing room.
Jack wrapped his arms around me, we both felt so hot. 
He pressed a kiss to my lips and we just stayed that way. 
He backed me up against the wall and we stayed attached to each other, loving every moment of our lives. 
So many things had changed.
I'm not afraid anymore to go out in just a t shirt. I wanted people to see. I wanted them to see that I could stop, I could do it. I could survive.
I wanted people to know that it's okay. That I've been through it too and I made it out alive.
Fans have this talk with me a lot, and I'm unafraid to show them where I've been, and what I've done, and how I resolved it.
My case hadn't been as easy as some of theirs, and I loved their openness about it. 
I liked to call the deep conversation that I have with my fans therapy sessions.
They are my therapy, and I hope like hell that I can help them too.
We as a band don't offer solutions, but we do offer a minute to escape.
A minute to feel alive.
A minute to feel safe.
A minute to be heard.
A minute to feel loved.

We truly love our fans so much.
There isn't anything we wouldn't do for them.

Tonight, we were making our way to a hospital to put on an acoustic show for a girl who couldn't come to the shows.
This girl had put seeing us on her Make A Wish. Us. Of all people in the entire world, she wanted us.

We set up in the little lobby of the cancer floor, and we let her sit right up front, with of course other kids who liked the band joining us.
Her name is Lindsey. She's who wanted us most.
"Hey everyone, my name is Alex, this is Jack, Zack and Rian. We're here for one very, very special girl. Her name is Lindsey." I pointed to the beautiful girl in the wheelchair, the oxygen attached, so many IVs. She is the strongest person I've ever met to date.
"Before we start this thing, making it much less about the music, I want to thank you, Lindsey, and thank all of you. Because you are so, so strong. You are so, so beautiful. All of you in this room are perfect, flawless human beings with the most beautiful souls, and it's an honor to us, all four of us, that we get to be here, to be giving back to what you give to us, and we will never ever be able to thank you enough. We get told often that it's us giving you guys everything, but it's not. It's you who gives us everything. We are eternally grateful, and this one's for you Lindsey." I smiled as we got into it.
We played all of Lindsey's favorites, dating back from our The Party Scene album which was before we'd signed to Hopeless Records, all the way up to our newest songs.
It was the longest acoustic set list we've ever played, and we didn't mind one single bit.

After the set, we went around and took pictures and signed things, then we met Lindsey in her room.

"Thank you guys so much." She said quietly, with a small smile on her face. She had a bandana wrapped around her head, hiding the fact that the chemotherapy had caused her hair to fall out.
A nurse told me I was allowed to sit next to her on her bed, so I sat down at the foot of it and put my hand on top of hers.
"Thank you Lindsey." I smiled at her.
"I needed you guys to do this today. I have probably a year left, and this today...This made my entire year so worth it...I won't ever forget this." She looked at all of us. Zack even had a tear in his eye. The strong, buff one wasn't one to cry most times, but this is just how we always felt about our fans. No matter the situation, we loved them so so much.
"We're never, ever going to ever forget you Lindsey. You have such a special place in my heart, in all of ours, I promise you." I laced my fingers with hers and gave them a gentle squeeze. She was so cold. 
"I've been listening to you guys for seven years now. You won't ever understand how much you've helped me. Every time it got dark for me, every surgery, every round of chemo and radiation treatment, every time another chunk of hair fell out...Every time I landed back here because it got worse and worse...It was you who pulled me through." She pointed at some of our posters that she had hung on the wall.
"I love you so much." Jack said softly, joining me by her bed, sitting in a chair. He put his hand on her arm, not touching any of the IVs of course.
"I love you too." She grinned a bright, beautiful grin at us. 

We stayed and talked to Lindsey for at least three hours that day.

It was the next year in August when she passed away. We held three benefit concerts in her name, donating every single cent to various cancer foundations all in her name.
We took no money home from this, neither did our crew or label. This was all us giving her the best memory we possibly could. 

Within the five years after, we're edging on 30 years old. 
30.
We've been doing this for 15 years.
All it took was Jack, Rian and I meeting. Bringing Zack on and forgetting our problems, forgetting every single heartache, every single punch, every single slur, every single thing that made us feel smaller, taking those things and making ourselves bigger and better.
We gave back. We didn't care about the money or base ourselves on any image.
We were just us, and that resonated with people to a degree that I never felt possible.
I never once imagined that the world would respond to us four idiots. 
Grateful didn't even begin to cover it.