Catch 22

16

My day and a half off with Rowen flies by, a blur of skin and sheets. I'm almost sad to head to the arena on show day. I love performing but Row has flourished with the time away from the crew. Her smile has been brighter and I've seen a playful side of her I hadn't seen before. I'm concerned how a return to her obviously toxic work environment will effect her.

She sighs heavily in my arms, obviously concerned by what I'm assuming are many of the same thoughts running through my mind.

"You gonna be alright tonight?" I ask her, keeping my voice low so that we aren't overheard.

"Yeah," she whispers back.

"You promise?" I press.

She laughs and leans back farther against me, tilting her head back and pressing a kiss to my jaw line.

"I'm a big girl Calum, I can take care of myself." She promises.

"I don't doubt that." I say softly. "But if I'm gonna be any kind of respectable boyfriend I'm not going to tolerate letting these guys be such dicks to you."

She grins when I call myself her boyfriend and my heart beats a little faster in my chest.

"Think that's the first time you've used the word boyfriend in reference to this." She says gesturing between the two of us.

I nod, pursing my lips in apprehension. Is that a problem?

"I-Is that okay?" I stutter out.

"I like it." She says with a smile and I feel myself relax.

I like her so fucking much.

My fingers trail lightly over the tattoos inked into the skin on her forearm, a cactus, a scorpion, a rose. I want to ask what they all mean but there will be plenty of time for that later.

We reach the arena and the driver backs us in to our parking space before allowing us to disembark.

"I um, I guess I better go get to work. I definitely don't want to be late."

"I mean it Row, the second someone gives you a hard time come find me. I'll take care of it." She nods her head and I place a kiss to her forehead before allowing her to detach our hands and head in to the stadium.

"Thanks for letting me ride with you guys!" She calls behind her to the other guys and they smile, waving her off.

"You've got it baaaaaddddddd." Ashton says walking up beside me, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

I just shrug and drop my head, a large grin covering my face. Yeah, I do.

•

"Sage, you're on Ash tonight." Caleb says and I fight the urge to groan.

Drum teching is hard and time consuming. I'd managed to avoid it up until this point but with the crew out to make me miserable, I guess I should have seen this coming. I bite my tongue and prepare for a grueling night, heading off to locate Ash's cases and try to get his drum kit assembled on time.

I locate the large black, rolling cases and get them all moved over to the back side of the stage. I start unloading, rushing to put together the many parts and pieces. Usually there are two people put on drum tech duties, but again, I shouldn't be surprised they've left me to do a two man job alone.

After an hour of work I'm basically pouring sweat and ridiculously thirsty. I grab the snare drum and begin the task of lugging the drums onto the stage one by one.

I get to the spot where everything should be marked to tell me where they go and...nothing. Someone has removed all of the tape markers that should be marking the arrangement Ash has settled on for the pieces of his drum kit.

"You're fucking joking." I say, not even able to believe the level of petty or ridiculousness of the problem. I glance around, meeting several of the others eyes and offering icy stares. Fuck them.

I want to cry. I want to scream. I want to just give up. I want to call Calum but I know I can't. That's what they want me to do.

They want me to throw a fit and say it's unfair and too hard and I refuse to do that. I'll show them that I am tougher than they think, that I deserve to be here.

I start with the kick drum and work from there, trying to remember Ash's set up and where everything goes. About half way through I remember that Ash had posted a picture of his setup in Chicago and I find it on Instagram doing my best to replicate what I see.

When it's as good as it's gonna get I step back and sigh. My head is pounding and I feel a little dizzy as I finish, the work was physically and mentally draining as I panicked that it wasn't done right. I find a chair and plop down breathing deeply to try and get my vision to clear as the boys head out for sound check.

I bite my lip nervously as Ashton heads to the drums, his face furrows as he stares at my arrangement of his drums and I feel my heart plummet as he beckons me over. Fuck.

"Hey Sage. Did you follow the layout? It just feels off." He comments.

"Um, yeah, I did." I say swallowing with force. "We can shift it though if you need to." I offer trying not to draw attention from the crew to the issues he's having. I don't want to give them the satisfaction.

"Yeah, who's helping you?" He asks and I bite the inside of my cheek.

"Um, it's just me teching for you tonight." I say and he purses his lips.

"Cal!" He calls out and my eyes fly open as I hold up my hands.

"No, no, Ash. Please don't say anything, I need to just get through tonight." I beg, pleading with him not to tell Cal.

"What do you need, Ash?" Cal calls back and Ashton's eyes move from my panicked ones to Cal and back again.

"Um, never mind." He calls to him and Cal gives him a confused look before shooting me a wink and returning to tuning his bass.

"Sage, this is a lot for one person. Are you sure you don't need help?"

"If I make a fuss about this it'll just make things worse. I'm sorry your shit's not right, they pulled up the markers." I hiss.

"What?" He glances down at the floor, for the first time noticing the lack of tape.

"Just tell me what I need to move." I say quietly and he points and helps me shift his things until he's satisfied.

The boys sound check starts and I step offstage, leaning against a column, my breathing uneven and my vision a little blurred.

I feel nauseous, I feel....

An: oh boy

Things are about to get real.

What happens next?

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I love and appreciate you all for reading!

Sav🖤