summer child | ashton irwin

Twenty Three

Twenty Three

June 26, 2022

8:45pm

Woodlands, Texas

Sage

We have been on the road for nine days, and it was honestly getting exhausting. The guys were constantly on stage, at soundcheck, or just getting ready for the show. Meanwhile I had been bored out of my mind but also tired. My routine consisted of getting up, going to the venue, working out with the personal trainer, sightseeing alone, facetiming Evan, watching the show, and then going to bed.

It was pretty lonely on tour since no one else was here other than the guys, and they were usually busy. Part of me wanted nothing more than to be back at Ashton's, but the other part liked sightseeing. When I would go out though, a crew member, Marissa, would go with me who was basically assigned as a "babysitter". Ashton reassured me she wasn't, but we all knew she was. She was nice though. I didn't mind her coming along, but also it was weird to be with a stranger.

We had been in Texas for three days, and it was hot. I was over it, I never wanted to return. I went out for two days, but today I stayed at the venue. I was sick of Texas, sick of the heat, and sick of doing nothing. My patience was starting to wear off, and I was starting to feel like a high maintenance person. Though I never did, I had bothered Ashton a lot today (he was nice about it, but I could tell he was getting annoyed). I was asking stupid questions, telling stupid stories, and interrupting him when he was trying to cool down before the show. Honestly, it was just a weird day.

I didn't watch the show today though. Instead, I was lying on the couch backstage scrolling through tiktok, but the show had just begun. My plan was to just be on my phone for today, since I didn't want to do anything else. So for a long time I was on my phone, until half way through the show where chaos started to erupt out of the blue. "Can we get an oxygen tank?" I heard someone yell, instantly making me sit up from the couch and look up to see people rushing around. Before I could even question what was going on, I saw two guys helping Ashton off stage, which made me jump up.

"Ashton?" I rushed over, pushing past whatever crew I had to get.

"I'm ok," he weakly reassured me as they got a mask over his face.

"It's ok, let them help him," Luke gently pulled me back.

"What happened?" I questioned looking up at him.

"We don't know, but you need to let them do their job," he said, keeping his hands on my shoulders. Ashton kept looking at me as they asked him questions, but he wasn't responding to them. I felt tears fill my eyes as Luke kept a grip on me so I wouldn't rush over, but I was frozen.

"Come on Sage," Michael gently told me. "Let's let everyone figure this out," he gently pulled me away from medical staff so Ashton could focus on that. Once we were away, he pulled me into a tight hug where I finally lost it and started to cry into his shirt. "It's ok," he whispered, rubbing my back. "It's going to be ok,"