i need you | in stereo

七 | chris.

ethan came stumbling out of jakob's hospital room, his cheeks rosy and tear stained. it wasn't an unusual sight, because i had gotten used to seeing him in this state for the past few days.

it broke my heart to see him like this. the two people i felt like i had to be most responsible for, my two younger brothers, both of them in a bad state. i desperately wanted to help them, I wanted them to be okay again. i wanted all of us to be okay again.

i just wasn't sure of how i was supposed to do that.

"ethan?" i say, grabbing on to his arm. "hey...are you okay?"

he shakes his head slightly and bites his lower lip. "he's still not awake."

i just nod because i didn't know how to reply.

"he..." i sigh shakily. "hopefully he'll wake up soon. come on, sit down."

he hesitantly moves to sit in the seat next to me, and immediately leans back and closes his eyes.

we sat in silence again. it felt wrong to talk about other things like the album or the band, because it felt like we were leaving jakob out. without jakob, the most cheery and outgoing member of the group, everything was always silent.

"chris?"

"yeah?" i ask, turning to him.

"have...um...jakob's family visited him today yet?"

"i don't know."

silence passes over us again. i hated the fact that ethan and i didn't know what to say to each other during a time like this.

i pull the rings off my fingers and put them back on different ones.

i felt empty. i couldn't understand how some people who were close to jakob or just knew him were able to go on with their daily lives as if nothing happened.

"god..." i whispered to myself.

i look at ethan, who's playing with the zipper of his jacket, pulling it up and down.

"ethan?"

"yeah?"

"we...we never told the fans."

"oh..."

i bite my lip. "how are we supposed to tell them?"

"can't we just ask david to write a statement or something?" ethan says softly. "it's his job as our manager isn't it? he usually does that when one of us can't make it to a show or meet and greet because we're sick."

"yeah, but this is different." i reply, running my fingers through my hair. "this is jakob's life hanging in the balance, ethan. we can't just do a statement and forget about it."

he nods. "you have a point."

i sigh and avert my gaze to the door to jakob's room.

"maybe," he starts. "we should film a video. or do a livestream. the two of us."

i look back at him. "a video?"

he nods. "i realised it's more personal if it's coming from us, and not a statement. we can post it on youtube or twitter. even our instagram."

"we should do that," i mumble, pulling out my phone from my pocket.

opening up the mail app, i click david's contact.

i look up and ethan to see him watching my screen.

"ethan, you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"it's okay," he replies quickly. "it's for jakob, and the fans deserve to know. it won't be the same if it only comes from you and not me."

i nod and start typing up the message.

to: david (manager)
from: chris lanzon

hi david,

i'm sure you're aware of jakob's current physical state, and ethan and i realised that we haven't told the fans yet.

instead of a written statement that would be published by you, we were wondering if the two of us could film a video to address and explain the situation to them - we feel it would be more personal and understandable than the statement. we just wanted to confirm if you were alright with this idea and if you could get everything ready for it. we are hoping to film within the next 2-3 days and to publish the video as soon as possible.

thanks,
chris lanzon

"is that alright?" i ask, turning to face ethan.

he nods. "send it."

i click the 'send email' button.

"now, we wait."

———

two updates in two days woah

also i'm pretty sure david's actually their manager i'm still confused which david it is ahhaha whoops

anywaysssss don't forget to vote and comment y'all !!! x