Dex pulled his phone out to read a text
I'm going to a dress fitting, I'll call you later baby x
Ok baby. Dx
he replied
Sliding his phone back down into his tight back pocket, as he sat down on the sofa, staring out of the bus window, he was so bored. They had three hours stuck on the bus before they could sound check tonight's gig. The queue was already huge! There must have already been 2000 people there waiting, Craze weren't even on stage for another 5 hours!!!
Dex wanted to take a look inside the venue, do something besides stay on the bus but he knew the second he got off that bus he was going to be mobbed by thousands of girls!
He could already hear them shouting his name and all kinds of other obscenities, it seemed so wrong, they were all so young! He was in his 30's and there were girls that must have been 14 shouting explicit sexual things at him. He hated that. It was creepy.
Jesse came out of the bunk area and sat down next to Dex, he sighed.
"What's up?" Asked Dex
"I'm bored man!" moaned Jesse
"Me too dude!" Replied Dex
"Let's go get an ego boost from the fans out there" smiled Jesse, who loved all the attention they got and often crossed the line with them.
"Nah" replied Dex, it wasn't at all appealing to him to go out there.
"Ah come on! All ya gotta do is smile for some pics, hug some girls and listen to them tell you how fucking amazing you are!" Laughed Jesse,
Dex didn't answer.
"Come on!" Replied Jesse, pushing him.
"Mac will flip his shit" said Dex
"No he won't, come on man!" Said Jesse, grabbing him by the arm
The second the bus door opened the queue of girls erupted into ear piercing screams! Dex already knew this was a bad idea. But he did need to show his fans he was grateful for their loyalty. He often felt like he had no interaction with them and as much as he liked it that way he felt like he owed them something.
He walked with Jesse towards the queue, which were behind a metal barrier, the screams got louder and louder, he noticed several girls crying. It was nuts. He never understood why they got so emotional over him. He approached the barrier and immediately had hands grabbing at him from every direction, touching his chest, pulling at his clothes, flashes were blinding him from every direction.
"Dex! Dex! Can you sign this for me?"
"Dex I love you so much!"
"DEX!! Can I give you a hug?"
"Dex! Can you sign my arm?"
He could barely even think straight with the ridiculous amount of questions being thrown at him.
"Jesse, I love you!" Said one girl in the queue reaching over the barrier to touch Jess. Dex was pleased at least one girl was not going to bother him.
Jesse was lapping it up, he leaned over the barrier and gave the girl a big hug and began posing for pictures with various fans.
Jesse was the next most popular in the band, he was gorgeous and always got a lot of attention too.
"Dex, where's Millie?" The girl asking that caught his attention. Any mention of his girlfriend caught his attention.
"Is she here? Is Millie on the bus?"
"No, sorry, she's not here, she's, uh, at work probably, in England" he replied.
"Actually let's see where she is" he said pulling out his phone.
He facetimed her, hoping she wasn't going to be too busy to answer.
"Hey babe" said Millie, a little confused by the unexpected call.
"Hey, woah, you look amazing babe" he said, staring at his phone screen.
"I'm at my dress fitting for the wedding" said Millie
"Oh shit, sorry, I forgot" he replied
"I'm with a load of fans who were asking after you" he explained
"Do you wanna keep that dress private though?" Asked Dex
"No, it's ok, this isn't the one we've chosen so it's fine" said Millie.
Dex felt himself begin to get turned on at the sight of her. A cobalt blue lace long dress hugged her body, showing her tiny waist, washboard stomach and all her sexy curves, a split up one side showing a little bit of leg up to her mid-thigh. Her long dark hair fell to one side, swept to the front it covered one shoulder.
"Ok, here she is" said Dex as he turned his phone around to face the crowd.
They were all trying to talk to her at once.
"Hey girls!! I hope you're all looking after my boy for me" said Millie.
She could barely make out any responses with hundreds of girls all attempting to talk at the same time.
He turned the phone back to himself
"I'll let you go" he said quietly
"Call me when you get home, I love you" he added
"I will. Love you too babes" said Millie blowing him a kiss.
Not realising they'd just broken several hundred girls hearts right there. Dex had no idea how into him some of these girls were. Total infatuation. He recognised some of the die hard fans, they were in almost every crowd. They were the ones that were often inconsolable, sometimes fainting. He couldn't wrap his head around how strangers could feel that way about him. Girls told him they loved him on an hourly basis, every single day but he never thought much of it. It was just words but to some of his fans they literally felt like they were in love with him.
He saw one girl crying with her head in her hands, leaning over the barrier about 3 meters from him. She stood out from the rest, although many were in tears they were all staring at him, trying to touch him, shouting at home
but this girl wasn't doing any of that. She was just leaning over the barrier sobbing, not paying any attention to Dex or Jess. Dex approached her, she didn't see him coming. He put his hand on her back gently.
"Hey are you alright?" He asked. Genuinely concerned for the girls welfare.
"She looked up slowly as if he was the last person she was ever expecting to see. She looked about 16 he guessed, she was a pretty girl with long straight blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Her porcelain skin tainted by red blotches from crying. He could see her hands shaking. Surely this was something more than a reaction to him.
He looked her in the eyes
"Are you ok?" He asked, she shook her head
"Is there something I can do for you?" He asked. Every single girl started in the direction of the blonde girl, completely jealous that she had his attention.
"No" said the girl quietly.
"Come here" said Dex holding out his arms to hug her. As she put her head against his chest and cautiously put her arms around him he could feel her heart pounding. Her entire body was shaking and she felt weak. Dex was worried about her.
"Who are you here with?" He asked
"No one" she whispered, her voice muffled through his chest.
"Come over here" he said, lifting her over the barrier to the annoyance of every other girl witnessing it.
Jesse continued meeting fans, signing things and posing for photos.
"See you at the show later girls" said Dex as he walked away, his arm around the girl. Jesse made his excuses and followed them back to the bus. The crowd continued to shout at them at a deafening volume until they were back on the bus and even then the door only halved the volume.
"Sit down there" said Dex, gesturing for the girl to sit down on the sofa.
He poured her a glass of water and sat down beside her.
"Here you go" he said as he handed it to her. She nervously took a sip and passed it back. She wouldn't look at him, instead staring at her hands in her lap and looked scared.
"Why are you so sad?" Asked Dex, she looked up just slightly
"I can't tell you" she replied quietly
"Ok...uh" Dex thought for a minute
"Can't tell me or can't tell anyone?" He asked
"You" she replied, nervously.
"Huh. Ok" Dex thought for a minute.
"Would you be able to talk to me if there was no one else around?" He asked. The girl shrugged her shoulders.
"Ok, let's try" he replied, feeling like he'd somehow caused her pain and needed to put things right. he took her by the hand and walked her through the bunk section of the bus to a tiny seating area right at the very back, away from all the crew members that were on the bus so it was just the two of them.
"Please tell me why you're so upset" he asked
She looked at him. Her hands were still shaking. Dex took both her hands in his and held them, attempting to stop her quivering.
"I..." she started
"This is hard to explain" she whispered
Dex glanced down at her hands and noticed markings on her arms, the inside of her forearms were scarred, multiple times with fresher cuts on top that looked like they'd only recently healed. As he looked closer he realised amongst the lines of cuts and scars was his name, 'Dex' 'Dexter' and 'Dex Rose' all carved or scarred into the girls arm.
"Oh my god!" He said, he'd never seen anything like it
"Why would you do this to yourself?" He asked
"Because I love you" answered the girl. Dex sighed heavily, realising teenage girls were way out of his depth.
"What's your name?" He asked, running his finger over his name on her arm.
"Emily" she replied
"Emily, sweetheart, you don't need to do this to yourself. You're going to be stuck with these scars for the rest of your life.. and what about when you stop liking me, I'm old! You won't feel this way forever" he tried to explain.
"I've felt this way for 3 years..." she started to open up. 'God, 3 years would make her around 13 back then, 13!!' Thought Dex, that felt very uncomfortable.
"I can't help it. I love you so much and the thought of you being with someone else breaks my heart" she replied
Dex found this all so weird. She was a kid, he wasn't even young! He was in his 30's, he was no pretty boyband kind of guy either, he couldn't understand his appeal to young teenagers.
"Listen, Emily, I know you're hurting but you're not in love with me, I know it feels like you are right now but when you're a little older and you fall in love for real you'll realise the difference. it's just infatuation and I promise over time it'll go away! I'm like twice your age, I'm probably old enough to be your dad!! And I know being a teenager is tough, I know everything feels so intense but this is not the way to deal with it" said Dex, holding her scarred arm in his hand.
"I know. But it's the only thing that relieves the pain I feel" she explained
'Woah' thought Dex, he was in way over his head. He really didn't understand teenagers of today or maybe it was women he didn't understand, probably both he thought, when he was a teen they didn't do stuff like this! It made no sense to him.
He thought for a minute, unsure how to handle this.
"Ok, I'll tell you what, how about if I make you a deal" Dex started
"If you promise... promise!! To stop hurting yourself, anytime you feel like everything is too much for you or your feelings are too much to cope with, I'll give you my email address and we can chat, Skype or something and I'll try and help you, is that a deal?" Asked Dex
He'd never been so nice to a fan before.. well apart from Millie.
The girl smiled.
"Yeah, deal" she said
"Good" smiled Dex, I'll get my manager to give you my email and some merch and goodies and stuff. Thank you for being such a loyal fan. I appreciate you" he said
"How come you were so upset out there though? You didn't seem like you wanted to see me, you weren't trying to get my attention like all the others" Dex asked
"I'm not very well, I've been to see you over 20 times and I've never had the chance to meet you, hug you, talk to you. I haven't got very long left, I was desperate for you to know who I was before I go" she explained
"Well, I definitely know who you are darling" he replied
"But you haven't got very long? You're here for the show tonight, right?" He asked
"Yes, I mean very long in general" said Emily
Dex was confused.
"What do you mean?" He asked
"I'm really ill. I have a tumour in my brain" she admitted
Dex' heart sank.
"They say before long I won't be able to walk or talk, I needed to meet you before it happened" said Emily. Dex didn't know what to say. He felt so sad for her, she was just a kid, it didn't seem fair and he couldn't understand how she could explain it so calmly, he'd be a wreck if it were him and he knew that was going to happen.
"I'm so sorry" said Dex, he genuinely was, he reached out and put his arms around her, pulling her in for a cuddle.
"It's ok, you've made my life today" Said Emily, her eyes closed, head against his shoulder, he felt her sigh, as if his touch had taken a huge weight off of her shoulders. He felt odd having that power over someone. Dex couldn't get his head around how that was possible to have 'made her life' simply by meeting her when she had such an awful thing ahead of her. He was just one man. He didn't feel like he was anything special, he couldn't help her prognosis, he couldn't save her. But if he made her feel special, he could at least make whatever time she had left better.
"Listen, I think I could do a damn sight better than just meet you, I'm going to give you my phone number..."
Emily pulled out of the hug, looking up at him she smiled, listening intently.
"but you have to promise you won't give it to anyone else and definitely don't reveal it on the internet" said Dex, he was nervous, he was such a fiercely private person that giving his number to a fan wasn't something he felt comfortable with but in her circumstances he was going to chance it.
Emily's eyes lit up.
"Oh my goodness, really?! Thank you! Thank you Dex!" She gushed, leaning in for a cuddle.
"Give my number to your parents too and ask them to call me please, I'd like to talk to them about arranging something for you" said Dex, trying to think of things he could do for her.
"Ok" smiled Emily.
Dex grabbed a pen and tore a bit of paper off of a book on the table and scribbled down his number, autographing it with his signature and a little heart and passed it to Emily. She burst into tears, putting her head in her hands, Dex sat back down beside her and put an arm around her.
She lifted her head slightly to look at him
"Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me. This is like a dream" said Emily, her voice cracked from the sobbing.
"You're welcome, but please, Emily, no more of this" he asked, holding her arm out.
"Please don't hurt yourself because of me or anyone else" he added. Emily nodded.
Dex could hear Mac walking down the bunks corridor, he pushed open the door, looking as though he was about to go crazy at Dex, but stopped, he looked at the young girl, sobbing next to Dex and seemed to instantly calm.
"Are you alright love?" He asked
Emily nodded with a smile.
"Dex can I see you for a second out here?" Asked Mac
"I'll be back in a second ok, stay here" said Dex as he got up to follow Mac.
Emily nodded again.
Dex followed Mac into the bunks and closed the door behind them.
"What's going on?" Asked Mac, looking like he was about to let rip on Dex if he didn't give a decent excuse for having a young girl in the back of the bus.
"Jess said you'd brought a young girl back to the bus" said Mac
"It's not what it looks like" said Dex
"It better not be, she's a kid!" Exclaimed Mac
"It's not like that! She was sobbing in the queue so I brought her back to see if she was ok" explained Dex
Mac didn't look satisfied with his answer
"They're all sobbing in the queue for you! All the time, at every show!" Said Mac
"I know but she stood out, I dunno" said Dex, his story was falling flat and Mac wasn't convinced that he didn't had other intentions with her.
"DEXTER, do you know the repercussions of bringing a girl of that age back?" Blasted Mac
"It's not like that!!!" Argued Dex
"I'm not cheating!! When have i ever brought fans back here before?! Never!!" He fought back
"Well ok, Millie. But that's it!!" He added
"This girl needed help. She's got my name sliced into her arm several times!! She's got a brain tumour!! I'm just trying to do something nice!!" Exclaimed Dex. Mac's stance softened, his tense facial features relaxed.
"She's got a brain tumour?" Asked Mac
"Yes" Dex replied softly.
"Oh" said Mac, admitting defeat.
"Ok, sorry man" said Mac patting Dex on the back
"I'll leave you too it then" said Mac
"Thank you" said Dex, he walked back down the bus to where he'd left Emily.
"Hey, ok?" He asked. She nodded.
"I'm going to get someone to take you into the venue so you don't have to wait in that queue ok, you're my VIP today" he smiled
"My manager Mac is going to get you a really great spot at the front and if you need anything, food, drinks he'll be like your personal butler ok?" Smiled Dex
Emily's face lit up, she felt like this was all a dream and soon she would wake up back to the sad reality of her little life.
"Thank you so much Dex" gushed Emily, he gave her one last hug and led her back down the bus to the main seating area where the rest of the band and crew were. He opened the door, holding Emily's hand behind him to an eruption of cheers and oy oy noises from Jesse, Zach and CJ.
"Shut up" said Dex as he passed Jesse on the sofa, throwing a cushion at his head.
"Go with Mac and he'll take you into the venue" said Dex, Mac put an arm around her and led her to the bus door
"Do you have a jacket? It's freezing out there" asked Mac, she was only wearing a short sleeve tshirt and ripped jeans, she would freeze! It was chilly out now let alone going home like that at the end of the show!
Emily shook her head
Dex took off his sweatshirt and handed it to her.
Emily's smile couldn't have been bigger! She was about to put on Dex Rose's sweater! It smelled like him.
"Thanks" she said
"I'll talk to you after the show" said Dex. As soon as they were gone and the door was shut the taunting began.
"She's a bit younger than you usually go for Dex" teased Jesse
"Fuck off man" smiled Dex
"She looked like she'd been crying, were you THAT bad" joked Zach
Dex rolled his eyes.
Zack laughed at his own joke.