Adopted

Chapter 27

Brendon and the band all mussed up my hair before heading to the stage, which was a bit annoying, but whatever. 

I stood backstage with Sarah and Grace and PopPop and watched the start of the show. Brendon's energy was amazing, and since I'd never been to any concert before, I was in awe.  About halfway through, Zack disappeared and Sarah took my hand. 

"Follow me," she said.  "You're going to want to see Brendon do the Death Walk."

"The what?!" I asked, terrified that this was some dangerous stunt. 

Sarah and I took a staircase up a couple of flights and then went to the back of the first level off the floor of the arena. 

I watched as Brendon walked along the front of the stage on the floor, with Zack keeping tabs on him, singing one of his songs and shaking hands with fans. 

"It's the song 'Death of a Bachelor', and they call it the Death Walk, simply because that's the song he's singing while walking out in the crowd," Sarah said. 

We watched for a few minutes, and as he headed back to the stage, we went back down to the backstage area. 

"What did you think of that?" PopPop asked. 

"It was pretty cool.  Does he do that every time?" I asked. 

"Every time," Grace said. "It's not my favourite part of the show, but he seems to love it."

We watched some more of the concert and then it was over.

"That's it?" I asked, as Brendon came off the stage. 

"Nope. We'll do an encore of another three songs," he said, peeling off his sweaty t-shirt and tossing it at me. 

"EW!!" I said, throwing the t-shirt back at him. He laughed, catching it and tossing it at one of the crew members who ran it back to the dressing room. 

Brendon grabbed a beer from a crew member who'd brought it, opened it, gave me a kiss on the head and started back up to the stage. 

"Get her to bed," he said to Sarah. "She's falling asleep on her feet." 

"We'll take her back to the bus," Grace said. "You stay and watch the show."

PopPop picked me up and he and Grace carried me out to the bus. 

"Okay, sweetie. Go on into the back, put on your PJs, brush your teeth and then hop into bed," Grace said. 

I did so, and when I got into my bunk, PopPop came back. 

"Want me to tell you a story?"

"I'm a little old for bedtime stories," I said. 

"How about I tell you some stories about your dad when he was growing up?" PopPop said. 

"Okay," I said. 

"Alright, get down under your covers," he said, picking up Mr. Bunny. "Who's this?" 

"That, is Mr. Bunny," I said, taking Mr. Bunny back, and snuggling him. 

PopPop talked about Brendon when he was little, talking about how he used to make guitars out of cardboard.  As he talked, I found myself drifting off to sleep. 

"How is she?" I heard whispered. 

"I guess stories about her dad are boring. She's asleep," I heard PopPop say. 

"Thanks so much for watching her while we finished up," I heard again. Sarah. 

"My pleasure. She really is a sweet kid. Glad she's a  part of the family,"

"Us too," I heard.  I felt a light kiss on my forehead and opened my eyes a bit. 

"Hi, Mom," I said, and closed my eyes again, rolling over and falling back to sleep. 

---

I woke up feeling weird. 

"Where am I?" I asked, sitting up and banging my head on something. "OW!"

"Jess? You okay?" I heard from beyond a curtain in front of me. 

"I hit my head and something feels, weird," I said. 

The curtain opened and Sarah was beside me, with Brendon poking his head out of their bunk. She turned on the little light over my bed, built into the wall.

"What did you go and hit your head for?" Brendon asked. 

"I didn't mean to," I said, rubbing my forehead.

"Are you feeling okay?" Sarah asked, feeling my forehead. 

"Yeah, but, something feels weird. Like, moving."

"Oh," Sarah laughed. "Because we are moving. We're on the bus, silly."

"Oh," I said. "That makes sense, I guess."

"It takes a little getting used to, sleeping on a moving bus," Brendon said. 

"You all okay up there?" A voice called from the back. 

"Go to sleep, Zack. Just Jess getting used to sleeping while moving," Brendon said. 

"Gotcha," I heard. 

Sarah was still kneeling by my bunk. 

"Do you want me to come sleep in there with you?" she asked. 

"No, I think I'll be okay," I said. 

"Okay, sweetie.  We're right here if you need us."

"Okay. Thanks," I said. 

"I'll leave your curtain open a little, okay?"

"Sure."

I lay back and felt the movement of the bus, and soon, was lulled back to sleep. 

When I woke up, we had stopped. It was quiet on the bus. The engine wasn't running and I couldn't hear anyone walking about or snoring. I poked my  head out of the curtain, and saw Brendon and Sarah's bed was empty. I got a little panicky, because I didn't know where we were. 

I got out of bed, and went through the curtain that separated the front of the bus from the sleeping area. Sarah was sitting on one of the sofas, reading a book. 

"Oh, good morning there, sleepyhead.  The guys are all in the restaurant having breakfast. I waited for you to wake up, so you wouldn't worry. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I thought I was alone for a second, when I didn't hear anyone," I said. 

"Well, get dressed quick, and we'll join them for breakfast."

I went back to my bunk area and pulled out jeans and a t-shirt and a hoodie, got dressed and walked back out to the front. 

"Teeth? Meds?"

"Oops," I said, sheepishly.

"Back you go, missy," Sarah said. 

I went back, found my toothbrush and medications and used the sink in the bus. Brendon and Sarah had already told me that it was safe to brush, but that I should use bottled water to take my meds, so I took my meds up to the front to get a bottle of water, which Sarah already had out and handed to me without even looking up from her book. 

"You're getting the hang of this parenting thing," I said, taking my pills. Sarah smiled.