SHANNON'S POV
"How are you feeling?" Tomo asked as we stood away from the crowds.
I found him and Vicki just far enough from a stage, to still hear the music but have a conversation.
"Tired mostly." I watched the performance from a distance.
"You didn't get much sleep last night." Vicki observed.
"Probably none at all." Tomo nodded his agreement.
"True." I shrugged.
"Have you talked to her?"
"About three hours ago."
"How was she?"
"She sounded okay. Still worried. It's only been a few hours since she arrived. Tomorrow she'll have to go out."
"That'll be the test. I feel bad that she's there alone." Vicki sighed.
"Hopefully once she starts working with the exhibit. All of her apprehension will go away." Tomo added.
"I'm sure it will. Have you seen Jared lately? He seems to have disappeared." I wondered.
"Not for a few hours. He's probably caught up with someone and picking their brain."
I noticed that Vicki suddenly squeezed Tomo's arm and nodded. He looked over and got a little tense.
"Shit!" He swore.
"What's wrong?" I was curious.
"Home wrecker at six o'clock." He nodded behind me.
Turning quickly, I saw the one person responsible for the ache in my chest. "I've got to get out of here."
"Go on. We'll meet up with you after." Vicki hugged me.
I began to walk away. I heard her voice shout my name.
"Just don't." Tomo stepped in front of her.
"I only want to..." Audrey began.
"What?! You want to what?!" I faced her. "Is it destroy my life? Because that's what it feels like."
"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you." Her expression was sorrow.
"Bullshit! You got what you wanted, now just leave me alone." I hated that she made me mad.
"But I miss you." She pleaded.
"Oh come on." I laughed. "Just because we became successful. That's why. You weren't too concerned before that."
"Come on man. Just walk away. Phone's ringing. It's probably Lisa." Tomo stepped next to me, holding Vicki's hand.
Pulling out my phone, I read the text and turned away.
"Christ Shannon. You're always at someone's beck and call. You mother, your brother and now her. Don't you ever care about yourself?" Audrey got sarcastic.
I snapped. "That's all I ever did! It was always about me! Now I'm happy, caring about other people especially my mother, my brother and my girlfriend. This is my family and you are not part of it. Tomo, Vicki, Emma and a lot of others are all my family. Go back to your reality show farce. I don't need it."
"Well said. Bye Audrey." Tomo waved with his quirky smile. He wouldn't give her the finger with Vicki there.
We walked away and left her standing alone.
"That was the best speech I ever heard." Vicki said softly.
"It's true. You guys are family. Crazy brother from another." I smiled at them.
"Let's go find your actual brother and pull him away from whatever he's into." Tomo patted my shoulder. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah. It was kind of a rush you know? I almost feel relaxed."
"Who was on the phone?" Vicki reminded.
"Oh shit. Lisa." I looked at the phone. One message. I turned it on.
"Hey Shannon. Guess that you're still a the fairground. I can't sleep yet, so I thought that I'd call, just to hear your voice. Call me if it's not too late when you get this. Love you." Lisa's voice was level with a bit of stress. I could hear it, if no one else could.
"Well. Call her back." Tomo ordered playfully.
"She may be asleep."
"In two minutes. She's on LA time. You know you want to." He teased.
"Tomo. Leave him be." Vicki scolded.
"Yes Mommy." He stopped to kiss her, making her laugh.
I laughed at the display. As if my body released all of its tension, my legs buckled and I fell to the ground.
"Shannon? What's wrong?" Tomo grabbed my arm.
"I'm just really tired all of a sudden." I could hardly sit up.
"Okay. I'm going to call Jared. We'll get you back to the house."
Vicki kneeled down. "Can you sit up? Let me help you."
Taking her hands, I let her pull me up so I was sitting on the grass.
"Are you sure that you're okay?"
"It was like all of the stress left me and nothing was holding me up." I took a deep breath.
"Why don't you call her? It'll be a while before Jared gets here."
"She'll know something happened."
"It'll be fine."
Taking the phone, I brought up the number and hit connect.
LISA'S POV
The phone ringing surprised me. I smiled reading the caller ID.
"I didn't think you'd call so soon." I answered.
"Sorry I missed you. I was unavoidably distracted." His voice was like heaven to hear.
"That's understandable. So much to see and all the beautiful girls." I kidded.
"No!" He jumped back.
"Shannon. I was joking. Are you alright?"
"Mostly. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep."
"Are you dehydrated?"
"Can I talk to her?" I heard Vicki's voice. "Hi Lisa."
"Vicki. Hi. Nice to hear your voice." I greeted.
"You too. I don't want you to worry. We're taking good care of him up here." She assured.
"That's good. I wish I was there with you.
"That'd be fun. Listen, I just want to tell you because Shannon's so tired. He can't think straight."
"Did something happen? Is he really all right?"
"He will be. Audrey showed up, tried to apologize. He got angry and yelled at her. After that, he just fell from exhaustion. But he's okay. We're going to take him back to the house."
"Oh my... If I ever see her again."
"I don't think that you'll have to worry about that. Here I'll give him back to you."
"Thanks Vicki."
"No trouble. Talk soon."
"Hey again." He was quiet.
"Shannon. You have to take care of yourself." I was concerned.
"I know. She just pissed me off."
"I need you healthy for when I see you again."
"I will be. I miss you."
"I miss you too. I needed to hear your voice to get to sleep. The bed's too empty without you."
"I'll meet you in my dreams and hold you in my arms."
"And I'll heal all your wounds."
"You always do. Go to sleep. You have an early day."
"I love you."
"Love you too."
As I switched off the phone, I wished to be home so I could take care of Shannon. I had to convince myself that he'd be okay. Jared, Tomo, Vicki and even Emma would watch over him. I lay back, curled into the blankets and closed my eyes.
JARED'S POV
Coming around the merchant tent at a dead run, I saw my brother sitting on the ground. Vicki and Tomo next to him. Kneeling down when I reached him, I set a hand on Shannon's shoulder.
"What happened? Are you alright?" I was panicked.
"I'm okay. Once the tension was gone after no sleep last night, I just felt this rush of relaxation. I'm just tired is all." He explained.
"But Tomo said you fell."
"It was like my body fell asleep. Really I'm okay."
"You need to rest."
"It's too early to go. I can hear things from here. You guys go on and stop babying me."
"Keep that up and I'll call Mom to come and get you. Tomo, you and Vicki hang out. I'll take him back. I want to work on a few things anyway."
"Are you sure? We'll come back if you need help with the big baby." Tomo joked.
Shannon shoved him.
"No stay. I'll leave the car, go tuck him in and get to work. Let's get him up." I took one arm, Tomo the other then gently lifted Shannon to his feet.
"Everyone's going to think I'm drunk." Shannon hung onto me.
"No worries. Everyone else probably is. Come on Brother. I'll read you a bedtime story." I smiled.
"Night Shannon." Vicki said.
"See you later." Tomo added.
As we made our way to find a taxi, Shannon held onto me for balance but didn't need much more support then that.
"You always had the most volatile women." I commented.
"I'm beginning to think so. I really want to go back out there. I need the distraction from playing." He sounded beat.
"Well we may get to New York sooner than we were supposed to."
"You got something going on?"
"I got a call from MTV. They want us to do an unplugged set. It's in the afternoon and that night, if my info is correct, there's a charity photos event that night."
"Seriously?" Shannon smiled wide.
"I'll have Emma look into scoring some invites." I was happy that he was excited.
"That would be fucking awesome." He hugged me tight.
"Let's keep it a secret for now. You can surprise her when you show up."
"You're the best brother I could ever have."
"Remember that when I'm forcing you to bed later."
We got into a white taxi van and headed back to the rental.
