Hold Your Head Up High

Chapter Seven

"If you experience an infection or any extreme pain, come right back here." The doctor handed me extra gauze for my arm.

"Thank you." I smiled and slowly sat down into a wheelchair. I would've walked out of the hospital just fine, but for safety reasons I had to be wheeled out. I would've refused if Platz hadn't convinced me to "sit down and enjoy the ride".

"Remember to rest a lot. And your post-op appointment is one week from today, but after that you shouldn't need to come again." I thanked my doctor again before being wheeled out of the room by Platz, with Dan wheeled by Wayne behind me. Ben was perfectly fine with not having to carry anything.

We got out to the parking lot, when I suddenly realized that I had no ride home.

"Hey Wayne, can I have my phone?" I asked him since he was carrying my bag for me.

"Sure." He got it out and handed to me, and I immediately went to call my mom. I hadn't spoken to her almost two days, but it felt like forever.

"Who are you calling?" Dan asked, but I shushed him since my mom had answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi mom." I saw Dan slightly nod out of the corner of my eye.

"You're getting discharged today, right?" I heard a worried mom tone in her voice.

"Yeah, we're leaving the hospital now. Can you come pick me up?" I turned to see Dan frown.

"Okay, I'll be there in about half an hour. I have to come from work."

"Thanks mom. Love you."

"Love you too, baby." She blew a kiss and then hung up.

"What's wrong?" I asked Dan, putting my phone in my pocket.

"I... I was hoping you could stay with us." By then, we had arrived at the tour bus on the far side of the parking lot.

"What?"

"I mean, if you don't want to then that's okay..."

"No, I would love to. But you're on tour and traveling all across the world. Why would you want me to come?"

"I think you'd really enjoy the experience. Plus, it would be great getting to see you everyday." He gently brushed a stray hair out of my face, his words making me blush.

"Would I really be wanted there, by everyone?" I looked back at Ben, Wayne and Platz, seeing the excitement on their faces.

"It'll be awesome!" Ben exclaimed. "We all think it'd be super cool if you came with us."

"Okay... I guess I'll come." They all cheered with excitement.

"Let's get on the bus, then." Wayne added. Him and Ben helped Dan up the stairs, because he was dizzy and couldn't even walk straight with his crutches. Platz was about to take my hand and help me up, but I stood up and smirked at him before he could.

It took Dan a while to get up the stairs. He was trying to hide the pain he was in, but he wasn't very good at it. He was eventually able to half hop, half get carried onto the bus by Ben and Wayne. I walked on right after him, watching him be laid down on the side couch.

"Are you okay?" I asked Dan as he tried to adjust himself so he was sitting up.

"Y-yeah."

I got him two pillows, and I put one by his head while the other propped up his foot.

"Thank you." He smiled and handed me the bouquet of flowers he had gotten me, which he was holding the whole time. I smiled back and placed them on the main area table.

"So what do you guys want to do, exactly?" Platz walked onto the bus after putting away the wheelchairs.

"I'm up for anything that doesn't involve a hospital." Wayne joked.

"You know what I'm up for? FOOD!" Ben ran into the other room and got a menu from some nearby pizza place. "What do you guys want?"

"I'll take a plain slice."

Ben made a face. "Plain is for chumps. I'll get you a pepperoni." I rolled my eyes and giggled.

"I want a meatball sandwich!" Wayne called out.

"I want a meatball slice." Platz added, and the both of them were jumping up and down in excitement.

"How about you, Dan?" Ben looked at him.

"I'm good, thanks though." He said in a soft tone of voice.

"What? You love pizza." Wayne questioned.

"Yeah, I'm just not in the mood for it right now. I-I'm tired." He began to stand up, grabbing his crutches from the side wall.

"Hold on, let me help-"

"I've got it." Dan interrupted Ben, closing his eyes to prepare himself.

"Dan, you can't do it on your own. Just let him help." I joined in.

"I don't need his help." Ben sat down, somewhat hurt by the comment.

"Come on." I put my non-shot-by-a-stupid-dude-at-a-concert arm around him and helped him up. I kept him from falling as we walked to the back room. Once we walked in, he slammed the door shut hard and basically fell onto the bed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"Just... go away. Please." His face scrunched up in pain.

"I want to help you feel bet-"

"GO AWAY." I felt like I had just been hit in the stomach. Sweet, innocent, loving Dan had just yelled at me in the loudest voice I had ever heard. I started to tear up as I opened the door and walked out, making sure to close it behind me.

"What just happened?" Platz questioned.

"I-I don't know." I sat down on the couch, burying my face in my hands.

"There's something up with Dan. He's never like this." Wayne sat next to me and rubbed my back. "It's okay. He didn't mean it."

"I hope so." I sighed. Two days before, I would've been screaming with joy that I had the opportunity to go on the Imagine Dragons tour bus.

Now, I wasn't so sure it was worth everything that's happened.

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I'M BACK YO lol high school is trash. Everyone's like 2 feet taller than me and I keep getting lost but I haven't done anything embarrassing yet so that's cool I guess. Anyways I hope you're really enjoying this story, I'm excited because I'll be writing about Maggie going on tour with the guys soon 😄. Also, if you didn't know already, I have another ID fanfic called I'm a Lost Cause that I usually update more frequently than this story. If you want to check it out that would be awesome.

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