DARE

{26}Ready

Jack stepped back on impulse when he saw Amy, bumping into Mark. "You okay?" Mark asked as they stood upright again.

The curtain fell back and separated them from the stage again.

Jack gulped and dryly said, "huh? Yah! I'm fine sorry."

Mark gave a half smile and a confused little look to Jack and said, "Alright silly. People are starting to load in so it's already almost time."

"Yah, um, did you see Amy?" asked Jack, "She was one of the first people to walk in."

"Oh.. no I didn't," Mark wrapped his hand around his other arm and the joy drained from his face, again acting like he was avoiding something.

"Wha-" Jack started but Mark interrupted with, "Lets get back from the stage for now." as he put his hand on Jack's shoulder and gently pulled him back to the mass of people backstage.

Jack still felt like something wasn't right so he tried to ask, "Is everything oka-" "Don't worry about it," Mark shut Jack up again.

Mark was obviously distressed, so Jack didn't want to push it anymore. They were now surrounded by all the backstage people who were loudly talking to each other.

"Mark," said Jack, "If you ever need to talk... I'm here for you too."

Mark rubbed his eyes with one hand and said, "I know, but it's fine. I promise it's not a big deal."

Jack still felt uneasy, but he wanted to trust what Mark told him. "Alright, I believe you," Jack said, resting his hand on Mark's shoulder and providing him with a positive smile.

Mark grew stiff as if he was almost scared to have Jack touching him, like he was afraid of something. But at the same time he seemed to be trying to hold back a smile.

"Do you want to go get some water then?" Jack suggested as he lifted his hand to gesture at the table with bottled water on it.

"Please," Mark said with an long heavy exhale. "Was he holding his breath?" thought Jack, "Why would he do that?"

They started to walk next to each other, towards the table as Mark quietly said, "Thank you for caring, Jack."

Jack smiled and put his arm around Mark's shoulders as he said, "I wouldn't dare not to."

Mark chuckled and shoved Jack to the side as he jokingly said, "Nerd."

~After they grabbed their water Jack and Mark stood on the sidelines talking about lighter subjects until around 9:55~

"That's actually what I did! I was such an idiot!" Mark said giggling.

"Was?" Jack said with a laugh, then said, "even though you were a little kid, you can't just grab a random woman's hand expecting it to be your Mom's."

"I was too impatient to make sure it was her," Mark retorted, "I tried, at least a little, I'm sure."

Jack chuckled, then his eyes widened as he glanced over at the stage. "Shit dude! What time is it?"

Mark looked up at a wall clock and saw it was 9:56. "Oh man, almost ten. We gotta get over with everybody." Mark and and Jack shared a worried glance, then they both started walking quickly through the people standing around.

The rest of revel mode were all on the other side of the room together, so they weaved their way towards them.

"There you two are!" Ken said when he caught sight of them.

"Hi, hello, is this everyone? Now we're all ready, right?" Said the stressed backstage crew woman who was gathering everyone in the panel.

"Yah!" everybody said collectively. Jack rubbed his hands together and looked at Mark who was still next to him. "Let's do this," Jack said to Mark, which made a small smile appear on his face.