When I woke up I was expecting a hungover Jack next to me, but instead I found myself in the bunk, which smelled a bit more like him. Was he here last night?
As my senses started to wake up I heard a murmur coming from the kitchen. I hesitated at first, but finally got out of the bunk and headed that direction.
The TV was on and on the couch sat Jack, Oriol, Alex, Matt and Austin, all of them with their back to me and talking quietly. I silently walked to the kitchen area, which was to my left and in diagonal with the TV, the TV further into the bus. I silently made my breakfast trying not to eavesdrop, but it was difficult not to as their voices got louder.
“So, what are you gonna tell her?” Alex asked, surely rising an eyebrow. I’m not sure who he asked this question to.
Jack cheated on you.
Oh, shut up.
Why? It looks pretty obvious; he, besides Alex and Matt, is the only one in a relationship of that group. I doubt Matt did something stupid last night, as he’s always the sober one, and Alex is the one who asked the question, which leave us with only Jack.
Jack is not a cheater, shut up.
You sure?
I heard Jack let out a heavy sigh, “I don’t know” he said with a worried tone in his voice.
“Well, I know” Oriol chimed in, “Tell her; it’ll be better for her to know what happened”
Do you need any more evidence?
I repeat, he is not a cheater.
You don’t seem so sure now…
That’s because you’re fucking trying to mess with me!
That’s my job, my dear.
“Fine” Jack sighed, “But I’m not leaving her side, no matter what you say” he turned to Matt.
“What do you want me to say? I agree with you not leaving her, as long as you go onstage” he finished with a shrug.
I swallowed the last bit of my cereals and put the spoon in the bowl, and the bowl in the sink. I was walking to the bunks again, may be it was a dream, when Austin spoke.
“Jack, I think that’s the same guy who beat her up in Vienna…"
I stopped dead on my tracks and turned to the group.
Guy. Guy. There was only one guy who did that. But how did Austin know? He said they found me passed out, right??
Guess Mikel will do all the dirty work for me, then.
“What are you guys talking about?” I said, leaning against the wall.
All five of them turned to me, Oriol and Jack the only ones who didn’t look shocked, only worried. I, on the other hand, looked like I was about to either puke or pass out, may be I was about to.
“We didn’t know you were awake…” Alex said softly.
I started to feel myself shaking and looked at Jack, panic radiating from my body.
“Jack ?” I asked as I claimed for a bit of explanation, my voice came out as a whimper.
Not five seconds after, Jack had already walked to me and pulled me into a hug, kissing my temple and forehead.
“Shh shhh, baby don’t cry, it’s okay” he rubbed soft circles on my back. I shook my head and buried my face in his chest, sobbing.
Why are you crying in the first place? God, you’re so weak!
“H-How d-do you g-guys even k-now about that?” I managed to say.
“A fan filmed it and mentioned Jack when she uploaded it” Alex explained slowly.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
“How many people have seen it?” I mumbled against Jack’s chest.
“Not many, I asked her to delete it” Jack kissed my hair, his arms tightly around my figure.
“Thanks” I whispered. Then more tears rolled down my face.
“Jack” I saw from the corner of my eye Matt mouthing words to Jack, “Tell her” with that, he walked past us and left the bus, Alex and Austin, who gave me a weak smile, following.
“I think it’d better if you sat down” Oriol said calmly.
Jack took me to couch and placed me on his lap, never letting go of me. I had visibly calmed down by then and only sniffed occasionally.
“Alright, so last night we went to this bar with Of Mice and Men” Ori started, “And we got a bit drunk, not the usual party hard these over-used-livers get when you’re there, when we heard someone call Jack across the room. He started insulting you aloud but never appearing until a group of girls went to their table and Jack saw him, so he got all furious and ran to him-"
“Nobody insults my lady” Jack kissed my shoulder and I gave him a weak smile.
“I saw Jack was about to punch someone and walked to him to stop him, but then Mikel scoffed at me and I threw the first punch” Oriol said. His name made me to physically flinch.
“He didn’t hurt you, right?” I asked, scared.
It’d be your fault Oriol gets hurt protecting you, worthless piece of shit.
“Honey, when you’ve been working with untrained and sassy ponies, foals and your dear Stella for a few years, you learn how to dodge that kind of aggression” he said in a proud, somewhat sassy voice, making me chuckle, “Plus, your man helped me so it was two against one” he smiled.
I looked at Jack, who was staring down on me with love-radiating eyes and a pinch of worry. His worry reminded myself that he had actually tracked me down and was looking for me out there and probably pissed off because of Ori and Jack beating him up.
A million questions and thoughts ran through my head when I felt Jack’s arms tighter around my frame.
“Please say something” he whispered.
He’s coming to get you.
Luckily he’ll get to kill you this time.
Or torture you.
May be he’ll kidnap you and torture you until you die.
You don’t deserve to die, you deserve to suffer.
Monster.
“Oh god” I choked, hot tears rolling down my cheeks.
Jack turned me around and cupped my face in his hands, “Baby, focus on my words please” I looked up at him, his eyes locked with mine, “I’m not going to let him get to you, I promise, alright? You’ll be safe, I promise” he reassured me. I nodded and leaned on his chest.
“B-But what about S-Stella?” I asked.
“I’ll take care of her, you can ride her when the gates are closed” Oriol offered.
“Yeah, that way you get to be all day with me and in the afternoon you’ll be with me and Stella” Jack added happily.
I sniffed a few times, nodding.
Nothing would go wrong, right?

---

You really need to grow a pair, María.
You’re not a kid anymore.
Just defend yourself, damn it!
You did it once in l’Escala, why not again in Warped Tour?
All my head did was blame me for Jack having to walk around with me right next to him all day. He assured me he was fine with it, but I knew something deep, very very very very deep inside of him thought I was overreacting and I was being a burden.
I can’t blame him though. The only time I haven’t been physically attached to him was when either a fan wanted a picture or when he was onstage.
I felt like we were acting really cute and cheesy despite the tension of running into Mikel, and I felt safe around him, but that was just little voice in my mind annoying me.
It was getting on for 8pm, an hour before the gates closed, and Jack noticed me losing myself in my thoughts and stopped us, we weren’t talking to anywhere in particular, just walking around the venue in a little area in which not many people walked past.
“What are you thinking about?” he pressed out foreheads together.
I sighed, “I just don’t wanna be a burden to you-“ he stopped me right then.
“Babe, shut up. You are not a burden, alright?” I nodded, my eyes not leaving his chest. He cupped my face and made me look at him. “Was that all you’ve been thinking of today?” he had a concerned expression.
“I just feel bad for being so…” Stupid? Annoying? Shush. ”…weak” I finally said.
“Babe, trust me, you are not weak” he said firmly, but in a soft tone.
“I-I know” I found myself saying.
I know?
You know?
I thought about it for a second before Jack could say anything.
“Well, I-I don’t know, I’m not 100% certain, but I do know that deep inside of me, I know I am not weak. I’m just tired of feeling like I am…” I tried to reason with myself aloud.
There was a moment of silence.
“Well…” I looked up to meet Jack’s eyes, a smirk on his lips, “That’s what I call an improvement” he smiled down at me and planted a soft kiss on my lips.
I put a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him closer to me, I really needed his touch right now. He noticed my need and deepened the kiss, a hand on my waist and another hand cupping my cheek. I wrapped my arms around his neck and I noticed him looking around before pushing me against a bus. His hands went to my butt and pulled me up, my legs firmly around his waist.
There was nothing sexual in the kiss, not even when he pushed me against the bus, it was all sweet and we managed to keep it PG all the time.
We pulled away for air and just rested our foreheads together, smiling at each other.
I think I heard one or two gasps as we were kissing. Fans, I mentally sighed. They’re awesome though.
“I love you so much, God help whoever tries to take you away from me” he said. I chuckled and kissed the tip of his nose.
“I love you too, Jacky” one of my hands moved a bit and I pulled a little strand of his hair from the back of his head.
We stared at each other for a while, our eyes occasionally wandering from our eyes to our lips, followed by an involuntary lip bite and a small make out session. We were interrupted by Jack’s phone. It was Matt.
Jack put me down on the floor in a swift and soft motion and pulled out his phone from his pocket.
“Matt, hey, what’s-?” he answered happily. He looked around, “I have no idea…” I could hear Matt’s annoyed voice from where I was standing, and I tried to do my best not to laugh, “Okay, okay, we’re coming, give us fifteen minutes” with that, Jack let out a sigh and put his phone back in his pocket, then he looked at my smiling face.
“What are you laughing at, Shortie?” he smirked and quickly kissed my neck, making me giggle by the sudden touch of his lips on my skin.
“I’m not short!” I pouted. I was not short, I was nearly as tall as him, for 15cm...
“You’re still shorter than me” he stuck his tongue out and pecked my lips before holding my hand and pulling me next to him, “Come on, we don’t want Matt to be mad at us, do we?” he said in a challenging voice.
“I think he is mad enough already for breaking his number one rule” I smirked a bit.
I looked at Jack, who gave me a wink, and we started walking to the bus.

Notes

So, what do you guys think about this one?