*The Next Day, Zjael’s POV*
“You sure you don’t want me to stay and take care of you?” Jack asked, concerned. I was pretending to be sick, so he wouldn’t want to not leave without me.

“No, Rian and Zack will be here…go have fun.” I whispered weakly.

“Okay…” He said sadly. I slowly grabbed his hand.

“Don’t worry…go have fun…I…I’ll be here when you get back.” It was a lie. A full blown lie, but I had to lie. He needed to leave. He nodded and stood up. I waited patiently, after I heard the bus door open and close, for Rian or Zack to tell me I can come out now.

I listened as hurried footsteps came and stopped in front of my bunk. “Get ready to meet everyone at AP. We’re going to move you in, then we’re heading to get you a phone, then to AP and you can meet Adam finally.” Rian explained.

“Just be careful if you plan to shower, the bus will be moving soon.” Zack warned as I crawled out.

“Okay.” I whispered then pulled them both into a hug. “Thank you so much for helping me with this.” I said sincerely.

“It’s no problem, really.” Zack said softly.

“We’ll have to deal with Jack when he finds out, but that’s just something we’ll deal with.” Rian chuckled. I shook my head with a small smile. I grabbed some clothes and everything I needed then went to the bathroom.

I quickly washed my hair before I felt the bus moving. I looked at myself. My arms and legs were extremely scarred. My arms were still healing. As I looked, I began to feel sick. I looked away, but it was too late…I rushed to the toilet as my stomach emptied itself. It was mainly just water and stomach acid.

My throat burned now. I quickly dried myself off and put my clean clothes on. That’s when I realized that I somehow forgot a shirt. I draped my towel over my shoulders and covered my torso before walking out and to my bag. I searched for a long sleeved shirt. I didn’t want to meet Adam and have him see clearly what was wrong with me.

Both of my black eyes had mainly healed. I sighed in frustration when I couldn’t find a long sleeved shirt. “You okay?” Zack asked softly. I nodded.

“I can’t find any of my long sleeved shirts.” I said sadly. “And I don’t even know when to get my stitches taken out. It’s been a week.”

“Why do you need a long sleeved shirt?” He asked softly.

“I don’t want to meet people I’ll work with and have them see all the shit that’s clearly wrong with me. If I have a long sleeved shirt, it’s not as noticeable.” I explained softly.

“Just wear a light sweatshirt if you’re so worried…but there’s nothing wrong with you. You’ve just been through a lot of shit that you shouldn’t have had to.” Zack said softly as he slowly and carefully placed his hand on my shoulder. I flinched slightly, but made myself relax into his touch. They don’t want to hurt me.

“But I’m meeting Adam for the first time.” I said sheepishly. Zack slowly pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms around me in a hug.

“He’ll completely understand. Everything will be alright.” He whispered.

“Promise?” I asked into his muscular chest.

“I promise.” He said with sincerity in his voice. “Now, finish getting ready. We’ll be at your new apartment very soon.” He let go of me. I quickly grabbed a random t-shirt, my lightest sweatshirt, grabbed my hair and makeup stuff, and walked to the bathroom. I put the shirt and sweatshirt on then waited for the bus to stop.

When the bus did finally stop, I walked with Zack and Rian to the apartment I would call home. I walked to the bathroom and brushed through my hair. Once it was brushed through, I started on make-up. The only reason I was really trying with make-up was because I wanted to cover up any injuries still noticeably on my face and chest. I mainly worked on my eyes since they were still healing from my mom hitting me.

When I was done, you couldn’t even tell that I was injured. I rolled up my sleeves and looked at my stitches. I softly brushed over them with my fingertips. A small smile crept onto my lips as I remembered how it felt to tear into my arm-

“Stop.” I said to myself and pulled my sleeves back down. I can’t think of that. But the urge to do it was too much. I ran outside and quickly sat down. I pulled out my pack of cigarettes, only two were left. I’ve been smoking more than usual lately. “I’ll slow down after this pack.” I promised myself as I grabbed one and lit it.

“I hope you do slow down.” Zack said softly as I blew out smoke and he walked back down to the bus to grab more of my stuff. I sighed quietly. I know none of them liked that I smoke, but it just helps me. It really does. It didn’t take long for them to move my things in. It was basically all clothes, shoes, and the money I had saved up. We then went to the nearest Verizon store and got me a phone. I ended up getting the new LG G4. I quickly got all the numbers in that I needed. I even got Jack’s, but he wouldn’t have mine until I was ready. Being ready would mean that I’m okay. He would only have to wait till then.

After that, we got the bus parked back where it was then walked to the nearby AP building. “Hey, Adam!” Rian yelled, catching the bald man’s attention. He smiled and walked over to us.

“Hey, Rian, Zack. This must be the beautiful young lady I was told I’d be I would be helping?” He asked looking at me. “Hi, I’m Adam.” He said with a smile and held out a hand for me to shake.

“I’m Zjael.” I said sheepishly and shook his hand.

“Unique.” He said with a smile. “A little birdie told me you’re a fan of my work.” He said. I turned to Rian and Zack with a slight glare before looking back at Adam and blushing.

“Only a little.” I said quietly.

“At least I know that helping you will be a little easier and that you won’t hate me. Do you have a camera?”

“I actually don’t…”

“I thought I heard you took Photography in high school?”

“I, uh….I did.”

“Didn’t you need a camera?”

“Yeah…but…after I lost my father, I broke it…it wasn’t a good time for me…then I got another but…”

“But?”

“My, uh, my mom took it and I didn’t think to grab it before leaving. Let’s just say that I haven’t been thinking right for the past seven years.”

“Then why don’t we go shopping and I’ll buy you one? I can help you find a good one.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Of course I do. You don’t have one and I’m supposed to help you.”

“Alright, I guess we can do that.”

“Good, but we have to go. Soundcheck is soon and we need to be back before Jack, Alex, and Matt.” Rian said, shoving his phone in his pocket. I nodded and hugged him and Zack.

“Can you keep Jack away from my bunk until after the concert? I left him a note in there and it would probably be good for him to read it before.” I said softly.

“We will do that.” Zack said with a reassuring smile.

“Take care of her and make sure she texts us.” Rian said to Adam.

“Will do, man. Have fun for the remainder of tour!” Adam said smiling.

“We’ll try, but Jack might hate us all.” Zack said with a light chuckle.

“He doesn’t know about anything going on right now.” Rian explained.

“Oh, gotcha.” Adam said. Rian and Zack nodded before leaving. Adam led me to his car. “So, how did you meet the All Time Low guys?” I chuckled lightly at the question.

“That’s a kinda funny story.” I then started to explain all I was comfortable with.

*After the Concert, Jack’s POV*
I quickly helped pack up before sprinting out to the bus. Zack and Rian said that I couldn’t bug Zjael until after the concert because she had finally gotten to sleep. She needed the sleep to get better from being sick.

I walked on the bus happily. I walked to her bunk and sat down outside of it. “Zjael….Z, wake up….Z?....Zjael?...Are you in there?” After no response, I pulled the curtain back and saw the bunk was empty. The only thing in there was a note.

“No, no, no. She didn’t….please tell me she didn’t take everything and leave.” I begged and felt tears coming to my eyes. I slowly grabbed the note and read it.

‘Jacky,
I’m sorry to do this. If you’re reading this note, that means that I grabbed all of
my stuff and left. Don’t be mad at the guys, I told them to go get us food and
snuck out. I just couldn’t stay. Now that you got me away from my mom and
Dick, I can work on myself. I am very broken, in many ways you may not know.
So I’m going to work on myself. Please don’t wait for me. This may take a very
long time. You and the guys probably realized that I was more than likely being
abused. That’s very true, but that’s not all. My mom and Dick abused me… a
lot…but they also did much more that has really fucked me up in the mind.
The night I got drunk and we had sex (your birthday), I don’t know what I
said. I just feel like I stupidly opened up to you about the “much more”
and you used me, but I could be wrong. Once again, I’m so sorry to do this,
but it’s what I need to do. Please, please, please don’t wait for me. Find
happiness somehow. I love you and will text or call you when I’m ready.
Please don’t come looking for me. I don’t want to be found. I just need to be
alone and work on myself. This isn’t goodbye, just see ya later.
-Love,
Z.’

I crawled into my bunk, clutched the note to my chest, and cried. She just left. Left without saying goodbye. Left without any warning. She’s just gone and I may never see or hear from her again. I just fucking got her back and now she’s gone again. I heard everyone else getting on the bus. I slowly got out, went to the fridge, grabbed a random bottle, and went to the back lounge. I sat on the couch and started drinking.

Alex slowly walked in and sat by me. “What’s up?” I just shrugged in response, but grabbed her note and gave it to him. He was quiet for a moment. “Maybe it’s for the best, buddy.” I shrugged once more, grabbed the note, and went back to my bunk. She’s really gone.

Notes

I'm a little late on when I said this would be up, but better late than never. I'm only a day late. I said it would be up by my birthday and that was yesterday (National Star Wars Day). My hair is really pink and has green in it too haha.

Hope you like this chapter, hopefully I can start updating this story more often now :)

-Rose