Love Amongst Destruction

It had been hours since Bella had gone into the back half of the bus.
There had been tears, cries, screams of anger frustration, and once or twice I heard her cursing herself, myself and the other guys, and even Chance.
Poor thing seemed to just hate the world right now…..it raised questions to me about her relationship with Chance.
Those thoughts were instantly interrupted when I heard her make a phone call.
As quietly as I could, I tip toed over to one of the doors that led to the back and pushed my ear up to it.
“Hey Chance.” She whispered.
“No, no, I’m perfectly fine I promise. I haven’t talked to any of them, even though I’ve seen a few of them here and there.” She said.
Oh my…..was she seriously lying to him?
Couldn’t blame her though…..if she told him that she and I had talked he would have flipped his shit on her.
“So I won’t be home as soon as planned, ok? My car broke down in the parking lot here so I got it towed and everything but I’ll have to stay in a hotel for 2-3 days over the weekend while they fix it.” She said.
I felt like my eyes practically just bulged out of my head…...did she actually just say that?
“No, you don’t need to come and get me. Just stay where you are at the hotel, so when the car’s fixed I can just go right back to you. “ She told him.
Suddenly the door opened and Craig walked in.
I instantly put my finger to my mouth, pointed to the door and mouthed ‘Bella’.
Intrigue and excitement ran through his eyes like a child seeing the largest candy store on Earth and he joined right next to me in listening to Bella and Chance’s conversation.
“Yes, so I’ll be back in just 2-3 extra days, I promise you it will be ok, I’m safe and away from all of them.” She continued.
‘What?’ Craig mouthed.
‘I’ll explain later.’ I mouthed back to him.
Craig nodded his head, and then we both continued to listen in.
“Ok.” She said, the sadness apparent in her voice.
“Yeah, I know. I love you too.” Bella whispered, her voice trailing off.
We both heard the click of the phone call end and we both were met with her as she came out of the back room.
She gasped and this look of utter fear and even some pain flashed across her face as she saw Craig.
“You’re fine Bella, it’s ok.” Craig told her.
Based off of the death glare she gave him and the obvious step back she took, she wasn’t on too good of terms with him.
“So you’re going to be with us for a few days?” I asked, making sure I heard everything correctly.
“If that’s a problem for you, I don’t have to be.” She said, now becoming much more shy and quiet due to Craig’s presence.
“There’s always an open bunk waiting for you.” Craig said kindly to her.
“I don’t need a bunk, I can make it on the floor or on the couch, but thanks.” Bella replied, her voice still laced with poison but you could tell she was also trying to be civil.
“I’m just trying to extend the branch back to you, Bella.” Craig told her.
“I think we’ve all apparently just forgotten the fact that all of those branches of yours have beaten me, and have made my mind such a fucked up battle ground that I can never even go back to half of the person I was before. So I’m sorry if I’m coming off as a bitch about not wanting to make myself at home.” She hissed, then walked past us and headed out into the rain.
“Still feisty as all hell.” Craig states, shaking his head back and forth.
All I could was shake my head as well…..she was something else.
“I don’t even know where the hell she’s going right now.” I said in honesty.
“So what all went down with her? I know no one talked to her before she went down in that tent with Thrasher and Derek.” Craig wondered.
“She and I took a little bit of a walk, and she basically just told me what she felt and what she was thinking. What I got out of it is that she can’t stop thinking about and reflecting on what happened for all those months. She then hinted to me that she’s struggling a lot with deciding on whether it’s truly good for her to be out there with Chance, when she knows all along and even now that we will manage to get her back.” I explained.
“Holy shit.” Craig exclaimed.
“Yeah…..and now she’s just made up a story to stay with us for an extra 2-3 days. I’m not taking it as a compliment though, I know she just wants a quieter space to contemplate things and she knows the buses will be empty most of the days.” I replied.
“But, still! She herself said that she’s considering staying to keep herself from going even further off the deep end. If she decides to just stay…..that would be the ultimate gift.” Craig said.
“That’s true. We just have to be careful with who’s around her for these next 2 days. I don’t think if she sees TJ that will go down well at all, that will definitely make her run fast. That goes the other way too, certain people will damn near flip on her if they see her like I just did and realize that she isn’t using that same level of respect that she once used.” I said.
“Agreed. I think we should have Chris and Danny try to talk to her though, she lets you in so easily but even though she probably hates those two the most, if they can convince her to stay, we’re absolutely golden.” Craig suggested.
“Well currently at this point in time we need to see where she went. So let’s just stay here, let the weather do it’s thing and let some more of the bands get back to their buses. As they come back we’ll see if any of them have seen her since and she also may just come back in a tiny bit.” I said.
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Craig agreed.
“Come back Bella, just please come back and make this easy on all of us.” I whispered into the air.

Notes