Saturday morning, 28 November
"I think we got everything," I said, walking down the drive to where the car was parked. We were getting ready to leave for the airport, on our way to the last show of the tour in Melbourne. Our flight wasn't for another three and a half hours but we thought we'd eat at the airport before we got on the plane.
"Not everything," Bradie said. He was sitting in the back seat of the car with the door open and his legs poking outside. I stopped walking when I got to the car and looked at him and Jade, "Shaun still hasn't shown up. We kinda need him to come with us." I nodded.
"I guess you're right. Well, what's he doing? Why isn't he here? We gotta leave soon," I told them making sure I had my wallet and phone in my jeans pockets. It was warm there standing outside in the sun. Jade was leaning against the passenger seat door, looking like he would fall asleep if he stayed there any longer. It was about eight thirty in the morning. Which I guess is pretty early. But I was smart, I went to sleep early last night.
"I dunno. I called him and stuff but he didn't reply," Bradie replied, biting his thumbnail. I bit my lip. If he was going to be late he would've called us.
"Maybe he's at home," I suggested. Bradie shook his head right away.
"Nah, he went out somewhere with Jaselyn last night," he told me, giving me a look that said 'So you know what that means'. I did know what that meant.
Jaselyn is Shaun's new best friend. Really. He met her at the start of the year and ever since they've pretty much been inseperable. Jaselyn is this annoying, bitchy, rude blonde-haired girl that Shaun follows everywhere. She takes money from him, makes him buy her all she wants. He'd pretty much do anything for her. And I know it's wrong. It's not like he loves her or anything. They're just friends. And I've noticed he acts differently now. I don't know exactly what it is but since he's started hanging around her there's something different about him. I've tried to tell him but he shrugs it off, saying I'm just being stupid. But I know the truth. We all do.
"Well I'll call him again," I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I couldn't stand the sun any longer. It's only early morning, imagine how much hotter it will get. I walked around to the other side of the car and got into the back seat, next to Bradie. I found Shaun's number and called him. But it rang out. I sighed and pulled my phone away from my ear. "I'm not gonna call him again. What should we do?" I asked.
"Leave without him," Jade said, as he too got into the car. I frowned. "The flight's at twelve. We gotta check in and eat. I'm not waiting all day." I agreed. We had to get to the airport soon. We were meeting Bailey and Alex there too. So we couldn't just ditch them. But we couldn't just leave Shaun behind without find out where he was.
"We'll wait another fifteen minutes. If he's not here by then we'll leave without him. He can catch a later flight," Bradie said, turning around in his seat so he was sitting properly with his legs inside the car.
"Alright," I said, sliding down in the seat and shutting my eyes. We sat in silence for a few minutes. But the time seemed to be going so slow. The heat was getting worse, I could feel it. And the silence dragged on. We barely spoke as we waited. We all just checked the time on our phones every few seconds and stared up and down the street, expecting Shaun to come around the corner at any second. But he didn't. At 8:52am the fifteen minutes was up. I looked at Jade and then Bradie.
"Let's go," Jade said, turning around to look at us.
"You think we should go? Or wait a bit more?" I asked them both. They didn't reply straight away.
"I think we should just go. We don't have time to wait. I mean, the show isn't until tomorow. He can come later, I just don't wanna miss this flight," Bradie told me. I nodded. Shaun had another twentyfour hours to get to Melbourne. But if we left him to get a flight alone would he even turn up for the show? I thought about what we should do before I tried calling him again. And again, he didn't answer. I ran my hand through my hair. What would we do?
"Okay let's just go by his house and see if he's there. We'll see if his brother's heard from him. If he's not there then we'll go to the airport and leave without him if we have to," Jade said, still turned around in his seat looking between Bradie and I. That sounded alright. He still had two hours to get to the airport today anyway. Maybe this would work out alright. I looked at Bradie who was still biting his nail.
"I guess we could do that," he said. I sighed. I didn't feel like driving to his house, having to turn around the other way and go all the way to the airport. But I got out of the backseat and into the driver's seat. As I was putting on my seatbelt Bradie opened the door.
"Wait I just remembered something I've forgotten. I'll be two seconds," he assured me as he jumped out of the car and walked off to the front door of our house. I scoffed.
"He better hurry, we were supposed to leave at eight-thirty. It's nine now," I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back into my seat, staring out the front window. Jade didn't say anything. Like before we sat there in silence, trying to handle the heat without the car air conditioner turned on. After a minute or two I was about to go after Bradie and drag him out of the house. But I didn't have to. Something else distracted me. Jade pointed him out. Or them.
"He's here," he told me, pointing out the window on my right. I looked outside and at the end of the street I could see Shaun and Jaselyn walking slowly. Shaun's arm was over her shoulders as she tried to support him. He was drunk. I couldn't believe it. I got out of the car and waited for them to get to the car. I heard Bradie quickly walk down the drive and get into the car.
"Let's go," he said as he slammed the car door shut. He must've noticed me and what I was looking at because he didn't say anything. Jaselyn and Shaun walked up to me, standing beside the car.
"Where the fuck have you been?" I asked Shaun. His head was down, resting on his chest.
"Ssh, don't be too loud. He's being drinking for the last eight hours," Jaselyn said, giggling. I could smell alcohol and cigarette smoke on both of them. Jaselyn was struggling to support Shaun's weight. But I didn't help her. If she wanted to take him out to get drunk then she could look after him.
"Shaun," I said loudly, trying to get his attention and make him look up at me. He slowly raised his head and looked me in the eye. His eyes were red and I could tell he was tired. He was probably falling asleep just standing there. "Where've you been?" I asked him.
"We were out-" Jaselyn started but I cut her off.
"I didn't ask you, I asked Shaun," I said, still looking at him and waiting for an answer. He just looked at me. "You knew we were supposed to meet here at eight-thirty. I called and reminded you last night," I waited for him to say something. Sorry? I forgot? I woke up late? Nothing. He didn't say anything but just looked down at the ground. I sighed with frustration and put my arm around his shoulders. I pushed Jaselyn away and helped him get into the backseat of the car. He smelt, bad. I couldn't breathe properly at first as I helped him into the backseat and shut the door. I ignored Jaselyn as I got into the driver's seat and started up the car.
"You alright Shaun?" I heard Bradie ask. I looked at him in the rearview mirror and saw him slowly shake his head. I bit my lip. We'd have to go by Shaun's house to get his bags. His parents would be there, if they saw him like this I doubt they would be happy. I turned around to Bradie in the backseat who was looking at Shaun.
"Hey go get him a bottle of water. And hurry this time, we were supposed to leave for the airport over half an hour ago!" I yelled. Bradie hopped out of the car and ran up the drive to the front door, pulling his key for the house out of his pocket. "We're supposed to meet Bailey and Alex there too," I said, sitting properly in my seat. Jade shrugged. I looked out the window where Jaselyn was starting to slowly walk back the way her and Shaun had come. I was glad. He would be without her for three days, that's three days for us to convince him he doesn't need her.
"They mustn't be too worried, they haven't called yet," Jade pointed out. I slowly nodded. I guess they knew we would be there. Not even a minute later Bradie came running outside with a bottle of cold water in hand. He got in the car and slammed the door shut.
"Here, drink this," Bradie said shoving the bottle at Shaun as he tried to pull on his seat belt. Shaun sat up straight and grabbed the water, drinking a quarter of it without stopping. I turned on the car and pulled out of the driveway. We're finally leaving, I told myself. I was happy. We went to Shaun's house to get his suitcase. He should have a suitcase ready, he told me last night he was ready to leave at eight thirty. I could hear Shaun in the backseat drinking the whole bottle of water. He'd finished it by the time we got to his house. I decided to go inside with him, to make sure he didn't sit down for a moment and fall asleep. He didn't even get out of the car, I had to help him out but he could walk along fine. The front door was opened and we went in. I could hear the TV in one of the rooms and muffled talking in another.
"Shaun?" I heard his mum call. She came into the hallway from the kitchen. "Where have you been?" she asked, I knew she was angry. And why shouldn't she be. I always thought she didn't like Jaselyn either. Shaun didn't reply to her, but kept walking to the staircase at the end of the hallway. "Shaun where were you last night? Why didn't you come home?" she asked, follwoing us down the hallway. I didn't look at her, I was scared she would ask me where he had been. But I had no idea.
"I was out with Jaselyn," he yelled at her as we started to walk up the stairs to his bedroom. I kept my head down as I followed him, just in case we bumped into his brother Chris. I didn't feel much like telling them I had no idea what Shaun had done last night. We went into Shaun's bedroom. It was a mess, but it looked clean at the same time. There were piles of clothes, food wrappers and music magazines on the floor. But it still looked neat. His suitcase was sitting in the corner of his bedroom. I went and picked it up, it was packed. I turned around to see him sitting on his bed, looking more awake than he had when he was with Jaselyn.
"Ready?" I asked, holding up the small suitcase. He nodded.
"I guess," he mumbled.
"Then let's go. We're late anyway," I said, heading out the bedroom door to the hallway. He slowly stood up off his bed and led the way down the hallway to the staircase. As we made our way down the stairs Chris, Shaun's younger brother, was walking upstairs. I smiled at him but didn't say a word.
"Why didn't you come home last night?" he asked Shaun just as they passed each other. Shaun stopped walking, so did Chris. Shaun stared down at him from the step above Chris.
"I was out," Shaun snapped.
"With Jaselyn? Get a life Shaun," Chris replied with a smile on his face and I knew he was just trying to start a fight with Shaun.
"C'mon we gotta go," I said, trying to push Shaun down the stairs. But he didn't move.
"Shut the fuck up. See, you're the reason I didn't come home last night," Shaun told him, his voice rising.
"Shaun! Don't talk like that!" his mum yelled at him, coming down the hallway towards us. I nudged Shaun's shoulder and he continued on down the stairs. Chris hurried up the stairs, away from us three. "Now why did you come home so late?" she asked Shaun. He shook his head.
"Can't talk mum, we're late!" he replied sarcastically and he quickly walked down the hall to the front door. I gave his mum a small smile before I hurried after him.
Sunday night, 29 November
"Well I wanna eat," Bailey said firmly. We were sitting around in our hotel room. It was after the Melbourne show. The show was awesome, the fans were crazy and I think we played really well. Afterwards we stayed around for a while to meet all the fans. It was about six-thirty by then and it was getting dark quickly. We decided to go back to the hotel to get changed before we headed out again.
"Yeah I'm pretty hungry too," Alex said, reaching forward from his spot on the couch to grab his phone off the coffee table in the middle of the room. He settled back down on the couch and was suddenly distracted by it.
"Alright where ya wanna eat?" I asked. The six of us were squashed onto the two small couches in one of the two bedroomed hotel rooms we were staying in. Except Bradie, he was sitting behind us on one of the stools at the small kitchen counter.
"Anywhere," Bradie said. I turned around to look at him. His chin was resting in his hand and he looked about ready to fall asleep any second.
"Alright let's go," Alex said, standing up and shoving his phone into his pocket. The rest of us got up, stretched and headed for the door to leave the room. Except Shaun, he stayed put on the couch and hadn't even realized what we were doing.
Shaun had been quiet most of today and yesterday. He spent most of yesterday sleeping when we got to the hotel. He came out for dinner with us and went back to sleep when we got back in. It made me wonder just how long he had been awake before he got on the plane yesterday afternoon. Today he was quiet but was himself when we got on stage. He talked to the fans and seemed alright. But since we had been sitting here for the last half an hour he hadn't done much.
"You coming?" I asked him, walking over to the kitchen counter to get my black jacket. I picked it up and pulled it on. He looked up at me after a moment. He shook his head.
"Nah, I don't feel like going out," he said and turned back to the TV. The others were waiting out in the hallway for us, I could hear them laughing and playing around. I walked over to the couch and stood at the opposite end to where he was sitting.
"Shaun, you've been real quiet. What's wrong?" I asked. He shrugged but didn't look at me.
"Nothing. I just feel. . . sick," he finished. I walked around the couch and grabbed his arm. He looked up at me, wondering what I was doing as I pulled him up off the couch.
"You're coming out to atleast eat with us. Come on, it's the last night of tour. You gotta come," I said. He sighed and after a moment of thought he agreed.
"Alright I'll come out," he said, like I was forcing him to do something horrible. He went into the bedroom and came out a few moments later wearing his grey jacket and black shoes. He followed me out of the room and into the hallway. The others had left, I hadn't even noticed. We headed for the elevators and got in when the doors opened right away. I pressed the button for the ground floor and the doors shut.
"Why didn't you wanna come out with us?" I asked as he stood silently with his hands folded in front of him. He didn't look at me.
"I just didn't feel like coming out," he said, his voice was a little shaky. As if he was going to cry or something. I took that as an answer. I wasn't going to ask anymore because he obviously wasn't going to tell me. I watched the numbers above the doors change. 5. . . 4. . . 3. . . "I don't have any money," Shaun said quickly. I looked at him strangely. That was sudden.
"What?" I asked. He looked at me. His eyes were big. The bright lights from the elevator shone in his eyes. Something definetly wasn't right.
"I've got no money left. That's why I didn't want to come out," he said quietly and quickly. I looked at him. What was he trying to say? The elevator stopped and the doors opened. We stepped out into the lobby of the hotel. Shaun was still watching me as we walked to the doors. The others were standing right outside them.
"Well, how come?" I asked. I stopped walking in the middle of the lobby and looked at him. He stood beside me.
"Jaselyn. She takes all my money," he admitted. I knew it. I looked at him, glad I could finally laugh at him about her and tell him I was right. But the look on his face, I just couldn't do that.
"Okay, I'll pay for your food and then you can come back to the hotel if you want. I think the others wanna go out afterwards. I've only got enough to pay for dinner," I told him. He nodded.
"Thanks," he said in a small voice and we walked outside to meet the others.
We went out to a restaurant that Bailey picked. We sat around for a while eating and by then it was late enough to go out to a club. Shaun came. Alex paid for him to get in and brought a drink for him when we got in. He didn't seem happy though. He seemed sort of nervous, like he felt bad for making us pay for him. I didn't mind though. Inside I was seperated from the others. I started talking to these two guys and a girl who were from overseas. They were really nice and they were telling me about all the places they'd been. It was interesting. I must've sat there for an hour or something talking to them before I realized the others had even left me. I looked around the dark club, hoping that in the dim light I'd find one of the others. I didn't have a key for the hotel room so if I got lost then I'd be in trouble.
"Andy!" I looked around trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, "Andy!" Alex ran up to me. He put his hands on my shoulders as he stood in front of me with a scared expression on his face. "You gotta come outside. Shaun's gotten kicked out for fighting and we gotta go find him!" I stared at Alex, not quite believing what he was saying. Shaun fighting? As if, he'd ruin his hair. But then it sort of registered in my head what Alex told me and I jumped out my seat. I ignored the three people I was talking to as Alex led the way to the exit. We spilt out of the dark club onto the busy, cold street. I looked up and down the street trying to find Shaun in the crowds of people. The streets were brightly lit by lights all around the dark windows of the club but I still couldn't find Shaun amongst the crowds of people. Then I spotted him. Up ahead he was still fighting with some guy. I ran over to him and grabbed his arm as he tried to step forward towards the other guy. There was a small crowd of people standing around them silently, just waiting on someone to throw a punch.
"Shaun, what're you doing?" I asked him. He looked at me. He had blood on his face and a few cuts on his chin and left cheek. He kept staring at me, he was angry alright.
"Fuckin' piss off," he growled at me, roughly pulling his arm out of my grip and walking away. I watched him walk down the street, away from us. I looked at the guy who Shaun had been fighting with, but he had already forgotten about it and was talking with the crowd.
"I don't know why he was fightin'," Alex said, making me jump. I didn't realize he was standing beside me. I looked at him, "I just turned around for two seconds to get some money off Jade. I turn back around and them two're punchin' each other. Then they got kicked out. I dunno what's wrong with 'im." I looked back down the street. Shaun was gone. I sighed. Something was definetly wrong now. I knew it. Maybe it was worse than I thought. All I knew was that it was Jaselyn's fault. Or it atleast had something to do with her.
I bit my lip and quickly glanced at Alex.
"C'mon, we better go get him" I said and we ran down the street into the dark.
I just wanted to let you know I'm probably going to change the title of this. I just called it 'Driving Nowhere' because that's the name of the song I got my inspiration from for this.