The Jitters
by angellwings
Caitlyn took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. She had a headache, and her scalp hurt from having her hair up in a ponytail all day. The Tylenol she took earlier hadn't work so her failsafe was caffeine. She'd had two cups of coffee so far. The edge had definitely worn off, but now she felt lightheaded and nauseous. She shouldn't have stayed in the studio all night, but the deadline for Connect Three's next album was quickly approaching and there were still four tracks to mix. It was down to the wire and in her mind an all nighter was necessary.
She picked up the travel mug sitting next to her and took a sip from her third cup. She knew she should've eaten breakfast but she didn't normally eat breakfast and morning hunger wasn't something she suffered from. Besides, she was due at the venue for sound check. She played keyboards in Connect Three's band along with producing for them.
She stepped through the door in the back of the venue and raced to the stage. She threw her bag down in one of the seats and took one more sip of her coffee.
"You're late, Caitlyn," Brown said from the side of the stage. When it wasn't summer Brown acted as the guys' music director for their band.
"I know!" Caitlyn said a little too loudly. "I worked late in the studio last night and lost track of time. But I'm here now, okay? Can we move on?"
Jason's eyebrows rose at her snappy tone. "You okay, Caity?"
"I'm good. I just…I'm late. I'm allowed to be late once right?" Caitlyn asked with a huff. "Can we get this over with?"
"You stayed up all night, didn't you?" Nate asked knowingly.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm a big girl. I can do what I want."
Nate's eyes widened and he glanced out to the floor seats where Ella sat observing sound check. He leaned toward his microphone and smirked at Ella. "I just want to say thank you to Ella Pador for making me actually sleep last night or else that—" he paused and pointed teasingly at Caitlyn. "—could be me."
Ella rolled her eyes and chuckled at him before shouting a response at the stage. "You're welcome!"
Jason shook his head and glared at his brother. "Leave her alone, Nate. We're all stressed about the album."
Shane sighed. "Jase, he means no offense. He's just teasing."
"I'm not in the mood for teasing, right now," Caitlyn said with a glare.
"Alright, alright," Brown said. "Let's play through some things now, please."
The sound check ended and Caitlyn immediately went for her travel mug. The coffee was cold but she finished it anyway. She found her way to the room where the catering for the crew was and poured more coffee into her mug. She didn't bother with cream or sugar. The bitter taste of black coffee woke her up quicker.
She turned to go back to the green room and nearly collided into Jason. She jumped and gasped loudly. "Oh God, Jase. You scared me to death."
"Really? Cause you're not usually that jumpy," Jason said suspiciously. "You're also a lot grumpier when you've got a lot of coffee in you."
Caitlyn gulped and feigned innocence. "Really? I've never noticed that before."
"Caitlyn, how many cups have you had today?"
She glanced down at the floor before she answered. "Um, this is…two."
He quirked a brow at her. "Two?" He sniffed the aroma coming from the mug. "So, on your second cup you've already progressed to black coffee?"
"Too tired to sweeten it," Caitlyn lied. "Can I go now or…?"
He sighed and took the mug out of her hand. "You can go, but the coffee stays with me."
"Jase! I need the caffeine for my headache and to keep me awake!" Caitlyn argued.
"I'm cutting you off, Gellar," Jason said sternly. "You're gonna crash very violently if you keep going."
She glared at him and tried to take her mug back but Jason pulled it out of her reach and that's when he noticed her hands were shaking. He sighed tiredly and grabbed one of her hands.
"Come with me," Jason said in a demanding tone as he handed Caitlyn's mug off to one of the many assistants on the tour and pulled her toward the hallway. He stopped at the warm up room where he knew everyone would be, including Ella, and approached them. "Who's got a snack with them? Something healthy?" And then he turned back to Cailtyn. "What have you eaten today?"
"Nothing, after my second cup I started to feel sick to my stomach."
He gave her a bemused look. "After your second cup? So the one I took away from you was clearly not your second then."
Caitlyn blushed and bit her bottom lip. "Sorry."
He looked at the rest of the group to see Ella digging through her large bag she always carried with her. She pulled out a Ziploc bag with a banana in it. "Will this work?"
Jason smiled softly at her and nodded. "Perfect."
He sat Caitlyn down and then took the banana from Ella. He peeled it and placed it in Caitlyn's hands. "Eat it. You need it."
Shane gave Ella an amused look. "Why do you have a banana in your purse?"
Ella blushed. "Just in case."
"In case of what?" He asked with a smirk.
"Well, you never know when Nate might need something for his blood sugar so I carry a few items around," Ella said shyly.
Nate smiled warmly at her. "You carry that around for me?"
"I also have a Ziploc bag full of Snickers in here," Ella told him.
His smile widened. "You hate Snickers."
"Yes, but…you like them," Ella admitted. "I just like to be prepared in case you need sugar."
Caitlyn snorted from her seat in the corner. "And she's not just talking about a sweetener."
Ella blushed a deep crimson. "Aren't you supposed to be eating that banana, Missy?"
Jason grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler in the corner of the room and walked back over to Caitlyn as she took the last bite of her banana. "Okay, up," he said. "You need to take a walk and sip some water."
She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths and Jason was immediately worried.
"Caitlyn, what's going on?"
"Everything is spinning."
"Okay, stand up," Jason said urgently as he reached a hand out to her.
"…I don't know if I can," Caitlyn said quietly. Jason glanced worriedly at the others before he leaned down to Caitlyn's eye level.
"Okay, Caity," He said softly. "Put an arm around my shoulders." She nodded weakly and did as she was told. "Now lean your weight against me, okay? I'm going to walk you around the venue, alright? You need to hydrate and exercise." He felt her weight against his and slowly stood up. He saw her eyes flutter closed for a split second. "Caitlyn, stay with me here. Come on. You just need to walk it off."
"Do you need some help, Jase?" Nate offered.
"No, I got her. Can you hand me the water?" Jason said with a nervous sigh. Nate handed them the opened bottle.
"You sure you don't want one of us to come with you?" Shane asked. "Do we need to call someone?"
Jason shook his head. "No, it looks worse than it is. In two hours she'll be fine, but I'd like to keep her conscious until then. So we're just gonna take a little walk and let her drink some water and then we'll be back."
Nate, Shane, and Ella watched them go with worried expressions before Ella finally sighed and spoke up. "If they don't get together after this then there is something seriously wrong with them."
Nate and Shane chuckled lightly and nodded in agreement.
"Preach it, sister," Shane said with a smirk and a wink.
"How you doin' over there, Caity?" Jason asked as they started down the hall.
"I'm never drinking coffee again," Caitlyn said in a miserable tone.
Jason chuckled. "Liar. Even if you could give up coffee…you'd just replace it with Mountain Dew."
"Nope, I'm giving up caffeine. If it makes me feel like this then I don't want it," Caitlyn said with a groan.
"You say that now, but tomorrow you'll head to Starbucks like nothing happened," Jason said with a smirk. "Besides, the problem wasn't the caffeine. Not completely. It was also the lack of real food. I know you don't really eat breakfast, but when you've been up all night it's a good idea."
"Hey, as long as I have someone as cuddly as you to lean on when I'm lightheaded I'm okay skipping whatever meals I want," Caitlyn said with a lazy grin. "You have very solid shoulders, you know."
Jason blushed and handed Caitlyn her water. "You might want to drink this. You're still a bit punch drunk."
Caitlyn stumbled and cause her and Jason to collide against the wall. Jason's back hit the wall with a thud and he quickly caught Caitlyn as she slumped against him. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly while she brought her other arms around his neck. She buried her face into his chest and groaned pathetically. Her next words were mumbled against his chest,"I veel lieg grab."
He smirked in amusement and pulled her head back a little bit. "What was that?"
"I feel like crap."
"Why in the world did you do this to yourself, Caity?"
She sighed. "Can we just stay right here for a moment?"
She readjusted her arms so that she could more comfortably wrap them around his chest. She rested her cheek against his chest and leaned into him. Jason nearly groaned. This was torture. She was cuddling him, but not out of some romantic urge.
This was necessity, and it was killing him. He sighed and tightened his grip around her. "You didn't answer my question."
"There was too much to do, and not enough hours in the day. I panicked," Caitlyn said with a sigh. "I didn't want to disappoint you."
"Me?" he asked.
"Or, you know, anyone," Caitlyn said with a nervous gulp.
"I'd rather you stay healthy than pull an all nighter and crash like this," Jason said as he took a deep calming breath.
Caitlyn's brow furrowed and in the silence she noticed that Jason's heart was racing. Then she noticed, by the hand that was accidentally brushing the skin on her waist, that his hands were clammy and sweaty. "Oh, God, Jase…are you scared?"
He gulped. "Terrified."
She suddenly felt very guilty. She sniffled sadly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize."
"But with the others you…you seemed so calm," Caitlyn said.
"I didn't want to freak you out, Caity," Jason told her. "And it wouldn't have done any good to show it."
Caitlyn suddenly leaned up on her toes and kissed Jason's lips quickly. She pulled back and gave him a hesitant look.
He blinked at her and swallowed thickly. "What was that?"
"That was a thank you," Caitlyn told him as she snuggled back into his chest. "For being so sweet."
"I, well…thank you."
Caitlyn chuckled. "I don't think you're supposed to thank someone for a thank you, Jase."
"You do when it's like that," Jason said as he cleared his throat.
"Well then, I guess you're welcome for your thank you."
Jason gulped. "After you recover from this do you think you'd want to go out?...sometime?"
Caitlyn nodded against his chest. "As long as we don't go out for coffee then I'm in."
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "No coffee. Got it."