"Ready?" Dan asked as I untangled the wires. "Of course I am," I reply as he kisses me on the cheek. "I'll go check on those Arctic Monkeys," he said with a smirk on his face. I giggled. Alex has the worst band name ideas. "I can also take your sweater." I looked up from the wire mess. "No it's fine, I'm cold anyway," I reply, worried he might suspect.
"Bella, it's mid-July, how are you cold?" I could hear concern in Dan's voice. "Don't know, might be coming down with something," I said looking back down. "Fine," he replied. "I'll go check on them now." He pecked my cheek and ran off stage.
I sighed. Two years and still no one had noticed except for Janna. I unrolled my sleeves, exposing all the cuts and scars. I felt a tear rolling down my cheek. Why was I doing this to myself? Janna would probably say something like, "Don't worry, it's getting better. You haven't cut in ages."
I saw Kyle walking over and quickly rolled my sleeves up. "Hey, Kyle can you help me with these?" I asked pointing to the wires on the ground. "Yea, of course," he said, sitting cross-legged on the floor with me. "Are you excited?" Kyle, unlike Dan who is always terrified, absolutely adores gigs. "Yea, I am," I giggled.
Kyle was Dan's best friend as Janna was mine. We did almost everything together. Janna had introduced me to Dan through Kyle, and we eventually dated. Then, after Dan found out I loved music, he asked me to join his new band.
I only know the Arctic Monkeys through my friend, Alex, who started the band 11 years ago. He used to like me, but when I started dating Dan, he eventually gave up.
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked, concern in his voice. "Nothing," I replied quickly, even though nothing was right either. "Your exactly like Janna, and this is how she acts when she is either angry or upset. What's on your mind?" A tear rolled down my cheek. Should I tell Kyle? Or should I let Janna tell him? I wasn't sure about it anymore.
"Kyle, have you ever had to keep a secret from everyone, just so you wouldn't hurt one person?" He looked confused. "No, can't say that I have. Why? What's your secret?"
My face felt red. I felt more and more tears coming down my face. Slowly, I unrolled my sleeves, showing Kyle the monsters on my arms. I looked up. "Holy fuck, Bella...how long?" His eyes were watering. Kyle never cries. Not once have I seen him. "Two years." I choked as more tears rushed down his face. He hugged me.
"We have to tell Dan," he whispers. I froze. That was the one person who couldn't know about this. I pushed away and grabbed Kyle's wrists. "Listen to me, Kyle. You can't tell him. If this brought you to tears, it will break him." He nodded. "Does anyone else know about this?" he asked. "Yea, Janna does." I wiped the tears off his face with my sleeves.
We continued to untangle the wires in silence. When we finished, Kyle plugged them in. "Thanks for helping," I said. "Anytime." We walked off the stage and went in back to help the boys load up all the instruments.