Suffer In Silence

*Dakota's POV*

*****Time Lapse - 3 Weeks*****

"So!, lunch!, where shall we have it?," chirps Max, cheerful as ever, the over enthusiastic fuck. I laugh at the way he said it, never fail, that boy can always make me smile. "I was thinking we could take lunch at the park, the one close by that overlooks the dog park" I answer, while trying to decide what to actually eat for lunch. "You mean the dog park with that path winding around it and the pretty canal?." I stand back up, done with pushing boxes of cd's under the shelves, "that would be the one, I can't decide what to get though."
"How about we share mine?, I bought a six inch meatball sub, but I never end up eating it all, we could have half each, besides, you probably won't be doing much eating anyway," he hints.

I freeze, "what do you mean?," I ask nervously. A look of 'oh fuck' dawns on his face, but he quickly recovers. "Oh nothing, I've just got some news is all," he hints again, smirking secretively. "For fucks sake Max, " I laugh, "but yeah, that sounds good, whatever you're hinting at better be pretty fucking good though," I tease. "Oh you can bet your skinny ass it will be," he retorts. I frown, why would he feel the need to call me skinny?, is he trying to make me feel better about my weight?... 'of course he is, you haven't been trying hard enough you lazy bitch, skipping meals isn't enough, do you want your mother to hate you?'... shut up!... "Koda!, are you okay?," Max asks concerned, holding me at arms length. "yeah I'm fine, slipped into a daydream again, sorry."
"A bad one?."
"Yeah."

*****Time Lapse*****

We settle into our spot under a nice shady tree, looking out onto the dog park and canal. Max takes out the sub and hands me my half, which I eye with mixed feelings. On one hand, I fucking love meatball subs, on the other, she's right, I haven't been trying hard enough to lose weight. Better keep up appearances at least, I don't want him getting worried, there's nothing to even be worried about... "Penny for your thoughts?" he asks. "What's this news then?" I ask, giving him a smile, I inwardly sigh with relief when he takes the bait.

"Well!, my boss got back to me about the band thing..."
"And?..."
"Aaaaaaaaaand it's on!, he loves the idea!, he's going to set up the gig in his parking lot, like we suggested, and the guys will have access to only the very best equipment the store has to offer!. Oh!, and they will get half of the money made from admission , which is only five bucks a ticket, but still!, and if it's successful enough, he wants to make it a semi-regular thing!," he gushes, his face red half from excitement, half from talking so long barely stopping for breath. I let out a squeal, bouncing in my spot excitedly. Before he can say anything more, I pull him into a bear hug, then plant little kisses all over his face. "I take it you're happy with that?" he asks, grinning. "You guessed right, their gonna freak when they hear this!."

*Andy's POV*

I smile as I scroll to the next picture. I've been lounging on my bed ever since I got home, just looking through all the pictures on my phone that we took on our first official date. We've been going out ever since that day, mum and dad were right, all I had to do was apologize sincerely and really show my vulnerability. Suddenly my phone buzzes, I check my messages to see it's a text from Koda.

| Koda: I demand that you gather the guys and come to the store this instant! :D |

| Andy: Can I ask why? x) |

| Koda: Where's the fun in that?, now do it man! |

| Andy: Alright, alright, I'm on it woman haha |

Immediately I send a group text to everyone, leaving no room for argument, then I start getting ready. Whatever this is, I want to look good for her. My phone buzzes again, this time it's CC saying he'll pick us all up, since his Kombi is finally fixed, wish my car could have been fixed, my poor batty....

*Sandra's POV*

I groan and get up, I had been messing around on my laptop, on this app that lets me play drums using the keys, just coming up with tunes we could use in future songs. I was interrupted by a text from Andy, basically giving me no choice but to get ready to go to Koda's work. At least CC's picking me up, so I won't have to walk. I have to be quick, he doesn't live far from me and I'm first on his way, he's picking up Jinxx, then Ash, then Andy as well. I'm already in my home clothes, so I keep my shirt on, just a white t-shirt with a v-neck, and swap my sweats for skinnies, finally I re-brush my hair, chuck on my converse and a pair of sunnies and I'm ready.

I smile when I hear CC beeping obnoxiously, I missed that damn thing... I laugh, shaking my head, finally we'll be able to find out what's so damn important... Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad, just grumpy from lack of sleep, at the same time though, I'm curious to find out what's got Koda so excited. I jump in the car and we're off, I frown a little when I notice how careful CC is driving. His knuckles are clenching tight around the steering wheel, he must be nervous, finally being back behind the wheel... "Hey... You okay man?, you know, the accident wasn't your fault, and it's okay to be nervous..."
"Yeah I know, I'll get over it, for now though, I'm gonna play it safe," he looks at me in the rear view mirror and gives me a smile, which I gladly return.

Eventually, after picking the others up and crawling along at the fucking speed limit, we finally get there. They must have seen us arrive, 'cos by the time we're through the shop doors, Max and Koda are already standing next to each other, making it clear we must line up alongside each other as well, in front of them. Once we're all assembled, we wait for them to speak, all curious but slightly nervous because of those massive grins splitting their faces in half. "You got the gig!" Koda yells out, causing us all to jump out of our skins, then, when we've recovered our collective composure, jump around hugging and shouting with joy. After we've calmed down from all the hugging and yelling - and in Koda and Andy's case, kissing too - Max starts to tell us the details.

*Jinxx's POV*

Smiling wide, I give Koda a warm hug to help express my gratitude. "I can't believe how far you've come in the past few months, you're more confidant than you were on that day... You know, you never did tell me why you were so upset..." She frowns for a second, but smiles a little as she shakes her head. "Don't worry about that, it's all fine now, something happened but it was made up for, well, it's going to be."
"What do you mean?" I ask, confused. "Well, I'm being taken away during the holidays to pick out a brumby to adopt after a round-up," she explains with a huge smile.

I want to push her for more information, but she looks so happy, so I just return her smile and give her a hug. For now, I am content that she is happy, I want to keep it that way, and keep her safe if I can. Hopefully one day she'll be able to tell me what it was, and I can help her heal properly... "Jinxxyyyy" she says, dragging my name out adorably to get my attention, must have been out in my own world for a while... I chuckle, "yes?."
"What do you think?, are you happy with the gigs set up thingy?." I laugh, "yes hun I am, you really did good for us."
"I did?."
"Yeah, you did."

Notes

Can I just say I m SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO x a billion trillion sorry!

If I had known that my dog would die and that I'd get sick right after, I would have pushed through my mental block (I was in a down, which put me in the wrong frame of mind for writing) and written anyway, then it would have been done faster.

Like I said, unfortunately, my beautiful - both inside and out - dog Renebabe, Rene for short (pronounced Reeneebaybee, or reenee, I named her when I was young and I learnt to spell by sounding it out cut me a break haha), passed away. We aren't sure what did it, mum looked up her symptoms and thinks it was either a series of mini heart attacks over her final days, or a collapsed lung, the sad thing is I was going to take her to the vet last Monday, but she died the night before. I've had Rene since the moment she was born, I was sick on the couch in the same room as she was being born (Her mother was a Rottweiler, the kind with the skinny mussle, and her father, who we also owned, was a staffy x ), and in the same room (basically, i was in mums caravan and Rene was in the hard attached annex) when she died. It still hasn't really sunken in. The photo is of her before she got sick.


This chapter is kind of half-filler half-non-filler haha, it's really important towards the story.
I really hope you guys liked it, let me know if you did, or even if you didn't, if anyone's still reading this at all haha

Ch. Title Credit: These Kids Wear Crowns - Jump Start