If there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my career, it’s that meetings are never a good thing. Especially when every single person you work with is involved.

Two days into the tour and already, we’re all in trouble.

Honestly, I don’t know what we’ve done this time. I haven’t said a word to anyone about the break up, or Lucas wanting to leave the band.

Ok fine, I told Justin about the break up, but he caught me at the wrong time. I had to vent, and Justin just happened to be there.

“So, what’re we in for?” Stella elbows me gently as we head for the conference room.

Whatever it is, it’s big.

Jc called first thing this morning, demanded everyone be ready and on their way to the airport within the hour. Justin decided the fly our entire group back to LA, so naturally, everyone’s a tad on edge.

“Don’t know.” I shrug. “Probably not anything good.”

“Have anything to do with Lucas staying on the crew bus?” She eyes me curiously. “Or, how he refused to sit with us on the plane?”

“I don’t know Stel.” I sigh and turn the corner. “I haven’t talked to him.”

“You guys broke up.” She nods, and I know immediately, it’s a statement, not a question.

“That’s not what this is about.” I mutter as we enter the room and quickly take our seats next to Jc and Trace. Benny and Lucas are on the other side of the table, Lucas clearly wrapped up in his own little world.

Believe it or not, I’m actually not taking this thing with him so well. I’m sure people think he was just a means to an end, or a replacement for Justin, but that really wasn’t the case.

I do care about him. Just… not as much as I should.

And we all know who’s to blame for that.

We all sit in silence for several minutes before the door to the conference room opens and Justin steps inside. Surprisingly, he isn’t alone.

I can honestly say I’ve never seen this woman before. I know every single person who works in this building, right down to the elderly man who cleans the windows. So, who the hell is she?

She’s obviously a few years older than the rest of us, probably closer to Jace’s age actually. Her brown hair is pulled away from her face and her light blue eyes travel over every face in the room slowly, lingering on mine a little longer than anyone else’s.

“Alright, so…” Justin clears his throat and shoves his hands into the pockets of his dress pants. “Umm… thank you guys for getting here so soon. I wouldn’t have been able to do this on the road, so… yeah. Anyway, we’ve got some news.”

Oh great. Here we go.

He smiles awkwardly before glancing at Lucas. “Lucas has decided to leave the band.”

Stella and Benny immediately turn to glare at Lucas and I slide down in my seat slightly. Somehow, I know this whole thing is going to be turned around on me. I just fucking know it.

“We’re holding auditions for a new guitarist right now, so if you guys know somebody, I’d suggest you send them our way. Secondly… this information has already made its way to the press. And of course, people are freaking the fuck out.”

“I can draw up a statement when we’re finished here.” Jc nods, scribbling furiously on the sheet of paper in front of him. “I can have it ready to print in a couple hours, then we can-”

“I’m not finished.” Justin clears his throat and smiles politely. “This is turning into a bigger deal than I thought it would. So, I had no choice but to bring in some help.” He gestures to the woman beside him and she grins. “This is Frankie Byers. She was an assistant PR director at Jive, and is looking to go out on her own. So, I’ve hired her to handle all PR for the band.”

“So… she’s… a publicist?” Benny looks around the room quickly, nothing but confusion marring his features. “And Luke’s leaving the band? Ok… somebody wanna explain what the fuck’s going on around here?”

See? I knew it. I fucking knew this would get turned around on me.

“I don’t want to do this.” Lucas speaks up before anyone else has the chance. “I think I’d be better off going out on my own. I hope this works out for you guys, but it’s just… it’s not right for me.”

“Thanks a fucking lot.” Benny mutters and rolls his eyes. “You spent how many years riding my ass about being professional, about taking this band somewhere… you get what you fucking want, and you’re gonna bail? Real professional man.”

“Everybody just calm down.” Justin raises his voice and shoots a warning glare around the room. “This isn’t the end of the world, alright? We’ll clean up the mess, find another guitarist and keep going. The main thing here is for everyone to just cooperate.”

Yeah, that’ll happen.

“Justin’s right.” Jc nods seriously. “You guys just keep working, we can handle the rest of it. So…” He drawls out as he turns back to Justin. “Anything in particular you want in the statement?”

“Actually, Frankie’s going to handle damage control. I want you out on the road with the band.”

Ok… am I the only one seeing the way Jc’s starting to tense up and grit his teeth? He looks like he’s about to fucking snap and I’m sure it won’t be pretty.

“I can do it. I’ve been taking care of this stuff on my own since the beginning. Really, it’s no problem.”

“Jace… I hired Frankie for this type of stuff, specifically. Nobody should be doing all this shit alone. It’s insane man.”

“Fine.” He mutters and moves to stand up. “If we’re done here, we’ve got a plane to catch.”

Jc quickly exit’s the room, the rest of slowly trailing behind him.

“Madison… can you stay for a couple minutes?” Justin calls out and I can’t help but roll my eyes.

See… I knew I’d end up getting shit for this.

“What’s up?”

“Have a seat.” Frankie gestures across the table and I have to fight the urge to roll my eyes at her.

I don’t know her, and I swear, I’m going to be nice. I will not jump to conclusions about why she’s here, or what it has to do with me.

“Look… I don’t know what you all think I did, but I swear to god… I tried to talk him out of leaving… when he was still actually speaking to me.”

“I just need to know what really happened.” Frankie smiles politely and I nod dumbly.

How can I explain this to her, without telling the whole long, drawn out story? Cause let’s face it… things that happen around here are usually some type of reaction.

“We broke up.” I shrug. “He probably won’t admit it… but he’s putting the blame mostly on me, which I guess I kind of deserve. But I swear to christ… I didn’t force him to leave.”

“Why is he blaming you?”

“We really don’t need to get into that.” Justin shakes his head quickly. “We’ll just spin it as, Lucas wants to get into a solo career, we wish him the best, blah, blah, blah.”

Ok… I am totally on board with that idea. If that’s what we present to the world, I won’t get pegged as the bad guy again.

“Honestly Justin, I can’t see that going over too well. They’ve been on tour for two days. Most people wait awhile before they go solo, I thought you of all people would know that.” She sighs and returns her attention back to me. “I think the truth is the best way to go here. The two of you broke up, and there are some creative differences within the band. Everybody comes out unscathed.”

Is it wrong that I’m beginning to really dislike her? Cause, hello… if she tells the entire world that Lucas is leaving the band because he broke up with me, I’ll get pegged as some kind of man abusing, devil woman.

And I am so not cool with that.

“I don’t want to be a brat here, but I am begging you not to do that.” I plead with her. “That’s my personal business and I’d prefer to keep it that way. There’s more to it than just Lucas and I breaking up, and I’m really not prepared to answer those questions.”

She nods slowly, appearing to mull it over. “I know a lot of things have happened in this circle, and I’m sympathetic Madison… I really am. But, sometimes… you’ve got to put on your big girl panties and suck it up. I will print the story you’re asking me to, but only because I don’t know you guys very well. For now, I have to trust that what’s happened here is much bigger than a break up. Just… please don’t take advantage of this.”

“I won’t.” I nod quickly. “Can I go now?”

I practically jump out of my seat as soon as Justin nods and as soon as I’m in the hallway, the tears form in my eyes.

When did I become such a complete and total fuck up? It’s like no matter how hard I try, I manage to screw up everything around me.

And how the hell is someone who met me all of five minutes ago, able to call me on my bullshit?

Maybe she’s right. Maybe it is time to just suck it up.

Before I can make it to the elevator, I hear footsteps behind me and groan quietly.

I am so beyond tired of having to hash this shit out all the time. For once, I’d love to be able to just walk away from something and be left the hell alone.

“Hey… you alright?”

Justin. Of course.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“You just… took off kinda quick.” He shrugs. “Look… I know you guys probably don’t like the idea of someone other than me and Jace handling things, but we really need the help and she comes highly recommended. I wouldn’t have brought her on if I thought it wouldn’t work.”

“And why are you trying to justify this to me? You’re in charge. It’s not my place to question your decision.” I shrug, keeping my eyes glued to the changing floor numbers.

“You’re really fucked up about this, aren’t you?” He frowns and shoves his hands in his pockets. “Like… you legitimately cared about the guy, didn’t you?”

“Doesn’t matter. He dumped me.” And it was your fault, I add mentally, biting my tongue to keep the words from actually coming out.

“Well…. Uhh… I’m sorry Madison.” He sighs and scratches the back of his neck nervously. “If you umm… need to talk or anything… I’ll be meeting up with you guys again in a few days.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” It comes out a little angrier than I intended, but I just can’t help it.

He’s really confusing the hell out of me.

One minute, he’s jumping down my throat about the smallest, most insignificant shit, and the next, he’s trying to be all sweet and sympathetic. I don’t get it.

And trying to keep up with the mood swings is making my head hurt.

“I’m trying to help… but if you don’t want it, fine. Forget I said anything.” He mutters before turning around and stalking back down the hallway.

See? There is absolutely no way to keep up with this nonsense.

But then again, the fact that he’s trying has to mean something, right? Justin’s always been the one trying to put the pieces back together, while I ran away and hid.

Maybe it’s high time I tried to repair some of the damage that's been done around here.