Heavy Wears The Crown

Twenty-Two

 "Let's cause a little trouble. Oh, you make me feel so weak."

------- Trouble - Halsey -------

I made sure to dash ahead of Nolan and Finn to hold the door open. Finn being the largest and strongest of the group, it made sense that he should be the one to help Nolan back into the hotel. Everyone was with us but only Finn had an arm around Nolan as he helped him to hop into the hotel.

It was interesting to have everyone in the same hotel. Due to Nolan's constant partying and drug use, he and the rest of the band stayed in different hotels. Interesting as they shared a bus, not well might I add. When we had taken the plane and first met with the rest of the band I had been curious on why they were all together and Nolan and I separately, I had wondered how a group that seemed so well connected on the stage could be so broken in real life.

And then I'd gotten to know Nolan. I'd seen firsthand how late he showed up, how late he liked to stay after shows with girls. His partying had admittedly died down since the tour started, whereas I had picked him up or drug him out of many before we'd left we had had only few on the road. He was still Nolan though, he was popping pills like candy and showing a total disregard to the others in many ways. Be it taking a girl back into his dressing room and holding everyone up for bus call, or simply leaving empty wrappers on the counter and a mountain of dishes in the sink. He was still Nolan, and he was still only concerned with himself and his needs.

Except when he was pushing me aside and jumping in front of knives.

We got back to the hotel room and Nolan asked Finn to just help him to the couch. Finn, knowing best of course forced him to take the rest of the journey to the bedroom where I quickly busied myself lamely fluffing pillows and pulling back the blanket before Nolan flopped down.

Nolan sighed heavily. "Thanks." He said to Finn, apparently hopping on one foot was a lot of work. "Think I should get a cool cane?" He asked me as I covered him up like an infant. "I could get it specially carved and beat people with it when they píss me off. What doya think Red?"

I smiled slightly and ignored him as he made motions with his arm and hand as though he was swinging something. "Do you need anything else?" I asked gently.

"My bag. And maybe a pain pill."

"Sure." I gave him a pain pill first, one, singular, and then dropped his bag on the bed. "Let me grab you a drink to go with that."

"Don't bother." He threw the pill into his mouth and swallowed it with no issue, I wouldn't even pretend to be surprised. When he reached into his bag and pulled out another pill I didn't get a good look at and I didn't bother protesting. It seemed useless at this point and Nolan was right when we'd made the bet. If he stopped cold turkey he would get sick. If he got that sick he wouldn't be able to perform.

I wasn't going to let it go, far from it. But for the next two months on tour it seemed like the best I could do would be to keep track of what he was taking and how often and we would tackle how to get him to stop when the tour was over.

I blanched when I realized I had just thought about after the tour, as in I would still be working for him after.

"I still can't believe you got stabbed." Finn sighed.

"I can't believe it took this long." Derek teased and Nolan didn't try to conceal his laugh.

I caught Holden's eye from across the room, he jerked his head back signaling me to follow him out of the room and I did so without hesitation.