Runaways (A Jack Barakat Fanfic)

6 - Feeling Sorry

Jack

So I began to realize that over the course of the first few touring weeks, I was feeling different. It wasn't only the way I felt either; I'd stopped styling my hair the way it was before and I'd completely changed my attitude towards relationships. I figured that Jasey leaving was the turning point, and I didn't want to find myself too emotionally attached to anybody in case I got hurt again. My idea was simply though. I'd simply live through the rest of my life dedicating every minute toward my friends and family and making the most of the career I had.

I didn't want to admit it, but I'd grown a lot closer to Rhianne in the few weeks I'd known her too. It hadn't got to the extreme point that I could safely say that she was my best friend, but she was such a nice person. When I thought about how much she admired us all, it made me feel a little better about myself. At the same time, it was like living with a fan-girl. Not that I minded; it wasn't over us, but over the same bands I'd grown to love since my childhood. I spent every day helping set up with her, then I watched her perform with the guys from As I Remember (Joey's band).

Nate hadn't been able to leave the hospital back in Chicago yet. His surgery had left him bed-bound for a week and he was only just able to walk on crutches the last time I'd heard from him. The guys didn't seem to mind. In fact, they liked having their new replacement guitarist. Rhianne was obviously happy with them, and so she'd moved onto their bus to avoid the awkwardness of the crew we had on ours. Still, I didn't mind. I still saw her at each stop, and sometimes she'd come and stay on our bus. She even had a drink with us one night.

That night was last night, and I don't believe what happened. Since Alex's comment about her being boring, she'd tried her best to fit in better. It was working. Last night, we had the chance to stay in a hotel in order to get some good sleep before one of the biggest shows. We all had our own rooms; Alex and Lisa shared, Rian and Cass shared, and Zach insisted on taking a room with two beds in order to reduce the cost, and shared with our sound tech. I had an entire hotel room to myself, and after dumping my stuff, I glanced at our schedule for tonight. The scruffy handwriting I recognized as Alex's read 'party' In big capital letters.

I rushed around to his room and knocked the door. As usual, he bound to the door full of energy with a towel wrapped around his head and a piece of loose hair falling down his forehead. He looked like a fucked up superman. He smiled at me, seeming not to notice the hair and invited me in. Lisa, Cass and Rhianne had gone out to buy food, so they wouldn't be back for another hour or so. I held up the schedule for Alex to see and he grabbed it.

"We have some friends in town." He told me. "Pierce The Veil live here, so they asked us to check the schedule for tonight. When I told them it was free, Vic asked if we wanted to go and party. You know what his parties are like, Jack. We have to go." He almost pleaded like a small child. I sighed, wanting to actually get some sleep tonight. After a few minutes, I agreed.

"Fine. If you want to we'll go. I'll leave Rian's nagging for you though, seeing as your marvellous brain created this idea. He'll go ballistic when he finds out," I smiled, punching him in the arm. It was the first time in about a week that I'd spoken to my best friend. It felt strange, like there was an awkwardness hanging in the air. I didn't quite like it, but I shook it off anyway.

"Thanks, asshole." He joked.

"Gay-scarf." I responded.

"Skunk boy,"

"Penis burger!" I shouted, probably a little too loud. Alex looked a little startled and confused before we both burst into laughter.

It turned out that I was the last to know about the party. Where I thought the girls had gone food shopping for the next few days, they'd gone and got themselves some party clothes and everyone's favourite booze. I was happy that Rhianne had bought me a bottle of Jack Daniels without me even telling her I liked it.