Shattered Glass (Jalex)

Chapter 3

"No, I'm not going anywhere near him, much less on stage," Alex yelled, pointing at Jack.

"Why?" their puzzled friends asked.

"He's gay and in love with me," he replied, disgusted. "I don't want anything to do with him."

The whole band and crew looked at Jack like he was some kind of freak.

"Is that true?" they demanded. Jack tried not to cry by biting his lip. "Oh my God, you're sick!" they shouted. "Get out!"

"I never want to see you again!" Alex screamed.

Jack ran away as fast as he could but he couldn't see because of how much he was crying. He tripped and jerked awake with a gasp. He was still on the bus in his bunk. It was dark. He had just been dreaming.

It was just a stupid nightmare, Jack told his pounding heart, that didn't happen. It's not going to happen.

He turned on his phone to see what time it was. The bright screen said "4:43 am." Jack inwardly groaned and let his arm flop on the mattress. He was scared to go back to sleep because of nightmares, but he did anyway.

After what seemed like just a few seconds later, Jack was being shaken awake.

"Get up, asshole," Rian joked. "We're going out to breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," Jack mumbled, rolling over. "I think I'm definitely sick."

Rian knew that if Jack was denying breakfast than there must be something really wrong with him.

"Do you need to go to the doctor or something?"

"No, I just need to sleep."

"Damn, you and Alex are sick? What, were you making out or something last night?"

Unfortunately, no. That's not quite what happened.

Jack smirked and pulled his blankets over his head.

"Well, I'm getting off this diseased bus," Rian joked and left. Jack started dosing again, but he couldn't really sleep. Alex was playing sick with him? Jack had expected him to try to get as far away as possible.

"Hey, Jack?" He heard someone quietly call from the bunk across from him. Since Rian had left the curtain open, Jack rolled over to see Alex in his bunk laying on his back staring up at the bottom of the bunk above him.

"Yeah?" Jack said back, admiring Alex's perfect profile.

"I'm sorry for how I acted last night."

"Don't-" Jack started.

"I mean, I have to admit that I was kinda freaked out," Alex continued, "Because the last thing I expected was... that."

Ouch.

"You don't have to be sorry, it's me that should be apologizing," Jack replied.

"No, you can't choose who you fall in love with."

Jack didn't say anything. Alex got up and sat on the side of his bed so he and Jack were facing each other.

"Listen. You're my best friend. You always will be. I always want you to be."

Jack tried to smile.

"I don't want anything to be weird between us, okay?" Alex asked.

Jack should've just said "okay, sure man, I'm sure I'll get over it and everything will be normal." Well, guess what. That's not what he said.

"S-so you don't think you could ever feel the same about me?" Jack asked carefully. Alex frowned.

"I... I... no. No. You're my best friend and I'm not gay. No." The look on Jack's face made Alex instantly feel bad. "I- I'm sorry. I just... I can't. I have to let you down. I can't."

Jack nodded. "It's okay." He rolled on his back and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I... I'm sorry," Alex mumbled as he ran out of the bus. Jack let out a shaky sigh. Their friendship was coming crashing down like someone had sabotaged a glass house, and Jack had thrown the rock.

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"Will one of you please tell us what's wrong?" Matt asked, exasperated. "You're acting like a couple of middle school drama queens."

The show they had just put on had been awful. All Time Low had but on not-so-great shows before, but this was the worst. Alex had forgotten the lyrics to A Love Like War, but he was able to laugh it off saying it was just because it was new and Vic covered for him. But that was just the beginning.

Jack barely talked the whole time. He had been avoiding Alex all day and being on stage with him was absolutely hell. He focused on playing his guitar and tried to let the music distract him, but Alex's voice really wasn't helping anything.

All in all, their energy sucked and the crowd could sense something was wrong. Honestly, it was embarrassing.

"I don't know, I guess it's cause I'm sick," Jack said.

"No, something's up between you two, I can tell and so can everyone else. Including the fans. What?"

Jack shifted awkwardly on his feet. He was not ready to tell everyone his little secret. Alex could sense this so he said, "It's between just me and Jack but we're gonna sort it out."

Jack shot him a look of gratitude.

Matt sighed. "You better." He left. Alex looked at Jack.

"I'm such a dick," he declared. "I'm really sorry for acting like that. I just... I don't know."

"Don't know what?"

"I don't know."

"Alex, you can talk to me. If can tell you I... what I told you, then you can tell me anything," Jack laughed lightly.

"I don't know."

"Alex-"

"No, that's the thing. I really don't know."

"Know what?"

"How... how I feel."

Does he mean he doesn't know if he has feelings for me? Jack wondered.

The truth is, Alex wanted to be able

to love Jack back. But the way Jack loved him was the way he loved Lisa, his girlfriend.

"Don't worry. We've got plenty of time to figure it out," Jack said, putting a hand on Alex's shoulder.

Alex smiled and pulled Jack into a hug. He liked Alex's hugs. He was glad Alex wasn't afraid to hug him or anything since he was gay.

Alex released him. "Want to watch a movie? We never finished The Dark Knight."

Jack grinned. "Sure."

Maybe everything would go back to normal after all. But Jack didn't want that. He wanted Alex, who was so close yet so far.

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A/N: This was a really fast update! Yay! I think everything will pick up in the next chapter. But who even knows.

-Carmen