Shattered Glass (Jalex)

Chapter 4

It had been almost a week since Jack confessed his feelings Alex. To put it bluntly, everything sucked.

Even though Alex tried to ignore the fact that his best friend was in love with him, he constantly had to remind himself that this was still the same old Jack Barakat. He hadn't lost his best friend.

But then Alex remembered how he had kissed him before. He had always done it for show, and he assumed Jack had too. Apparently not. For some odd reason that Alex was ashamed of, it freaked him out. He couldn't explain why; it just made him feel weird. It's not that he was homophobic or anything - he just couldn't explain it.

And for Jack, all the pain he felt before Alex knew hurt even worse. A tiny part of him had barely hoped that maybe, just maybe, Alex felt the same. That hope had been crushed.

The fans noticed something was up between them. Every day they would recieve tweets saying things like "what happened to jalex?" Exactly, Jack thought. What happened to us?

I happened to us, he realised one day, I ruined Jalex. I couldn't keep my fucking mouth shut.

Realizing this crushed him. Maybe he was being a bit melodramatic, but Jack couldn't help but feel like he ruined not only his and Alex's friendship, but the band's as well. Even though Jack and Alex were obviously irritable for a reason, the rest of the band and crew picked up on it.

"Will you two get over yourselves already?" Rian snapped uncharacteristically one day. "You're driving us all fucking crazy with your pity party, Jack."

"Shut up, you don't even know what it's about," Jack shot back.

"Then fucking tell us already!" Zack shouted back. That startled everyone. "Whatever drama this is can't be so bad or so important that it's getting in the way of the band."

Alex knew that it wasn't his place to tell because Jack's secret was pretty big, but he was getting sick of how dramatic Jack was being. It was like he didn't think he could trust the band, his brothers, practically.

He looked over at Jack who was nervously shifting back and forth on his feet. Their eyes met. Alex tried to send a telepathic message to Jack saying, Tell them already, you little shit. He seemed to get the message.

Jack took a deep breath. Why was he so nervous? Was it because of Alex's reaction? That reoccurring dream he kept having. Probably. Or he was just a cowardly jerk.

"Okay, I don't know how to say this any other way... I-I'm..." Jack started, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. He looked over at Alex, who gave him a reassuring nod. He was grateful for that. It was all he needed to finally say it. He closed his eyes. "I'm gay."

Everyone was silent for a second. Jack looked like he was about to throw up or faint. Or both. When Jack opened his eyes, everyone was staring at him. There were generally two reactions from the band and crew. They were A) "How long have you been gay? Why didn't you tell us sooner?" or B) "How is that the cause of the drama between you and Alex?"

Jack chewed on his lower lip. "I don't know and I don't know," he answered to the first questions. "And... it's because I'm gay f-for Alex."

Saying that felt weird for both the boys. They both felt like announcing it made it more real.

"Well," Matt said after no one said anything for a minute, "I'm not sure what I expected to hear."

"That does explain it," Rian agreed. "But are you gay, Alex?"

"No! Of course not!" Alex snapped back. "God, why does everyone think I'm gay?"

That hurt Jack. Why did he have such a problem with being gay?