Voices • Jack Avery

27 • Nerves

The picture above is Alex's pyjamas

Third Person Point of View

Alex was laying in bed in a hotel room in Wisonsin, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't bring herself to sleep. All that was playing on her mind was her performance with Jack the next day.

Usually she would be excited for a performance, but this one was different. This time, she wouldn't have London or Jackson up there with her, playing along as she sang.

Jack would be there, but that wasn't the same. She had never performed live with him before so she didn't know how it would work. Sure, they had rehearsed together a lot over the past week, but so much could go wrong on the day.

Endless possibilities of how terrible the performance could go swarmed Alex's mind and she knew that, if she didn't do something about it soon, she would have another anxiety attack, and that was the last thing she needed before her performance.

Without thinking about it, she absentmindedly picked up her phone from beside her and dialed a number. Sitting up, she placed it next to her ear and listened to the dial tone, allowing the rhythmatic beeps to calm her slightly.

"Alex?" a sleepy voice mumbled. Alex's eyes widened as she heard the voice through the phone. Her head snapped towards the clock by her bed and she winced as the numbers 1:28 flashed back at her.

"Oh my God Jack, I'm sorry I didn't realise how late it was" she rushed out instantly. She knew she had been lying in her bed for a while, but she didn't know it had been that long.

"It's okay, I'm awake now. Are you okay?" Jack asked, his voice raspy. Alex smiled, loving the way his voice sounded after he had woken up.

"It's, uh, it's nothing. You can go back to sleep" she stuttered, her voice shaking. She began to twirl a strand of hair around her fingers, needing something to distract her.

The truth was, she needed Jack right now to help her through this, but she didn't want to keep him awake; he needed his sleep for the show. She would have to get through this on her own.

"No, I can tell something is wrong. Tell me" he said softly. Something in his voice enticed Alex to tell him despite the fact that she didn't want to disturb him.

She sighed but eventually decided that he would get it out of her either way, so she might as well tell him now. "I'm just really nervous about tomorrow and I keep thinking about it and I think I'm giving myself an anxiety attack" she said quickly.

Her breaths were coming quicker and more shallow now which Jack easily noticed. "Hey, it's okay. Deep breaths. I'm coming over, okay? Keep focusing on your breaths, I'll be there soon" Jack said before hanging up.

Alex sat, slightly in shock, but began to focus on her breathing like Jack had told her. She had managed to calm herself enough to sit up straight without feeling dizzy by the time Jack had arrived, but her breaths still came fast.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here" he said softly as he sat next to her on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest just as he had done on the day he had found her in the alley.

They stayed like that, Jack muttering words of reassurance into Alex's hair, until she had calmed down fully. Once Alex felt as if she had regained enough strength, she pulled away from Jack and wiped the salty tears from her cheeks.