If You Run (An All Time Low Fan Fiction)

Chapter Nineteen

We were all at Alex's and Rian's house for our traditional last night before tour night. Every time we were about to leave for tour, all of All Time Low band & crew would get together, order pizza and watch movies or something. That night was no different.

We were half way through Step Brothers when my ipad started making a noise from the table. I unlocked it and looked at the screen. I had an incoming skype call from Tay. Before I answered I left the room and went into the kitchen where it was quieter. 

The pixelated image of Tay's face filled the screen along with her beaming smile which I returned straight back down the camera. 

 "Hey, Jack" she said not sounding like her usual self

"What's up, Tay?" I asked, concerned about her

"Nothing..." she trailed off

"I can tell someting's wrong. Talk to me" I encouraged her

"My mum called earlier" she said seriously

"What did she say?"

"She was all like 'Harry told me you ran into him, he said you were very rude and quite abusive towards him" then after she ranted at me about how all I've done all of my life is thrown his generosity back in his face and taken advantage of all he's given to me, she was like 'sometimes I honesty cannot believe you're my daughter'" she said imitating her mother

"Did you tell her what he did to you?" I asked in outrage

"There was no point. I just hung up" she sighed and looked towards the floor

"Don't listen to a word she says, Tay. We both know what's really going on and that's all that matters" I told her

"I know but sometimes it just gets to me"

"What did Cris say?" 

"I haven't told her. She's just starting to get back to normal, well as normal as things can get under the circumstances, it's the last thing she needs" in that moment I saw Tay differently from how I'd seen her just moments ago. 

I noticed the dark circles under her dull eyes and how exhausted she looked. I noticed how she was sitting in her chair, curled up as tiny as she could get. I noticed how she seemed to silently scream out for help, like she was drowning with no one to drag her out. Finally, I noticed the familiar black jacket that she clung to so tight that her knuckles turned white; that made a small smile form on my lips.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked, sounding self conscious

"Nice jacket" I said simply. She blushed and tried to hide her face a little. When she looked back up she was smiling

"Tay" I started

"hmm" she hummed in reply

"What do you call a dog with no ears?" I asked with a cheeky smile

"Why... I have no idea. Do tell me, Jack" she smiled in anticipation

"Whatever you like, it can't hear you" I chuckled. Tay giggled and I felt my heart warm slightly from seeing her mood lighten up.

"That's the worst joke ever!" she said in between laughs

"You wanna bet?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. The next hour consisted of cheesy jokes, singing songs to each other over skype then even more jokes.

Alex's POV

The movie ended. I checked my phone for the time, it was 11pm. Evan was already changing the disc in the DVD player by the time I looked up from the bright screen which made me squint in the darkness of the room. 

"I'm going to see where Jack got to" I said standing up from my seat on the black, leather sofa. He'd been gone almost an hour and I'd begun to think he'd got lost or something. I wouldn't put it past him, I mean it is Jack we're talking about.

I walked down the hall, past the bathroom and stopped outside the closed kitchen door. I was about to open it when I heard a voice on the other side. Who could he be talking to? Everyone's in the living room, I thought. 

When I went in I was faced with the scene of Jack sitting on a tall stool at the breakfast bar, alone, with his ipad propped up in front of him. His goofy smile, that spread from ear to ear, gave away who he was talking to. Only one person could make him smile like that.  

He hadn't even noticed me stood in the same room as him. 

I tried to remember the last time he was like this over a girl...

I think we were in 8th grade, Jack had a huge crush on this girl called Hannah who was in our class. He spoke about her all of the time and I'd often see him staring at her in lessons. Now that I think about it, it was kinda creepy... anyway one day he build up enough courage to ask her out, she said yes. I'd never seen him that happy before. It turned out that it was just a bet between her and her friends. He was crushed. I'd hated that girl since the day I met her, she was your typical bitch, but after that I despised her even more. Throughout the rest of high school she and her friends would laugh every single time they passed Jack in the corridor. He brushed it of and acted like it didn't bother him but I could tell, deep down he felt humiliated and hurt. Then, a couple of years ago she'd heard about how successful we were and she tried to get in touch with Jack. He told her where she could shove her offers of sex and that night we got so hammered in celebration I woke up in a Vegas casino with no recollection of how I got there and a pounding headache.

I snapped out of my daydream when I heard a high pitch beeping noise ringing through the air. I realised it was coming from the ipad

"Sorry, that means I need to give Cris her medicine" Tay told Jack who nodded and said his goodbyes.

It was when he ended the call that he noticed me

"Oh hey.. how long have you been there?" he asked awkwardly

"Not long" I reassured him "we're putting another film on" I told him as I walked over to the fridge and got out two beers. I opened them and handed one to him

"What?!" he asked when he saw me smiling at him

"How's Tay" I asked in a sing-song voice

"Alright I suppose" He replied quietly

"You suppese? what does that mean?" I asked, confused. He sighed and I could see him thinking of a way to tell me without telling me everything

"She's strong you know, Alex. She's been through so much shit and she doen't deserve it at all. She's perfect and caring and she'd give her life for someone she loves but who's there to give their life for her if she needed it?" he said in a rush, I could see it was upsetting him

"You really like her don't you" I said simply with a small smile. He just nodded "Then there's your answer. You're there for her" I told him

"But she's on the other side of the world" he said burrowing his eyebrows together

"You'll find a way" I said then took a sip from the green bottle in my hand

Jack's POV

What Alex said to me made me feel a little better just like when I spoke to Marissa at the signing a few weeks before. I followed Alex back into the living room and sat on the bean bag nearest to the TV. 

"Where were you?" Rian asked

"I was on Skype to Tay" I told him

"You going to meet up with her on tour?" Rian asked with a smile as he elbowed me

"What?" I asked. I had no idea what he was going on about

"Do you even know where we're going on tour?" Matt joined in the conversation. I just smiled and tried to look innocent "Maybe if you listened to me once in a while you'd know that we're leaving for a two and a half month tour in the UK in the morning" Matt said trying to look stern.

I felt a smile spread across my face and that's how I stayed all night. Even when my cheeks started to ache I couldn't stop myself from smiling. I was about to leave for the UK, where Tay lived, in the morning. Things couldn't have got any better.