The Glass Passenger

“Raaaachel!”

The terse tones of Rachel’s sister Charlotte caused Rachel’s head to snap up and her eyes searched frantically for her older sister.

Charlotte burst through the door of the hospital room, her wavy blonde hair standing off her head like a halo of gold, on one arm a bag was swaying and in the other she was juggling baby Joshua.

Despite the rough nights sleep Rachel smiled. Family was exactly what she needed now.

“Rachel baby I am so sorry we couldn’t come earlier, Jake was working and we were still in Miami on holiday and it all got so hectic but Mama called and we tried to come as quickly as possible,” Charlotte said in one breath setting baby Joshua on the floor before running towards her sister.

Alex and Annie had watched the arrival of Charlotte but both wore different expressions. Annie was wearily watching the sixth month old baby crawl around the floor and Alex was smiling widely. He was very fond of Charlotte, but in a way that made him treasure Rachel more. Where Charlotte was the eccentric sister, Rachel was calm and serene. Alex definitely had the better deal, he sometimes felt sorry for Charlotte’s quiet husband Jake but they all seemed happy, and secretly Alex yearned for a marital life like there’s.

Rachel had stood up to hug her sister, but Charlotte held her younger sister out at arms length and scrutinised her wearily. She took in the simple oversized white v-necked t-shirt and the baggy sweat pants as well as the flip-flops on her sister’s feet.

“You’ve not left this room since he’s been admitted have you?” Charlotte asked, trying to keep her tone upbeat but failing ever so slightly.

Rachel brushed the comment aside; she had enough of everyone’s sympathy. Everyone made her staying in Alex’s hospital room sound like a thing she had to do, when in fact she stayed because she wanted to. Someone had to look after Alex after all. She was the one who trimmed the growing mass of hair and the one who shaved the stubble. There was nothing obligatory about this.

Charlotte gently pushed Rachel back into her seat and put arranged a serious expression on her face. She was not looking forward to telling Rachel what she was about to.

“Betty Jackson is going to visit soon.”

The reactions of both Alex and Rachel were identical. Both took a sharp breath in and looked furious.

“No way!” Rachel snapped standing up and for the first time in a long time she gave free reign to her emotions. “That bitch is not taking one step inside this room and if she does so help me god!”

Charlotte again guided Rachel down to her seat by Alex’s bedside and with one swoop picked up baby Huck and placed him in his auntie’s shaking hands. Charlotte figured Rachel wouldn’t do anything too rash if she were holding a baby in her arms.

“Rachel please, but rational here,’ Charlotte said softly as she pulled up a chair to sit next to her sister who had a furious expression on her face.

“No you saw the way she used to go after Alex and the lies she told him about me, I’m not having have within two feet of this room,” Rachel hissed, gritting her teeth and trying to keep her temper under control.

During her long existence in the afterlife Annie had seen jealousy a million times, and it always looked the same. It was the ugliest of all the emotions a person could feel, because jealousy ended up merging in hate and with this a power had the power to destruct almost everything.

Annie could also see that Rachel was jealous, and of course Rachel was. She was jealous of those girls whose boyfriends didn’t have tour obligations, she was jealous of Betty Jackson for having model measurements and the perfect hair, she was jealous of her sister and her baby boy.

“Ironic isn’t it?” Annie asked softly as she carried on watching Rachel and Charlotte have a heated debate about Betty Jackson.

‘What is?” Alex asked his eyebrows furrowed at the constant mention of Betty, whom Rachel has always nicknamed ‘Back Stabbing Betty’.

“The next charm is a watch over me eye, they’re meant to protect you from jealous looks.”

Once again Annie had outsmarted Alex, leaving him no choice but to carry on with the reminiscing of some of his most important memories.

Fast forward to the release of ‘So Wrong It’s Right’.

Rachel was on tour with All Time Low.

She owed him that much.

Even as she was folding the t-shirts and placing them in neat piles back in the appropriate boxes she still couldn’t understand how she had left herself be swept along by the euphoria that had followed the album. Of course she was proud and of course she thought that everything about the record was perfect, but she still cursed herself for agreeing to come along.

It was only the second time on tour for her, and dredging up the forcefully buried memories of the first tour, Rachel concluded that this was far worse. The irregularity of a routine, thousands of new faces everyday and then there were of course the fans.

At first she warmed to them, there were those who were very sweet. They were polite to her when she sold them the merch, thanks to the miracle that was the internet many fans knew about Alex’s and Rachel’s relationship and the more dedicated and understanding fans wished them well.

But sadly there were those who did not make a favourable impression on Rachel and they ruined it for the rest of them. Specifically it was one single girl.

Betty Jackson.

She was originally from Baltimore and even in high school she had caused serious issues for Alex, and true to her form she carried on doing this to Alex long after high school was over. She was the one who avidly trailed behind the band and once she found out that Alex and Rachel were still going strong, she tried everything she could to sabotage their relationship.

Of course this was aided by the fact that Rachel never came on tour.

But this time things were different.

Betty had tried various tactics. The first one was to make friends with Rachel. The less is said about this attempt the better. Rachel had clearly told where Betty should stick her friendship and had carried on selling merch.

That was when the rumours and lies started.

Everyday it was something different. On any good given day Rachel was pregnant, alternately she was an attention-seeking bitch who had every type of eating disorder it was possible to have. Every now and then she was also the high school slut who had cheated on Alex multiple times with the boys on the football team.

The rumours didn’t spread far, but they were loud enough to hurt Rachel’s feelings immensely. Few people actually believed them but it was the existence of these malicious lies that eventually lead to a sever break down of Rachel’s self esteem. It didn’t help that Betty would tag along to every single show in every town.

The corruption of Rachel’s former self esteem started leading to cracks in her relationship with Alex.

“Can’t you do anything to get rid of her?” Rachel had shouted at Alex one evening in a parking lot before bus call. She couldn’t stand it anymore, the constant bitching and gossip was getting too much to handle.

“What am I meant to do Rachel?” Alex had shouted back, and their ever-increasing arguments were all part of the plan that Betty had created to drive them apart.

In the end it was Rian who kept Rachel sane. He would take her away from Betty whilst Alex did a meet and greet. As well as this he gave Alex an extensive talk about what was happening. In the end it was Alex who once again had taken charge.

He had felt swamped during this big tour it was all so overwhelming. The fans, the new cities and venues, and sometimes these factors were enough for him to get lost in the dream that he forgot about the reality. And reality was in the form of the white hot jealous that was burning away inside a girl he had long ago rejected in high school.

Alex had confronted her and after an intense argument she stomped off, but not before being told she wasn’t allowed within two feet of anyone who had anything to do with All Time Low. The next thing Alex did was the let all the security staff know that Betty Jackson was under no circumstances to step in the venue.

After the confrontation with Betty, Alex had gone into town and returned with a present for Rachel. He had presented it to her with his heart stopping smile and a kiss. He had instantly redeemed himself, of course Alex could do no wring in Rachel’s eyes.

“The present that still hangs around her neck almost everyday,” Alex said softly to Annie, still slightly unease with that particular memory.

Rachel was bouncing baby Joshua on her knee, ignoring her older sister’s arguments that were in favour of letting Betty see Alex. Rachel didn’t want to hear anything about it and so from the inside of her t-shirt she pulled out a long black cord string necklace, to the end of which a bright blue pendant in the shape of an eye hung. The middle was decorated with a white pupil and a tiny black spot for the pupil.

Baby Joshua was instantly fascinated and her son’s delight at the necklace distracted Charlotte and nattering ceased.

Rachel smiled as she looked down at the pendant. When Alex gave it to her he tld her that now she would never again feel the jealous stares of other people when they saw her, and in a sense this was true. After the Betty Jackson incident she was far more immune to jealousy. So much in fact that she joined All Time Low on another tour.

But Rachel knew that the eye pendant had little to do with that. She believed that she was now unaffected by the looks because she could be one hundred percent sure of Alex and of his dedication. Ancient superstitions beliefs had nothing to do with it, it all came from the heart.