Your Eyes Shine Like The Stars At Night

>JACK’S POV<

“Guys? Can I talk to you for a sec?” I asked seriously, looking at Seth, Josh and Darren after I stepped into their bus. My bandmates were goofing off, doing God knows what on my bus, and Scarlett was nowhere to be seen.

They nodded, and Josh moved over on the couch so I could sit down. “Have any of you noticed anything…off, with Scarlett lately?”

The three boys looked at each other. They all shook their heads and shrugged. “Why?” Seth asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“I don’t know, she just…doesn’t really eat much ever, does she?” They would know; they shared a bus with her after all.

Each of them looked to be in thought. “Well, I guess, now that you mention it, I’ve never really seen her eat…everactually,” Seth replied. Darren and Josh nodded in agreement with him.

“Do you think that’s why she fainted during the photoshoot?” Darren questioned.

“Probably. The bright lights and camera couldn’t have been much help, either,” I responded.

“Do you think we should…maybe do an intervention, of some sort?” Josh whispered hesitantly.

Of course I didn’t want to do an intervention on her; she’d probably feel like people were trying to invade her privacy and get into her business. But I really cared about her, and I knew that she had to get better. Any other girl I would have just said, “Okay, hope everything works out,” and moved on, but not with Scarlett. I wanted to know that she was going to be okay.

I exhaled, squeezing my eyes shut. “Yeah. We need to do an intervention.”

>SCARLETT’S POV<

Today was our day off; we didn’t have a show scheduled until tomorrow. I took advantage of the time and ran down the sidewalks of this unknown town, feeling my heart rate increase and my blood pump. I stopped after I ran for about an hour, and rested my hands on my hips. I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. I’d apparently jogged into a residential area. Houses were scattered all the way down the street, and cars passed occasionally. Dogs barked from down the road while the light breeze whistled through the trees. It was refreshing; it reminded me of my hometown.

A song rang through my ears, and I realized my phone was ringing. Upon answering it, I was greeted by Jack’s soothing voice. “Hey, Scarlett.”

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Um…nothing much,” he replied cautiously, which slightly perplexed me. “Where are you?”

“I’m out jogging.” I saw a couple about my age walking a small dog on a leash down the street, giggling and smiling at each other. I wished that could have been Jack and I. He hadn’t even asked me out, although we’d been on a few dates. Or were they dates? Were they just friendly get-togethers? If so, then why did he only invite me? He’d never referred to them as “dates” but they sure seemed like dates. I shook the thoughts from my head as Jack proceeded talking.

“That’s probably not a good idea. You need to rest before you go out exercising again. You fucking fainted two days ago,” he said seriously.

“I know mother,” I rolled my eyes. “I just happen to like jogging.”

“Anyway,” he sighed, changing the subject, “wanna come back to our bus? All the guys are here, and so are your bandmates. We’re just hanging out, you know.”

“Sounds fun! I’ll be over in a while. I ran pretty far,” I chuckled.

“Alright, we’ll be here.” After I hung up, I began my journey down the long winding streets back to the main road. Retracing my steps, I easily found my way back to the parking lot in which the tour buses were parked.

All Time Low’s bus door was unlocked, so I walked in, smiling at my bandmates, as well as Matt and the ATL boys. Each one had a small, almost apologetic smile on their face, and they were all just sitting around on the couches and in chairs. Not really what I’d describe as “hanging out”, as Jack put it.

I knew something was up, so my smile fell slightly, and I slowly took a few more steps into the bus. “Um, what’s going on?” I chuckled anxiously.

“Sit down,” Jack sighed, nodding his head at an empty seat.

I obliged, gripping the ends of the armrest tightly with my hands, staying silent. Everyone else did the same thing, not saying a word.

Finally, Jack spoke up after receiving a jab in the elbow from Alex. “Maybe we should explain what’s going on.”

Anger began to boil inside me as I realized what was going on. “Yeah, maybe you should,” I said acidly, eyes narrowed at him.

“Look, we’re only doing this because we care,” Jack defended.

“Yeah, because people who care about me go around talking about me behind my back, then go try to stage a fucking intervention.” I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes. “As if I even need one.”

“Scarlett,” Darren sighed, chiming in, “really, we do care about you. You’re like a little sister to me. I don’t like seeing you like this. You can say whatever you want, but I haven’t seen you eat ever since I met you. And you’re always out running…”

Zack started in. “If I knew you were having a problem, I wouldn’t have let you lift weights and run with me before.”

“Like you could stop me. I can make my own decisions on what I’m going to do and what I’m not going to do.” I was mad at all of them, every one. But none more than Jack. He was the only one who ever asked about my eating disorder, which was none of his business in the first place, since I’d never confided in him about it. He obviously told the rest of the guys, who didn’t have a clue about it before, so he got them all involved. Then he had to perform a fucking intervention on me, like I was an alcoholic or heroin junkie or something. An intervention was the last thing I needed. What made me even more upset with him was the fact that he basically lied to me on the phone while I was running to lure me back to the bus so I could unknowingly walk right into my own intervention. I mean really; he could have a little more class than that. If he was going to do something, he should’ve done it right. This was certainly not the way to go about it: a bunch of twenty to twenty-two year old band boys who knew nothing about helping people with eating disorders in a cramped bus that smelled like alcohol, sex and sweat. Yeah, that’ll sure give me an appetite.

“Okay, don’t get defensive or anything. We just want to help,” Alex said.

Just then, Brittany walked in from the back lounge, smiling lightly at me and sitting in a chair beside me. At a loss of what to do, Alex looked to his girlfriend. “Britt, could you convince Scarlett to listen to us?”

Over the few days since she’d joined the tour, Brittany and I had gotten pretty close. “Scarlett honey, I know what it’s like to not feel so great about how you look and everything, but this isn’t the way to go about taking care of it. It’ll only make things worse.”

I sighed. “I don’t have a problem though,” I told her, whispering so only she could hear it. I didn’t want any of the guys hearing me; I was mad at all of them. “I’m eating, it’s just that you guys don’t usually see it. And I exercise because I like to; it keeps me sane. It’s not like I throw up, or anything,” I lied.

“What’d she say?” Josh interrupted, referring to me since they couldn’t hear me.

“Shut the fuck up, Josh,” I huffed, getting up and walking towards the door.

“Scarlett, wait!” Jack yelled, getting up from his own seat and following after me.

“Don’t fucking talk to me, Jack!” I screamed, turning around to face him. “This whole fucking setup is your fault! You’re telling people I have problems that I don’t even have!”

“Don’t do this, Scar,” he pleaded, searching my eyes with his own.

“Don’t be an asshole. And don’t call me that,” I seethed, storming off the bus.

>JACK’S POV<
Just my luck.