You Can't Be Missed If You Never Go Away

Steff and Kara sat at the table on the bus, discussing what they were going to do about Kyra when they heard the bus door open. Kara glanced up and saw the dark haired guitarist standing there a bit awkwardly.

“Jack-Attack!” Kara squealed.

“You know, no one has called me that in a long time,” Jack smiled at her as he went and stood at the end of the table.

“Really? That’s what we always called you in high school.”

“Yeah, I guess it didn’t stick,” Jack sighed, his smile starting to fade.

“Don’t worry, I’ll call you Jack-Attack.” Kara smiled and placed her hand on top of the one he rested on the table. “But more importantly, why aren’t you at the party your girlfriend decided to have?”

He shrugged his shoulders and slid his hand out from under Kara’s so he could walk to the fridge to grab a Vitamin Water. “Don’t really know. It’s pretty boring there.”

“Jack-Attack, you think the party’s boring?” Kara questioned, pursing her lips and arching her eyebrows. “You never think a party is boring.”

“It’s just…” Jack trailed off, letting a sigh escape his lips. “It’s just, I had something special planned for Kyra tonight, but she ruined it and I’m pretty bummed.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time,” Kara insisted, standing up to talk with Jack, leaving Steff to think for a moment. “Jack, she’ll be happy as long as she’s with you, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing.”

“But I had this place on the beach to watch the sun set,” he muttered.

“It’ll be okay, Jack-Attack.,” Kara assured, wrapping her arms around the tall boy.

“Well if it’ll be okay, why are you and Steff moping on the bus?” Jack questioned.

“We are not moping,” Steff stated, standing up to straighten out her top, then rubbing her eyes.

“Yeah, I’m doing damage control,” Kara added, letting go of Jack. “Your girlfriend and her ex almost made Steff leave tour for good. I had to talk her out of it, and there was a whole lot of crying over said ex involved too.”

“You can’t leave,” Jack stated, looking at Steff, whose eyes were slightly red, not from crying, but because she had rubbed them before Jack got on the bus to make it look like she had been. “Alex is being a moron. Don’t leave because of him.”

“Well I’m not,” Steff said, faking a sniffle and rubbing her eyes again to dry the fake tears.

“Then come to the party, please,” Jack begged, grabbing Steff‘s shoulders and smiling at her. Steff glanced at Kara, who nodded, before saying, “Okay, Jack. We’ll meet you there in, like, ten minutes. We just need to get ready.”

“Be warned, Kyra bought some skunk ass alcohol,” Jack said before taking his Vitamin Water and leaving the bus to let the girls get ready.x-x-x
The venue was dimly lit by the spotlights on the stage. Alex stood there, talking to Cassadee Pope with a smile on his face, and letting a laugh as she flailed her arms over what she was discussing.

“Is it okay if I steal him away for a moment?” A soft voice asked Cassadee, who nodded and walked off to find some one else to talk to. Alex’s heart sped up as he looked at the blonde standing across from him. Kyraleigh wanted to talk to him.

“Can we take a walk?” she questioned, her voice barely traveling over the music.

“Yeah,” Alex smiled, following her out the back door of the venue into the brisk. night air.

They walked past the busses in silence until they reached the field behind the venue. Kyra sat down on the curb and motioned for Alex to join her.

Her hand rested on top of his as she leaned over and asked, “So how are you, Mr. Gaskarth?”

“I’m fine, Kyraleigh,” Alex lied, feeling his heart catch in his throat. “How are you?”

“Fine,” she replied, batting her eyelashes a few times as she looked away and asked, “What caused you to hook up with such a freak of a drama queen?”

Alex over looked the snide remark and told her what he knew she wanted to hear. “Because she was there for me, and I liked her, Kyra. I liked Steff a lot, and now I’ve blown that chance.”

“You’re lying through your teeth, Alexander,” Kyra smirked, looking back at him and lifting her hand off of his to fix the hair that hung in his face. “I’ve known you forever, I’m not stupid.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked as Kyra trailed her hand down his face, causing his cheeks to flush a bit.

“You never liked her, you loved me. You liked her because she looks like me.”

“That’s not true,” Alex said hesitantly. But he thought about it and it made some sense. Steff and Kyra did look rather similar, but their personalities were exact opposites, at least to everyone else. The Kyraleigh that Alex loved had the same genuine and caring personality Steff had, but that wasn’t why he had wanted to be with Steff. Something about Steff made him feel better about himself, way better than Kyra had ever made him feel. But Alex was still to love drunk to realize that Steff really cared about him.

“You know it is,” Kyra taunted, tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear.

“No, no it’s not,” Alex declaired with an uncertainty in his voice that made Kyraleigh laugh inside.

She leaned over and pressed her lips to his softly, giving Alex exactly what he wanted to have again: her. He was hesitant for a moment and he lost his opportunity because when he was about to kiss her back, Kyraleigh pulled away and smirked.

“Why did you kiss me?” Alex asked.

“I didn’t kiss you,” Kyra stated, standing up and dusting off her jeans.

“Yeah you did, you just pressed your lips against mine. That is considered kissing.” He stood up and looked at her in confusion.

“I did no such thing,” Kyra said. She patted his chest and smirked as she walked away. “You’re smart, you’ll figure it out eventually.”

Alex watched the blonde walk away, his mind running at a mile a minute trying to process what just happened. The blonde just smiled at the chaos she knew she had just started.