Status: Back in business. Please read second authors note added to the 'Info" section of this story.

Head on Collision

Come Undone

Jack’s POV

In retrospect, taking off with Alex in the middle of the night probably wasn't the smartest move I had ever made. I should have talked to him, talked him around, made him just spend the night at my house and just talk it through. Led him and just let him tell me everything he was feeling. That’s what i should have done. Probably. I should have probably left some sort of note for my parents when i had decided i was going to go with Alex. Actually no. Scratch that. First option as probably the better one.

I know I’m not notorious for making good judgements, even more so now that Alex was in my life, but this is probably one of the least smart moves I’ve made. We drove to South Carolina for god sake. We’re miles away from home. I haven't checked my phone since i woke up this morning because i was so worried that I’d have a million texts from my mother yelling at me for running away, or sneaking out. Or both. Definitely both.

But on the flip side, seeing Alex smiling. Seeing Alex looking so much happier, even if he is exhausted makes the inevitable grounding so much more worthwhile. He hasn't stopped talking all day. About the battle of the bands, before all the shit happened of course. He’d gossiped about Zack and Alexandra, contemplated whether or not Rian and Kara had had sex yet. He went on and on about all these random little things through breakfast waffles and hamburger lunch. We hadn't left the beach except to get the food. I’d watched people come and go all day.

I knew he was avidin the subject. I knew we should be talking about what happened. We should be working through how the whole situation has made him feel. But I honest to god haven't been able to get a word in edge wise and for anyone that knows me, that seems like an impossibility.

The sun was going down. i sat watching the low tide roll into the shore. A few feet to my right a family was packing up their stuff. Their toddler, a little boy, was helping. By helping i mean i sat watching him stuff sand into his mothers purse. That’d be fun to clear out later. With a little wave to them, i turned to look at where my boyfriend was. He was at a vendor up along the boardwalk buying ice cream. He was smiling at something the vendor had said. The smile has seemed so fake all day. I just wanted him to talk about the bullshit.

With a loud thank you, Alex started to head back down the beach to me. He handed me my cone, boring vanilla, and plonked himself back down on the blanket he had pulled from his boot.

“Okay,” he started. “So, where was i?”

“Al…”

“Oh yes,” he licked a broad stripe up the side of his cone. “Holly and Dan. Have you seen the way he…?”

“Alex what are you doing?” I interrupted.

Alex’s POV

I frowned at Jack’s question.

“What do you mean, what am i doing?” I asked. “I’m talking about the obvious chemistry between Dan and Holly. I mean they sit in front of me in chem now. Holly’s ditched me but i don't really….”

“We should talk about what happened last night Alex,” Jack’s eyes didn't leave the sand in front of him.

I watched a bit of his ice cream drip down the side of his hand and fall onto the blanket underneath us. i swallowed nervously. Suddenly i didn’t want my ice cream anymore.

“Why?”

“Why?” he turned and looked at me incredulously. “Alex you’ve been talking non stop about crap all day. Zack and Alexandra. Mrs Chapman. Spanish, chem, gym. You even broached on Rian’s sex life for a bit there. I haven't been able to say a word all day with you.”

“You could have contributed to the conversation Jack,” I answered his allegations sarcastically. “You don’t usually have a problem with that.”

“It’s not that,” Jack threw his ice cream into the sand and turned to look at him properly. I felt like hiding. “It’s not the topic that i think we should talk about. Every time you’d change the subject i thought you’d segway into last night.”

i sighed, frustrated.

“You talked for a good hour about our performance, about every song,” Jack continued. “I thought maybe that’d lead into what happened.”

“I don’t want to talk about it okay?” I raised my voice and i saw Jack flinch back. “I want to escape it and that’s why I’m here. If you didn't want to come with me, you didn’t have to.” I stood up, crumbling my cone in the process. “I didn’t ask you to come with me Jack.”

I walked away from Jack, toward the ocean. i pulled off my hoodie and my shirt as i went, throwing them down at the sand. I waded into the water, my jeans smoking through immediately. I swam out until the water came to my chest and i stood looking at the setting sun.

“Why’d you swim out here?” I heard Jack’s voice behind me. I turned. He was treading water; his bare shoulders and his head the only thing visible above the ocean, his hair sticking up where he’d obviously ran his fingers through it to brush it back off his face.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I answered him quietly and turned back to the sunset.

“What?” Jack asked. I turned to look at him.

“I’m trying to runaway from you too.”
♠ ♠ ♠
A little delay in this one.
I was sort of in hospital. Painkillers and trying to write aren't a good combination.
<3