Sing Me To Sleep

Practise was a disaster. Rian was peeved that Cassadee hadn’t turned up (Jack didn’t mention their little argument. Rian’s arms could do a lot of damage to Jack’s face, and he’d rather they didn’t, thank you very much), Alex was acting like a diva lead singer, and Jack was lost in his own world. Zack was the only one not freaking the fuck out, but he was starting to get annoyed with the other three.

Eventually, the bassist let out a huge growl of annoyance when Jack played completely the wrong thing and Alex glared daggers at him. Rian stopped playing and just sat there, a miserable-as-fuck expression on his face.

“Fuck you guys,” Zack told them, shaking his head and putting his hands up, as if admitting defeat. He started to put his bass away. Zack was dedicated. He had never questioned before if the other three were, but now… Well, he wasn’t so sure.

His three band mates looked at him.

“What the fuck, Zack?” Alex asked, cocking an eyebrow. Zack finished packing his bass away and grabbed his jacket, zipping it up, before looking at Alex and responding.

“If we suck tomorrow night then it’s your fault. I thought you guys wanted this more than anything?”

“We do!” Jack replied almost instantly.

“Really,” Zack asked, raising his eyebrows at the guitarist, “’cause it doesn’t seem like it to me! You’re not concentrating, Jack, at all. Alex, you’re just being a little bitch. I don’t know why – all Jack did was be late. Rian, so what that Cassadee didn’t turn up? Why are you getting mad before she’s even given you a reason, bro? I know there’s some weird shit going on with Kate and Cass right now, but we’ve been worrying about them all day. Katy’s not about to tell you what’s going on and neither is Cass. So focus on something. But I’m going home.”

All three boys watched as the younger left the basement. They heard him say a muffled goodbye to Rian’s mom before the front door opened and closed.

“Well…,” Jack said. “Fuck.”

Alex glared at him and starting putting his guitar away.

“Alex, seriously bro. Is this because I was late?!” Jack asked, grabbing a hold of Alex’s arm. Alex shrugged him off harshly. Jack narrowed his eyebrows, before shoving Alex slightly. Alex stood up straight immediately, grabbing the younger boy by the collar and slamming him against the basement wall. His fist was raised by the time Rian’s brain caught up.

“Alex!” he yelled, lunging forward and tackling both boys to the floor before any punches were thrown or noses were broken. Rian wrestled Alex away from Jack, who was scrambling away from the crazed elder boy. Jack pulled himself into the corner, looking at Alex, severely confused, shocked and frightened. Alex took in Jack’s expression and felt sickened at his own self. ‘What the fuck, Alex?!’

Alex was mad about Jack lying earlier. Well, not just that. He was mad because he’d been with Katy. Katy had obviously invited him round… and had either told Jack something or done something that had Jack in a complete daze. Alex didn’t even want to begin to think about what Katy and he could have done… It tore his heart out. He shouldn’t be mad at Jack, though. Jack didn’t know Alex was in love with Katy, after all. Would it be any different if he did know?

“Jack, I…”

“Fuck off, ‘Lex,” Jack said, his voice shaking. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” With that, the lanky boy climbed to his feet and ran up the stairs. A few seconds later the door slammed, and Alex was left in a heap with Rian.

Katy lay in an exhausted heap on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She was all cried out – her mother had left for work two hours ago. Four hours previous was when she had kicked Cassadee and Jack out. She’d been all alone in her dark, dingy little room for two hours; two whole hours.

She had used the first hour to cry as loudly as she had wanted. It felt good – but after a while she just started to feel sick, and the tears wouldn’t come anymore anyway.

For the last fifty-nine minutes and thirty-eight seconds… well, she’d been doing just that – counting the time from the ticking of her clock beside of her on the nightstand. Her mind was blank as she stared at the pale plaster. Well, not completely blank. She was seriously contemplating cutting her arm; a long, red streak along her left forearm. She stroked where she imagined she would mark, a small smile forming on her lips. She could imagine it now – the pain, the red… what it would look like when it was healed - a reminder to herself that she wasn’t worth it, and that what she felt towards Alex was wrong; what she did to her mother was wrong.

As the word echoed around her mind, a loud rap-rap-rap came from the front door. Katy’s neck snapped up, and she looked towards her bedroom door. The whole house was dark, the only light being the eerie blue coming in from outside.

It was late. Why would anybody be calling around this late?

The person knocked again impatiently, and Katy managed to scramble up and get out of her room in a couple of seconds. She padded down the dark hallway cautiously, eyeing the door with suspicion. She reached it and un-did the latch, pulling the door towards her…

Her form was enveloped by a lanky figure; their arms wrapping themselves around her shoulders and over her shoulder blades. She squeaked in surprise and pushed them away. She turned the hall light on to a grinning Jack Barakat. Katy narrowed her eyes at the boy.

“I thought I told you to get out?”

“Ah,” Jack said, putting his index finger up. “You did. However, you did not state that I was to ‘get out’ forever. You just said ‘get out’. Technically, I could have come back any time after ‘getting out’.”

Katy glared at the older teenager. He just grinned back innocently. When Katy’s expression did not waver, Jack sighed and looked at the floor.

“I know how I reacted was really shitty,” he confessed, “but Katy… I’m not mad at you, just so you know… Nor is Cass. We just love you, y’know? I reacted badly… I just love you so much, y’know? You’re like the little sister I never had, and it would really fucking suck if something went wrong one day and you weren’t there anymore.” Jack stared at the small girl sincerely. She finally gave in and sighed, her expression softening.

“I don’t want to hurt you guys,” Katy confessed. “It just… It just relives me… I… can’t explain it.” She stomped her foot slightly frustrated.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to find a less harmful reliever,” Jack said warily, wrapping an arm around Katy. “Which I think could be possible.” Katy looked at Jack, confused. He just grinned. “Cassadee kind of spilled the beans about, y’know, you being in love with Alex.”

Katy’s jaw dropped. She was going to absolutely fucking murder Cassadee effing Pope until she was dead. Jack nudged her.

“Hey, now don’t you go yelling at Cassadee. I think it was more out of anger than anything else that she told me. I mentioned Alex and she got this dark look in her eyes…” Jack looked worried. “I think maybe we should keep those two apart for a while… Cassadee might rip his junk off.” Katy let out a small giggle and rested her head on Jack’s chest. She sighed heavily through her nose after a couple of minutes.

“It’ll get better, Kate,” Jack promised. “I’ll make sure of it.”