Smiling at Everything

Fully dressed, Jazz was lounging on the couch waiting for the rest of the members onboard to wake up. White and red bracelets decorated her arms, covering her now bandaged wound. During the night, she decided it best to cover the wound with some form of dressing so there wouldn't be the possibility of it leaking onto the floor. She wasn't stupid; she knew how easy it would be to get caught. And she knew her friends would have a fit and make her expose everything through some public announcement. She wasn't going to risk it.

Then again, they may not even notice.

Sounds could be heard from the bunk area, signs of others waking up. Lestat was the first to stumble into the room, hair a mess, void of piercings, and still in boxers and a loose shirt. His eyes landed on Jazz immediately.

"How long have you been up?" he asked, voice thick with sleep.

"I didn't sleep," Jazz replied, smiling brightly.

Though the cut she made did comfort her, she didn't go to sleep. She was on a sort of high all night from that one cut. Throughout the night she craved more of the knife she used to make the wound. She wanted to cut more. She still did.

He shook his head, "I don't know how you do it."

"It's not that hard. Caffeine is a great buffer."

"Why don't you just sleep?"

Lestat didn't understand. Why would she not sleep? It wasn't something he ever thought about before. She had been that way since he met her; he never decided to question her eccentric behavior. There never seemed a point to ask. He was more afraid of the answer than anything else. But it didn't make any sense. Jazz as a whole didn't make any sense to him.

"Sleeping is useless," Jazz answered.

She wasn't going to tell him the real reason. Lestat wasn't looking for the real reason she didn't sleep. He was simply suggesting she try to sleep. He wasn't the first of the band mates to tell her she didn't sleep enough or that she should try sleeping.

"You're very strange," Lestat stated.

"I've been told."

Lestat smiled, "Well, Neon called. We're stopping for breakfast. I woke everyone else up."

"Is that why you're up before noon?"

"Food comes before sleep."

"Just think, if you never slept, you could eat all night."

"Food's not that good."

"You're loss. I'll eat all your snacks while you're asleep."

"Don't touch my beef jerky."

Jazz crinkled her nose, keeping a smile on her face, "You still eat that?"

Lestat used to eat beef jerky almost constantly. Jazz always found it a bit on the disgusting side. She was never one for beef in the first place but Lestat's ex-obsession with jerky made her energy drink binges look like a joke.

"It insures that you won't eat my food while I sleep," Lestat said.

"I'll throw it out the window."

"The windows are sealed shut."

"What?"

Jazz turned on the couch to look at the window. It looked like any other window on any other tour bus. They couldn't be sealed shut. The only time they ever did that was when they first started using tour buses to keep the members of RxN from getting overly excited and jumping out of a window. And to keep Arpeggio from attempting suicide. The band was still watching Arpeggio closely at the time, though the drummer was not on a suicidal rampage.

"According to Grim, he and Matt felt it best to lock the windows on our buses," Lestat said.

"They must have heard Dorian's plan to jump out the window and ride on the outside of the bus like Spiderman."

"I thought that was your plan."

"Technicalities."

During one extreme episode of caffeine-induced hyperactivity, Jazz may have decided she wanted to ride the outside of the bus like Spiderman. She told Dorian and he was immediately hooked on the plan. They worked the details out together. That was before they found out they were going to be on separate buses. He and Jazz even had outfits.

She was going to wear that outfit for the first concert.

Lestat chuckled, "Jazz, you make my life bright."

"I try."

Dante and Zack stumbled into the room, followed by Rian who was walking like he hadn't just been woken up. In fact, he looked much more rested then the other three men. Maybe he was just used to waking up early.

None of the members were clothed in more than their pajamas, which struck Jazz as humorous. They were about to go in public to eat at, most likely, a breakfast oriented restaurant and they didn't care how they were dressed. The fans would have a field day taking pictures of them in their sleeping attire and drooling over them.

It was probably the same on the other bus.

"Are you guys really going out like that?" Jazz asked.

"Is there something wrong with our attire?" Dante returned.

"You're all in boxers," Jazz replied, "and Zack's not wearing a shirt."

Each man in front of her stood in only his boxers and a loose shirt, with the exception of Zack. As per normal, he body looked great but Jazz wasn't capable of ogling him with or without his knowledge. All she could focus on was cutting.

She shouldn't have made that cut. Years of progress was officially ruined. The amount of work it would take to get that back seemed useless. She would just relapse again regardless of how much she tried to save herself. Why waste time?

"Zack, man, you should put on a shirt," Rian said.

"Not happening," Zack returned.

"Isn't the normal restaurant rule 'no shirt, no shoes, no service?' You're breaking one of those," Lestat said.

"None of you are wearing shoes either," Jazz pointed out.

"Yeah, well, they can suck it."

Jazz forced herself to giggle, causing Zack to openly cringe. Even tired, he could catch onto her fallacies.

The bus jerked to a stop; the standing bus passengers stumbling.

"We’re here," the bus driver announced.

"Awesome," Zack mumbled.

The four moved to leave the bus, Jazz remaining on the couch. She wasn't planning on going in there for breakfast. Her mind was too wrapped around cutting to maintain false emotions for too long.

Lestat stopped, noticing Jazz wasn't moving, "Are you coming?"

"I'm staying on the bus. I don't feel like sitting in a restaurant to eat breakfast."

"Do you want me to pick something up for you?" Zack asked.

Jazz's smile turned into a real one, her dimples clear as day. In her ribcage, her heart beat increased. Zack was amazing, she had decided that over the course of the night. He liked her, he showed her attention, he was willing to take the time to understand her; she couldn't help her bodies immediate reaction to him.

"Sure," Jazz answered.

"Anything in particular?"

Zack noticed that over the course of most of the conversation, Jazz seemed relatively distracted. That is, until he started talking to her. He had her full attention. Or he assumed he did. At some point he would ask her what was wrong. Till then, he would act like he didn't notice.

"Surprise me," Jazz said.

"Flirting with another man; Michael will not be pleased," Dante teased.

"Go die," Jazz returned, voice coated in sugar.

"You guys are so malicious," Rian stated, shaking his head and leaving the bus.

He was not staying to listen to them bicker.

"He'll get used to us arguing soon," Lestat said.

"He doesn't have much of a choice," Dante added.

"True that. Let's go eat."

"Good plan."

The pair left the bus quickly, disregarding the need for shoes. They would get away with it anyway. Not many restaurants got on their case when they decided to break the dress code a little.

"I'll be back in a bit with food," Zack said.

"Hold on, let me get my wallet," Jazz said, pushing herself off the couch.

"You don't have to pay me back."

"I'm not going to make you pay for my food."

"Jazz, I do things old fashioned. I'm paying for your food," Zack stated, "and I expect some form of thanks when I get back, preferably in the form of a hug or a kiss on the cheek."

Jazz's smile grew with his blunt answer. She was fond of the fact that he didn't play games with her. Most people did. He called her out on things that people would ignore and told her what he wanted. It just made her like him more.

"Thanks," Jazz said.

"No problem."