I'm Finding Me Out

Adi's POV

I woke up to the sound of loud bickering and fighting. I sat up abruptly – afraid it was something serious. I whacked my head against the top of the bunk and cursed under my breath. I slowly crawled out of my bunk to see that Jack and Matt were yelling at each other.

“Why would you even do that? You’re an asshole!” Matt yelled at Jack, obviously furious. Jack raked his hands through his hair in frustration. “It was nothing; she knew fair well what was coming her way!”

By this point I knew that they were talking about Roxxie. I looked around to find her, to see if she was okay – because that was really all that mattered to me at that moment. I didn’t see her anywhere on board the bus. I was guessing she was somewhere with Rian – who was also missing.

“She’s still drunk off her face!” Matt screamed, bringing me back to the present. “Taking advantage of her proves that you don’t actually care for her as much as you say! Unlike me, I fucking love her!”

Jack was the one who threw the first punch. That’s when I stupidly intervened. I should have known better than to play the hero. I got in the middle of the two boys and attempted to separate them. “Stop it, you guys. Stop!”

Just a split second after I said the last ‘stop’, I felt someone’s fist connect with my face. My hand flew to my face and I bent over, before whimpering and falling to the ground. The boys stopped abruptly to stare down at me. Jack looked shocked, Matt flustered.

“Jack, now look what you fucking did,” Matt spat, shoving the guitarist’s shoulders.

“Hey, fuck you!” Jack told him, shoving him back. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, obviously!

Zack appeared on the scene and crouched down beside me. By this point, I couldn’t stop the steady flow of tears that were streaming down my face. Zack picked me up bridal style in his arms with no problem at all and took me to the couch in the front of the bus.

“I-It hurts so bad,” I cried out. “Make it stop, please, please.”

I could see for a moment that he was holding back tears before getting up to find something to put on my eye. “Baby, please stop. It’s okay. I’ll help you.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Alex asked assertively as he walked out from the hallway. After getting no response he heard me whimper again. “Adi?”

He quickly ran over to the couch to see me in pain. His eyes went wide and he crouched down next to me. “Adi, what happened? Are you okay?”

I pointed at Jack. “Matt or Jack?” Alex asked me through clenched teeth.

“Jack,” Zack answered for me as he gave Jack a death glare and then crouched next to me. “He punched her.”

“Dammit, Jack!” Alex immediately got up and had his fists ready.

“No, he didn’t mean to,” I managed to get out while quickly getting up. My head began to hurt again and Zack reached out, pulling me back down onto the couch beside him.

He put the ice gently on my face and I smiled at him. He smiled back, which was something I’d longed to see for so very long. I missed being the one to make him smile. Hell, he hadn’t smiled at all since we’d broken up, much less because of me.

“I think I should take care of her,” Alex glared at Zack as he crouched back down by me.

“And why is that?” Zack said. Alex rolled his eyes.

“You’re the one who hurt her,” he challenged. “You’re the one who broke up with her.”

“I’m not going there with anyone, Gaskarth,” Zack told him. “Especially you! You’re the cause of the problem in the first place.”

After several moments of staring, I whimpered again to get their attention back on me. The last thing we needed was another fucking fight breaking out. Alex sighed and sat down beside me, draping his arm around my shoulder and bringing my head to his chest gently.

One last glare was given from Zack before he walked back to his bunk. I honestly felt bad. That was the first moment Zack and I had been happy with each other since we’d broken up. It was a big deal and of course Alex had to come in and ruin it. But, to be honest, I didn’t mind.

Suddenly, the sound of someone else crying invaded my ears. Alex looked over curiously and I did the same, following his gaze across the room. From what I could see, Jack was the one crying. With difficulty, I got up from my spot next to Alex and walked over to Jack’s trembling body.

I sat next to him and rubbed his back. “What’s wrong, Jacko?”

He sniffed and took a look between Alex and I, going back and forth. Matt had seemingly disappeared, probably in search of Roxxie. I could tell Jack was forming words in his mouth, but the words that came out of his mouth next was something I had never expected.

With tears in his eyes, he looked straight at Alex. “I’m in love with you, Alex.”