I Know You've Got Your Life In Place But I've Yet To Take The Hint

Rehearsal was going great. Rehearsals always went great in my opinion. We didn’t mess up on a single song, and the lights and sounds were perfect as usual. Tomorrow’s kick off of our tour would be kick-ass. Even though, I think it would have gone a little better if we’d had some time off instead of sticking around on the bus. Especially Jack. He looked like he needed a break.

I frowned a little as I looked at him. We’d taken a water break but instead of joking around with any of the crew, he was sitting on a chair in the corner, his head in his hands. I’d noted his rough appearance this morning but had brushed it off. Now, I went over to him.

“Jack … you okay?”

He looked up, faking a smile. I knew him well enough to know that there was no way that the smile that crossed his face was genuine.

“Sure, Lex, I’m good. Just … man period, I guess. I dunno. I’d rather be alone, if you don’t mind.”

His tone of voice made it clear that he didn’t care if I minded or not, he just wanted me to go away. I was just a little hurt. I couldn’t dismiss the problem so easily. Something just seemed not right.

Lisa came up to me. “What’s wrong babe?” she asked, pressing against me and running a hand down my arm. I fought off the urge to push her away. It wasn’t her fault that Jack was being bitchy and bothering me.

“I’m just worried about Jack, he doesn’t seem like himself lately,” I said, not really expecting her to care. I wasn’t expecting her to laugh, though, either.

“Well, obviously, he’s not happy that I’m here. Haven’t you picked up on that yet Lex?”

I stared at her. “Well, maybe if you weren’t always criticizing him, he wouldn’t mind you so much. Did you ever think of that?”

Lisa glared at him. “I just say it like it is. He’s a bad influence on you, Alex; I really wish you’d just smarten up and see that I just want what’s best for you. And that’s obviously not him.”

I bristled. “You’re out of line, Lisa.” My tone slipped towards something dangerous. “He’s my best friend. You have no right to say that he’s a bad influence. He’s a single, healthy guy. Hell, if we weren’t dating, I’d do the same thing that he does. Sometimes, I think its better that way! He doesn’t have to put up with nagging girlfriends, who bitch about his friends, make everything awkward, which aren’t even really welcome on the bus. Ugh. Just, go. I don’t want to see you right now.”

Lisa looked like she was going to say something but the look in my eye apparently changed her mind. Dragging a chair away from the crowd, I decided that Jack had the right idea with the sitting in the corner thing. I would sit in a corner and brood, too.

I was lost in thought and wasn’t paying attention to anything. I knew that we were supposed to get back to work 10 minutes ago but hey, I was the lead singer and if I didn’t want to fucking sing, I wouldn’t fucking sing.

An ominous creaking was what jolted me from my thoughts. I looked up and saw that a beam overhead had somehow managed to get lose and was hanging dangerously in the air. I screamed and jumped to my feet, but the beam had already started falling. It was heading towards Jack, 5 feet away from me. He was frozen in horror and couldn’t seem to move. I didn’t think, I just jumped, knocking him off the chair. We both landed in a tangled heap on the ground under the stage and a mere second later a huge crash followed. I cringed, thinking about what would have happened if Jack was still sitting there.

“Are you okay, Jack?”

He looked shaken as he struggled to take a breath to answer. “Yeah. I owe you my life, Lex.”

“Don’t say that. I don’t want to think like that. I love you, Jack.”

He looked at me. There was something strange in his liquid brown eyes as he replied that he loved me too. I couldn’t help but leaning forward, pressing my lips to his lightly. He reciprocated, licking my lips and teasing his way into my mouth. I let him delve as deep as he wanted, until footsteps came rushing down the stairs and the pair of us broke apart.

It was later, when I was getting some water, that Lisa said the first thing that I couldn’t forgive her for.

“You could have been killed, Alex! Why would you have done something so completely stupid?”

My face froze into a mask of anger. “You mean, how could I save my best friend? What was I supposed to do, let that beam crush him?”

Lisa snapped. “Well, I wish you would have. Things would be so much fucking better around here without him.”

I threw the water I was drinking at her, and walked off.

It was that, or kill her.