There Will Be Rain

Jack
2 months later

“Iz come on lazy get up! We need you to take some shots for us tonight”

“Alright, Alright I’m coming”

Laughing I watched on in amusement as my bushy haired girlfriend emerged from our bunk on the tour bus, she straightened out her pj’s, stretched out before shooting me a menacing glance.

“I don’t know what you’re laughing at Barakat!”

The smirk on my face instantly dropped when her emerald eyes burned into mine, I knew Isobelle liked her sleep…too much. She smirked back when she noticed my concerned expression and ran over to embrace me in a hug.

“Only joking Jack, I’ll be in the front in about 15 minutes; I want to try and have another go, see what’s up with Jem”

Sighing I looked down at my 5’3 girlfriend in despair, all anyone has done these past two months has worried about Jemma, all of us had tried to get to the bottom of it but all of us have failed to get the truth out of her. I’d just about given up hope; however Isobelle was more determined out of all of us. She was going to crack Jemma if it was the last thing she did.

“Okay but don’t get upset again if she doesn’t tell you”

Isobelle rolled her emerald orbs in a sarcastic fashion towards my warning, the same warning I’d repeated near enough everyday to her. It was killing me to have to console her every time she came back with nothing, no information and no closer to finding out what was the matter with Jemma.

In my opinion I thought she was being pathetic, Jemma that is. I had my own feeling that it was to do with Gus, but really? Nobody takes two months to get over a relationship, especially when her and Gus weren’t even dating that long. If it was me and Isobelle however, that would be a completely different situation completely, we have near enough been together 4 months now and I honestly can’t imagine my life without her, she knows about my hectic life, yet she still chooses to be a part of that, to stick around.

Alex has been different too, ever since the night we went out and found out that Gus was cheating. If he ever was cheating, Isobelle seems to think Tracy had a part to play in all of this. Tracy is conniving like that you see, only two weeks after Jemma and Gus broke up it came to all of our attention that Gus and Tracy have had a past relationship before. Jemma found out from twitter of all places, Oliver tweeted that he had broke up with his “girlfriend” because she was cheating with an ex. This ex being Gus.

But Alex hasn’t even been to check on Jemma or ask if she is okay, if Jemma comes out of the back lounge for more than a few seconds to be in the same room as him, he makes some lame excuse and leaves for his bunk. However in the last month Jemma has been getting worse, she keeps throwing up constantly and she avoids all of us, she’s thin real thin. Not that she wasn’t already, but now it appears to be at dangerous levels and everyone on the bus is worried, even Alex although he won’t admit it.

--
Sitting down in the front lounge area of the tour bus I began to aimlessly trail through twitter, replying to a few people and retweeting some fans who were begging me to retweet them. Alex sat across from me, his left leg resting over his right as it nervously bobbed up and down on the spot. Zack and Rian would put it down to being nervous over the show tonight, however something told me that there was something else behind that nervous habit of his. Alex’s black beanie was situated messily over his head, his red hair in serious disarray, his once vibrant skin now a ghostly shade of white which all in all only emphasised the growing black circles surrounding his brown eyes.

“Urm excuse me guys but I need to talk to Alex in private, girl stuff”

“What Jack Barakat, with girl problems. Let me capture this moment!”

Zack joked at me, to which in response I flipped him the V before grabbing Alex by his wrist and dragging him down the steps of the tour bus and into the now growing winter winds. Alex’s brows raised in confusion as I slammed him against the tour bus outside. Anger evident across my face, I wanted answers and I wanted them now.

“Fuck dude I can’t deal with this anymore, you and Jemma look like shit. Don’t palm me off and say you don’t give a shit about Jemma and you don’t know what is going on with her Alex, because it is all complete and utter bullshit. I know you love that girl more than you’ll ever admit, I’m your best friend I don’t miss anything. Which is why I know you’re letting on more than you know, so you better tell me now; I can’t go on seeing my girlfriend come crying to me every time she goes to see Jemma and I can’t stand you apparently not giving a flying fuck. I –“

“We had sex Jack”

“can’t believe you…Wait, What?!”

I stopped mid rant when the full extent of Alex’s word hit me. They had sex, well that would explain why they couldn’t be in the same room together. Running my hands through my dark brown hair in shock, I averted my gaze from my shoes to my best friend.

“When?”

“When she found out about Gus and we went out. When we got back to the hotel, we had more to drink and she asked me if I was ever in love –“

“You were, with her”

I added on interrupting, only now had I voiced my opinion about Alex secretly liking Jemma. I wanted to confront him for ages, but I knew he’d always deny it.

“Yeah I was, so I was hinting at her but she wasn’t getting them at all. We went up to the room and she was like whoever she is, she’s stupid you’re amazing etc etc. So I said no she’s not stupid, she’s perfect, she’s just in love with another guy. The next thing I know she’s kissing me and things went from there. It was her first time Jack”

“Well shit”

I replied monotonously, my brown eyes wide with the confession that spilled from Alex’s mouth. The shock raging through my blood and settling deep in my body, I was never expecting that in a million years, ever.

“That all you got to say Jack?”

“Hey? Oh no, just a bit of a shock is all. Listen Alex I know you’re in a difficult position, you love her but she loves Gus it’s understandable, despite what that arsehole did to her. However no matter how awkward it is, you can’t just ignore her; to her she probably thinks you hate her-“

“but I don’t hate her”

“I know but to her you ignorance will be shown as hatred. She hasn’t been well Alex at all these past few weeks, she’s been off her food and everything. You and Gus are taking an affect on her, not only her but everyone on the bus too. You need to talk to her, maybe when you work things out she can start to get better”

Alex sighed heavily as he contemplated my advice and realised his own stupidity in the whole scenario. Giving me a quick hug he thanked me before running back onto the bus and straight into the back lounge. Isobelle quickly exited the back lounge before sitting with me, Rian, Zack and a now awake Flyzik.

“How did it go?”

“She still won’t talk, I don’t know anymore Jack. Maybe Alex can sort it”

“I hope so Iz, I really do hope so”

--

Later on that day after the photo shoot, we made our way back to the bus. Alex had missed the photo shoot to talk to Jemma, so Isobelle had agreed to shoot Alex another day. When we entered the bus it was quiet, too quiet. Carefully we all tiptoed to the back lounge, revealing a worn out Alex and a red eyed Jemma fast asleep on the sofa. Alex securely holding onto Jemma as they slept, god knows they both needed it.

“Come on lets let them be”

Rian suggested and we all nodded our heads in agreement before going to watch a film in the front lounge. About an hour into Peter Pan we all directed our attention as the back lounge door opened and closed, as a sleepy Alex and Jemma emerged rubbing their tired eyes in unison.

“Hey guys”

Alex spoke roughly as he coughed to clear his throat; we all nodded at him back before turning our attention over to Jemma. Rian was the first to speak being the fatherly figure he was.

“Hey Jem you sleep well?”

“Yeah thank you”

She replied timidly before sitting down next to Isobelle and cuddling up to her side, Isobelle smiled widely for the first time in ages before wrapping her arms around her best friend for comfort. Out of the corner of my eye I shot Alex a glance, as if asking what happened. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled, indicating to me that everything was sorted between them now.

“Right I’ll make us some food I guess”

Zack suggested before jumping off the sofa and rushing into the kitchen to whip something up, anything to ease the silence that was suffocating all of us. Alex sat down on the other side of Jemma and watched her intently as she began to drift off into another deep sleep. Mouthing over at Alex, so Isobelle wouldn’t know I asked him what was up with her.

“She though I was ignoring her because it was her first time, even though we have both agreed to forget it ever happened because she still has feelings for Gus. So basically we are back to being best friends again”

Alex mouthed back slowly so I could register everything he was saying, raising my brow slightly I mouthed back the burning question that popped into my mind when Alex first responded.

“And you are okay with that? With agreeing to it being a mistake and to be friends? Because from what you told me this morning, you seem far from wanting to be friends with her and you definitely didn’t think it was a mistake Alex, I know you remember?”

He sighed slightly as he took a quick glance at the slumbering Jemma. He looked back up into my eyes before he replied back.

“No of course I’m not, I’d be with her for the rest of my life if I could, but she loves Gus. She belongs with Gus and nothing I say will change that, I’d rather agree to what she wants than run the risk of losing her forever”

I smiled sympathetically at my best friend before dropping the whole subject all together, I knew he was hurting and I didn’t want to add anymore to that, he doesn’t deserve it. After a while Zack had finished cooking in the kitchen area and called us all to the table to dish out the food. Isobelle gently woke Jemma and they two soon followed.

We all sat down to eat and finally with everything sorted enjoy the rest of tour, plus it looked like Jemma hadn’t had a decent meal in a while and hopefully with the Alex situation sorted she might eat a little bit more, I was wrong.

Jemma attempted to eat a few bites of the pizza and chips Zack had cooked, before she started to gag. Standing up she ran past Alex and bursting out into tears rushed to the toilet to throw up. Looking around the table it was like a scene in a movie, were we all get up to follow her and see if she is okay. However I was going to be the one to finally find out the truth.

“I’ll go”

I said to the group as one by one they all sat down in defeat, sliding off the end of my seat I cautiously made my way over to the toilet and knocked on the door. Jemma’s sobs growing ever louder on the other side.

“Jemma it’s Jack, let me in”

Slowly I heard the sobs quieten and the door unlock, she didn’t open it but I opened it anyway and saw her huddled down by the sink. Tears rapidly running down her face, she was to simply put it, a mess.

“Jack I don’t know what to do!”

She cried out as I sat down on the floor next to her after locking the door, bringing her into my side as I hugged her.

“I know but it will get better, maybe you and Gus will work things out or not, you and Alex fixed things right. That has to count for something right?”

She sobbed even harder as she buried her face into my chest, her tears staining my grey glamour kills t-shirt Isobelle had bought me. I didn’t understand what the matter with her was.

“But none of them know the truth!”

Huh? Alex knew the truth, or unless the truth was nothing what I was thinking about at this moment in time. Pulling Jemma away from my chest I stared into her brown eyes deeply, trying to find out what the hell she was hiding.

“Jemma what are you on about, what truth?”

She wiped away her tears before coughing slightly, her thumbs fiddling with one another like the usually did when she was nervous herself. Her mind seemed to be racing at uncontrollable speeds as she considered her options. Did she tell me what was going on, or did she carry on being unsociable and depressed and, well ill?

“I can’t Jack, I can’t. I don’t even know what’s going on myself, what will happen. It’s all got out of control and I don’t know what to do!”

“Jemma tell me! Maybe I can help you, you’re not alone. A kitkat shared is a kitkat solved and all that shit”

Jemma laughed and I smiled down at her as my attempts paid off, she pushed me playfully in the chest before her sobs ceased.

“Don’t you mean problem, Jack?”

“Yeah, but I was hungry and had kitkats on my mind at the time, blame my stomach not me. What’s up?”

She took on a more serious expression as her thumb fiddling increased; she was even starting to get me worried now. She took in a huge intake of oxygen, her shoulders rising and tensing. She spoke the truth for the first time in months and my whole body went into lockdown, this was going to change everything, everyone, him especially.

“I’m pregnant Jack….”