Through the Lens

The next few days passed by quickly and before Scarlet knew what had happened, the days had turned into weeks. The shows blurred together. She had fallen into a routine.

Wake up in the small confined space of the tour bus bunk, wrapped in the arms of her boyfriend, get up, make breakfast for the bus of hungry guys. After the bus stopped at their destination, they would get up and the crew would set up while the band went off to do whatever is is that the band does. Scarlet either joined them or more usually than not, she stayed with the crew and took pictures of them setting up. She believed the crew who set up and worked the show were just as important as the actual band. What was a show without lights or sound, or someone to have Alex's next guitar ready?

The band would appear from their mischievous afternoon just in time for sound check, after that Alex and Scarlet would run off, finding a secluded area of the venue to be alone together. They would talk, kiss or sometimes just sit in each others arms, taking in the moment. The couple would then return a few minutes before the band went on. After the show, the guys went to do meet and greets with the fans while the crew packed everything up. Scarlet usually took a shower at this time and then met up with the guys on the tour bus.

They would usually than drink themselves into oblivion and play random video games before passing out in their bunks and then it would all begin again the next day.

Max was just this little parasite in Scarlet's life. He buzzed around her. Always there but never really doing anything to her. When they did have to speak to one another, they were civil with one another.

Max's heart ached every time he saw Alex's hands on her or his lips kissing hers. Max had grown up watching her blossom from this little 9 year old who wore baggy, ripped, and dirty jeans with t-shirts that were two sizes two big, into this gorgeous woman who had the body figure of a model and who's clothes fit her just right in all the right places. She had been his and now all of a sudden, she wasn't. She belonged to someone else now.

Scarlet hated to admit it but she still got that old pang in her chest when her and Max's eyes connected. He had been the love of her life since she was a teenager and then it was just over. Her and Max had never gotten into big arguments the whole time they were together. Yes, they bickered back and forth but it only lasted for a few minutes before he would grab her by the waist, dip her back and kiss her, ending all disagreements. They had never broken up and then gotten back together, they were just .... always together. One argument ended it all and Scarlet, and Max as well, felt like it was just not where it should have ended, like there was still some unfinished business between them.

Scarlet though, with the help of Alex, was beginning to realize that that business would never be finished and she was actually okay with that. She was happy with her life. She had a job that she loved, a boyfriend whom she adored, amazing friends that made her laugh constantly, and a life that was ever changing, always surprising her, showing her new things from town to town, helping her grow as a human being.

Max was having a harder time accepting that it was really the end of he and Scarlet. He was slipping into a deep hole, one that his band mates feared he would not be able to be drug out of. Max had always had a problem with drugs in the past, he and Ronnie had done them together, but Scarlet had gotten him to lay off the hard drugs the last year that they were together but now that she had found someone else, he was rarely every sober. His band had to watch him sink lower and lower as each day passed.

Its at this moment in time that Scarlet gets to see just how bad Max had truly gotten.

The show had just ended and her and Alex were standing out back by the tour buses, the rest of the band and crew were already on the bus but Scarlet wanted to have one last cigarette for the night.

"So what did you think of the show tonight?" Alex asked her. He asked this every night, always wanting to know her opinion and thoughts.

"It was good." Scarlet answered. Alex frowned as he usually got more of an answer out of her. He saw that she had forgotten about her cigarette, letting it dangle from her finger tips as she focused on the tour bus beside theirs where now that Alex payed attention, could hear men yelling.

Before either of them could say something, the tour bus door opened and out came Max. He did just fall, he tumbled down. Completely face planting the ground very painfully. He yelled out curse words and tried to get up but just fell back down again.

"Oh my god! Max!" Scarlet threw down her cigarette and rushed over to her ex, Alex following her closely. She kneeled down beside the fallen man and rolled him over onto his back. The sight of him made Scarlet gasp, bringing a hand up to her mouth and tears well up in her brown eyes.

His own brown eyes were blood shot red with dark circles underneath them. His eyes were sunken into his skull and looked almost lifeless and they stared back into Scarlet's with basically no emotion. He was pale and his nose was red from what looked like rubbing it so much but Scarlet had the suspicion it was from cocaine most likely. It wouldn't surprise her if that's what it was.

"Max..." She whispered, brushing his long black hair from his face. It was then that his eyes changed. The second her warm finger tips brushed his cold skin they filled with love and adoration and a small grin spread to his lips. Alex saw this and felt anger bubble up inside him. He wanted nothing more than to pull Scarlet away from the drugged up man and take her back to his bus but he knew that she would not come. "What has happened to you?"

"I lost the best thing that had ever happened to me." Max answered back smoothly and almost instantly, as if he had the answered poised on his tongue the whole time, waiting for her to ask that question.

"Max?" The three of them looked at the tour bus door to see the singer of his band, Craig, standing there, looking down at them, frowning. "Everything okay?" Craig asked Scarlet who shrugged.

"He fell." She stated, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Craig nodded and stepped off the bus, kneeling on the other side of Max.

"Sorry for yelling at you earlier, bud. We're all just worried about you." Craig patted his friend on the chest and sighed. Max nodded and turned back to Scarlet, not able to keep his eyes off her now that she was so close to him again.

"Help me get him up, Craig. Let's get him back onto the bus and into bed." Craig nodded and took one of Max's arms while Scarlet took the other. Together they lifted him on his feet where he stood for a few seconds before loosing balance and tumbling onto Scarlet who easily caught him. She had gone all through high school taking care of both he and Ronnie while they were like this. She sighed and took one of his arms, throwing it over her shoulder.

"Scare-bear, you smell so good. I could just eat you up." He said, pressing his nose into her hair, making her roll her eyes and turn to Alex who just stood their awkwardly, his hands in his pockets.

"You can go to the bus, I'll be there in like 2 seconds, I just have to throw him in his bunk." Alex was hesitant to leave her with him but he trusted her so he nodded and turned on his heel as she made her way onto Escape The Fate's bus, dragging Max with her.

"Where's Scar?" Rian asked when he saw Alex get on the bus alone.

"Helping Max. He's drugged out of his mind right now and fell while getting off the tour bus. She's putting him to bed." Alex explained as he sat down on one of the couches, gratefully taking the beer that Zack offered him. It was only a minute later that the tour bus door opened and in walked Scarlet.

"How's Max?" Rian asked as Scarlet sat beside Alex who wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. He tried not to cringe as she now smelled like booze and axe body spray, which is what Max smelled like.

"As good as a coke addict can be. He passed out as soon as I laid him down." Scarlet sighed and rested her head on Alex's shoulder. "It hurts so badly to see him so bad again." She spoke quietly.

"He'll be fine." Alex said, really feeling the jealousy and anger inside him. He just wanted her to stop talking about Max already. He was afraid that at any second she would break it off with him and go back to him.

"I don't much feel like drinking tonight. Will you come lay with me, please?" Scarlet begged Alex, pleading with him. He nodded and put down his beer.

"Of course, sweetheart." So with that they bid the band and crew fair well and went back to their bunk, curling up inside easily. "So he used to be better? He wasn't that bad?" Alex asked.

"No. The last year or so we were together, I got him to basically stop all of that hard drug shit. He had been doing so good too." Scarlet sighed and shook her head. "I don't want to talk about Max anymore, okay? I want to just be here with you." He smiled at her and nodded, reaching over to kiss her lips.

"I'm good with that." She smiled and kissed his lips again before resting her head on his chest and just relishing in the fact that her boyfriend was nothing like her ex. Tonight was just too much for her.

She had spent too much time in the past taking care of Max, she couldn't do it again. She had Alex, who was not a drug addicted asshole, and for that she was thankful.