Through the Lens

As the days passed, Scarlet found herself unable to stay away from Alex like she had planned. While she had gotten to know the rest of the band and crew as well, she found herself gravitating towards Alex if he were in the room. He seemed to be attached to her as well as if she left to go to his bunk, where she had been sleeping, to do some things on her laptop, he would follow and they would end up sitting in the small confined place for hours on end, talking about anything and everything.

"I'm hungry." Jack spoke, groaned as he tossed himself onto the couch in between Scarlet and Rian who had been talking about about the show tomorrow.

"We're stopping in fifteen minutes Jack, you can live until then." Alex said as he came into the room, sitting down on the floor in front of Scarlet, using her legs to lean on.

"Where we stopping to eat?" Scarlet wondered as she brought her hands forward to rest on Alex's shoulders, her thumbs beginning to rub small circles into the muscles of his shoulders, making his eyes fall shut as his muscles loosened up under the touch of her fingers.

"Some diner or something. Gotta be quick so we can get to Tuscan by tonight so we can sleep in an actual bed." Zack answered from the other couch across from Scarlet, Alex, Jack and Rian. Scarlet nodded as she continued to massage Alex's shoulders.

"How come he gets a massage and I don't?" Jack questioned, pouting and crossing his arms over his skinny chest. Scarlet laughed at him.

"Maybe I'll give you one later, if you behave like a good boy." Everyone laughed as he nodded and saluted her.

"I can behave, promise." She just nodded and concentrated on Alex who seemed to be in heaven as her hands worked their magic. He groaned when the bus came to a halt, her hands also stopping.

"No, that felt good." He groaned, letting his head fall back into her lap. She smiled and brushed his hair from his face.

"If you behave too, I'll give you another one later." He smiled up at her and nodded.

"I know I'm more likely to behave than Jack." He stood up and held out his hand to her. She smiled and placed her hand in his as everyone filed out of the tour bus, coming out into what seemed like a ghost town. Nothing but a small gas station across the street, a KFC down the street, and the diner at which they were stopped at which looked to have about 4 customers, if that.

The group filed in, having to wait for the waitress's to push two tables together for them. Scarlet sat in between Alex and Matt, across from her was Jack and Rian, next to Rian was Vinny, who had Zack next to him. The two of them had Grieco and Collussy across from them. Evan, Jeff, and Danny had gone to the KFC, not wanting to go here.

"So, what are you thinking about getting?" Alex asked Scarlet, leaning over to look at her menu, even though he had his own in his hands. She smiled at him and pointed to the double cheeseburger and fries. "That's what I'm getting too!" He exclaimed happily. She laughed at his excitement.

"Calm yourself, Alex." Matt said, not looking up from his own menu so he didn't see when Alex childishly stuck his tongue out at him, making Scarlet laugh. "Whatever you just did, don't do it again or I will castrate you." Scarlet just laughed harder as Alex's face filled with horror.

"No fun." Alex mumbled, crossing his arms. Scarlet smiled and put her hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I won't let him. I know thousands of fan girls would be devastated if anything like that happened to you."

"And you need that part of him cause you love him." Jack mumbled, coughing afterwards, trying to cover it up but Scarlet turned to glare at him anyway.

"I'm sorry Jack, was that a massage you wanted from me later or a kick in the balls?" Everyone laughed as Jack cowered away from her, his hand going protectively over his crotch.

"Sorry, Scar." He mumbled. She smiled at him.

"Good boy." The waitress then came and ordered all of their food and drinks, taking their menus with her when she left. Scarlet then took out her camera and looked around at the table. Everyone was lost in conversation with someone. Jack was in a heated debate with Alex and Rian. She looked to her left to see Matt just staring off into space, not paying attention to anyone. She smiled and brought her camera up, pointing it at him in the perfect angle and snapped the shot. He turned to look at her and smiled.

"What are you doing?" He questioned her jokingly. She giggled and took his picture again.

"Taking your picture." He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"I can see that, but why?" She shrugged and took another picture of him. "Weirdo." He mumbled before turning to talk to Vinny.

Scarlet turned back to Alex, Jack and Rian, seeing that they were still talking. She leaned back as far as she could, having to lean on Matt, a little who just looked at her oddly before shaking his head and going back to Vinny, to get all three guys in frame but she eventually did and took the picture but only Alex noticed. He looked over at her and smiled, making her snap another picture, this time all three of them were smiling at her.

"You like taking pictures, huh?" Alex asked as Scarlet sat back up, putting her camera down on the table.

"Yeah, I really do and I'd like to think that I'm good at it." Alex nodded and picked up her camera.

"You are very good at it." He brought the camera up to his own eye, pointed it at Scarlet and took her picture, making her pout. "What? You never get your picture taken and as gorgeous as you are, you need your picture taken." Scarlet rolled her eyes and went to take her camera back but Alex held it from her reach. "Take a picture with me." He put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him and held the camera out to Rian who took it and pointed at the two who had leaned together and were smiling. After the picture was taken, Rian handed Scarlet her camera back who put it away as their food showed up.

After they all ate and paid for their food they ventured back onto the bus, everyone going off to do their own thing. Scarlet went to the back lounge and pulled out her phone, quickly dialing Sam's number and waiting for her to answer.

"Hey, Scar!" Sam answered happily after about 3 rings.

"Hey, Sam. How are things?" Scarlet brought her legs up underneath her and fell over so she was laying down on the couch, her head resting on the pillow that Alex used to sleep at night, making his smell waft around her, putting a smile on her face.

"Things are great. Been really enjoying work. Haven't really done anything lately, seeing as my best friend is off touring the world having fun. Where are you guys right now anyway?"

"We are currently en route to Tuscan Arizona. The guys have a show tomorrow. We're staying in a hotel tonight."

"That's cool. You getting good photos?" Sam questioned her best friend who smiled, thinking of the pictures she had taken at dinner.

"Yeah, I am." She answered right as the door to the back area opened and in walked Alex who smiled at Scarlet but didn't say anything when he saw that she was on the phone. "Alex just walked in actually." Scarlet said as Alex came over to her and gestured for her to sit up, she did so but as soon as he sat down, she put her head back in his lap, smiling up at him.

"Oh, really? How are things with him? You guys fuck yet?" Alex who had heard what she said laughed while Scarlet gasped.

"Samantha! No!" Sam laughed.

"In time, I just know it. So much sexual tension, I can basically feel it through the phone." Scarlet rolled her eyes as Alex began to play with her long brunette hair, a smile still on his lips.

"There is nothing, Samantha, we are just friends." Scarlet protested.

"Yeah, okay." Sam answered sarcastically. "Let me guess, right now you guys are in some way touching. Whether it be hands, arms, legs, or your sitting on him or something."

"Um... well..... I..i-"

"Exactly. And when you guys go out somewhere, you are always together. He gives you these little smirks while he is on stage and your taking pictures. I'm sure you have more pictures of him on your camera than you do of anyone else from the band or crew."

"That doesn't mean we are going to screw each other, Sam. It means we are friends." Samantha laughed loudly.

"Yeah. Okay. Listen, I have to go but you have fun being 'friends' with Alex. Call me later." And with that she was gone, leaving Scarlet in silence with Alex.

"Umm. Yeah, I'm just going to go see what the guys are up to." Scarlet said as she sat up. She smiled softly at Alex who just stared at her, didn't smile back or anything. Scarlet quickly left the small room, venturing out into the living room.

"What did you and Gaskank get up to, hm?" Jack questioned, raising his eyebrows at Scarlet, and smirking at her. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Nothing. We didn't do anything, and we never will. Why does everyone keep suggesting that?" Scarlet asked defensively, making everyone stare at her and raise their eyebrows at her.

"Yeah, we don't like each other like that." Alex said as he walked into the room and walked over to the fridge, pulling out a beer and popping it open, taking a large drink of it. "Now who says that after we get checked into the hotel later we go out and fuck shit up at a club?" Everyone got over their momentary confusion at their attitudes towards the joke and nodded, starting to chat about tonight.
Scarlet continued to stand off to the side, her arms still crossed over her chest until she looked up and met Alex's eyes. He gave her small ghost of a smile, took another drink of his beer before turning around and going to talk with Jack.