Six Feet Under the Stars

It was raining outside.

At least that's what it sounded to my fuddled mind. It felt like years since I had opened my eyes and it took a lot of strength for me to pry my eyelids apart. Once I did, I immediately realized it was a mistake; the glow from the lamp seemed to be as intense as the sun's rays. I groaned and shut my eyes welcoming the darkness again.

Laying in Jack's bed, I realized that sooner or later I was going to have to get up and face the hangover that was looming over my head like a storm cloud. The thunder and sharp lightning was definitely raging on somewhere in the back of my skull. The steady pain was evidence of that.

Tossing an arm over my eyes, I rolled over on my side away from the balcony window to cut back on the streaming light filtering in through the sheer curtains. I mentally counted to sixty a few times as way of time motivation to yank myself out of the daze I was in.

The rain outside pattered to a surprisingly abrupt stop and that was the factor that forced me out of the warm sheets. I stood up and stretched like a cat before carefully making the bed I had just rested on. The headache pulsed menacingly and I tried to ignore it while I completed the easy task. I ran a hand through my hair and could feel it sticking up.

I must look like the bride of Frankenstein. Better to fix the mess now than deal with it later when I was even more cranky with the growing migraine. Padding over the soft carpet, I picked a lonely comb off of a bureau and figured Jack wouldn't mind if I borrowed it. Opening the bathroom door, I quickly skipped inside and slammed into a slick body.

"What the--"

"Oh my God."

"Melanie, what are you--"

"I didn't know you were--"

"--doing in here?"

Covering my eyes, I tried to rinse out the image of Jack's naked body from my mind but to no avail. It wasn't rain I had heard outside; it had been him showering in the connected room. Flushing pink, I kept my eyes averted and focused on the completely foggy clock hanging on the bathroom wall. "I'll just, uh... wait outside." I spoke lamely retreating eagerly from the bathroom and back into the bed where I covered myself in the sheets I had just folded.

After a minute of movement, Jack entered his bedroom fully clothed and stood across the room from me towel drying his hair with a smile on his face, "You should really knock."

"Well, next time I will. I didn't think you were in there." I tried to explain desperately while fiddling with the chain around my neck.

He laughed easily, "Calm down. I mean, I'm sure it's nothing you haven't seen before."

"Shit, sorry."

"It's fine. Really." Jack told me and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm dressed now so there's nothing to worry about. I was just about to wake you up anyway. We're all ready to load the buses."

"Did I sleep that long?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"I would have woken you sooner but you really needed to sleep off some of that vodka. You kind of went crazy with it earlier."

"Yeah," I began dryly, "I definitely am feeling its effects."

"Like I said, I'll make you that hangover cure once we get settled on the bus. Really, I should become a chef or something." Jack grinned at the thought.

"Specializing in hangover cures. The whole world would go crazy for that cookbook." I grinned tiredly from the pounding heachache, "Seriously Martha Stewart material."

"That's actually not a bad idea." The wheels in his head began to pedal.

I laughed at his serious expression. "Come on, Chef Barakat. Let's get to the buses so they don't leave the two of us stragglers behind."

"That's probably smart." He replied while grabbing a suitcase from off the ground that was stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey.

A random thought popped into my mind. "Whatever happened to that party? Was there a big mess to clean up?"

Jack chuckled deviously at the memory and raked a hand through his damp hair. "Hotel management finally broke it up. Apparently they could hear people jumping on the bed even down in the lobby."

"That has to be a new record."

"I'm counting on it." said Jack while motioning with a hand for me to follow him out of the door and into the hall. "I have my hopes set high that it'll be a world record."

Before we could set foot in the elevators, Alex turned the corner looking worried and intercepted us. His eyes lit up when he caught sight of me, "Melanie! I've been looking all over for you. I was about to file a missing persons report."

My heart squeezed in a mixture of excitement and sadness when I saw him. Here he was, smiling and joking right before me talking with those same lips which had kissed another girl. He was behaving as if it didn't happen at all. The least he owed me was some sort of explanation. But then I wondered if he even did; technically we weren't together, so in the end Alex didn't really owe me anything. His actions were just a low blow and something I had thought he was above.

Shrugging nonchalantly, I made my voice uninterested, "Well, you found me."

The blatant shun took Alex off guard and his face momentarily flashed with hurt. He concelaed the extra emotions quickly and shot a questioning glance at Jack. Then something clicked in his mind and he looked in between Jack and I suspiciously a few times. All he said though was, "Yeah. Are you guys ready to head out? Everyone's waiting."

"Shit, we better hurry." Jack said taking off down the hall with Alex and I trailing behind him at a reasonable distance.

"Are you still riding in the band bus?" Alex asked with an attempt at normal conversation. He was putting his feelers out, trying to figure out what was bothering me.

When choosing between Dorian's abusive ways and Alex's petty behavior, I chose the latter. "Yeah, I'm still riding with you guys."

"Up for some more poker?" Looking down at me, he winked, "I think you can win this time."

I kept my voice and expression completely neutral. "Maybe."

"Guys, come on." Jack called from the elevator. He was already inside and keeping one leg across the doorway to keep the path open in time for us to enter.

Looking frustrated at me, Alex replied to him, "We'll catch the next one."

Quickly, I said, "I'm not in the mood to talk. I'm pissed at you and I have a killer hangover. If you know what's best, you'll leave me alone."

Jack let the elevator doors slide closed and the last visible thing was his wary expression. Alex's eyebrows scrunched together, "Why are you pissed at me?"

I laughed without humor. "Do I have to spell everything out for you?" Marching up to the control buttons, I hit the designated down arrow multiple times hoping to speed the vehicle on its way.

"I'm not sure what's happening right now." Alex admitted confused. "Is this about what happened earlier in the elevator? Listen, I know I was getting intense but it's hard to be around you and not want to--."

"I don't want to talk." I cut him off frantically and folded my arms across my chest.

Alex stood next to me in tense silence as the elevator doors dinged open before us. We entered and moved to opposite ends of the box. All the way down we either shot glares or huffed heavy breaths of annoyance. It was a little immature on both of our sides but at the moment I honestly didn't care. I was angry and he was just going to have to deal with it.

When Alex and I caught back up with Jack in the lobby, the three of us easily found the tour buses parks inconspicuously in the back parking lot under a streetlight. We trudged up the metal stairs which clanked under our shoes and felt like time had reversed.

Zack and Rian were sitting at the table playing cards, something they seemed to do endlessly on the tour bus. I didn't want to know what was in the pot to win for this game. From a glance it looked like a pair of Aviators and a slingshot. Nodding a greeting to them, I found a comfy corner by myself to curl up in, hoping to get some more rest.

I hated being in a terrible mood, but the past events of the night didn't bode well for me being happy. There had been too much drama, too many things to think about. And some I wished to forget about to make things easier for my mind. Seeing Jack naked almost topped that list.

After the buses got rolling, I noticed Alex pull Jack aside. The best friends looked like they were having a tense conversation. It wasn't a fight but it just didn't look like a pleasant talk either. Jack constantly was shaking his head back and forth and Alex's hand motions got more and more animated as the minutes passed.

A few times his hands would point in my direction and I could swear I could read 'Melanie' coming off of his lips. The fact that he was talking about me less than twenty feet from me just made my anger boil faster.

After a while, Jack crossed the span of space between us. He stood in front of me and watched my angry face for a few moments as if he was hoping the worst would pass while he stalled for the storm to blow over. I didn't give him the chance. "What's Alex's problem?" I demanded barely caring to keep my voice at a low volume.

"I'm going to be brutally honest with you so prepare yourself." Stroking his chin thoughtfully, Jack heaved a sigh. "Apparently he's convinced that you and I had hot sex over every surface of my hotel room."