Six Feet Under the Stars

Furious honking alerted me to a taxi almost clipping my side.

In my daze, I hadn't even noticed the approaching vehicle. The driver flicked me off and was no doubt cursing up a storm in the automobile as it whizzed by me. My heart rate picked up and the cloud that had resettled over Alex's eyes vanished for a few seconds. The thick silence over took us again which reinstated the phrase 'silence is louder than words'. David Gilmour sure as hell knew what he was talking about.

The streets were bustling even in the early morning hours and a couple shouted angrily outside of their apartment hurling insults back and forth with waving arms. A man on a motorcycle zoomed with the driver's long gray ponytail trailing like a cloak behind him. Streets light changed in a constant array of colors almost like a cheap fireworks show.

Once back inside the upstairs hotel room, Jack he tackled me squeezing me in half with his arms. "Oh God. I thought you were dead, thrown in a trash bin somewhere."

Alex stormily chucked his keys over towards the coffee table but ended up overshooting and crashing into the sliding balcony door with a bang like a gun shot. Not even batting an eye, he stayed to his course and slammed his bedroom door with a reverberating sound. Frowning, I tried to pull my thoughts away from the singer, "Yeah. I'm sorry about leaving you earlier. The fans were just getting a little much."

Jack shrugged, "Understandable."

"Did you ever give them tickets?"

"Hell yeah, I did."

Head distracted with Alex, I laughed without my usual zeal, "Jack Barakat; what a hero."

"Saving the day." He grinned widely and scanned the room for his best friend. "Where'd Alex go?"

"In his room." Slowly, I moved from his arms but our proximity remained close.

"He probably needs to reboot; he flipped his shit earlier." Jack told me softly while raking a hand through his already disheveled hair.

"Because of Caitlyn?" I questioned.

A strange looked crossed his face, "No, because of you. I swear, he nearly had a heart attack earlier when he found out I sort of lost you in Seattle."

"I'm surprised he forgot about Caitlyn long enough to remember me." I said dryly.

"Give him more credit than that. He cares about both of you. Maybe you should go talk to him and see what's happening inside his head. For Alex, that might not be a lot." Jack winked playfully. "Come on." He prodded me towards Alex's bedroom door.

Hesitantly, I knocked on the wood and heard a muffled 'Come in' from the outside. The door swung open slowly and I opened a slot wide enough for me to slip through before shutting it firmly again. Alex was only a silhouette backdropped by the night sky and city skyline. So close to dawn, the darkness was just beginning to lighten to a brighter sapphire.

Breathing out a long breath to relieve some stress, I wearily placed my hands on my hips and felt limp. I wanted all the feuding between Alex and I to end. My mind ouldn't handle all the drama lately and was getting dangerously close to overload. Waiting for me to speak, Alex looked at me expectantly until I said, "Thanks for getting me from the city. I didn't realize Patrick was such an asshole."

Nonchalantly, he gave a shrug. "Shit happens."

I swung my arms back and forth and dove right into the sticky subject. "So, did you talk to Caitlyn?"

Nodding, Alex turned his eyes back to the sights out the hotel window, "For a while. She's doing alright. And," he paused a moment, "I think she's going to take a flight out here to see me before she gets too far in the pregnancy."

"Oh." I cleared my throat. "Well, that'll be nice."

"You don't have to bullshit me."

"I mean, it will be. For you." It was very hard to stay on the high road.

"I'm tired of this weird shit between us." Alex admitted out of the blue. Late nights always made the truth flow as quickly as beer at a frat party. "I'm not trying to downplay what we have. And shit, I do want to start something with you but there's just so much bullshit to think through."

Uninvited, I took a seat on the edge of the bed. "I understand that and you can take your time. Just know that while I'm waiting for your answer, I'm going to be having fun and meeting people."

His eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to threaten me or something?"

"No." I replied taken aback. "That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just making sure I don't lose my mind worrying about details all the time."

"Okay." Alex said slowly. "And that apparently includes going out places with my best friend in my place. That's a little fucked up on both your sides."

"Hey," I began defensively, "Jack and I are just friends. I don't know what obsession you have with us fooing around or whatever behind your back but nothing is going on. I don't even know where you get those ideas."

"I mean, it's pretty obvious. You're always laughing and talking with him. Hell, it's like you two just click on some crazy level. And the other day I heard someone commenting on what a great couple you two were. So I'm not just going crazy."

Curiously my mind tried to embrace the idea of dating Jack. In all honestly, it didn't sound too bad at all though I had never imagined it before. It was interesting how an idea like that can get stuck in someone's mind when pointed out by another person. Slowly, I continued, "Well, he doesn't feel like that about me so it won't happen."

Alex only raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you say."

I sighed loudly, "When will you stop?"

"Me? It's not me." He denied coming up in front of me.

"I forgot. It never is you. I'm just so terrible." I glared at Alex and stood up to try and match his height ending up less than an inch from him. Electricity crackled between us. Huffily, I poked a finger into his chest, "Just admit it's you."

Instead of replying, Alex unexpectedly crushed his mouth to mine. Fire erupted between our lips the way sparks fly when denied some great pleasure for too long. Hungrily, I pulled his face closer and yanked his hair relasing a moan from the back of my throat. Before I knew it, Alex was fingering the dress strap that had slipped down my shoulder. With teasing fingers, he skimmed against my skin causing goose bumps to rise.

When he moved to my neck, I summoned some willpower, "Don't kiss me."

Alex scoffed against my skin, "That's not what you were just moaning."

Unrelentlessly, his mouth nibbled gently on sensitive skin against my jawline, then toyed with my earlobe causing me to groan out loud again. I half-heartedly pushed against his shoulder but Alex didn't release me from his touch and honestly I didn't want him to. After a few more moments of bliss, I finally pulled away. "Okay." His mouth moved towards mine but I stopped them with my fingers and looked into his eyes repeating, "Okay."

Alex licked my fingers playfully, "Melanie..."

"I'm serious." I tried to cement my resolve before it cracked.

Sighing, Alex threw himself on the bed and faced the bland ceiling. "I want you."

"Just for tonight. This is all just lust and sexual feelings built up. I don't want to sleep with you again until one of us knows what's really going on." I told him staring down at his immobile figure.

"Fair enough." Alex sounded like he wasn't going to back down so easy.

Without another word, I left the man to his thoughts and quietly exited the room with my temperature ratchetted up a few more degress from Alex's kiss. When I caught sight of Jack dozing on the couch, a strange reaction occured; I thought of him in a way I never had before.

Maybe it was partly because of Alex's earlier words and another half the kindness he had showed me over the past few days. But as I took in his ruffled hair and dream-laden face, the seeds of something curious began to take root. And for the first time, however distantly, I could picture Jack as something more.