Take This To Heart

Jack.

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

Repeatedly.

With a large rock.

It wasn't the fact that Annie was here. It was the fact that Jules was being annoying about it, Alex was playing along, and no one seemed to give a shit about my feelings. Actually, it appeared that my entire band and crew got a real kick out of this entire situation.

Jules pretending to be best friends with Annie and making a fucking fool out of me at every chance she got was not what I needed. I doubted Annie even knew we dated, which was probably for the best, but still, I hated this. This whole business of Juliet having control of this. Fuck, she wasn't even supposed to ever know about Annie.

But there was one part of this that made me skin crawl. It was the part where Annie, for whatever reason, assumed that Alex and Jules were dating. Both of them playing along with that idea was just the icing on the cake.

"Sound check in five, bro." Matt interrupted my train of thought, patting me on the back.

I smiled slightly and nodded, walking back inside the bus and rolling my eyes at the scene before me. Annie was sitting on the couch reading a magazine and talking with Jules, who was sitting on Alex's lap with his arms wrapped around her and the stupidest smile on his stupid face. Asshole probably had a boner.

"And so then I was like 'Jack, put your clothes on, no one wants to see your dick'" but it was too late, the teachers had already come back."

Annie gasped at Jules's story. "You're kidding!"

"Nope," Alex added, looking at Jules and smiling, "so we stuffed him in the classroom closet for the rest of the period."

"Saved him from getting expelled, and probably arrested."

Annie burst out in laughter, noticing my presence and red face.

"Jackie! You never told me about the time you stripped in Chemistry."

My hand flew to my head and I let out a short laugh. "Well, uh, yeah. That was a long time ago."

"Yet he still gets naked whenever he gets a chance." Jules laughed, looking up at me. "Not much has changed, eh Jackie?"

I laughed nervously and nodded. "You could say that. Alex, wanna go to sound check?"

Alex nodded, looking up at Jules and kissing her on the cheek. "See ya, babe."

I threw up in my mouth slightly, watching as Juliet slid off of his lap and Alex followed me out the bus, Once the girls were out of hearing range, I turned to him with a puzzled look on my face.

"Alex, can we stop fucking around? Please?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't know what you mean by 'fucking' bro. Unless you're referring to you and Annie-"

"Fuck you, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You and Jules need to stop acting like a couple and making me look like a complete asshole in front of my girlfriend."

"You do that enough on your own, starting with the minute you didn't tell Jules about her."

"Then why are you guys making it worse?"

Alex shrugged. "I dunno, it's fun I guess-"

"Fun to pretend your dating Jules? Classic Alex, especially after I tell you how I'm still in love with her and all this shit-"

"Look." Alex stopped me as we stepped into the venue. "Nothing is going to happen. Jules is just trying to get under your skin a bit. And it's working, bro."

I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair. "She's jealous."

"I think it's you whose jealous."

I hit Alex slightly on the arm and dropped the conversation. I was not in the mood to fight about who was jealous and who wasn't. Hell, it was obvious Jules was the jealous party.

After sound check, I headed back to the bus and decided to take Annie out for a drink. Getting her and me away from everyone else was best right now, of course. I couldn't handle those fuckers telling her anymore stories or shit about me.

Annie was amazing, though. She was beautiful and funny and easy-going. Her and Jules were almost completely different.

"Jules and Alex are so nice."

I laughed and ordered our drinks. "Eh, they have their moments."

"No, they seem to really care about you. Is it weird having your two good friends as a couple though? They seem really close."

"They've always been close," I said truthfully. "But it doesn't bother me, never as and never will." I lied.

Annie leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "This is a lot of fun, Jackie. I wish I could stay longer."

"Wait, when are you leaving?"

"Three days."

I looked over at her and pouted. "You just got here yesterday!"

"I know, babe. But I have to work."

"I get it. "

Annie laughed and kissed me, making my lips tingle. I smiled and hugged her as she scooted her stool closer to mine, a devilish smile spreading across her face.

She leaned closer to my ear. "When does your show start?"

"About an hour."

"Well," Annie laughed, holding my hand lightly and leading me towards the bathroom, "that gives us plenty of time."

I smiled and shook my head. I was lucky to have a girl like Annie. She was amazing and practically mirrored what I wanted in a girl. But there was still something in the pit of my stomach that ate at me when I was with her. I just couldn't figure out what it was yet.



Getting off the stage, I was covered in sweat in my upper and lower body. My hears were still ringing from the music and a smile was still on my face.

"You're sweaty."

I turned and laughed as Annie handed me a towel. "Love you too."

Annie kissed me on the cheek. "I'm gonna go get us a drink. Put a new shirt on, you smell."

I watched as she walked away, sitting down on a couch and watching as the rest of my band mates passed through. Alex was headed towards the dressing room, Zack was already going to the bar, and Rian was talking to Cassadee.

It felt good to be alone for a few seconds.

But of course that didn't last.

"You look like hell."

I let out a little smile. "Back atcha Jules."

"Where's Annie?"

"Getting me a beer."

Jules nodded, pulling out a water from the fridge. "Oh, what a doll!"

"Do I sense sarcasm?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, do you Jackie?"

"Would you please stop calling me that?"

"But it's your nickname silly!"

"Not for you," I objected, "That's what Annie calls me. What ever happened to Barakat?"

Another shrug. "Not feeling it anymore."

Jules leaned against the counter as I nodded, a thousand words running through my head. If Alex wouldn't listen to me, Jules for sure would not. But it was worth a shot.

"Can you and Alex please stop? Please?"

Jules let out a laugh. "And why would we do that?"

"Cause it's giving me hell, Jules. It's mean too, Annie believes it-"

"Do not pretend this is about Annie, Jack. Because if that's what you're telling yourself, you're lying. This is about you."

I gawked at her. "Sorry I don't like my best friends fucking kissing and shit-"

"Oh give it a rest. She's leaving soon, isn't she? It's not like this is real, Jack. I'm going on another date with Byrant tomorrow-"

"Wait, you're still seeing that asshole?"

Jules rolled her eyes. "After your little display, thank god he wanted to talk me out again. He's a good guy Jack, and I think he really likes me."

"I can't believe you Jules."

"What's not to believe."

I wasn't so sure. "All of this!" was all I could come up with.

"Go fuck yourself." Juliet flicked me off, sending me off the couch and out the room before I blew up even more. God, she was annoying. Every word that came out of her mouth made me want to run my head into a wall.

I made my way over to the bar, eager to see Annie and possibly get some more action to soothe my woes.

But before I saw her blonde hair, I saw something else.

Dark hair, stupid flannel shirt, a pen in his pocket. That was Brian, or Brett, or whatever his name was. Byrant, that was it. An equally stupid name for a such a stupid person.

He was kissing a redhead, and it was pretty steamy.

Juliet's good guy was not so good. For reasons I wasn't sure of, I got a sort of comfort off of this.

Along with comfort, I got the urge to hit him across the jaw.