Right Girl.

Day three and Alice was avoiding the room recording area like the plaque was being contained inside of it. Yesterday she ended up crying much like the first day and Kenny had to calm her down before letting her sit in another room since he actually had to do some work and couldn’t take her home. Alice’s goal for today was to not end up in tears but the only way that could happen is if she stays away from John.

Both times, he’d been the reason she had ended up in tears and she wasn’t sure if she could actually deal with it again. Alice knew John didn’t mean any harm and probably didn’t understand what was going on but it wasn’t like she could tell him.

Day three and John was trying to just get through the day without having Alice in the room. Don’t think he has feelings for the girl, because he doesn’t but he can’t help but feel worried whenever she isn’t in the room. His mind keeps wondering where she is and what she’s doing, wanting to just know that she’s okay. There’s something about her that has his mind spinning and she’s just so full of mystery even though he’s known her almost her whole life.

“John, focus!”

“I am, just…give me a minute.”

“You’ve had five minutes! You’ve been standing there staring at the wall.”

John shot a glare in Jared’s direction before taking a deep breath and going over the chorus of the song that he just couldn’t seem to get down. After trying a couple more times, he managed to get it and stepped out from the recording booth, heading back to the lounge area where he collapsed on Garrett’s lap, ignoring the boy’s groans and attempts to push him off.

“John, wanna go get lunch for everyone?” Kennedy asked, already standing up and heading toward the door.

“Sure, better than sitting around in here while Jared, Pat, and Garrett get their parts done.”

The boys ended up leaving the room and making their way through the halls till they stopped at a room, Kenny telling John to hold up as he walked inside the room that Alice was currently hanging out in. The brother walked over to his younger sister, pulling out her earphones and kissing the top of her head gently as he watched her fingers still roam across the keyboard of the laptop she’d brought, not wavering a single moment.

“Come on, we’re going to go out.”

Alice raised an eyebrow while still typing, asking in her way where they were going.

“We’re going to get lunch. Jared, Pat, and Garrett are working so John and I are heading out to get the food.”

This was not what Alice wanted, she needed to avoid John but both her and Kennedy knew she couldn’t stay here if he wasn’t there. It was a rule, Alice not being allowed anywhere unless Kenny was at least in the same building. It made things a lot easier for the both of them after everything that had happened. After saving her work, she stood up and followed her brother out the door, staying away from John as much as she could. It felt weird, having the feeling of wanted to turn around and look him over just to see him.

Alice stayed ahead of them, but only by a couple steps. It was another hot day in Arizona but there was a slight breeze that made walking around rather enjoyable. John couldn’t help but watch Alice, his eyes glued to her small frame which Kennedy noticed right away and wasn’t quite happy about it. He’d been friends with John enough to know his ways with girls and he always made it clear to all of his friends that Alice was off limits.

“Eyes off her John.” Kenny said quietly as they crossed a street.

“Sorry…do you think you could tell me why her voice is different? Why she’s so different?”

Kenny hesitated before shaking his head, running a hand through his hair that he’d grown out a bit. “No, that’s not something I can tell you.”

John was obviously confused, not understanding why the two were so secretive. He’d noticed they’d changed but he never really dug into it till now and he was starting to realize that if he was going to find out anything, he needed to bring multiple shovels to the playing field.

“Kennedy, can you tell me anything?” John asked quietly as they walked inside a building that Alice had run inside of.

Kenny looked at John before looking over to his sister who seemed to be reading over the menu, completely distracted from what they were talking about. Should he tell John something? He could risk Alice killing him or John wanting to know more but his friend wouldn’t ever back down if he didn’t know something.

“John, it’s complicated. I can’t tell you anything but if you really want to know, you can find out from Alice. I’m telling you now though; it’ll take a long ass time before she even gets remotely comfortable around you.”

Alice came bouncing over then, pulling on her brother’s arm so he could order for all of them. John stayed back, only voicing what he wanted to eat while he watched Alice. She was aware of the eyes on her, very uncomfortable but it wasn’t like she could yell at John or say something. He was free to look at whatever he wanted but she did wish it wasn’t her that he wanted to look at. When the food came out, they all took a bag and carried everything back so everyone could go to the lunch room and eat.

Even though Kenny had asked her to stay, Alice took her food and headed back to the room she’d been staying in earlier. Being around the guys wasn’t always a bad thing but there were some times when she just couldn’t handle it. The brunette had been eating her soup when the door opened, making her look up to see John leaning against the door frame.

“Can I come in?”

She started to shake her head but stopped herself and just nodded. Her eyes followed him as he shut the door and when to the swivel chair across from her, sipping his drink while he stared at her as well.

“I want to apologize for whatever I did yesterday and the day before. I didn’t mean to make you cry…on both occasions.”

Alice nodded to forgive him, not speaking as she ate her soup.

“It’s weird to think we used to be really close. I remember back when you were in eighth grade, you refused to leave my side and your brother was so annoyed with you.”

Alice smiled at the memory, John taking that as a good sign. It was true, that they used to be inseparable but now it was like that time never existed and John didn’t understand why. He didn’t recall ever doing something to screw it all up so really…he just wanted to know what happened. She seemed to realize this, sighing quietly before leaning back in her seat.

“You didn’t do anything.”

John jumped slightly at her voice, having not actually expected her to say anything but it was good to know she was at least willing to say something. Maybe it was a step forward?

“So then what happened?”

The brunette didn’t say anything again, just leaned forward and started tapping away at her laptop. She was researching something but she wasn’t coming up with what she wanted to know which was starting to frustrate her. John’s eyes were also annoying her. Closing the laptop forcibly, she leaned forward as she met his eyes, wanting him to just go away.

“Do you wanna go to the movies?”

Alice shook her head.

“Do you wanna get dinner later?

Alice shook her head.

“Do you wanna walk around town tonight?”

Alice shook her head.

“Do you want to go to the old park that’s near the high school?”

“Will you leave me alone if I say yes?”

“Of course.”

Alice ran and hand through her hair, thinking to herself before she nodded slowly. “Only for an hour.”

“Great, I’ll pick you up at six and we’ll walk over there.”

John left after that, a satisfied smile on his lips as he made his way back to the other and got to working even though they kept asking what he’d been doing. They didn’t really need to know; only Kennedy but he’d find out later today whenever he came to pick Alice up from their house.