Lines Are Crossed

“Will you two please cut the PDA?” Jack grumbled as he passed through the front lounge when he returned to the bus after the second show of the tour.

Elena hid her face in Alex’s chest as he smirked at his best friend. “You know,” he started playfully. “You’re the one who wanted us back together so bad. The least you can do is stand a little PDA.”

“If it was only a little, I wouldn’t be complaining,” he mumbled, frustrated. “You two haven’t separated since we hopped on the bus in L.A.” Jack shook his head as he rummaged through the mini fridge for an after show snack.

“He’s just sour ‘cause he doesn’t have anyone to love on,” Alex not so discreetly whispered to Elena, earning a small smile from the girl.

“No, I’m not,” Jack protested as he disappeared into his bunk without any food.

“He’s right, you know,” Rian spoke up as he took a seat across from the couple. “Now don’t get me wrong, I love having you around Elena—Alex sure is a lot easier to be around with you here.” Elena snuck a glance at Alex as he smiled faintly. “But, you tend to be a little too hands-y. Maybe you should keep the majority of it behind close doors. Or, er, curtains.”

Alex couldn’t help but laugh while Elena’s cheeks flamed as she furrowed deeper into his side. “We’ll try, man.”

**

“You’ve reached Jack. I’m either busy jacking off—‘cause you know, that’s my name—or I’m ignoring you. Not that it matters. Leave some love!” Jack’s voice played over the phone.

Marla groaned, having received Jack’s voicemail for the umpteenth time. When the phone beeped, she sighed before leaving the same message she had been for the past three days, “Hey, Jack. It’s just me. I miss you. Call me back, please.” She tossed the phone onto her pillow as she flopped down on the bed backwards. Why is he not answering any of my calls? She thought.

A couple hundred miles away, on a bus traveling from one state to the next, Jack stared at his phone as the flashing picture of Marla was replaced with a missed call notification.

He closed his eyes. The beginning of tour was always the hardest for him. It was that period when he was trying to separate his home life—girlfriend, family, and friends—and his tour life—late nights, parties, and this time, his little sister.

He had never outright ignored Marla’s call before, but he was having a difficult time dealing with their separation. It didn’t usually take this much of a toll on him. But Alex having his girlfriend—Jack’s baby sister—on tour made him homesick and yearning for a cuddle buddy of his own.

**

Marla ran a shaky hand through her still wet hair, as she not so subtly changed the subject as she chatted with her best friend. “Do you know why Jack hasn’t been answering his phone?” she asked bluntly.

“Uh, no?” Elena responded in a hushed tone, caught off guard by not only the subject change but also the question. She hadn’t known that her brother wasn’t getting his girlfriend’s calls. “Should I?”

“I don’t know. I just… You’d tell me if something was going on, right?”

Elena could hear the catch in her best friend’s voice, her eyebrows pulling together as she thought over the reason. “Yeah,” she answered slowly, unsurely. “You think something’s wrong?”

Marla shrugged, though she knew Elena couldn’t see. “I don’t know. I guess…I hope not.”

Elena laughed uncomfortably. “Yeah, me, too.”

“Lee? What are you doing up?” Alex asked gruffly in Elena’s ear, his voice rough from sleep. His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her into his chest as they lay in their bunk.

“I’m talking to Marla,” she whispered in response, holding the phone away from her mouth as Alex nibbled on her neck. She smiled as she asked him to stop. “Mar, I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you later.” She hung up the phone, not waiting for a response from her best friend. “You are so distracting. You know that?” She giggled as she turned in Alex’s arms, a smirk on her lips.

“I try.” Alex’s responding smirk was breathtaking as it lit up his face. “Now come back to bed with me,” he urged, nuzzling his face in her neck. The subtle stubble on his chin scratched at the soft skin of her shoulder and she let out an involuntary moan.

While the pair was wrapped up in each other’s arms, Jack sat up alone in the back lounge. The only body awake on the small bus, he occupied himself with the newest video game in the bands’ collective set, trying to drown out the sounds of his little sister and his best friend.

Frustrated with the game he was losing because he couldn’t make himself focus, thoughts of Marla swirling around in his head, he threw the controller onto the floor and his head back against the couch. Letting out a sound of irritation, he let his girlfriend overtake his mind.

With his eyes closed, he could feel his reaction to the mere thought of the girl he had dated since high school. Thinking it was safe; Jack decided to take care of the problem growing between his legs, more than confidant that the only two people awake aside from him were too caught up in their own pleasure to hear Jack’s lone escapades.

He palmed his erection through his jeans, his head still thrown against the top of the couch. He hummed at the friction his shorts created between his hand and the flesh beneath. Unsatisfied, he slipped his hand under the elastic waistband of his basketball shorts and had to hold back a moan at the skin on skin contact.

Though he would admit that this was nowhere near as good as the real thing—the images floating in his head—he knew this was the best he would get tonight. So without another thought, he provided the release he had been waiting for the past few days, all the while, Marla never leaving his mind.