I Can't Not Love You

[Alex]

Ever since the night at the bar four days ago, Jack’s been acting strange. And not the normal kind of strange that he usually is. It’s almost like he’s been trying to avoid me. The only reason I could think of for his strange behavior was that he probably felt awkward because of that kiss we’d had after coming back to the bus. He hadn’t seemed to mind when we woke up the next morning though, so why was he acting weird now?

Either way, I was trying to cheer him up today because he was being a grump. He had been staying in his bunk for the most part of the last three days, so he was grumpy now that Flyzik had dragged him out. We were in Miami today and were currently finishing up at a photo shoot for some magazine that had interviewed us.

“Jack, you look depressed. You’re supposed to look happy in these pictures,” Zack chuckled, looking at Jack beside him.

“Smile, Jack,” I teased, nudging him in the side.

“This is my smile,” Jack grumbled, leaning away from me slightly. I stuck my tongue out at him.

The photographers had us pose and do stuff for about ten more minutes until they announced that we were finally done and free to go. Jack immediately headed into the back to change into his normal clothes. The people working had given us different clothing to wear during the photo shoot.

“Sorry about Jack. He’s in a mood today,” Rian apologized to the main photographer, as we were thanking them for having us there.

“That’s alright – even so, you four are still more lively and happy than a lot of bands who stop by during tour. And at least we got a few good smiles out of him for the pictures,” the man chuckled, gesturing toward a computer screen showing some of the pictures. Rian and Zack got sidetracked and started looking at the pictures with him, so I decided to head back and change. I wasn’t really interested in looking through the pictures; I’d see them eventually.

“You disappeared quickly,” I commented as I walked into the dressing room, shutting the door behind me. Jack jumped slightly because I startled him, turning around as he was putting his belt on.

“The clothes were uncomfortable,” Jack said shortly, shrugging.

I frowned, kicking my shoes off, “What’s your issue today? You’re in such a grumpy mood.”

“Maybe if Flyzik didn’t force me out of bed...”

“Even before that, you started acting weird. What gives?” I questioned, tugging my pants off and crossing the room to grab my skinny jeans. Jack looked away from me, ignoring me and pulling his shirt over his head. “Ja-ack, tell me.”

“Nothing’s wrong, Alex. Seriously. I just need to get back into the groove of the tour,” Jack said.

“That better be all that’s bothering you. I don’t want you being a grumpy bitch all tour.” I grinned when I heard him chuckle, coming up behind him and hugging him tightly. I felt him tense up in my arms as I did so.

“Alex, get off me,” Jack whined.

“Quit being a grump and I’ll stop harassing you,” I said, pressing a playful wet kiss on his cheek and running back across the room to find my shirt.

“Gross!” Jack complained, wiping the spit off his face. I just laughed.

--------------------

Jack’s grumpy mood didn’t exactly go away, but at least he was staying out of his bunk. Zack, Jack, Rian, and I were all sitting in the back lounge later that afternoon, playing games on the Xbox and Nintendo 64. We had just finished playing a whole bunch of violent Xbox games and now we were back to playing Mario Kart, as usual. Zack was kicking our asses, just as he had in the previous games.

“Zack, stop winning!” Jack exclaimed, throwing his controller down beside him. We were in the middle of a race.

“Jack!” I complained, immediately running into his character, who was stopped in the middle of the racetrack. “Now I’m losing too!”

“Sorry,” Jack said, giggling as I glared at him. I smiled slightly, breaking my glare. I couldn’t stay mad at him, especially since that was one of the few times he had laughed today.

Rian groaned when I hit him with a shell, dropping his controller, “I give up!”

“Haha, suckers!” Zack cheered as he crossed the finish line, holding his controller up in victory. “I am the king!”

“You’re like a fucking gaming god,” I sighed in defeat, leaning back. “You beat us in every single game we played.”

“I’ve got skills,” Zack grinned, standing up to stretch.

“How do you manage to work out enough to look hot, and still manage to play video games good enough to kick our asses?” Jack whined.

“I balance the two. It’s not- wait, did you just call me hot?” Zack asked, raising an eyebrow. Rian and I both burst out laughing at the confused look on Zack’s face.

Jack laughed, “Yes, I did. Your body is sexy.”

“You definitely have a hot body. Jack’s right, you’re sexy,” I mused with a smirk.

“Nice to know?” Zack said, the statement sounding more like a question.

“Don’t worry, Zacky. I’m just pointing out that you’re hot, not hitting on you. You’re not my type,” Jack reassured him with a shrug.

“Thank god. I love you Jack, but I’m not going gay for you,” Zack said. He looked relieved.

“What’s your excuse for calling him hot, Alex?” Rian chuckled.

“I’m a whore, I call everyone hot,” I shrugged, reaching out and smacking Zack’s ass. Zack yelped, covering his ass with his hands and starting to walk out quickly.

“Too much gay in one room for me – I’m out of here!”

The rest of us just laughed, and Rian stood up to turn off the game console. “Come on, you guys. Our show starts in a little while. We should probably be heading into the venue. And no more sexually harassing Zack.”

--------------------

In the next few hours, all of us had gotten ready, done a meet and greet, and headed onto the stage. We were about halfway into our set by now and had just finished playing Jasey Rae. Zack was chugging water over near Rian while Jack and I joked around with each other.

“Jack is actually being very nice to you guys right now. He’s been a grumpy bitch for a few days!” I said to the crowd, earning some laughter.

“Shut up, Alex! You’re grumpy every morning; you can’t tease me for being grumpy for just a few days,” Jack protested, flipping me off.

“Any guy that wakes up with wood in the morning is going to be grumpy – it’s life!” I argued.

Jack rolled his eyes, “That’s your own problem.”

“Yeah, but other people could help solve it,” I smirked, thrusting my hips toward him suggestively.

“I’ll keep my hands on my own dick, thank you very much,” Jack scoffed.

“I’ll use your mouth then!” I countered, grinning.

“Jesus, Alex. If you want to fuck Jack then just tell him that,” Zack spoke up from the other side of the stage, earning cheers from the crowd because he had spoken. I was able to walk over to Jack without him immediately realizing it, putting my arms around him and leaning forward to speak into his microphone.

“Jack already knows I want him, Zack!” I said, trying to kiss Jack on the cheek again. Jack jerked out of my grasp before I could do so, leaving the crowd laughing at his reaction. I just stood there for a moment, looking at him in surprise. He just glared at me for a moment before looking away. He had never refused a hug or anything, especially on stage. Glancing at Zack, I saw that he also had a look of surprise on his face. Good, it wasn’t just me. He knows I didn’t mean it right? I was just trying to cheer him up.

Fuck, I was probably annoying the shit out of him today. He was already grumpy to begin with.

I snapped out of my thoughts and walked back to my microphone stand, pouting in defeat. “Jack hates me. Um, this next song is Poppin’ Champagne! Get your hands up!”