Nothing Personal

“Aleeeeeeex! We’re going to be late!” Jack whined as he opened the door to the bathroom not caring if Alex as actually using it or not.

Thankfully he was just doing his hair so it wasn’t as if Jack walked in on him peeing or anything. Not that it matter though, they had all seen each other naked on a regular basis. “Hurry up, I don’t want to deal with the wrath of Flyzik when he see’s us come in late.”

“Just give me a few more seconds. It’s not like Flyzik doesn’t already know we’re late. It’s probably quiet in the dressing room right now. He’s got to know that we’re not there.” Alex replied as he finished pulling the straightener through his hair. Jack just shrugged as he turned to go back to whatever he was doing before he had come to tell Alex to hurry up.

When he finally finished getting ready, he grabbed his phone and followed Jack outside. There was already a line starting in front of the venue where they would be playing that night in Minnesota, and when some of the girls saw them come out they started screaming. They both just waved and smile to them as they walked past needed to get inside before Flyzik chopped them into tiny pieces.

“Oh look, the diva’s have arrived. Thank you for gracing us with your presence.” Vinny teased as they walked into the dressing room. “FLYZIK! THEY’RE HERE!”

“About God damn time,” Flyzik said as Alex shot Vinny a dirty look and shrugged saying that Flyzik forced him to.

Grabbing a bottle of water, Alex wedged himself between Vinny and Zack on the couch and listened as the two went back and forth on whatever they were talking about. But really, he could care less. He was too busy listening to Zo as she tried to find the shirt she was looking for in her bag. It was quite funny to hear her freaking out so much about it.

He had barely talked to her the whole day and whenever he did get a glimpse of what she was thinking, she was too busy singing on the top of her lungs and trying to get her mind off of everything that had been going on in her life. So he decide to leave her be. She needed to get her mind off things and one of the best ways for her was to listen to music.

So he had entertained himself for the day by talking with Jack and playing some video games. He was really the only person who really played video games in the band, sure the others would play when they were really bored, but he was the soul gamer of the band. Whenever he had nothing to do he would just sit in front of the tv playing.

From what he could tell though, Zo was on some sort of road trip with Penny and they had been blasting the music playing their newest cd the entire way. It was sort of annoying but Alex just blocked it out. Zo needed the distraction and if their music gave it to her, then he wasn’t going to complain, much.

Zooey was currently saying something about how it had felt like forever since she talked to him and he just rolled his eyes. The reason they hadn’t talked was because he was giving her some space and wanted her to have some fun on her random road trip instead of talking to the voice in her head the entire time.

*It’s only been a few hours Zo,* he replied.

*Yeah well it feels longer. You try dealing with a very hyper Penny in a small car for a hour.* She muttered. Alex sighed, he could only imagine what that would be like. And from what Zooey had told him about Penny, it seemed like that was a nightmare.

*Oh yeah, that doesn’t sound very-* he started to reply but then something happened. Something strange. It was if he had been listening to music on a stereo as background noise and someone yanked the plug out and it stopped suddenly.

That’s what it was like having Zooey in his head. Her thoughts were constant background noise that he had gotten so used to. But now, for some reason it was gone. Zooey’s thoughts had just vanished.

*Zo? Zooey? Can you hear me?* Alex asked trying to figure out what was going on. But he got no response.

“You ok dude?” Jack asked as he continued to try and get Zooey back. He must have had a really weird look on his face since Jack was in his serious mode and watching his every move.

Alex cleared his throat and tried to calm himself down. “Um yeah, fine. I just got this headache out of nowhere.”

“You sure?” Jack asked giving Alex a look saying not to mess with him. Alex just ignored the look and assured him that he was ok.

“Ok guys!” Flyzik said as he suddenly walked into the room. Everyone looked up as he began talking about the concert that night. They only had about a hour before the first band went on and then another two and half until they were on.

Alex stood and began getting ready. At the moment he was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a old t-shirt from high school. So it was obvious that he needed to change before they went on stage. Not that the crowd wouldn’t mind but it was tradition to wear a Glamour Kills shirt on stage, and he planned on keeping up on that.

Grabbing a random shirt and really not caring which one it was that day, he headed to the bathroom to change and fix his hair if needed. While he changed, he couldn’t help but keep trying to find out what happened to Zo. He was almost tempted to call her. He couldn’t lose her. She was his best friend and he would feel horrible if this was somehow permanent, especially when everything was happening with Do.

He didn’t know how he was going to get used to her not being in his head at every moment of every day. He was so used to her constant babble, be it about homework, complaining about her family, or any other thing she could think of. She made him laugh and was even beginning to accept the feelings he was having for her.

It would really suck if that was it and he didn’t even have a chance to tell her what he really felt about her. But at least they had exchanged numbers. Wow, that didn’t sound creepy at all…. He was going to have to call her and see what was going on later that night when they finally finished their set.

The distant noise of drums and guitars came into the bathroom where he was changing as the first band started to play. Finishing changing, he went out to the sinks and checked his hair to make sure that it was still ok. The door to the bathroom opened and he glanced to the right through the mirror to see Jack walk in.

“Hey,” Alex said quietly when they made eye contact. Jack just nodded his head in reply as he disappeared into a stall and shut the door.

“So what’s up with you?” Alex heard Jack say as he was about to grab his things and leave. But he really didn’t want to and so set his stuff back down and hopped up onto the counter and stared at the closed door of Jack’s stall.

Alex hesitated, wondering if he should actually tell Jack about Zo. Would it be something smart to do? Or would it be better to just not say anything about it.

Before Alex even tried to make a decision, Jack continued. “Is this about Zooey?”

Alex nearly fell of the counter. “Wh-what? How do you know about Zo?” He asked in a panicked voice.

Jack laughed, “I’ve known for a while Alex.”

“How?”

“You were drunk and told me.”

“How could I have been drunker than you were?” They were all partiers, but Jack was the worst of them all. It was strange to think that Jack at one point had been more sober than Alex.

“Two years ago, when Sara, well you know,” Jack said quietly.

Oh. That made sense.

Sara had been Alex’s girlfriend for nearly three years. But two years ago she had suddenly up and dumped him for no apparent reason and Alex had been a wreck. They had been really serious and Alex honestly had thought that she was the one. He had even been thinking about buying a ring and everything. But after the sudden announcement that she was breaking up with him, over the phone while he was one tour nonetheless, had nearly killed him.

He started drinking horribly that night and didn’t remember much of what happened. But he did remember that Jack had kicked the rest of the guys off the bus and stayed with him all night trying to help get him through it. He and Zo both had been really worried about him the next few days, but after that night he had pulled himself together and made himself realize what great friends he had.

He honestly didn’t even know how he would have gotten through that without Jack and Zo. He honestly didn’t even know if he would have been alive. That’s how bad that night had been. But that was two years ago and he was a different man.

“So you’ve known this whole time and didn’t say anything?” Alex asked shakily as Jack just snorted as he walked out of the stall wearing one of his JAGK shirts and skinny jeans.

“I wanted you to be the one to bring it up again. But I highly doubt you even remembered you told me before then. But I wanted you to be the one to tell me, again.” Jack replied.

Alex sighed, “and why the hell did you believe me?”

“I don’t know. At first I just thought it was the alcohol talking. But then something in your eyes told me otherwise. Besides, you told her to call you and she had because she was that worried about you. Then you played the number trick with her where you told me to put up as many fingers as I wanted and all I did was flip you off in return then she started laughing at the fact that I flipped you off.”

Jack shrugged, “she didn’t know that she was on speaker and somehow you kept that from her in your drunken state. But after that I realized that you had been right. It actually explains everything. You randomly spacing out, the sudden bursts of laughter and groans and such.”

“It’s that obvious huh?” Alex laughed as Jack nodded.

“So what’s going on? Is Zooey ok?”

Alex looked up to his best friend, “I don’t know. I was talking to her one second and then the next she wasn’t there. It was like she had never been there. Four years of living with a voice in my head and now utter silence. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“She’s just gone?” Jack asked and Alex nodded. He caught the hint of worry on Jack’s face and knew what he was thinking.

“Jack this is not going to turn into another Sara incident. I have her number. If I don’t figure this out by tonight after the show I’m going to call her.” Jack just laughed and agreed with him squeezing his shoulder and telling him everything was going to be alright.

And Alex honestly believed him.

They went back to the dressing room and Alex continued to try and get Zo but yet again, nothing happened. Then it was their turn to play. They walked to the side stage and grabbed their things before heading out and beginning to play. And like every other show, their set seemed so much shorter than it really was and before Alex knew it, they were playing the last notes of Dear Maria.

Going back to the dressing room, Alex quickly changed and went back out to the room with Jack to go talk to some of the fans. Jack kept asking to see if he had talked to Zo but the answer was still no. They were both standing there watching people pass by and chatting to themselves when Alex saw a girl walking toward them.

“Um hi,” the girl said as Alex looked at her closely and nearly passed out. It was Zo. She was standing there in front of him playing with the necklace he had given her and wearing the same shirt she had been looking for earlier.

“Zo,” Alex breathed and both Zooey and Jack stared at her. He noticed that she had a shocked and freaked out look on her face and Jack was just looking back and for the between them like it was the most interesting thing ever.

Zo gaped at him for a few more moments before rearranging her expressions into a look of annoyance. “What did you call me? How do you know my name?”

“I can’t believe it’s you. Zo it’s me Alex. The guy that talks to you in your head.” Alex explained as she just rolled her eyes.

“This isn’t funny,”

“No it’s not, because it’s completely true. I gave you that necklace.” He pointed to the necklace she was still playing with. She instantly dropped her hand and glared at him.

Then without saying anything, she just turned on her heel and began walking away from them. Alex tried calling her name for her to come back but she just ignored him. He tried talking to her in his head again but it still wasn’t working.

“That’s Zo?” Jack asked as Alex just nodded. He was still in a daze. He had just seen Zo in person.

“What just happened?” Alex asked as he turned to Jack and saw the annoyed look on his face.

“Zo just left,” Jack replied as he looked to his best friend.

“What do I do?”

“Go after her dumbass!”

Then without thinking about anything else, he took off. Running as fast as he could past all the people who called his name. All he cared about was finding Zo.