Nothing Personal

“Hey! Alex! Where’s the syrup?” Jack yelled as Alex rolled over and groaned burying his head in his pillow.

“Dude, you practically live here, you should know where it is by now.” Alex grumbled back as he sat up from where he had been lying on the couch and winced as he felt the pounding in his head.

How the hell was Jack this loud in the morning, much less coherent? He had drunk just as much as he had last night. It had been the last day before tour party anyway with all their families, so of course it was kind of over the top.

“Found it!” Alex felt the world tip as he stood and stretched before making his way into the kitchen to see how bad Jack had messed it up. But thankfully, when he got there, he found that his friend had only made toaster waffles and the kitchen was still intact.

He sat at one of the bar stools and grabbed the bottle of Aspirin that was still on the counter from the night before and washed the pills down with a swig of flat soda. Jack set a plate of waffles in front of him and he mumbled thanks before putting butter and syrup on them and beginning to eat.

“Rian should be here to pick us up in like twenty minutes.” Jack announced with food in his mouth. Alex just rolled his eyes as he swallowed his current bite.

“You couldn’t have given me more of a heads up? It’s your fault if we’re late.” He muttered as he quickly finished his food before disappearing into his bedroom.

Thankfully, he was already packed so all he really needed to do was shower and get the last little bits that he couldn’t back earlier, like his toothbrush and deodorant, in the bag after he was finished. Grabbing a Glamour Kills shirt and a pair of skinny jeans, he went into the bathroom that was next to his room and got a quick shower.

As he was coming out of the shower, he saw Jack brushing his teeth at the sink and rolled his eyes as he wrapped a towel around his waist. He playfully shoved Jack over so he could blow dry his hair while Jack continued his usual morning routine and then began to straighten it. Once it was styled, he went to get dressed and finished packing.

By the time Jack was yelling that the rest of the boys were there, he was just zipping up his bag. He slung it over his shoulder and grabbed his jacket and shoes before heading to the living room to put them on quick before heading outside. The bus was parked in the lot with the trailer attached and Rian and Zack were hanging out the open windows yelling at them.

“I’m going to laugh if you two fall out of the window,” Alex said as he passed them and headed toward the door. They just laughed and came back inside and the other two climbed the steps and into the bus. Finding a bunk, they shoved their things in before joining the rest of the band in the main part where the kitchenette and couch was so that they could talk.

Their bus driver, Tom, introduced himself before beginning their drive through the country for the tour of their new CD release. Their newest album had taken them about two years to make since they hadn’t written while they were touring for that one so it had taken longer. But now that it was out, it was time to start touring and having some fun going out of the country again after this tour.

Thankfully, their first show was in Maryland so they didn’t have to travel far, but they had already started to party again. They had opened some beer, but on some music and Jack was already doing something stupid. It was something normal for them to get hyped up for a show, but when Alex really thought about it, no matter if alcohol was involved or not, this group was always doing something stupid and crazy.

Alex took a long drink from his beer as he turned his computer on and waited for it to start up. He could hear the distant murmur of Zooey trying to get the best angel of the pictures she was taking. She was a great photographer and was in the photography club at her school to take pictures of events and things for the school news paper. And after everything that had happened with Do, she was behind on her things and was working on trying to get the photos that needed to be taken.

It had already been about three days since Do had been taken to the hospital and he had just been released the day before. The doctors had said that they still needed to get the results from the tests they had done and because he was stable and otherwise in good health besides what had happened at school, he could go home.

But her had to stay home from school so Zo, Colter, and their mom was taking turns taking off to stay with them. Or if all else failed, they had to get a babysitter. Alex felt horrible for not being able to do something. At a few times, he had almost packed up his stuff and head out to Minnesota to help anyway he could. But he knew that it would be weird for a random stranger to show up at their door and leave in Alex’s care while the other three were at school or at work.

Besides, Alex couldn’t just up and leave the rest of the band. He had to stay with them and if he left, they wouldn’t be able to tour. So he would disappoint everyone there if he had left with no reason. But he still felt horrible about not being able to do anything.

*Hey Alex, I’ve got a-* Zooey said suddenly just as Jack’s but came into Alex’s face. He laughed and pushed his friend away as he pretended to do something on the computer. *Oh that was a lovely image,* she muttered. Oops. He must have accidently shown her what was happening in his mind.

*Yeah, see what I have to deal with? It’s horrible.*

*Oh yes, you have such a hard life.* She muttered sarcastically.

*So what do you need?* He asked trying to get her off of the Jack subject since he didn’t want to slip up and have her realize who he was.

*Right, anyway so I don’t know which shot is better.* She replied as she began to show him images through her mind’s eye. They were three pictures of the same flower only at different angles and zoom rates.

*Um, I like the middle one the best,* she showed him the one and he smiled. *Yeah it’s pretty. Gets more of the surrounding area too besides the flower itself. You know you and my friend Zack would get along really well. He likes photography too.*

*Oh! Did I just get a glimpse at the strange life of Mr. Alex I-have-no-last-name? This is shocking.* Crap. He said too much. But hopefully she didn’t understand exactly who Zack was. From what he could tell, she didn’t even listen to their band that much. Much less know their names and what they were into.

*Yeah I thought I mind as well give you a better idea of what my life’s like. It’s a privilege so don’t take it for granted, or I won’t give anything else to you.*

*You’re an idiot,*

*Yup,* he replied as Jack started to come toward him again shaking his butt. “Don’t even think about it! Go rub that in Rian’s face. He needs a distraction from his phone. He’s always texting his girlfriend.”

“At least I have a girlfriend,” Rian replied, not bothering to glance up from his phone. “And don’t even think about it Jack, I’ve had enough of your butt for one day. I think we should cut you off from beer and sugar.”

Jack instantly started to whine and pout and Alex couldn’t help but laugh as he went back to talking to Zooey. *So any news on Do?*

She sighed, *no. I think doctors like to keep you in suspense and let you come up with every possibly horrible idea in your head before they tell you everything is fine.*

*Of course, they think they’re better than you.* He agreed.

*So back road tripping?* She asked as she began to take more pictures and he commented on a few that he liked.

*Yeah, first show’s in DC tonight. Then we’re off to conquer the world.*

At least he got a laugh out of her from that. He had noticed that she had stopped laughing lately, not that he could blame her. But whenever they talked, he tried to get her mood up a little more so that she wouldn’t be so worried all the time.

“We’re heeeeeeere!” Jack yelled a while later as the pulled up to the front of the large building they would be playing at that night. Alex had spent the whole trip talking with Zo and giving her advice on the pictures and hadn’t even realized that they were already there.

He followed the rest of them out to go check out the venue first before getting everything unpacked and set up. The manager of the place must have been waiting by the door and greeted them introducing himself and then started up a conversation with Mickey about setting up. While the two of them were busy, the rest of the boys decided to explore the venue, while they waited for the ok to start setting up for their first show.