You Can't Shake the Noise From Their Bones

ALEX'S POV:

It was a tense ride to the airport. We would arrive in Birmingham late at night and go straight to the hotel where the guys were. Jasey would be seeing Shane, but she didn't exactly seem happy about it. I thought it was what she wanted.

'Come on sis, you're going to England! Don't you wanna at least try and enjoy yourself?' I smiled at Noah's enthusiasm to help. He'd come back from camp last week, and it had taken him no time at all to wise up on what had happened and I had to give him credit for the support he offered. Best brother of the year goes to mr Noah Gaskarth.

'Yeah,' Jasey replied. 'I just wish I didn't have to see Jack Barafuck.'

'Wow, that's a new one, good to see your education is doing you good,' Erin said.

Jasey sighed loudly. 'Look, you just don't get it. Nobody told me. Nobody. Not even Shane.'

'Nobody knew.' Erin's attempt to reason with Jasey was wasted.

'But they could have stayed at least one more day!' Jasey slumped back in her seat and said quietly, 'I never even got to say goodbye.'

Noah put his arm around his sister and we dropped the subject. The drive didn't take as long as I thought it would, mainly because there was little traffic. Noah helped me with the bags, Erin made a joke about my suitcase being bigger than Jasey's, and Jasey just stood there.

An announcement was made and it was time for us to leave.

'Bye Jase, have fun, and get me a present,' Noah demanded as he hugged his sister.

Jasey hugged him back and rolled her eyes. 'Oh please, you didn't get me anything from camp. And besides, you have plenty of stuff from the UK. It's not like we haven't visited our aunts before.'

'Yeah but this time is different. You're doing your own thing.'

'Yeah, with dad watching my every move.' I rolled my eyes at Jasey, but we all knew it was true. I would be on her like a hawk.

'Nah, he'll be too busy rockin it up with the other grandpas.'

'Hey!' I protested, and Noah shrugged and came to hug me while Erin said goodbye to Jasey. 'Look after your mom,' I told him.

Noah looked up at me. 'Sure, if you look after Jasey.'

'Always,' I promised him, and ruffled his hair.

'And you're sure you got everything? You didn't leave your toothbrush? Or your winter coat? Or tampons-'

'Mom!' Jasey yelled, blushing.

'Only checking sweetie. You never left home like this before.'

'She'll be fine, I'm still gonna be there, I'll make sure she's okay,' I told Erin, making the same promise to her as I had to Noah.

Erin nodded and hugged Jasey once more. 'I love you.'

'Love you too mom.'

'Alright, we really gotta get going, our flight leaves soon,' I said, and Erin turned to me.

'Oh not yet you don't, not without saying goodbye to me mister,' Erin said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around me and kissed my neck. 'You look after her, and you. Look after you too.'

'Of course I will. This isn't the first time I've left the country you know.'

'I know, but it doesn't mean I miss you any less.'

I smiled and pulled back so I could look at my wife properly. 'Yeah, I know. I miss you too.' I pushed her hair away from her face and have her a swift kiss. 'I love you.'

'I love you too,' she whispered. I smiled and kissed her once more, until Jasey coughed and we sprang apart.

'Dad, flight, now.'

'Uh yeah, you got it. See you soon.'

And with that we turned and made our way through to our flight. With every step we took I looked down at Jasey and knew she was hurting just a little bit, but something told me it wasn't about missing home.

SHANE'S POV:

'When are they gonna get here?'

'Shane, come on, don't be so impatient.'

'Fuck you dad!'

'Shane!'

'No! Fuck you! This is all your fault. She won't return my calls, I need to see her!' Yeah, to say me and my dad weren't getting along was an understatement. I was nowhere near forgiving him.

Dad sighed and sat down next to me in the hotel lobby. 'Look, their flight doesn't get in until later tonight. Why don't you go out, have some fun. Check out the music stores. Hell, get a smoothie or whatever you kids are into these days. I don't care, just get out and do something instead of driving yourself crazy.'

I stood up. 'You got something right, you really don't care.' Then I actually took my fathers advice and walked out the hotel doors and into the mayhem the outside world held.

JASEY'S POV:

I could feel my dad watching me. The whole way, he just kept watching me. Eventually I got annoyed. 'What?' I asked.

'What what?'

I sighed. 'You keep looking at me, you got something to say?'

'I wanna know why you're so upset. You're going on your with your dad! Your cool dad! Your favourite dad!'

I rolled my eyes. 'You're my only dad, doofus.'

Dad shrugged. 'Yeah, and I still wanna know what's up with you. Come on, aren't you even a little bit excited? You get to see Shane. You get to spend some quality time with him. And then, at the end of it, you get to say goodbye properly.'

I thought about it a little and mustered a smile. 'Yeah, I guess you're right.' Dad looked at me curiously and I turned away, resting my head on my hand as I looked out my window.

Dad drew in a sharp breath and my heart stopped for a moment. 'Jasey,' he whispered. I bit my lip and closed my eyes, ignoring the lump in my throat, holding back tears. Eventually my dad sat back, but his gaze never wavered from me. We both pretended he hadn't seen the fresh scar on my wrist.

SHANE'S POV:

Okay, Birmingham was kinda boring. I'd seen that stupid bull about five times now, in an attempt to find a decent store. It definitely wasn't America. I mean, no offence to the people who lived here, I'm sure the majority liked it, but it just wasn't for me. I mean what the hell was with New Steeet Station? How the hell did they expect tourists to figure out their way around that with all the fucking escalators and gates...yeah I'd ended up there on my quest to find a store that sold American food. I guess I'm one of those 'my way or the highway' guys.

Or maybe I was just in a bad mood because I knew Jasey would be pissed at me even though it wasn't my fault we moved and she wasn't here yet and I just wanted to make up with her and tell her I miss her. Yeah. I miss her, so much it hurts. But she wouldn't talk to me. I tried, believe me, I tried calling her and each time she answered, and hung up.

I shook my head, hoping to force the feelings and thoughts out of my body, wanting nothing but to feel at ease. I saw a bus stop, and for some reason, I guess spontaneity kicked in. Before I knew it I was arguing with the driver about the fare, then the bus was navigating its way through buildings. As I stared out the window, I saw a huge two storey building, all black glass and sleek orange lettering reading 'guitarguitar.' I got off at the stop right after the building and doubled back for a minute, pausing in front of the building.

Wow. Okay, maybe this place was alright. It was what I needed. I smiled to myself as I made the short walk through the parking lot to the entrance doors, and opened the door tentatively, taking in the familiar, warm, fresh and comforting scent of acoustic guitars. Yeah, spontaneity definitely paid off in this instance.

The place was huge, even bigger than how it looked outside, and that was pretty huge. The walls were filled with row after row of guitars, some so high up it was a wonder how they got up there in the first place. There were couches scattered about the place where a couple of people were practicing or being consulted by assistants. There were three quarters, acoustic, electric, electo-acoustic, accessories, cases, a couple of recording areas, walls filled with guitars acting as partitions to further secluded areas filled with more guitars. It was like every guitarists heaven.

A guy with dark hair under a black beanie, heavy stubble and a stretcher in one ear approached me and asked if I needed any help. I told him I was just looking, once I had shaken myself out of my daze. I heard someone make a real bad note on an acoustic and turned to see a girl about my age, red hair, small, on a couch with a guitar and looking way too frustrated.

I chucked to myself and made my way over to her.

'Hey, you okay there?'

The girl looked up, and her blue eyes kinda caught me off guard. She looked embarrassed. 'Uh, yeah, sorry, I'm kinda new to playing. My dad plays and I wanna learn. We're here for him. He's buying another guitar. I just thought I'd play a little while I wait for him to make his mind up.'

I smiled at her. Boy did I know that feeling. I wanted to prove to my dad I could be as good as him. And the amount of guitars that took up space we needed was ridiculous. Although, the new house was bigger. 'Ah, we all have to start somewhere, right? Can I sit here?'

'Sure,' she said, a little perplexed.

We sat quietly as she repeatedly tried to play the same tune again and again, failing. It sounded familiar.

'What are you trying to play?' I asked.

'Oh, it's Poppin Champagne. It's by this band, they're kinda old, but I like them. My dad used to listen to them when he was like twenty or something.'

I raised an eyebrow and smiled. 'Really?' Wow, even running away I couldn't escape my dad. But it was Jasey's favourite song too. I made my dad teach it me so I could play it for her, only I hadn't quite gotten round to it. 'Well, you're probably struggling because you need to use bar chords.'

'Oh, you know the song?'

I nodded. 'Yeah, my dad is a fan too.'

'Cool! Uhm, could you maybe show me? I don't like asking my dad for help.'

I chuckled a little. 'Sure, here, just move your finger like this.'

We were sat there for a good few minutes and she really wasn't getting the hang of it. Definitely not a natural born, but she could learn. In the end I gave up a little, as nice a girl as she was.

'Okay, how about you try putting a capo on? That way you can change the bar chords to easier chords that you probably already know.'

The girl smiled up at me and laughed nervously. 'Ah, I'm that bad?'

I smiled and shook my head. 'Nah, you just need a little time and practice, that's all.'

The girl smiled. 'Thanks. Oh, my name's Amelia, by the way. Amelia Deflin.' She put the guitar down and extended a hand.

I smiled back and took her hand. 'Shane. Shane Barakat.'

Amelia laughed. 'Oh wow, that's great. You're funny.'

'I'm serious,' I told her.

Amelia shook her head as she chuckled. 'Sure you are, because Jack Barakat is totally your dad, right?'

'Yup,' I replied, a huge grin across my face.

She raised and eyebrow. 'Uhuh. If that's true, you can get me a couple tickets to the show tomorrow, right, cause you know, that's the sort of thing Jack Barakat's son can do.'

I nodded. 'Okay. Do you have a pen on you?'

Amelia looked confused for a minute. 'Uh yeah, here,' she said, taking one out of her backpack and handing it to me.

'Cool, now write down your number, I'll call you tomorrow to sort all the details.'

Amelia shook her head again, smiling and laughing, a little bemused. 'Right,' she said, and proceeded to write her number on the bus ticket I handed her. 'But you know, if you wanted my number, you shoulda just asked straight out. Americans are hot,' she said, winking, and handed me back the bus ticket. I looked at it to double check she had written her number.

'Awesome. I should get back to the hotel. Guess I'll see ya tomorrow then,' I said standing up.

'Uh, sure,' Amelia said, and gave a little wave. I smiled and left.

On the bus back, I thought about what had just happened. Damn. Did she think I was flirting with her? Shit. I guess it could have seemed like that, but I didn't want to flirt with her. I didn't want to flirt with anyone. Well, except for Jasey.

My head snapped up as the bus stopped and I hurried off in a daze and somehow found my way back to the hotel and to my room.

Flirt with Jasey? Shit man. I groaned and collapsed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Jasey was my best friend. I couldn't flirt with her. I couldn't have feelings for her.

Whoa whoa wait, feelings? Nobody said anything about feelings! I was just thinking about flirting! Not feelings...then again, wasn't flirting heavily linked to feelings? No, the only thing I felt for Jasey was friendship. And a mild attraction. Oh who was I kidding? Jasey was hot. But I didn't think of her like that. Not at all. No way.

So why couldn't I get her off my mind?

Okay, so maybe I did feel something for her, something a little more than friendship. Nobody had to know. I didn't need to prove my parents right. Jasey didn't need to know. Not yet anyway, I thought, smiling to myself.

Jasey Rae Gaskarth. 'You make me crazy,' I whispered to myself. And grinned.