You Can't Shake the Noise From Their Bones

JASEY'S POV:

I couldn't speak, I was mortified, I didn't want to hate Uncle Jack, but I did. He was taking Shane away from me. I didn't want to talk to him, and by the look on Shane's face, neither did he.

We stared at our respective parents, who also didn't look like they knew what to say.

'Son, I-'

'Shut up,' Shane said, very quietly, but with authority, interrupting his father. 'Shut up, just shut up.'

'Shane, don't talk to me like that, I'm your father.'

Shane laughed. 'Yeah, sure you are, cause that's how a father acts, isn't it? He doesn't tell his own kids that they're moving. Oh, let me guess, you thought we'd be okay with this? New opportunities and all? Well maybe Nate will be happy, but not me. And did you even think how Jasey would feel? We're best friends. What part of that don't you understand? So fuck you dad. Thanks for sucking ass. I'm going home, make the most of it while I can. You wanna come, Jase?'

It was kinda sudden, all the attention suddenly being shifted to me. I could feel my dads eyes watching me from his bowed head, and I knew that he wanted to talk to me. Unconsciously I began to rub my left arm. I looked at Shane, and saw his dark eyes begging me to say yes, to come back with him and avoid the situation for another night, to deal with it in the morning. And although it broke my heart a little, I shook my head. 'Sorry, mom cooked my favourite.'

Shane smiled small and nodded. I didn't need to see the watering of his eyes to know he was a second away from crying. 'It's cool. I'll see you tomorrow then,' he said, and pulled me into a hug.

'See ya,' I said as he let me go and practically ran back down the drive and up the street.

That left me, my awkward dad and a very awkward Jack.

'Uhm, so, yeah. That. How are you Jasey?' Jack looked at me with an overly enthusiastic look of anticipation. Wow.

I raised an eyebrow. 'Don't you think you should be asking your son?'

Jack's face dropped and my father put a hand on his shoulder. 'Dude, it's okay. You can't help it that you're still a kid after all these years.'

I narrowed my eyes at my dad. 'And don't think I'm done with you, either.' Then I pushed past them and their idiotic expressions and ran straight upstairs.

JACK'S POV:

Shit.

'Wow. I screwed up.'

Alex shook his head. 'Nah, they're just at that age. Remember what we were like back then?'

'Holy hell, I am officially not listening. God bless our parents.'

'Uhuh. But seriously, I think you need to go talk to Shane.'

I sighed. I knew I did, but he hated me. Yeah, we have fights, every family does, but not like this. I mean...fucking hell. He really hated me. 'Dammit, I know. But maybe I should let him cool off...I just don't get it. I know we're moving but it's not like it's the end of the world. They'll still see each other, I mean chances are they'll either join us on tour a lot more, or they'll live with the other when we tour. And I mean, it's not like we're moving country. I just don't get it.'

'Neither do I, I don't know. Maybe it's cause we're guys.'

'Shane is also a guy.'

Alex rolled his eyes. 'No, Shane is a boy, you fart face. He hasn't been properly contaminated yet. Has he even been drunk?'

I thought about it...and actually...no. 'No, he hasn't. Shit, I'm a bad dad, right? He shoulda gone to at least one illegal keg party by now, right? Damn.'

'Dude, that's actually you being a good dad, if you're judging it by the rest of the worlds standards and not ours. Looks like you can actually do something right, unlike playing guitar.'

'Nope, I still suck. Unless he managed to sneak out, then in that case he has been to a party and I'm an awesome dad!'

'Are you like, on drugs or something?' Alex and I turned round to see a bemused Erin.

Alex smiled big. Funny, how she could still do that to him after all these years. You know, make him smile. Not give him a third leg salute. Although I'm sure she still does that. Okay no, not an image I want in my head. But hey, not like I hadn't seen it before. Alex's Skype nights on tour were very revealing.

'Nah, I'm just weird,' I told her.

Erin looked at me with a raised eyebrow. 'That's not your line. I memorised that meme and that is so not you're line. You don't have any lines.'

'Oh wow, you know how to hurt my heart. After all these years, still the same.'

Erin rolled her eyes but smiled at the same time. 'Ass. But anyway, back to the point, you know why they're acting like this, right?'

'The kids?' Alex said. 'Oh yeah, we know why. They're just mad they won't be able to see each other so much. But they'll get over it when they realise how often we're all gonna visit each other.'

'No, that isn't it. I told you before, they're in love. Maybe they don't know it yet, but that's why they're like this. We need to get them to open up, and then maybe they can start to realise that they can make it work.'

Alex shook his head. 'Nope, no daughter of mine is gonna be in love till she's at least thirty five. Maybe forty. And besides...I mean, it's Shane. Sorry dude, but I mean come on! Shane? No way.'

'Hey! What's wrong with him? He reminds me of me when I was his age.' Alex looked at me pointedly. I thought about it for a second and nodded. 'Oh yeah, shit. Yeah that isn't good for anyone. Well, good for him but not so good for the girls of America.'

'Or anything with legs?' Alex offered.

I nodded. 'And a mouth.'

'Oh wow,' Erin said. 'We are far too old to be talking about things like this.'

I looked at her pointedly. 'Erin, you married Alex. We all know what sorts of things he likes to do in the bedroom.'

'Woah woah woah, Jack, shut up, this isn't about me, it's about our children.' Erin's cheeks had flushed a deep red and Alex and I couldn't help ourselves, we just had to laugh. 'Shut up! Guys, seriously. This is really bad. Like really really bad. Jack, I love you, but you gotta go talk to your son, and we need to talk to Jasey.'

I sighed in defeat. I just wanted to put it off as long as I could because I knew how I would feel and how I would react if it was me. But Erin made a valid point. The kids were more important. 'Okay boss, you're right. Wish me luck.'

'Good luck man,' Alex said as he patted my shoulder.

I turned and headed to my house. Well, it wouldn't be my house for much longer. The breeze was gentle, but still made me shudder into the warm folds of my jacket. I just wanted to get home, talk to Shane, and make everything okay. I didn't like it when the people closest to me were hurting.

Just then my phone rang.

'Hello?'

'Hey, it's Zack. Listen, it's about the house.'

ALEX'S POV:

'So, did you talk to Jasey?' I asked Erin the minute Jack had left.

She sighed before answering. 'I did, but she got defensive, mad. I don't blame her, I just don't know how we can help her. I don't want her to have to feel like that. I just want her to talk to us, to let us understand.'

I groaned inwardly and pulled Erin into my arms. I knew this would happen. I was stupid to think I could just fix it straight away. 'Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. There's not much we can do. If she doesn't wanna talk, she won't. It's no good us getting on her case about it, if we do she'll just feel worse. We gotta just be here for when she does need us.'

'I know. So what do we do now?'

'I guess we gotta go talk to her about what's going on right now, about Shane moving. And I volunteer you for that.'

Erin pulled away from me a little and looked at me in disbelief. 'Me? Why me? I already spoke to her today! This is the dads job!'

'It so isn't! It involves boys, which is strictly mom territory. Besides, I spoke to her yesterday and I had a busy day at work.'

'Oh please, you were just goofing off in front of cameras as usual,' Erin said while rolling her eyes.

'Hey! I played guitar too, look, callouses.' I held up my hands for inspection.

'You are such a baby.'

'I do not feel comfortable discussing my daughters potential love life with her. Anyway, it just wouldn't happen. I won't let it. No way would they ever be interested in each other. If Shane is anything like Jack was at that age, he wouldn't be interested in any girl, let alone Jasey.'

'Oh gee, thanks dad.' Erin and I both jumped and turned to see our daughter right beside us, arms crossed, face hard, and the faint remnants of tears.

'Shit, Jasey, sorry, we, uh, I didn't mean it like that. Uh, so, should we sit down?' God dammit. I hated being on edge around my own family.

Jasey shrugged. 'Sure, whatever.' And she turned on her heel and headed for the living area.

Guess Erin and I were doing this together then.

We sat down on the second couch, as Jasey lounged on the first one. Nobody spoke for a good few minutes, until Erin plucked up the courage to begin. 'Sweetie, we know you're upset about Shane-'

'Upset? Oh I'm not upset.'

I looked at Erin nervously, before deciding to throw my two pence worth in. 'Jase, come on, it's obvious. I get it. Hell, I'd feel the same. God knows how I would have acted if I was told Jack was moving at your age, but at least it's in the same country.'

Jasey laughed, and it was a bitter sound. 'Yeah. Yeah, great. I mean, I could be here bawling my eyes out, just wanting a frickin hug from him but it's okay, because he's still in the same country. I could just go to LA whenever I wanted, right? I'm gonna see him at school every day, right? I can make plans with him for the weekend, and then if I get bored one day we can make last minute arrangements. Yeah, it'll be like nothing has changed. Nothing at all.'

'Honey, I promise you, it isn't gonna be as bad as you think it is. Your dad is only trying to help-'

'Oh yeah, like you helped this morning? That worked out great, didn't it?'

Wow. Jasey really was not in the mood for pep talks. But I got it, I did. She would be alone. Or at least, that's how she would feel without Shane there. Suddenly my brain sent me a flash of the image of Jasey's arm with that word embedded on it. 'Jasey, I'm not trying to...I don't know, tell you everything will be the same, because of course it won't. I'm not stupid. It'll suck most of the time. And you'll get sad and you'll get lonely but you will see him, you'll still be best friends, and your brother will be back in a couple days. You'll feel better then. It won't be as bad as you think it will. I promise you.'

Jasey was quiet, and I was about to make another speech, until Jasey finally opened her mouth. 'I know. I know it won't be as bad as I'm making out, but part of my brain can't get used to it. I don't want him to be so far away. I need him here, with me. I don't want to believe it. I'm just gonna miss him so much.' Her voice shook and she started to cry loudly, letting everything out that she had been holding in.

I moved to sit next to her and wrapped my arms around her, as the phone rang and Erin slipped away to answer it. 'It'll be okay,' I told her, stroking her hair. 'You have me, and your mom, and your brother. Everything will be okay. Not great, but okay. Trust me, have I ever been wrong?'

'Yes, you have,' Jasey replied, but it held a hint of laughter, and I chuckled.

'Yeah, okay, I have, but have I ever let you down? Have I ever not been there? Even when I was on tour?'

'No,' Jasey mumbled, and I nodded.

'See? And I already talked to Jack, he agreed to let Shane go on every tour, and you can too if you want, that way you'll barely ever be apart.'

Jasey tightened her arms around me as her sobs quietened. 'Thank you, daddy.'

I smiled and stroked her hair. 'Hey, it's what I'm for.'

At that moment, Erin walked back into the room, biting her lip. She shot me a worried look, then rubbed Jasey's back and told her that she should get some rest. Jasey stood up and hugged her mother. 'I'm sorry, about earlier. I'm so, so sorry.'

'Oh, no, sweetie, it's fine. You don't need to apologise to me for that. I understand what it's like, and now you know that, okay? We're all allowed to break down every once in a while.'

Jasey pulled back and smiled. 'Thanks. Night.'

'Night sweetie,' Erin said as Jasey walked up the stairs. Once she was well out of earshot, Erin turned to me with a serious look and I almost dreaded the words that would come out of her mouth. 'There's a slight problem,' she said.

Well god dammit.

SHANE'S POV:

I refused to look at my parents. I just couldn't stand them right now, after everything that had happened today and the lies...they just couldn't stop. Talk about insensitive.

'Dude, come on, I don't get what the big deal is,' my brother said to me, annoyed with me for sulking.

I turned on him, eyes blazing. 'The only reason you aren't pissed off about this is because you get to go see Tara more and don't even lie.'

With that Nate shrunk back into his seat and stayed quiet.Mom was driving, but I caught her watching me in the rear view mirror. My dad turned round though. 'Listen, Shane, we couldn't help it. It isn't our fault, there was nothing we could do. Zack called and-'

'Yeah yeah, I know, they decided they wanted the money now and we would have lost the house if we'd have waited. I get it. But you didn't even let me say goodbye. I wish we had lost the house.'

'Shane, come on, you'll see her in a few weeks anyway.'

I laughed at my father. 'Oh yeah, great, because she won't be totally pissed off at me right now. She may not even come on the tour. And if she does, she won't even wanna talk to me.'

Dad rolled his eyes at me. 'Son, you're being a little overdramatic, don't you think?'

'No! I don't think! You just don't get it! I don't see why we couldn't wait, we're gonna have nothing in the house.'

'It's already furnished. Everything's fixed up. If we wanna make changes, we can.' I shook my head at my dad. I guess he was only trying to make it a little better, but he was failing, miserably.

'That place will never be my home.'

'Shane. It's where most of your friends live anyway. Tara, Evan, Lilly, Kayleigh. Your Uncle Zack and Aunt Sam, Uncle Rian and Aunt Cass, you won't exactly be lonely.'

I nodded. 'Okay, sure. They will all be there. But what about Uncle Alex and Aunt Erin? What about Noah? And she won't be there. Jasey will not be there. You're taking her away from me.'

'Look, you're a kid, Shane. Maybe Erin is right, maybe you are in love with her, but you're young, she won't be the only girl in your life, maybe this will be good for you-'

'No. Don't you dare say that. Who cares? Whether or not I'm in love with her has nothing to do with it. She's my best friend. I will always love her. I don't wanna be apart from her.'

My dad smiled and it sickened me. 'So you are? In love with her?'

Nate stared at me, my mom watched me from the mirror, my dad questioned me with his eyes. I felt the heat in my cheeks and did the only thing I could do; I denied it. 'No! No way! She's Jasey, she's my best friend. No!'

Dad laughed. 'So that's a yes then.'

I remained silent for a moment. 'I hate you.' I said it quietly, and by god, I meant it.

Dad sighed and his face became tired. 'I know.'

The car was silent for the rest of the journey.