Time Bomb

Another week gone on this god forsaken tour and Riley wanted to go home, she was doing almost everything in her power to piss Josh off after his little stunt in the hotel, which Riley was pretty certain became the reason Jack Barakat saw her and ran like a scared gazelle with a lion on its hind quarters. She was beginning to like Jack, scratch that, she really liked Jack and enjoyed hanging out with him. He was someone who hadn’t judged her when everybody else did. Jack was playful and fun; he was a nice escape from the reality of why Riley was on the tour.

She had no real idea what Josh had told Jack, but she had a feeling it was probably more than the lanky guitar player with fluffed up chicken butt looking hair needed to know. The last time Riley had even been close to Jack was two days ago, which was three days after their hotel incident. His calm, welcoming, mischievous brown eyes gazed at her with a look that was pure fright when he muttered and excuse about having to go and ran back to his bus.

Alex had been with him; shrugging to Riley he simply clapped his hands together nervously and followed the younger boy onto their bus.

This morning she had saw the two of them again, Alex was drinking a cup of coffee and Jack was milling around stretching his legs in a gas station parking lot. Today, Riley didn’t even bother to approach Jack. Alex waved from across the parking lot and Jack didn’t even bother to turn his head. Rian spoke when he walked by, asking how she had been since he hadn’t saw her around. After her chat with Rian, Riley climbed up the stairs of the big black tour bus watching silently out the window as the other band did the same.

“Hey what’s up with you?” Alex asked grabbing Jack by the arm

“Nothing. Why?” Jack replied, yelping as Alex started dragging him to the back lounge.

Locking the door behind them, Alex flopped down on the leather sofa and stretched his arms out, crossing his leg one over the other. Eyeing Jack, his bushy eyebrows raised slightly. With a heavy sigh, Jack had confessed to Alex everything that Josh had told him. He gave Alex every detail that he had; Alex didn’t seem surprised which baffled Jack. It wasn’t hard to figure out that Riley had as many issues as a comic book series, the girl was a complete basket case. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know she was a time bomb.

Sure, Riley was gorgeous, a lot of fun and really nice but she had an edge to her. Alex knew the moment he’d met her that something wasn’t quite right. He also knew, after seeing her interact with Jack, nobody was helping this girl unless she wanted the help and even if words hadn’t been spoken the dark haired mess with the icy blue eyes and pretty face was screaming for Alex’s best friend to be her lost boy, her last chance, her ever aft...okay now Alex was just getting silly with the puns.

Giggling to himself, he watched as Jack paced back and forth across the small space of the lounge, his long fingers were messing up his perfectly messed up styled hair and his eyes were fixed on the floor. If Jack wanted to get over this mess he was making of himself then he had to talk to Riley. Jack had stated Josh told him he was dead, only if he hurt the girl. If Jack didn’t hurt her, Alex was pretty sure Josh would let him live.

Alex had seen Jack crush on girls before but this was ridiculous.

Jack was more nervous now than he had been sneaking around. It didn’t make sense.

“Why don’t you just talk to her?” Alex suggested watching Jack as he stopped pacing and hastily sat down.

Blinking, Jack let Alex’s words sink in. Talk to her. It sounded so much simpler than it was.

“Look dude, she needs help its obvious.” Alex continued. “You know what you need to do.”

Sitting in the venue’s backroom, Riley sat leaning against a wall with her eyes closed and her iPod filling the silence. She’d had a fallout with Josh before they pulled into the venue and this time he was making sure she didn’t get more than fifty feet away from him. She may have to be near him, but she certainly didn’t have to listen to him. Turning up her music, Riley blocked out the rest of the world and enjoyed her momentary escape.

Before long Josh went about getting ready to take the stage, once he was in his ridiculous costume for the opening part of the show, he stopped taking a seat next to Riley. She was still ignoring him, but it didn’t stop him from gently tugging at her ear buds causing one to fall. Glaring at her cousin, Riley remained silent.

“I know you hate me, but I want you to know I love you and I’m doing this for you.” Josh spoke in a shockingly calm tone.

Patting Riley’s knee he stood back up and headed to grab his guitar. On stage Riley could hear All Time Low finishing, placing her ear bud back and turning to music on again, she closed her eyes and stayed exactly where she was.

Spotting Riley sitting alone, Alex nudged Jack and nodded his head sharply toward her. She looked so peaceful; Jack didn’t want to bother her. Shrugging at Alex, he explained that he needed to change and ditch his guitar. If she was still there when he was finished, then he would talk to her. In truth, Jack had no idea what to say to her.

He had simply been avoiding Riley because he had no clue how to approach her. Now that he knew some of the things she was going through, Jack just didn’t know how to deal with it. Everybody was telling him to be supportive, not to push her, not to rush her, listen to her, it was all too much.

When it all came down to a point, Jack was scared.

Jack could admit it to himself, Riley scared him to begin with and now that he knew all of this it wasn’t helping that. In the past Jack had fell for girls, some really beautiful girls but none as stunning as Riley. If those girls with their semi-perfect lives scared him away how was he supposed to deal with this? He and Riley weren’t all that different underneath, Jack had his issues and skeletons too, but his issues had been long worked through leaving nothing but a cold memory.

What if he tried to help her and she only got worse? Jack wouldn’t forgive himself if something happened to her. Yanking his sweaty tee shirt off, he pulled on a fresh one along with some new jeans. Running his hands through his hair that was sweat stuck to his forehead, Jack took a deep breath and moved forward.

In the same spot where he had last spotted her, Jack hovered over Riley for a second before gently tapping her shoulder.

“Fuck off, Josh.” Riley snapped, not bothering to look.

“Wrong person.” Jack chuckled softly. “Can we talk?”

Riley nodded and shut her iPod off, giving Jack her full attention.

“I uh, I know why you’re really here. Josh told me.” Jack said, nervously running his hand over the back of his neck.

“So, you found out how fucked up I am and now you’re here to tell me you never want to see me again.” Riley said glancing up at Jack.

“No, I found out and I want to tell you, I’m here because I think you need a friend.” Jack said giving her a soft smile, pulling her to her feet.

Riley weakly smiled back at Jack, man she’d missed this kid. Hugging her tightly to his thin frame, Jack tightened his grip. Josh Ramsay could try all he wanted, but Jack knew nobody was helping Riley without him.