Rock and Roll Ruined My Life- Chapter 42- A Birdseye View

3rd Person P.O.V

Jeremy, Hunter, and Zac had just finished talking to Hayley, who had told them to check up on Jack. They were hesitant, however, for they felt like they were stuck in the middle between Juliet, Jack, and- when he woke up- Alex’s stories.

“I think we should just stay out of this,” Hunter said to his fellow band mates.
“Agreed… but I feel bad. This is some serious shit that went down,” Jeremy added.

Before their conversation could go any further, they heard moans of pain coming from inside their vans.

“I guess Josh and Mark are up.”
“Let’s go check on them,” Zac walked over to the car door and the others followed.

Meanwhile, back on MCR’s bus, a few people started to come to life as well.

“What happened last night?” Brian clutched his head in pain.
“I don’t know man, but my head is killing me,” Ray replied.
“Will all of you shut up?” someone snapped at them from the middle of the bus.

“Where’s my sunglasses?” Mikey asked as he came to. He looked around and saw the huge mess last night’s events had left. “Aw crap. This is going to take forever to clean up.”
“I said shut up!” The voice snapped again. This time, everyone knew who it was. Matt from Avenged sat up and turned to look down the hallway, where Frank was sitting half in the closet and half out.
“You shut it, Iero,” he muttered, a smirk on his face.

Down in the back of the bus, Bob, Tyson, Chris, and Johnny woke up.

“Fuck,” Bob covered his face with his hands.
“I think I’m gunna hurl,” Chris clutched his stomach.
“Go to the bathroom, you aren’t getting it all over me,” Tyson pushed him away.
“I’m going,” Chris sat up slowly and crawled to the bathroom. He made it just in time.

“That’s gross,” Johnny muttered.
“Yeah.”
“Is that Alex hanging off of that bunk?” Tyson asked, squinting to see.
“That’s the least of your worries, man. You don’t wanna know who’s in the other ones,” Bob shook his head slowly.
“I think something happened last night…” Tyson struggled to think.
“No shit Sherlock. Look at this place.”
“No, no; like something bad. Was it Alex and some girl? Or Jack?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that I need some pain killers before my head explodes,” Johnny rubbed his temples.

All of a sudden, the guys heard a groan of pain from the big closet in the back.

“What the hell?” Johnny muttered, standing up and shuffling over to the closet and pulling it open.
“Holy shit!”
“Close the door man, it’s too bright!” a half naked Zack yelled at him.
“Zack, what the fuck are you doing? … Is that a girl back there?” Johnny stared down at his friend in shock and disgust.
“Maybe,” Zack smirked.
“That’s just wrong.”
“Don’t act like you’ve never done it!” Zack called after him as he walked away.
“I’m not,” he replied, a grin on his face.

“Hey, while you’re up, get us some meds?” Bob asked throwing an arm over his head to cover his eyes.
“Okay, be right back.”

As Johnny was walking to the front, he didn’t clear the hurdle that was Alex’s leg, which was hanging off the side of the bunk.

“What the fuck?! Ow!” Alex exclaimed, not knowing which hurt him more, his leg or his head.
“I’m sorry-”
“Shut up!” Frank roared.
“Talk to me when you come outta the closet,” Johnny rolled his eyes.
“Fuck you,” Frank muttered.

“Sorry man… Hey, are you alright?” Johnny did a double take. Alex’s face had “Oh-Shit” written all over it.
“Where’s Jack? Where’s Julie?” he whisper-yelled.
“Not here. I don’t know where they are…”
“I fucked up big time,” he ran a hand through his hair.
“Hey, calm down. Everybody drank too much last night,” Johnny offered him an understanding shrug.
“What time is it?”
“I don’t know- ow- um it’s like 1:30,” Johnny winced from the brightness of his phone.
“I gotta find them,” Alex tried to sit up, but fell backwards and held his head in his hands. He moaned in pain and Johnny continued on past him,
“I’ll get you something, just hold on.”

“Hey, Johnny,” Matt greeted his friend as he stepped over the unconscious people littering the floor. Johnny looked up and saw Matt, Brian, Mikey, and Ray all awake but unmoving in various locations on the bus.
“Hey,” he replied. “Where do you keep the meds?”
“Umm, I think in the cabinet over the sink,” Mikey whispered in reply.
“You guys want anything?”
“Water, but I’ll get up and get it,” Ray stood up slowly from his spot on the floor.
“Damn, this must have been on hell of a party.”
“I wish I remembered,” Matt chuckled. Everyone else joined in the laughter.

Johnny got what everyone had requested and made his way back to the others.

“If you’re going outside, you better wear these,” Johnny tossed Alex a pair of sunglasses and a bottle of water.
“Thanks,” he replied, putting them on and – successfully – sat up.
“No problem,” Johnny continued down the hallway.

Alex stood up and slowly weaved his way through the bus.

“Don’t slam the door, please,” Brian called after him.
“I won’t… Close your eyes, everybody,” Alex warned as he reached the exit. He made it out and slowly shut the door. He shivered and made his way across the lot.

“Hey.”

Alex turned his head and saw his bassist jogging towards him.

“Hey…” Alex licked his lips nervously before asking, “I fucked up, didn’t I?”
“Yeah…”
“Fuck. All I know is that I was dancing with Julie, and I started thinking of Lisa, and then Jack came over and started yelling at me.”
“Well, you kind of missed the whole part when you are Julie were making out…” Zack trailed off.
“We what?” Alex felt a wave of terror sweep over him.
“Yeah, it was getting pretty serious when Jack came and ripped you two apart.”
“Shit. Where is he? Where is she?” Alex gulped. Jack and Julie were connected at the hip; there was no way they could have been making out. Had he really been that desperate to get some action?

“Julie’s on MSI’s bus, and Jack’s in the van. If I were you, I wouldn’t go to the van.”
“I have to talk to him, damnit! I have to talk to one of them.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“If I don’t talk to one of them, I’ll lose them both… I can’t believe this…” Alex ran a hand through his tangled hair.
“At least let everyone get over their hangovers.”
“Speaking of hangovers, where’s yours?”
“I only had three.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup. I didn’t want to do anything stupid…”
“Look, Zack. I know I messed up I don’t need you to rub it in my face.”
“Hey, Rian and me are the only ones you have here. Watch yourself,” Zack retorted.

Alex sighed; he didn’t want to lose his other two friends. Plus, anyone who messed with Zack was really, really stupid. He’d eat him for breakfast if he started a fight.

“Can I at least get a jacket?” Alex wrapped his arms around himself; he only had a t-shirt and skinny jeans on – not that warm.
“I’ll get you one. And you can probably stay in Avenged’s bus or at AAR’s place until things calm down.”
“Thanks, man.”

Zack walked over to the van and slowly opened the door.

“It’s cold,” Rian whined, pulling his sleeping bag closer to him.
“Just a second.”
“What’s going on?” Jack asked, pretending to have just woken up.
“I’m just getting another hoodie, I’m freezing,” Zack lied.
“Oh, alright… So, have you heard from, you know,” Jack asked, not using anyone’s names.
“Yeah, I did,” Zack nodded.
“You wanna tell me what they said?”
“Look, you need to calm down before you give yourself a bigger head ache. Everyone’s just waking up, get some water and try to eat something.”
“I can’t eat…”
“Jack, you gotta,” Rian sat up, suddenly remembering everything that happened last night.
“I’m fine, guys, really.”

Rian and Zack exchanged glances before going back to doing their own thing. Zack shut the door and Rian lied back down.

“Jack, we know this is hard, but if you don’t let us try to help you, you’re not gunna get any better.”
“I don’t need help! They fucking went behind my back and that’s it! Alex always gets the girl anyways, ‘who cares about Jack’?”
“You know that’s not true. Julie loves you, and Alex is your best friend, I’m sure it was an accident.”
“They had it all planned out. You saw them for the past two days, they were always picking on each other but they were faking it. And I was too stupid to see it…”
“Jack! Do you hear what you’re saying?” Rian sat up to look at his friend. Jack met his eyes quickly before glancing at his hands, which were clasped together.

“Why else would she do it? … I did everything I could. I didn’t try to push her to do anything, I listened to all of her problems, I tried to be there, and where did that get me? Nowhere! She would have fucking fucked him if I hadn’t showed up!” He bit his lip and put his head down between his knees.
“I’m sorry, man,” Rian reached out and patted his shoulder, “You gotta try to listen to them though. Even if you want to kill him you have to listen to him… Julie looked pretty beat up too so…”
“She looked scared. She looked scared of me. I don’t know what happened… I just blew up in everyone’s face,” Jack’s muffled voice responded. Rian furrowed his brow, he didn’t remember anything like that… he decided to ask Zack later, but figured it would be best to just go along with everything.
“I would have gotten mad too. Heck, imagine if it was Zack? He would have beat him up bad. But, you gotta stay on top. You can’t let this ruin everything. You’re Jack fucking Barakat! You’ll get over this, things’ll work out, I know it.”
“Thanks, Rian,” Jack lifted his head and offered his friend a smile.
“Anytime man, just promise us you’ll eat something… and keep it down,” he shot him a glance as he remembered the horrible sounds from this morning. That was the only reason he hadn’t woken up sooner- he didn’t want to see his friend puke his brains out.
“Yeah, I will,” he nodded.
“Alright. I’m gunna get ready and we’ll go out to get something afterwards. Be right back.”

Rian kicked off his covers and crawled out of the van.

“Ugh, it’s freezing,” he muttered before stretching and shutting the door.

It was then that Jack sniffed and let his mind take over. All Jack could do was just remember what happened. He tried to put everything in perspective, but he couldn’t.

'Why did Alex do that? He knows how I feel about Juliet. How could he!? And how could Juliet do that to me? Did Alex pressure her into it? Why would he do that? Juliet has already been through enough he knows that. And he knows how we feel about each other...Alex stole her away from me! He always seems to get everything he wants! Not me! For once I thought Juliet was mine and I was hers, well I guess not! Alex ruins everything, it’s not fucking fair!'

He felt anger begin to boil in his veins, but then he remembered what he had heard Hayley say to the guys before – yeah he heard everything – she said Julie was a mess; she couldn’t stop crying, she kept blaming everything on herself, and on top of all of that, Jack couldn’t erase the image of Julie cowering in fear on the floor of the parking lot. That was one thing that cut deep.

“Fuck!” he exclaimed, taking a pillow and throwing it to the other side of the van.

Outside, Jeremy heard Jack yelling and walked over to the window to look in. Jack was there, muttering curses and pulling at his hair in frustration. He felt bad for Jack; he looked like shit and probably felt like it too… He tapped on the glass and Jack looked up.

“Hey, wanna come with us to get some food?” he talked into the window.
“With Rian?” Jack asked. Jeremy nodded and Jack looked around for sunglasses and pulled on his hoodie and jacket.

Rian, Zac, Hunter, and Josh were waiting outside for him.

“I wish I knew where a good diner was, I need a good hamburger and some cole slaw,” Zac said in a wistful voice.
“Same,” Josh nodded.
“Sorry guys, McDonald’s is gunna have to do it for now,” Hunter chuckled.

The guys ordered their food and stayed there to eat. Against everyone's wishes, Jack only ordered a frosty.

**

Billie pulled up to MSI’s bus and knocked. Goosebumps covered his bare arms as he waited for someone to open the door.

“Who is it?” he heard Juliana ask.
“It’s me, babe,” he replied.
“Hey,” she smiled solemnly as she opened the door. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before he climbed up the steps and shut the door.

“How’s she doing?”
“Okay I guess… Hayley brought her some sweatpants and stuff so she’s in the shower. How was dropping off Deanna?”
“Alright. She didn’t seem too nervous about coming home late, but maybe she just didn’t wanna talk about it,” he shrugged.
“Yeah, you’re scary looking I wouldn’t talk to you either,” Juliana laughed.
“Who scary? Billie?” Hayley joined the conversation as she walked into the room.
“Yes, me,” Billie grinned.
“Well, you’re not scary looking… just tough. But we all know you’d never hurt a fly.”
“Oh yeah? I’m just waiting for Jack and Alex to show up, I’ll give them both a taste of their own medicine.”
“I don’t think Julie would like that.”
“Yeah.”
“They deserve it! She’s one of the nicest people in the world and then they go and play monkey in the middle with her? I don’t think so… I’ve seen how she deals with things, if something doesn’t get done soon, she’ll go back to the way she was before…”
“What happened?”
“It’s not really our place to tell…” Juliana trailed off.
“I’d rather us tell her than have her bring up more bad memories for Jules,” Billie said.
“I guess so… but please don’t go and tell everyone else.”
“I won’t I promise,” Hayley nodded sincerely and sat down next to Juliana across from Billie.

“Well, back in, like, December or November, our group of friends-”
“-There’s about 20 of us,” Juliana added.
“-Wanted to go into the city. Julie was the new girl and we knew her story, and we wanted her to come with us. No one really knew that she had a boyfriend except for Tom, Lizzy, Kat, and us. That was it. We went to eat at this BBQ place and before we finished eating she came over and told me she wasn’t going to come home with us. I asked her how she was going to get home and she told me she would take care of it. I guess she thought she would be sleeping over… From what we know, she went to her boyfriend’s house and saw him making out with another girl on his bed. She ran out, fell asleep in the street, and woke up the next day half frozen. Gerard and Mikey had to go out and get her and when they brought her home, she didn’t move out of her bed for two weeks. Just slept…”
“Oh my God,” Haley placed a hand over her mouth.
“I know,” Juliana nodded sympathetically. Billie ran a hand through his messy, jet-black hair and sighed.
“When she came back to school she had a scar on her wrist…” he brought up his hand to his forehead and leaned on the table. Hayley could not believe that she had had such a rough breakup.

“She must have really liked him… but she keeps saying Jack is her first?” Hayley thought out loud.
“Julie moved before they could spend any time together,” Juliana answered.
“Oh, alright.”
“Yeah. So now you see why we’re worried,” Billie sighed.
“I feel so bad…”

They heard the bathroom door open and Julie came out to the front.

“Oh, hey Billie,” she muttered.
“Hey, Julie,” he replied.
“Don’t you guys have to be home? Isn’t it Monday?”
“It’s Sunday… I think…” Juliana trailed off, confused.
“It doesn’t matter what day it is, we just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Now you guys are going to get in trouble for missing school because of me!” She ran a hand through her wet hair, tears beginning to form in her eyes again.
“Julie, stop crying. It’s our choice to miss school. We’re seniors, it doesn’t matter if we miss school or not,” Billie got up and pulled her into a hug.

Julie did not hesitate to wrap her arms around him; the hug gave her comfort.

“It’s going to be okay,” he patted her back before pulling away to look at her. She shook her head before pulling away and climbing up to her bunk.
“I’m gunna go to sleep,” she muttered.

“Okay, we’ll be here,” Hayley nodded.

After about 20 minutes, they saw Julie’s breathing even out.

“I’m gunna go talk to Jack,” Billie stood up.
“No. All you’re gunna do it start a fight,” Juliana shook her head.
“I’ll go with you. We’ll make it look like I’m just checking up on my guys – we live right next to them.”
“I’ll do my best not to yell,” Billie nodded.
“I swear, if I see one bruise on anyone I’m gunna be pissed,” Juliana warned.
“I promise, babe.”
“Okay,” she nodded, seeming content with his statement.
“I’ll text you,” Hayley said standing up.

Just as they were about to leave, they heard the door open. Everyone froze as Jimmy from MSI walked onto the bus.

“Whoa,” he froze in the doorway. Why they were on his bus, he had no idea
“Um- we were just- Julie and-” Hayley stuttered.
“Hey, it’s fine. Just don’t blast anything,” he said walking past them and collapsing on his bunk.
“Oh, okay. Thank you,” Hayley nodded before giving Juliana an “are-you-gunna-be-alright-here” look. She shrugged but nodded for them to go.
“I’ll text you,” she mouthed, pulling out her phone. Hayley gave her thumbs up and they continued out the door.

Juliana looked behind her and saw one of Jimmy’s legs hanging off the side of his bunk in the back. She felt a little awkward, but she felt better knowing Julie was there.

*

“Hey, guys,” Hayley smiled as they approached the van section.
“Hey, Hayle- oh, hey Billie,” Josh cut off his greeting and offered him a polite smile.
“Hey,” he nodded. Billie was still in his t-shirt, no hoodie or jacket, and his thin, toned arms were tensed.
“How’s Jack?” Hayley asked, glancing nervously over to ATL’s vans.
“We took him to McDonalds to get him to eat something, but he just got a frosty… Flyzik just got here; he’s talking to Jack and Rian right now. I saw Alex and Zack walk off somewhere before...”
“Thanks,” she smiled.
“I’ll be right back,” Billie excused himself and walked over to the other vans.

“What is he doing?” Josh whisper-yelled.
“He wants to talk to Jack,” Hayley replied.
“He looks like he’s ready to beat someone up!”
“He looks like that but I promise it’s not like that.”
“Whatever you say,” Josh shrugged, “So, where’s he from anyways?”
“New Jersey, just like all of her friends.”
“Jersey must make you tough,” Josh chuckled.

Billie knocked on the van door and waited patiently.

“Who the heck is that?” Flyzik asked.
“It’s Julie’s friend, Billie,” Jack pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Want me to tell him to go away?”

Jack hesitated, he didn’t want to talk to Billie, but he wanted to hear what he had to say.

“Nah, let him in.”
“Alright,” Matt shrugged, pulling open the door.

“Hey,” Billie greeted them with a small smile. It was a smile that was friendly, but serious.
“Hi. Can I help you? I’m All Time Low’s manager, Matt.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Billie, Juliet’s friend,” Billie extended his hand and Matt shook it. His grip was almost as strong as Zack’s; Matt took it into consideration. Billie didn’t look like he was that strong, but obviously he was.

“Um, is Jack here?” Billie asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“I need to talk to him for a minute.”
“Oh. Okay. Um, Jack? Billie’s here…” Matt trailed off awkwardly.
“I’m coming,” Jack sat up slowly and climbed over the first row of seats.

Before he put his sunglasses on, Billie saw the dark circles under his eyes. They looked just like Julie’s, hurt, tired, and depressed.

“Hey,” Jack nodded as he exited the van and shut the door behind him.
“Hey. Listen, I know that you’re mad at Julie, I would be too, but it wasn’t her fault… And she’s not looking good either.” Jack frowned, what did he mean? Billie caught his confusion and began to explain the whole story again. Jack remembered and realized that he was becoming her second "Tim”.

“She’s asleep now, but when she wakes up, you should go over there and talk to her. It’s not fair to put her through this shit again,” Billie caught himself getting a little too angry. Jack noticed and nonchalantly stepped back.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, no problem… Just don’t mess with her like this,” Billie’s words sounded more like a plea than a statement. Jack nodded and turned to open the door.

‘He must really be looking out for her,’ Jack thought to himself.

“Oh, and if you need any help taking care of Alex, let me know,” Billie added before he turned to go. Jack nodded and noticed that one of Billie’s hands had been clenched in a fist the entire time; the veins in his wrist were showing. Jack shivered involuntarily at the thought of getting him angry.

Billie walked over to Hayley and together they set off in the direction of the buses. Jack wondered which bus she was on. Obviously it wasn’t MCR’s; it was probably Avenged Sevenfold’s, she was close with them.

Jack sighed and opened the van door. Rian and Matt were sitting right there when he went to climb in.

“Way to eavesdrop,” Jack muttered before climbing over them and back to his spot in the back.
“So, are you going to talk to her?”
“Do you even know where she is?” Matt asked.
“Probably on Avenged Sevenfold’s bus.”
“Oh alright.”
“Yeah,” Jack pulled out his phone and stared at his screensaver. He noticed Julie had changed it to a picture of her standing in a crowd of people, and Jack was playing guitar on stage behind her. She was giving the camera a thumbs up with one hand, and a huge smile was on her face. She must have taken it yesterday when they were opening. Jack snapped his phone shut and put it back inside his pocket.

*

Zack and Alex waited patiently outside the door of Avenged Sevenfold’s bus. It was around 5:00 and everyone had gone home to recuperate before they left in the morning for Jersey.

They heard footsteps, and then saw someone quickly pull back the curtains a bit to se who it was. Before they could even recognize who it was, Brian was standing in front on them.

“Hey guys, what’s up?”
“Um, could we talk to you guys for a second?”
“Sure…” Brian trailed off as he stepped aside to let them on.

The two boys walked in and saw the rest of the band sitting at the kitchen table.

“Hey, Alex.”
“Hey Zack.”

“Hey…” Zack nodded, waiting for Alex to say something.
“Um, I kind of fucked up with Jack and Julie, so I was wondering if I could, um,-”
“-Crash here?” Matt finished his sentence.
“Yeah,” Alex’s neck reddened in embarrassment.
“Yeah, sure. What about you, Zack?”
“What? Oh, no. I’m good, thanks.”

Jimmy and the rest of the guys broke out into laughter.

“You sure?” Johnny asked.
“Yeah… I’ll see you I guess,” Zack turned to Alex.
“Yeah, thanks…” Alex trailed off.

Zack said his goodbyes and left Alex alone with the guys.

“We have tons of extra bunks, take your pick.”
“Thanks,” Alex nodded and set off down the long row.

He was just about to reach the back of the bus when he saw one bunk that no one seemed to have touched yet. There was a sleeping bag on top and a few pillows. Alex kicked off his shoes and climbed up. As he lied there, he thought he smelled something familiar. He pressed his face into the pillow and inhaled. He recognized it to be the scent he woke up to this morning on MCR’s bus.

“That’s weird,” Alex muttered.

“What’s weird?” the Rev asked, rummaging through the bottom bunk across from him. Alex jumped, when did he get here?
“Nothing, it just smells different up here.”
“Oh, that’s Julie’s bunk; that’s her stuff. Smells good though, right?”
“Crap!” Alex jumped out of the bunk as if it had burned him.
“What happened?” the Rev asked, turning around to look for a bug or a ghost.
“I can’t sleep there,” Alex shook his head.
“Why? What happened last night?” Alex shook his head again.
“Is Julie okay?” the Rev asked. Alex sighed and decided it would be better if they knew what was going on.

“I don’t know. Probably not. Zack knows. But I don’t remember.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down,” the Rev patted his shoulder.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Maybe you should eat something?”
“Alright,” Alex shrugged and walked back to the front of the bus.

“Got a bunk?” Matt asked.
“No.”
“It’s hard to choose, I know,” Matt chuckled.
“Sit,” Brian pointed to a chair on the end of the table. Alex nodded and sat down awkwardly.

“Here,” the Rev brought over a thing of coffee and a lot of cups for everyone.
“Thanks.”
“No problem… now, what the fuck happened?” the Rev sat down and everyone stopped their conversations to turn and look at him. Alex licked his lips nervously before he began explaining.

“Well, we were on the bus and we wanted to do shots.”
“Whoa!” Zack commented. Everyone nodded in agreement; these kids knew how to party.
“Yeah. All the guys were there, but Julie tagged along because she wanted to be with Jack. She didn’t want to take any, but the rest of us had had a few beers before that so we basically shoved one in her hand. We ended up having like six more after that-”
“What were you guys drinking?” Brian asked.
“Um, vodka I think.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. So I had a few more beers and I went to go look for someone to hang out with. That’s when I saw Julie. I don’t really remember how we started dancing, but all I know is that I started to get, um, you know...” Alex trailed off in embarrassment. The guys smirked and Alex scratched the back of his neck and continued.
“And I started thinking of Lisa, my girlfriend. And the next thing you know, Zack’s holding Jack back and everyone is staring at me. I’m pretty sure Julie was crying, but I don’t remember. After that I blacked out and I woke up this morning in Julie’s bunk,” Alex shook his head.

“So, you-”
“-Came onto Julie, yeah.”
“What the hell?”
“I know, I know it’s fucked up!” Alex put his head in his hands.
“Who else saw you guys?”
“Well, Zack saw the whole thing. I don’t know if Rian did. But people only turned to stare at us when Jack tried to punch me.
“So that’s what Tyson was talking about,” Johnny nodded.
“He saw it?”
“I don’t know. When he woke up he saw you and was trying to remember what he saw, but he couldn’t. I had no idea what he was talking about and neither did Bob or Chris.”
“I didn’t really hang out in the front of the bus,” Zack shrugged.
“What bus were you on?”
“My Chem’s.”
“Yeah, we weren’t on there the whole time, we might have been over here,” Brian shook his head and Matt shook his too.
“I don’t remember anything from last night, so I didn’t see anything,” the Rev shrugged.

“I guess not that many people saw it then,” Alex said.
“Yeah,” they all nodded.

“I’m gunna find a bunk,” Alex stood up and walked over to the long row of beds.
“Alright.”
“Feel better, man.”
“Thanks,” he muttered before finding another random bunk and crashing on it.

*

Jack woke up to the sound of his phone going off. He jumped then quickly opened up the new text message he had received; it was from Hayley.

- she’s up.

Jack sighed. He still had a headache and he still didn’t know if he would be able to handle this. At least it wasn't sunny out like before. He looked at his phone; it was 8:33.

“I’ll be right back,” Jack announced as he climbed over the first row of seats.
“Want one of us to go with you?”
“Nah.”
“Oh, alright,” Matt nodded, unsure of whether or not he should follow his friend. Rian shrugged and went back to texting on his phone. If Jack wanted to be alone, then let him be.

Jack shivered as we walked across the lot to the tour buses. He was wearing a hoodie, but it just wasn’t cutting it. Without thinking, he went up to Avenged Sevenfold’s bus and knocked.

The door opened and there was Zack Vengeance, waiting for him to speak.

“Hey, um, I was wondering if I could talk to, um, Julie?”
“Sorry, she’s not here.”
“What?” Jack exclaimed in confusion.
“We haven’t seen her all day.”
“Oh. Alright. Thanks,” he scratched the back of his neck and turned to MSI’s bus. There was one light on, the light in the kitchen. Why would she be there?

Zack closed the door, and everyone inside breathed a sigh of relief.

“If he knew I was here,” Alex shook his head.
“You’re gunna have to talk to him eventually,” Brian pointed out.
“Yeah…” Alex trailed off. But for now, he’d rather hide. He still had a massive headache and was not in shape to talk to anyone. The more time he had, the better.

Meanwhile, Jack knocked on the door of the neighboring bus. He swallowed nervously and tapped his foot as he waited for someone to come to the door.

“Who is it?” he heard a man’s voice ask.
“Jack,” he replied. The door opened and there was Jimmy from MSI, his halo of dreads casting shadows over Jack’s face. They looked like fingers trying to claw at his hair. Jimmy shook this image out of his mind- literally- and stepped aside to let Jack in.

“I’ll be back later,” Jimmy announced before hopping off the last step of the bus. He knew that whatever they had to talk about was not for his ears. The less he knew, the better. Plus, Jules had been crying the entire time. In her sleep, while she was awake, while she hurled, while she drank water- the entire time. Simply out of respect, he didn’t want to hear the reason why she was crying. She didn’t deserve whatever Jack threw at her, and she deserved her privacy. Let everyone else be nosy, he didn’t want to know.

Jack stepped into the kitchen area and saw Billie, Juliana, Hayley, and Julie sitting at the table. Julie’s breath caught in her throat and she turned her head away in shame.

“J-Julie. I wanna talk to you,” Jack said softly.

As he waited for some sort of response, he saw how beat down she looked. Her shoulders were slumped and her long hair was combed back roughly, as though she didn’t even make an effort to brush it. Jack felt his heart twinge as she sniffed and turned to stare at him with bloodshot eyes; they were sunken and brutally accented by dark circles. And for the first time he saw how her whole life had caught up with her. Finally, after all of those months of running, she had given up and let her problems eat her alive.

“Please,” Jack tried to persuade her. Billie gave her an encouraging nod and Hayley, who had her arm around Julie’s shoulder, gave her a supportive pat. Juliana, who realized it was her turn a few seconds late, gave her hand a squeeze. Julie sniffed again and nodded hesitantly.

Hayley and the others got up and went to the back of the small bus. It wasn’t much privacy, but they wanted to be there if things suddenly took a turn for the worst.

Julie slowly moved to stand up too, but Jack held out a hand and took the seat across from her. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. She noticed he didn’t look too upset about the whole thing. What if he was here to break up with her? She let another tear slide down her face, which had taken on a shade of grey since last night.

“Julie… I… we… I mean…” Jack trailed off awkwardly and sighed. He didn’t know how to go about this.
“I’m sorry,” Julie said, her voice no louder than a whisper. “It was my fault.”
“What happened?” Jack tried to keep his voice soft too; she probably had a massive headache.
“You went to get us drinks and I was dancing by myself. Alex came over and I started dancing with him, because I figured he was just looking for someone to hang out with. I got careless and started dancing more, then Alex started coming closer and closer. H-he told me I looked ‘hot’. I thought he w-was just playing around, but t-then he just stepped forward and backed me against the wall. I knew it was wrong, I swear. I-I was so drunk I couldn’t even move my arms. My brain was too s-slow. He kissed me, and I froze. I couldn’t u-understand w-why he was doing this to me. A-after all of the fighting we did for the past few days, I-I thought t-things were getting better. I tried to make him fall b-back, but he just grabbed my j-jeans and started grinding on me. I knew that it wasn’t you, a-and that I shouldn’tve let him kiss me…” she trailed off and Jack saw her cheeks turn that familiar shade of red. He knew she was embarrassed. She stopped to brush away tears before she continued.

“H-he knew how to get right under my skin… And I had never had someone do what he did to me before… I just couldn’t… I’m s-such a fucking slut I-I’m sorry! It’s all m-my fault. J-just go,” she stood up and began to walk to the back of the bus. Jack stood up and spun her around to face him. For a moment, she saw that familiar look of fear flash in her eyes. He loosened his grip on her hand and spoke,

“Julie, I believe you… It’s not all your fault. You were drunk, I was drunk… Alex was drunk,” he tried not to spit the name of his betrayer in her face, “and it’s okay. I’m sorry I got so pissed off. I wasn’t thinking… And you’re not a slut, trust me, I would know,” he smiled and she let a small grin form on her lips. For a second they stared at each other, then Jack leaned in and softly brought his lips down to hers, just like their first kiss.

Julie let tears stream down her face as she kissed him back with all the passion she could muster. After a few seconds Jack pulled away and saw she was still crying. He brought her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he rubbed her back soothingly. She sniffed and cuddled closer to him. The first wave of the storm had passed. She had Jack back. That was the one thing that mattered most to her.

They heard footsteps and heard someone sigh. Jack and Julie turned to see Hayley, with a hand over her heart.

“You two are so adorable. Thank God,” She walked over and joined in the group hug. Soon Juliana and Billie joined in too.

“Guys, as great as this is, I can’t breathe,” Julie spoke up, her voice sounding more nasal than usual.
“Oh!”
“Sorry!”
“We love ya’!”
“You’re getting sick.”

Julie sighed in defeat,
“Can crying really make you that sick?”
“Well, you didn’t just cry… You threw up, didn’t sleep, cried some more; that’ll get ya',” Billie replied.
“Yeah,” Hayley nodded, giving her a sympathetic pout. Jack frowned and felt a pang of guilt; she really had beaten herself up over this. He wrapped his arms around her again, this time from behind, and she leaned into him.

“Both of you need to sleep,” Hayley added as she took in their appearance. The two had never looked so run down.
“Yeah,” Juliana agreed.
“I’m not tired though. I slept all day,” Julie shrugged.
“True… then maybe you’re just congested from all of the crying.”
“But my throat and stomach are killing me.”
“Hm… stomach is explainable, but not the throat…”
“No, it’s not like that,” Julie’s face flushed in embarrassment. She did not have her girl problems this week; that had happened already.

“Well… there is another way you can get sick…” Juliana trailed off.
“How?”

She hesitated, it was awkward for her to say it because she knew she was probably right, and Jack would definitely get mad.
“How?” They asked again.

“Well… when you make out with someone,” she saw Julie’s face go pale, “you can get mono and stuff like that…”
“I’ll fucking kill Alex!” Jack muttered. Julie’s eyes became glassy again.
“It’s just a theory though,” Juliana added quickly.

Julie sniffed and went looking for a tissue. Jack stole a glance at the clock; it was 10:27.

“Well, whatever it is, you can probably sleep it off,” Hayley said optimistically.
“Yeah, let’s hope so,” Julie nodded, climbing up into her bunk. The others followed her example; Billie and Juliana climbing in together, Hayley taking the bunk across from them.

Jack stood there awkwardly before stepping up to the side of Julie’s bunk.

“Can I climb up?” he asked softly.
“Mhm,” she nodded, moving over so that there was room for him.

Jack kicked off his shoes and pulled off his hoodie, then hoisted himself up onto the bunk. As he was getting settled, he saw Julie clutch her stomach in pain.

“You alright?”
“I’ll be okay,” she replied wearily.
“Sorry about all of this, really,” Jack said as he pulled the covers up to cover both of them.
“I’m sorry too,” she yawned.

Jack reached up, shut off the overhead light, and wrapped his arms around Julie. Her arms were still clutched around her sides, so he just put his hands over hers, brushing his thumb back and forth comfortingly.

An aura of peace settled over the bus, half the battle was done. The second half, well, they’d save that for later.