-Alex's Point of View-

Jack hid in his room all that afternoon. I could hear his sobs through the wall as I was sitting in the living area of our apartment. I knew that he was upset about his father passing away like every other child would be. It's hard losing someone who you called your dad for all your life.

Those words had slipped out of my mouth. I was going to let it down on him gently, but instead it had just blurted out of my mouth, causing him to be shocked beyond belief.
I walked over to Jack's bedroom door and I knocked softly, waiting for him to open up, but all I heard was silence. I was about to walk away in defeat when I heard a soft, sad voice call,

"Come in, Alex."

The door opened with a soft squeak when I turned the knob and I saw a mass under the covers. I knew it was Jack without much of a guess because he had been the only one to enter the room all evening.

"Jack..." I whispered, walking over to the bed and sitting down, peeling back the covers to see his tear stained face looking up at me. I felt his sorrow pouring off him in waves and it made me feel so bad for him.

"What, Lex?" He asked, eyes holding pain and misery as he watched me. I wanted to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. I didn't know what to do though. Handling him was like holding broken glass, squeezing it in your palm and just watching the blood pour.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for sleeping with May. I'm sorry for just letting all this happen. It just... It just happened all so fast, Jack," I said, shaking my head and he sat up and looked at me in confusion. Slowly he shook his head and wrapped his arms around my shoulder before burying his face into my neck like old times.

"I forgive you, Alex. I forgive you for everything that's happened," he said and my arms went around his waist, pulling him closer to me. He kissed my cheek gently and his eyes looked up to meet mine before falling to my lips.

I knew what he wanted, but I couldn't give it to him. We were still separated, still shattered from recent events. We were nowhere near a stable relationship and I wasn't ready to put my heart on the line just yet with Josh still in the picture. I didn't know his intentions since he was considering Jack his current boyfriend.

"No, Jack. We-we're not ready yet. Will you accept cuddles for now?" Hurt glazed over in his eyes as I spoke to him and he held me close before laying down, waiting for me to join him.

I wrapped my arms around him and he curled up against me. I felt his lips on my neck for a moment and I sighed, shutting my eyes, thoughts floating around my jumbled head.
Will we ever be the same?

~~~

I wandered through the bar alone, waiting for Elissa to perform. She had a show here tonight and her and Josh were supposed to be doing a couple of duets together. I wasn't too pleased to be seeing the younger Franceschi, but at least I knew where Jack was hiding for tonight.

I had seen him across the bar earlier, but I made sure he didn't see me. Tonight I was here to see Elissa and he, Josh. We weren't to see each other and I was going to make sure of that.

"Alex, I'm glad you could come," Elissa said, sitting on the edge of the stage, waiting for her band to finish setting up their gear. I looked around for her brother, but he was nowhere to be found. Good, I didn't have anything to worry about yet.

"I'm surprised I could. Today's been rough on me," I said and she made a small frown before I said, "Jack is here tonight for Josh. I can't let him see me. I can't let either of them see me. If either one of them know I'm here, well, it'll give me up. I'm trying to have neither of them know that I know you." She nodded knowing what I mean and I jumped slightly as someone walked behind me.

"I'd hide if I were you, Alex. Josh went to go get Jack and he'll be back any second now. Come see me after the show if you'd like to talk," she said and I walked off, sitting in a booth alone listening to the conversations going on around me.

"Did you hear?"

"I can't believe..."

"Elissa and her brother..."

"Josh is dating Bassam Barakat's son."

My ears pricked up at the last conversation between the two women behind me. One of them had an English accent while the other had an accent that I couldn't exactly pick out from all of them that I had heard in my days.

"Didn't you hear? The man passed away early the other day. His kids must be rolling around in the money. I won't why he isn't home thought?" Unknown accent said. She sound like she stuck her nose in everyone's business. Did news travel that fast though?

"I heard that it was liver failure. Too many drinks for too long. Poor guy. I wouldn't mind being one of his kids. A child of a multimillionaire must not know what to do. I wonder who the business will go to?" English accent wondered and I rolled my eyes, taking a sip of my beer and ignoring the next few bits of their conversation until something caught me by surprise.

"Did someone get pictures of the son and some other guy in Baltimore? Brown hair, brown eyes? He was a singer I believe," English said. I almost choked on my drink at her words. Did someone get pictures of Jack and I? Were they post publicly for the world to see?

I coughed, hoping I didn't get their attention and continued to eavesdrop on their conversation. It involved me, I was interested in finding out what they knew about me.

"Oh, yeah. He's from here. His brother is that guy you once dated. The Gaskarth. Tim? Thames? Something with a T..." Unknown said. She must have been from around here, but moved elsewhere for a while and picked up the accent.

"Tom? Didn't he pass away after his family moved away to the United States?" She asked and I glanced at her, studying her features and figuring out if I remembered her. Tall, blond, blue eyes. Quickly I remembered her as the girl who broke my older brother's heart a long, long time ago.

"Yeah. Alcohol overdose. He always was a drinker, but I never thought it'd be the death of him," she said and I could hear the sadness in her voice.

I could hear the band begin to play and Elissa's beautiful voice fill the air and I glanced over at the stage to see her singing and looking out to the people around the bar. Her green eyes looked at me and she smiled and waved, only for her and me to know who it was going to.

They played a few songs and the two girls that I was listening to go out of their booth and began heading towards the stage to listen closer. Accent looked over at me and her eyes went wide and she grabbed her friends arm and stopped her before they started heading towards my way.

Shit. I didn't want attention and they had been talking about me.

"Aren't you that guy that the Barakat kid was dating?" Accent asked me and I shook my head and looked at her.

"Are you sure? You look exactly like him?" Her friend said and I twiddled my thumbs, eyes focusing on the drink that was sitting out in front of me.

"No, no. I've got no idea who you're talking about," I said softly and they watched me carefully. They shot more questions my way, but I blew each of them off, trying to listen to the background music. I heard Elissa call her brother to the stage and the girls glanced over looking at Josh and talking about him for a moment, still halfway focused on me.

"This is a song of mine if any of you have heard my band You Me At Six. This song is called Always Attract and I'd like to dedicate it to my wonderful boyfriend, Mr. Jack Bassam Barakat," Josh said and I felt fire run through my blood.

Accent looked at me and said, "Alex Gaskarth, what happened to you and Jack?"

Notes

So I brought up Tom, Jack, and Josh all in the same chapter. I patched up Jack and Alex's relationship a little bit, but they're both at the bar, unknown to Jack. I'm curious to what'll happen next and if Jack finds out that Alex is there or if he even finds out that Alex knows Elissa?
Also, I'd like to point out that my lovely coauthor came across a tweet that is a few months old. It was such a coincidence that we had added Josh to the story. "@JackBarakat: @joshmeatsix I kissed you on the lips last night. It was glorious. Don't tell anyone"
The wonderful things you find coauthoring.
Title Credit: Pour Me by Hollywood Undead
EmptySighsAndWine