I woke up the next day feeling physically, like crap. My eyes hurt and the first thing on my mind was a shower. Mentally though, I was feeling better, I think. I didn't have any nightmares, there was this one weird dream but I wasn't sure what it meant. I looked over to see Jack already out of bed, and figured I would find him later after I was dressed and showered.

It was also a great time to think about my strange dream. As I gathered everything I needed, I thought back to it. It had been just me and Jack, nothing else. Not even a room around us, not any that I remember. Stepping into the shower, I thought about how Jack had acted in my dream. We both just standing, facing each other. Jack seemed incredible lost and upset, speaking to me. I tried to listen, but no sounds really came out of his mouth, but I knew what he was talking about somehow.

He was telling me how it was for him during that time on tour. I tried to listen more closely, but still it was just a faint whisper of words. The most I caught was how he should have let me stay with Dalton, about that girl...who's name was Bri apparently, and how we are not okay.

I finished up, and started toweling my hair. I only agreed with the last part of what I think I heard, to an extent. We're not okay, not completely, but we can back to being okay. I just have to sort through everything, Jack just needed to be patient with me. At least I didn't have any nightmares last night, and I have another appointment in a couple days.

Getting dressed, I ventured downstairs and found Jack zoned out on the t.v. He looked exhausted, and I felt a little guilty. Was what I said the cause of that? I didn't mean to make him feel that bad, again. He's already been through Hell, as have I, but it was time to forgive and for get. I walked over to the couch and sat by him, and barely got a reaction.

“Morning.” I greeted quietly, and Jack sort of jumped before looking at me.
“Oh, morning.” He yawned, and reached up to rub his eye. “How long have you been up?”
“Awhile.” I shrugged. “You look like you barely slept.”
“I'm fine.” He said, before standing up. “I was actually waiting for you to wake up, I'm going to Alex's.”
“What for?”
“Just, band stuff.”
“Can I come?” I asked, getting up but Jack sort of shook his head.
“I...don't think so.” He sighed. “I'll be back later.”

With that, he left the room ad soon I heard the door open and close. I pouted a bit on the couch, staring at the space Jack had just occupied. That was...odd.

And, it only kept getting odder. Jack barely talked to me next few days, he didn't even ask about how my appointment went when I came back. He was super distracted all the time, and I noticed him texting more than usual. Around the fourth day, I was starting to get really paranoid and worried about all this, distance. Last time Jack didn't talk to me, he spun out of control. How am I supposed to believe it won't happen again when he's acting like this?

Right now, he was downstairs, while I was upstairs in our room, putting a few more things in the room. The place was really starting to look more and more like home, not just some penthouse with furniture in it. The only thing is, I was the only one moving in personal things. Jack hasn't even gone back home and grabbed any of his things. I've left the spare room alone, since we never talked about what to put in it. I wasn't sure what we would use it for. A guest room? Maybe, but I doubt we'll ever use it. I don't necessarily need an office space, considering everything I do it just on my one laptop, and I have flash drives galore in a pouch full of things I might need later or for documentation.

I was getting really sick of this, and wanted it to just stop. I'm starting to think my dream wasn't really a dream, and Jack was seriously having second thoughts about all this. Finishing up, I walked downstairs and found Jack in the kitchen, making coffee it looked like.

“Jack,” I called, heading towards him.
“Yeah?” He asked, not even turning around.
“Jack, seriously. Look at me.” I sighed, and he let out a sigh before doing so. “What's up with you?”
“Nothing..”
“Oh come on, you can't seriously expect me to believe that.” I crossed my arms. “You barely say anything to me lately, is everything okay?”
“I'm fine.” He said, setting down his coffee mug. “I'm going to take a shower.”
“Don't avoid this conversation.”
“I'm not.”

He walked past me and disappeared up the stairs. Groaning, I leaned against the counter wondering what the hell his up with him. My thoughts, however, were interrupted by a buzzing noise. I looked over and found Jack's phone, now lit up with a new message. I bit my lip looking at it, and slowly peered a little closer. The name I read made my heart drop.

Bri
“Don't look.” I mumbled to myself as my hand reached out and picked up the phone anyway.

I looked back at the stairs, and heard running water. There's no way I could get caught, besides the fact that if I read the message it was be marked as such. I tried to tell myself all the things that were wrong with this. Invading privacy, acting paranoid, being a crazy girlfriend....but the fact that it was her name bashed all those thoughts away. Why was Jack talking to this girl, and never me? I know he's on his phone a lot now, and I was just hoping it was Alex or another one of the guys.

Dragging my thumb across the screen I unlocked the phone, but didn't look at the new message. Instead I hit the text button and scrolled down to the beginnings of their conversations. I took a mental deep breath, preparing for what I would read. I looked at the very first message.

Jack: Hey Bri, it's Jack. Sorry I haven't contacted you. Just wanted to say thanks for all you did for me. I hope all is well your way.

I furrowed my brows, frowning. All she did for him? What exactly did she possibly do for him? I scrolled to look at her reply and my heart dropped.

Bri: Jack! You ass! I've been worried! What happened to you?! Did you get back with the bitch and forget about me and the nights we've shared?!

Bitch? As in...me?

And the nights they shared?

The nights they shared?!

I dropped the phone back onto the counter, and clutched onto it, feeling sick. Nights. Shared.

I was afraid to read the other messages, worried I'd find something a lot worse. Did this girl know anything about me? How long has she been downplaying me to Jack? Or...maybe that's how he refers to me. He thanked her for all she did for him, probably referring to tour.

Something else wandered into my brain, a thought that I'm pretty sure wasn't my own. This girl, this Bri chick, had talked to and treated Jack like a normal person when he was off his meds. Is that what he likes about her? Does she even know the extent of how bad it was? Then again, it probably doesn't matter, not to her. This girl has to be seriously screwed up herself to think letting Jack get so messed up to fucking cheat on his long time girlfriend is perfectly normal and okay.

This has to be what all this distance is about. Maybe, maybe Jack doesn't want to deal with me anymore since I'm so messed up from him simply not taking medication. If he really didn't want it anymore, he should have just said so in the beginning. You can't just stop, it only makes it worse, you have to slowly come off it. Is that still what he wants?

God, I feel like I don't know anything anymore. I pushed off the counter, intending on walking to the living-room and maybe thinking this all over again, but my trek was interrupted by Jack coming down the stairs. I stopped, watching him walk right by me and straight to his fucking phone.

“Talking to someone?” I deadpanned, and Jack paused in picking up the device and looked at me.
“Uhh, yeah.”
“Who?”
“Just... one of our-”
“She's not one of our friends.” I said, clenching my fists and Jack immediately paled.
“How did you...”
“Know?” I spat. “As much as I hate myself for doing so, I looked at your phone when it went off and I saw her name. Glad you're willing to talk to her.”
“Ember, it's not like that.” He tried, but I just shook my head.

“You're not happy enough with me, are you?” I asked, not bothering to wait for a response. “If it was just going to go back to being like this, you should have just left me in L.A. At least there I could be miserable without living with the fact that I now know what it's like to have all this with you. The apartment, the engagement, the fucking dog.” I could feel tears forming and I fought them. I am so sick of crying over this guy. “If you wanted to be with her you should have just went to her instead of me.”

“I don't want to be her, why would you ever think that?” Jack asked, sounding appalled and I snapped.

“Because you keep fucking going back to her! You talk to her about your problems, but not me. Suddenly you barely can look me in the face, but you're perfectly happy talking to her all hours of the day. When you were off your medication, you went had you nights with that girl.” I yelled. “Is it because she's okay with you being off your medication? Cause I'm sorry I didn't enjoy facing the blunt of all your fucking anger! Maybe if you would have said something, or talked to me about how you felt taking those fucking pills before just stopping them, we could have convinced your doctor to ween you off them! I don't care that your different, I just don't want to be treated like shit in the process of it!”

I took a deep breath and just shook my head. Fuck with all this yelling. It never gets us anywhere. Closing my eyes I tried to calm down my nerves and anger to speak more calmly, quietly.

“I'm going to guess we're done...” I opened my eyes, but just stared at the floor. “Since you can't trust me to understand you at all.”

Jack didn't say anything, seeming stunned. I just walked up to him, and slowly took off my ring and pressed it into his hand. One tear escaped when I looked back to him, before I turned away with all intentions of just leaving, and maybe going back to Hayley's. Or jumping off a bridge, maybe it would hurt less.

I barely took a step away when I felt Jack grab my arm, and I could feel him shaking.

“Wait.”

Notes

Wow, I seriously had to knock down so many walls of writer's block just to come up with this terrible chapter x.x Sorry guys, BUT HEY, I SWEAR, THESE TWO WILL BE BACK TO NORMALISH SOON.