“Jack?!” I couldn’t stop my feet before I threw myself at him, making him stagger backwards.

“Easy tiger!” he chuckled. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him in as tight as I could.

“What the hell are you doing here!?”

“I told you I’d sort something, and I have” I loosened my legs, stepping back onto the ground and looked at him with intrigue. He grinned at me.

“Jack?” Alice appeared from the lounge, looking as shocked as I had been.

“Hey Alice” he chirped with a smile.

“We just can’t seem to get rid of you, huh?” she smiled, walking forward and greeting him with a hug.

“So are the boys here too?”

“No, it’s just me for now. They’re up by the last venue.” Alice’s face dropped a little.

“That sucks, it would have been good to see all of you” I smiled sympathetically at Alice who smiled weakly back.

“I guess I’ll leave you guys to it” she said quietly and turned to walk back inside the house.

“Wait a sec Alice,” Jack called her back, rummaging in his pocket for something.

“Aha!” He pulled out a piece of paper, it looked like a note. He passed it to her. She eyed it curiously before unfolding it.

‘What is it?' I mouthed to Jack, who simply wiggled his eyebrows at me. A smile stretched across my face as I understood what he meant. Zack. Alice’s face lit up like a child’s at Christmas. She simply walked up to Jack without taking her eyes off of her note, hugged him and went back inside not saying a word. I took Jack’s hand in mine, pulling him towards the door.

“Come on cupid, you’ve got some explaining to do.”


I threw Alice’s duvet off of the sofa, throwing myself down and pulling Jack with me. Alice was nowhere to be seen. I guessed she wanted to be gooey eyed in private.
“Start talking Barakat.” He smiled at me playfully.

“So, you know after tonight’s show we’re heading back to Baltimore?” I nodded.

“We’ve got a few days off before we start another tour. But we’ve got a bit of a problem.”
I had no clue what he was trying to get at, or how it had anything to do with me.

“Which is?” I frowned at him. My expression must have been harsher than I intended, Jack started to look nervous.

“We’re a couple of crew members down and I thought, wondered if you and Alice could maybe….help us out” I stared at him, I felt like my jaw was going to hit the floor. Jack looked back at my shocked expression. I could tell he was starting to regret asking.

“But it was just an idea. If you don’t want to … can’t, then its fine I’ll totally understand….Just an idea.” I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Alice?” I called for her not breaking eye contact with Jack. He stared back at me nervously.

“Yeah?” she called down the stairs. I huge smile slowly stretched across my face. Jack beamed at me.

“Go home and pack a suitcase, we’re leaving”