Isabelle's P.O.V

"I'll go check on him." Jack said before running up the stairs after Alex.

I turned to Rian and Zack who had sympathetic smiles on their faces.

"What's wrong with him ?" I asked them.

They both sighed and shook their heads.

"It's a personal thing." Rian said.

"and the song ?"

"Related to it." Zack said.

I wanted to know why Alex had run off after that song, why he was crying. If it was a personal thing then why did he agree to play it ?

I shook my head.

Why was I so curious and concerned for this boy ? I had only just met him and while we seemed to get along great, I still was unsure of him. Maybe it was because he's my brothers best friend or maybe its because I recognize the pain in his eyes.

"Sorry about that." Alex said shyly as him and Jack came back down the stairs.

I gave him a small smile, in which he returned one but this smile was weak and forced.

"Uh, you guys want to play some Xbox ?" Rian asked, breaking the awkward silence filling the room. I mentally thanked him and we all hummed in agreement to his offer.

--

After a couple hours of 'Fighting to the death' as Jack put it, in countless matches of zombies on COD: Black Ops 2 and kicking the guys asses, I've gotten to know each of them fairly well.

"Dammit." Jack yelled, throwing his controller to the ground in frustration. I laughed at the amused expressions on the guys faces and Jacks reaction.

"Aw, Jacky. I'll go easy on ya next time, mmk ?" I smirked and he stuck his tongue out at me. "and mom says you're supposed to be the mature one."

He rolled his eyes and said something about getting a drink before he headed upstairs. Rian and Zack following closely behind, leaving Alex and I alone, again. It was filled with an awkward silence once more and it seemed to last forever, when in all reality it was about two minutes.

"Why did you run off after playing lullabies ?" I spat out, mentally slapping myself in the face.
"Uh..uhm." he was looking anywhere but me.

"Please, Alex. You were crying, I saw you and I don't want to see you upset."

He took a deep breath before locking his eyes with mine, they were beautiful. Soft, chocolate eyes with a captivating sparkle but again, filled with pain. We stayed with our eyes locked with each others for a couple minutes before he spoke.

"My brother.." he answered and I could see the tears well up in his eyes.

He looked up towards the ceiling, blinking a couple times. I knew he was trying his best not to cry and I hated to see him like this.

"Your brother ?" I questioned, confused on why his brother was the reason.

He placed his hand on top of his other, tracing light patterns onto a rose tattoo that lied there, the same one I had noticed before. It was beautiful. It reminded me of my own that I got for my brother, Matthew.

Then it hit me.

"Did something happen to your brother ?" I asked cautiously. He only nodded before the guys came running down stairs with cans of coke, candy, and a bag of chips. They all stopped at the bottom of the stairs when they realized they might have come down a bit too soon.

"Are we interrupting something ?" Zack asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

I shook my head and looked down, playing with the sleeves on my sweatshirt.

"Alex are you okay ?" Jack asked, realizing what state Alex was in and walking straight to him.

Alex stood up, giving us all a small smile as a few tears fell down his cheeks. "Yeah, i'm fine." he said, quickly wiping them away. Jack pulled him into a hug and whispered something I couldn't hear into Alex's ear. Alex nodded and Jack patted him on the back, giving him a loving smile.

"Lets get back to some games, heh ?" Alex said, taking a seat in front of the tv.

This boy was anything but okay and the tattoo on his hand told a story. I was determined to find out why.

Notes