The words Matt spoke didn't rest lightly in Jack's head. Instead, they began to pick apart his brain, leaving him wondering if he'd been doing the right thing this whole time. What got to him the most, though, was that Flyzik still managed to find love when everyone else's relationships seemed to be falling apart. If Ari had the strength to team up with All Time Low while her own band was on break, perhaps that meant that he'd been treating Alexa too harshly. She was the only real friend he had at the moment, and she did feel awful about everything that happened. Jack decided it was time to suck up his pride and face the heart break that he'd run away from. With his teeth digging away at his bottom lip, Jack opened up his computer and searched for Alexa's name. He squeezed his eyes shut as he sent her a call, wondering if she'd even show her face after the way he'd been acting.

But that's the thing about good friends, they're always there when you need them.

"Jack, is that you?" Alexa tipped the screen down, staring at him with shocked eyes. "I thought you never wanted to talk to me again. I've been so worried about you. I know Alex is home, how is that going? Has he talked to yet?"

"Slow down, Alexa," Jack laughed a little to himself. He wanted to take a moment to really look at her. She was possibly the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, and he didn't mean that in a 'jump her bones,' sort of way. He meant it in terms that she had a pretty face, but a gorgeous soul. Jack missed her more than he'd care to admit. "I really want to apologize for the way I've been treating you. I know none of this is your fault, but until yesterday, I've only talked to my parents and Tosh since I left."

"Oh, Jack, shut up. You've been through a lot. I don't hold anything against you. For the record, not long after you left Elana started to beat herself up over everything. She saw how miserable Gaskarth was and couldn't stand it. Even went to apologize and everything."

"So I've heard," Jack grumbled, still not fond of hearing her name. "I don't forgive her for what happened and I don't forgive him. Please don't expect me to."

"No, no. I get it. I haven't really forgiven her, either. Then she tried to pull the friend card on me, saying that the band and our years of friendship should be more important than some guy I barely know. I'd like to think we're pretty close, wouldn't you, Jack?"

"You bet your short ass," Jack smiled, a real smile, and it felt good. "I've always felt like you and I just had this connection."

"Me too!" Alexa threw her arms in the air, almost knocking her computer screen over. Jack watched closesly as she adjusted the screen, her face coming back into view. "So anyway, have you talked to Alex yet?"

"Nope, and I honestly don't want to. He's done a lot of shitty things, but never anything like this.."

"I'm in like, no way trying to defend him, but he seems like he's got a lot of problems, Jacky. Maybe he didn't do it to hurt your or even because he liked Elana. Maybe it was just some kind of escape. I hear people do that."

"Yeah, they're called sluts."

Alexa frowned, not sure what she should say next. Jack mocked her actions, a stabbing pain in his heart when he thought of his ex-boyfriend being right down the street, the boy who hadn't even made an attempt to come see him yet. Leaning back in his chair, Jack ran a hand over his tired face. His eyes flickered from the computer screen, where Alexa looked worried, to the front door, where he could hear someone coming in. It was too soon for anyone to be home from work yet.

"Everything okay, Boo?"

"Yeah, just sounds like someone is-" Jack cut himself off, a large smile forming on his face. Tosh was standing in the doorway, Home Alone in one hand, ice cream in the other. She smirked in his direction, knowing the surprise would knock him off his feet. "Tosh!"

He ran to her, throwing all of his confusion and sadness into her arms. She wrapped her much smaller arms around him and nuzzled into his chest. When Jack got with Alex, they rarely saw each other. When they parted ways after graduation, they rarely spoke, and though she knew their time together would remain short, Tosh had to admit to herself that she really did miss him. Jack pulled away from her and dragged her back to living room couch. They sat together right in front of the laptop so Alexa could be involved.

"Alexa, this is my really good friend, Tosh."

"Hi!" Alexa smiled and waved. "It's nice to meet you."

"Ditto." Tosh grinned. "So is my little Jack-Off turning straight again? She's pretty cute, good choice."

"If I were straight, I'd totally go after Alexa, but that isn't the case. We actually met on tour and when everything went to shit, she was the only one still there."

Jack lightly smiled to the girl behind the screen, and she returned it. One could say they were having a moment, that was, until Tosh awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Still don't believe you two aren't doing the hanky panky, so I'll skip the awkward stuff. How has my best gay been?"

"Not well," Jack sighed. "Alex has been home and the only person I've seen come and go from his driveway is Lisa. Rian and Zack haven't even come to see me."

"Maybe that's because they know you need space when you're upset? As for Lisa, well, I tried to tell you Alex is always going to have a desire for vag."

"Shut up," Jack mumbled, putting his head down. Through the screen, Alexa's face dropped. She hated seeing her best friend so sad. "Anyway, how have you been?"

"Oh, you know. School, the norm. I kind of miss all my Jack-filled drama, though."

"If I remember correctly," Alexa spoke up, feeling left out. "Your Jack's ex, aren't you?"

"The very last one before our little cutie turned gay!"

"Well I think it's cool that you two are still such good friends."

"See, she's totally into you."

The three friends began to laugh at Tosh's comment, mostly because it created an awkward weight on the conversation. Jack had considered before that Alexa had a thing for him, but the moment she said she accepted his relationship with Alex, he never thought of it again. He sort of saw her the same way he saw Tosh, someone he loved who would love him regardless.

In the middle of their laughter, Tosh nor Jack had heard the sound of the front door opening. It came a surprise to hear Rian Dawon laughing loudly, as if he'd been a part of the conversation all along. Rian put a hand on his stomach, pretending that laughing had started to hurt and faked catching his breath. By this point, Tosh simply had a smile on her face, Jack had lost all emotion and Alexa had become worried. Rian stepped further into the room as his laughter subsided. Trailing behind him was a red-faced Zack Merrick, who clearly had not planned to be so rude upon his arrival to that Barakat home. Now the room had grown quiet. Tosh's eyes kept flicking to the screen, where she was tempted to turn the computer around so Alexa could see what was happening. Jack and Rian were staring each other down, neither of them knowing what to say.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jack finally spoke, his voice cracking with the words. It was one thing to see Matt, but to see the two best friends who had knowningly stabbed him in the back shattered his heart.

"Not feeling very friendly, eh?" Rian rose an eyebrow, guilt hitting him in the gut. He knew Jack would be mad, but it was strange to see Jack so.. Serious. "We miss you, brah."

"You should have thought of that before you let Alex cheat on me," Jack shrugged, turning his attention back to Alexa. "Sorry about all this, Lexa."

"It's okay, Jack. Maybe you should just hear them out?"

Jack sighed, knowing the small girl was right. He glaced to Rian, sadness showing through his eyes, but feeling safe from Tosh's hand on his shoulder. If nothing more, he knew she would defend him if he couldn't defend himself.

"Look, Jack," Zack Merrick stepped up, his face a deeper shade of red. "It wasn't exactly our place to tell you what Alex did. Yeah, you guys are our best friends, but once you two became official, an unspoken agreement came about. What happens in the romantic aspect of you guys, stays with you guys."

"I'd tell you if Juliett every cheated on you," Jack grumbled.

"Yeah, well, that's because she's not one of your best friends. You can't blame us for wanting to believe that you and Al were mature enough to handle your own mess. We're not trying to tell you that everything is going to be okay or that we regret not getting in the middle of everything.. But we are trying to tell you that we miss you, the band needs you and we wish you'd come back."

The lanky boy looked down at the floor, his teeth steadily scraping his lower lip. He knew it wasn't necessarily right to hold a grudge against his two friends, in reality they had done nothing wrong.. Other than keeping a heart breaking secret from him. However, he tried to put himself in their shoes. It had to be a horrible feeling to keep something so big from someone they cared so much about, but that simply made him question how much they cared about him.

"You're only here because you need me back in the band," Jack snorted. "Next to Alex, I'm the favorite."

"That's true," Rian shrugged, tossing himself down on the loveseat. "But do you really think it'd be that hard to find another awkwardly attractive lead guitarist who can make a crowd laugh?"

"No.. I guess not.."

"Then believe that we're here because we're your friends and we miss you. We don't want you to throw away your future because of some dumb shit Alex pulled. If anything, come back just to prove you're strong enough to do it."

"Or come back because you honestly believe that I still love you."

Jack's breath caught in his throat. He knew that voice entirely too well. The taste of blood trickled on his tongue, he'd bitten his lip too hard, but as his eyes grazed from Rian to the doorway, the pressure simply grew. Alex was standing there, a sadness in his eyes that made the dark circles underneath them more obvious. He'd lost a little weight and his skin had grown pale. Those beautiful, callosed hands of his were shoved deep in his skinny jeans and his white shirt had stains. He'd really let himself go.

"I know I'm the biggest twat on the face of the planet. I know I don't even deserve to be in the same room as you, but I swear to you Jack Barakat, I regret what I did. I've realized in our time apart.. It had nothing to do with you, or even with Elana. It's not like I really wanted her or wanted to be with her. I'm just- I'm just going through some shit, I needed an outlet."

"And you thought you couldn't come talk to me? Alex, I'm your boyfriend. Or, at least, I was. If you felt you couldn't talk to me, this relationship was already over."

"No, it wasn't," Alex stepped further into the room. He didn't come too close to Jack, though, in fear that he'd get his teeth knocked out. "You are such a simple person, Jack. You love what you love, you hate what you hate. The things I'm dealing with.. You couldn't begin to understand them. I don't want to fuck you up in the head the way I'm fucked.. The way Elana is fucked. That's why it was so much easier to use her, because I could never use you."

Jack glanced toward the computer screen, seeing if Alexa's face would shine a little light on the situation. In her eyes, he could see that Alex's words were true, but he could also see that she was still livid over the entire outcome of that night. With the look on her face, and the way Tosh was holding him tighter, Jack found himself growing angry again. How dare Alex think that just because he's dealing with some stuff, that gives him a right to sleep around and toy with his emotions. Jack choked down the full mouth of blood he'd been holding and pulled himself from Tosh's grip. He marched right up to Alex and looked the older boy in the eyes.

"Why'd you fuck her, then?"

"I - What?"

"You fucked her and lied to me about it.. Then you fucked her again, right in front of me!"

"Jack, I, uh." Alex pushed his hair out of his face, trying to find the right words. "I don't know. I don't know why I did it, but I did, and I can't change that. I'm so sor-"

Before he could finish the word, Jack's fist collided with his face. He was never violent person, but his anger towards the man in front of him was too much for him to take.

Alex stumbled backwards a bit, landing in the strong arms of Zack Merrick. His hands quickly escaped his jeans and found their way to his jaw, where Jack had made the inside of his mouth bleed. Alex stared at Jack, hurt and scared, he'd never seen Jack lose his cool in such a way.

"Well, you deserved that," Rian broke the silence. "Do you feel better now, Jack?"

"No, I don't," Jack laughed. "If anything, I feel worse."

"Just come back," Alex breathed, the pain in his face making his mouth throb. "Please, Matt has this awesome new tour lined up that we would headline. You can punch me as many times as you want to. If you'd like, I'll even keep out of your way.. Just come back, Jack. If not for the band, for me. So I can prove to you that I still love you and I really am sorry."

His heart was racing and he was fighting back tears, but Jack reminded himself of what Rian had said earlier. Jack was done feeling hopeless and broken because of Alex. He was going to prove to everyone, even himself, that he was stronger than he believed. It was time to pull himself out of the dark hole he'd be living in.

"Fine. I'll go."

Notes

I've made you guys wait wayyy too long for this update.. I'm so sorry, I've just been busy with the contest!
Please forgive me?! I love you... :D