Alex was silent, sitting awkwardly, waiting for someone to speak. Alex was still staring at the floor when someone finally spoke.

"What do you mean Jack's been acting weird?" Rian asked, trying to make eye contact with the singer. Rian was concerned for his bandmates. They were all acting different, and he didn't like the feeling that's been floating around the bus lately.

"I don't have a fucking clue! He's mad at me for no reason." Alex was frustrated and upset. All he wanted to do was sit on the lounge couch and watch Home Alone with Jack.

"Hun, come here." Cassadee said, pulling Alex in for a hug.

They sat there for a minute, all in silence, with Alex in Cassadee's arms and Rian rubbing Alex's back for comfort.

"Wow," Alex said with a weak smile. "Rian has taught you well. Your hugs are even better than his now."

"Hey! I'm still the King of Hugs." Rian interjected. Everyone knew Rian gave the best hugs, and he took pride in that.

"Oh, calm your tits. I'm kidding." Alex said, shifting on the couch so he was leaning, or more laying, on Rian.

Rian and Cassadee were both worried about the singer. Usually he would tackle Rian or make a sexual joke, but instead he just sat there with the sad puppy look on his face.

"Lex, when did Jack start acting weird?" Cassadee asked after pushing little strands of hair away from Alex's eyes.

Alex sat and thought for a second. "Uh... I don't know, it's been going on for a week now."

Rian chuckled a little. "Maybe he's on his period."

Cassadee shot Rian eye daggers, and he quickly shut up. "Sorry man. Bad jokes to lighten the mood," Rian apologized.

"So ever since we left Baltimore?" Cassadee asked, ignoring the stupid comments coming out of her boyfriend's mouth.

"Yeah." Alex said softly as he sank deeper into Rian. All Alex was trying to do was nuzzle up next to Rian like he did with Jack, but it didn't feel comfortable. Rian was a lot softer and less bony than Jack, but lying there didn't feel... right.

"It's been a week though. You've two have been away from each other for more than a week before." Rian was confused, he was thinking of all the times Jack and Alex were away from each other.

"But he's never snapped at me like he did today. All our fights have been over stupid things, and he's never used that tone with me." Alex said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Cassadee sat there looking for the right things to say to keep the singer from crying. After ten seconds, which felt more like ten hours, of silence, Rian just gave Alex the biggest hugs he's ver given. Hugging Alex only pushed him a little bit closer to crying, until he finally had tears rolling down his face. Alex, Rian, and Cassadee weren't aware of the shadow that had been coming into the room in the shape of a skunk-haired man.

"I just want my best friend back!" Alex screamed as he began to cry even harder.

At the end of his exclamation, there were loud thumps going in the opposite direction of the back lounge. The could only be the footsteps of a Lebanese man, running AWAY from Alex yet again.

"See? He can't even be on the same half of the bus as me!" Alex buried his head into Rian's shoulder and that's how the three sat, for what seemed like hours.

Rian and Cass would murmur little comforting thoughts like, "It'll get better" and "Things will be back to normal soon", but other than that the bus was silent.