Dark affairs

I sit on the couch watching season 1 of The Big Bang Theory when my phone vibrates on the coffee table,
I think I can guess who that is so I curse under my breath but still push the phone into my reach with my foot and get the call just before it goes to voicemail.

"Yeah?" I say still engrossed in the dialogue between Leonard and Sheldon.

"Mickey! You promised to come down for rehearsals. We've been here for over an hour and you're still not there!" Comes Jacks high pitched voice through the speakers.

"Yeah, look I'm not really feeling it..." I know, lame excuse but he put me on the spot and I'm not good with that.

"NOOOOO, Mickey! Don't do that to me, Pleeeeeaaase, you promised!" He wails so loud that I have to hold the phone away from my ears as to not turn deaf.

"Christ! Okay, I'm coming, no need to shred my hearing, man!" I scold him being only half serious because my boyfriend is simply ridiculous.

"Oh, yay thank you, thank you, and sorry for screaming, baby. Love ya" he stage whispers making me laugh.

"Good, see you in half an hour." I end the call shaking my head, how old is this guy? 5?

I enter the venue 45 minutes later, yeah I know, I had to finish the episode first, sue me!

But I'm running straight into an argument.

Rian is standing behind his drums gesticulating with his sticks in the air an angry look on his face and pointing at Alex now who stands with his back to me looking at the floor.

"....and you Gaskarth, I have no idea what's up with you, bro but I seriously suggest you get your act together soon. I mean the tour is less that two weeks away and you look and sound like complete shit."

There he makes a pause in his, I assume, long-ish rant to give the accused a chance to defend himself but there is no reaction from Alex other than him turning around to the mic with a sad face.

That seems to shock Rian a little as he adds a lot less angry. "I'm here for you, if you want to talk, you know that bro?"

There is an awkward silence from the rest of the band but Alex just shakes his head and looks up and notices me as I had stood silent on the edge of the shadows.

He looks over to Jack and as soon as my boyfriend realises I'm here he runs over to me a look of relief on his face. He hugs me and whispers in my ear.

"Thank god you're here, it's been so terrible, the whole time we either fight or ignore each other. I felt so uncomfortable. At least now I have someone to talk to."

He glances back at the guys watching us with blank faces.

I note that none of them had greeted me, I'm probably getting on their nerves with coming to every rehearsal or its the fact Jack's always insisting on having me here, you know the Yoko Ono effect.

Rian sits down and sighs, "okay, let's get on with it, Jack come back here, and we start with the intro to Kids in the Dark....AGAIN."

Nobody replies to that as Jack scurries back to the stage and Rian counts them in.

Wow, what a shit mood is this band in? Normally it's the complete opposite, the guys joke and mess around just having a good time doing the thing they love. Is that my fault? Rian seems to think so, judging by his lack of acknowledgement.

They struggle through two more songs until Rian declares he's had enough and leaves the set without another word.

Zack packs up his bass and leaves soon after with a mumbled goodbye. I'm about to sneak away as well, when Alex calls out through the mic.

"Wait! Michelle" he points at me with a face that shows no room for negotiations. Since when does he call me by my full name? "And Jack" he turns to his bandmate "we're going out, we need to talk."

Jack looks at me unsure of what to do and I just shrug so he nods and packs up his stuff while I stay there waiting for them to finish up.

When we're all standing outside the venue Alex takes the lead and walks down the road waving us to follow him. Jack takes my hand and we walk behind him silently only throwing each other questioning glances.

We walk like that for about two blocks when Alex stops to enter a shop that turns out to be the same coffee place that I ran to ...when was that? Oh yeah,just a couple of days ago...so much has happened since then, it feels like it has been weeks.

He holds the door open for us and leads us to a table in the back of the shop then gestures wordlessly for us to sit down and goes to the counter to order, I assume. He comes back after a moment and sits down, a determined look in his eyes.

We sit in silence until the waiter comes with our orders, again Alex remembered how we all drink our coffee.

It's the same guy as last time, Telle, and he does a double take when he recognises me. "Well, hello, good to see you again." He says in a flirty tone.

Oh god, no, please not now! I feel Jack and Alex's eyes on me as I shyly smile up at him.

He puts down our coffees and shuffles away not before giving me another flirty smile.

I look to Jack who narrows his eyes at me and I shrug, it's not my fault this guy hits on girls for a living.

Alex puts his open hand on the table and looks at me expectantly. I look from his hand back to his face and frown in confusion, he rolls his eyes at me. "Give me your hand, Mickey" he demands.

I hesitantly put my hand into his. This is so awkward!

Then he holds his other hand towards Jack. I have to suppress a giggle when I see Jacks surprised face and he reluctantly stretches out his hand.

Alex holds both our hands and looks down at the table then clears his throat.

"Mickey, Jack, i want to apologise and explain myself, you can yell and shout at me all you want but please," here he sends me a quick glance "hear me out first."

Of course this is addressed towards me because Jack turns into putty in his hands and would never interrupt him.

I nod in acknowledgment and Jack mumbles a "sure, go ahead." whilst looking pretty unsure of himself.

Alex takes a big breath. "Okay, first, I am really really sorry for how I behaved towards you two and I want to be completely honest and explain why, although I understand that there is no excuse for my doings.

Jack, you already know, and Mickey I tried to explain what Lisa means to me. Yes, I need this normality in my life because my head and my heart are nothing but normal.

I ended things with both of you because I was afraid of losing control. I tried to deny my cravings and wanted to fully commit to my marriage but I was miserable the whole time.

You see, Lisa is like an old friend, I know her so well and I am so comfortable with her but it was never a crazy love full of excitement, where your heart wants to jump out of your chest and your hands get sweaty.... nothing like I felt with you guys."

He had whispered the last part but I heard him well enough. I make eye contact with Jack and he looks as shocked as I feel. Is Alex confessing he had feelings for the both of us?

Alex seems to snap out of his reverie and continues.

"When I found out you guys were seeing each other I was so jealous, of you Mickey because you were taking away the most important man in my life and of you Jack because you were able to get the girl I was longing for.

The day Jack announced you were actually in a relationship I wanted to cry. I admit I tried to talk him out of it, telling him you were a slut, Mickey and would only use him and dump his ass sooner or later. I meant none of that and I'm sorry I talked so bad about you." He squeezes my hand as an apology.

"But Jack was completely infatuated with you and didn't take any of my shit, so we got into a fight. You have no idea how attractive you are Jack when you get mad. I couldn't help but try and kiss you and I'm also sorry for that.

I couldn't think, I couldn't sleep after that, always feeling this burning jealousy and this insatiable longing in my gut."

He looks up for the first time checking our reactions. Well, there is not a lot of reaction from the both of us because we are a bit overwhelmed with this new information, I guess.

So he sighs again and continues.

"Until I realised that this is the perfect opportunity. The two people I crave the most are in a relationship...." he looks at us and pulls both our hands to his chest taking a deep breath.

"....and that's why I want to propose a 'ménage à trois' "

Notes

BOOM! So how do you feel about that! How do Jack and Mickey feel about that?
i don't even know how I feel about that! We can only see how this plays out!
I'll have another update for you later today as these two chapters kind of belong together.
So see you later x.