Dark affairs

I look at Jack and he stares back at me. I suppress the urge to roll my eyes, of course Alex has to ruin our night together but then I think that that's very selfish of me and I don't really want anything bad to happen to him.

I realise Jack waits for my decision on what to do so I shrug and get up to look for my clothes.
"Tell him we're coming." Jack quickly passes on the message and ends the call to get dressed as well.

"What do you think has happened?" He asks me and I can hear the concern in his tone.

I sigh. "It could be anything really but we will only know once we're there and it doesn't make sense to get worried before we know what's up. It didn't sound like a life or death situation because Rian was too calm for that."

By now we're dressed and I take the key and we walk downstairs to get a cab from the taxi stand that is conveniently right in front of the hotel and before we know it we're riding through the night on a mission to rescue Alex.

15 minutes later and we're in front of the tour bus that's parked behind the venue of tomorrow's show, actually today's show as we are way past midnight by now.

"I think you should better text Rian to come out and tell us what's going on before we just crash into the bus not knowing what we might have to deal with." I suggest and Jack takes out his phone to announce our arrival.

"He said to just come in." Jack replies after a moment.

I sigh again and we close the short distance to the door and then Jack opens it and we climb into the bus.

The first thing we see is Rian and Zack sitting in the front lounge seemingly waiting for us.

Rian shoots up the second we enter. "Jack! Alex has locked himself in the back lounge and refuses to talk to us, I can hear him mumbling to himself in there, it's been hours. I'm afraid he's having some kind of meltdown. We didn't know what to do." He rushes out in one go, looking genuinely worried.

Jack takes in the information for a moment and then points at us. "Okay, you guys stay here, Mickey come with me, we're going back there." And with that he marches to the back of the bus and I quickly follow after him wondering what this is all about.

When we're in front of the sliding door to the back lounge Jack and I listen for some sounds but we hear nothing, then he knocks cautiously and when we still hear no movement from inside he calls softly. "Alex open up the door, it's me, Jack"

First there is no reaction and Jack is about to knock again when we hear some shuffling and then the lock clicks open. Alex looks through the small gap. And when he sees us standing there, he opens the door wider and pulls us in.

He looks pretty bad. His eyes are puffy and red rimmed with dark circles underneath, his hair is disheveled and he is covered in a blanket.

He lets himself fall against me and I struggle to hold him up being caught off guard.

"Mickey, -I ah, I- I'm soooo so-huh sorry!" He nearly wails ending in a hiccup and I can smell the liquor on him.

It is on the tip of my tongue to tell him that he is being 'over-dramatic' the way he did with me.

But then I realise that his whole body is trembling and his breathing seems quick and laboured.

I look to Jack for help and he practically plucks Alex off me and puts him onto the couch. Then he sits beside him and wraps him up in his arms. I sit down on his other side and rub his thigh not knowing how to help.

"Whenever I ha- have something good happening I- in my li- life" he stutters on, "I make su- sure to destroy i- it. Like I don't des- deserve to be ha- happy." He wipes his face with his sleeve and coughs.

"I'm sorry Mickey, I know you ha- hate me and i- it's my fault you an- and Jacky here are fighting. I'm just a ho- horrible person and I hate my- myself so much."
He starts hyperventilating again.

" Sh sh, Al, calm down, breath with me, in and out, in and out, come on, focus." Jack shakes him lightly to get him to snap out of it.

"You go gonna le- leave me a- and I'll be alone again but I can't do this wi- without you guys." He cries as sobs rack his body.

I can't stand this any longer so I hug him and tell him."No, Alex I don't hate you and we will not leave you alone, okay? We're here for you." I look at Jack and he cocks his brow but I shrug my shoulders. I know we decided to quit this but we have an emergency here and that is not the right time to tell him we're over.

Within half an hour of coaxing we manage to get him to calm down and he falls asleep in Jack's arms.

"What even was that?" I ask my boyfriend exhausted.

"Well I know Alex doesn't seem like this kind of person, with his tough exterior and the walls he built so high, always sarcastic and joking but when he gets really stressed about something he tends to get trapped in his mind and his negative thoughts build up until his anxiety sparks, the amount of alcohol that he must've had didn't help as well." Jack gets up and we both manage to manhandle a sleeping Alex into his bunk.

"Hey Jack, I'm too tired to go back to my hotel right now, can I crash here for the night?" I ask and my eyes are already drooping.

"Of course! Do you want me to clear the bunk for you?" Jack offers because against all fanfiction two people can NOT sleep together in a bunk, they are barely big enough for one.

"No don't worry, I'll just get a pillow and blanket and take the couch in the front lounge."
I give him a kiss. "Bye baby, good night, sleep tight." And walk to the front where luckily I find the room empty and collapse onto the soft leather.

........

I wake up because somebody is poking my face. I slowly open my eyes trying to focus as there is the face of a girl about two inches away from mine.

I frown confused. She has long feathery brown hair and cat-like brown-green eyes, kind of a long nose and super white teeth, it clicks and I recognise her as Casadee Pope, the waaaay better half of Rian.

"And what are you doing here?" She asks curiously, "are you a left over fangirl?" She doesn't look too excited about that.

I snort and slowly push myself into a sitting position only to have her sitting down in the space I just vacated.

"No! I work for Hopeless records. My name's Mickey." I slap her arm lightly.

Immediately her expression changes and her smile almost literally brightens the room.
"Oh, cool, are you on for the whole tour?" She asks excited.

I shake my head. "No, I'm only here for the week and let me tell you, that's more than enough."
I huff.

She laughs loudly, I realise she is an over all loud person.

"Oh yeah, I believe that. Can you imagine, I have a day off tour, I get up at an ungodly hour this morning and drive four hours from Vegas to see my boyfriend and let me guess he's still asleep." She looks at me expectantly but I shrug.

It's not like I care or know what Rian is doing!

"Hey, after I wake him up, do you maybe wanna come out with us and have breakfast?" She asks but obviously I had made a disgusted grimace as her smile falters immediately and she furrows her brows.

"Oh, no, Rian has been a dick to you, has he?" I say nothing because it's not like I'm gonna tell on him, that's just not the person I am.
"Don't worry, you don't have to tell me. I mean he can be the sweetest guy but I swear sometimes..." she trails off and I probably won't find out what she sometimes because she gets up and stomps to the door that leads to the bunks.

"Robert Rian Dawson." She yells down the aisle while she waits for him with crossed arms tapping her foot impatiently.

I can hear several groans from the guys she woke up with her volume and then I see Rian scrambling out of his bunk while he tries to pull on a shirt over his head.

"Cass!" He smiles as he is rushing towards her with open arms.

She stops him with her outstretched hand and a glare.

"Rian! I believe you haven't been a gentleman to this gorgeous young lady here and I wanna know why you forgot all your manners? How does that make me look if I'm dating a guy who can't even behave himself?"

I have to giggle because Rian looks like a dog that just got a cold shower but honestly this little girl can be intimidating! He looks at her wincing and then turns to me with a pained face.

"Uh, yeah, uhm, actually Mickey I wanted to apologise yesterday but it was all so hectic with Alex and all, I may have gotten the wrong impression of you and I want to say I'm sorry for what I called you." Rian tells me wringing his hands together uncomfortably.

Cassadee looks from me to Rian and back with a surprised face.
"What? What happened with Alex and what did you call her? Wrong impression? What's going on? That sound like a lot of drama. You have to tell me everything! Good my own band is so boring compared to this!"

Rian finally kisses her and takes his jacket and tries to shove her out of the bus probably to get breakfast but she doesn't stop talking and waves goodbye to me while she mouths 'we talk later' between two sentences.

Man, I already love this girl!

Notes

Introducing Cass!