“That was a bit scary!” Kara bit her lip, Rian was holding her hand in his lap. Alex was sitting on the couch opposite them in the bus, the space next to him uncomfortably empty. Annabelle was sleeping in his bunk. Alex looked up at the bus door opening. Zack and Jack walked in.
“Yo.” Rian nodded.
“Yo, yo, yiggity yo.” Jack flopped next to Alex, wiping sweat off his brow. “Man its hot. What did you guys do?”
“We went ice-skating.” Alex replied, completely despondent.
“Dude, what’s up?” Zack asked, cracking open a beer from the mini-fridge. When he didn’t reply he turned to Rian and Kara. “What happened?”
Kara opened her mouth, but Alex looked up. “Annabelle feinted.”
“Oh?” Jack frowned, “Why?”
“I don’t know. She was spinning and then she fell over and blacked out.”
“Where is she now?”
“Asleep.” Kara said, when Alex looked like he wouldn’t reply. “She doesn’t eat enough.”
Jack nodded and tapped his feet. Zack took a swig of beer. They heard rustling from the bunk-room and looked up to see Annabelle emerge, groggy and rubbing her eye.
“Guys,” She smiled, “I just realised we didn’t have any sugar at Sugar Land.”
Alex cracked a chuckle and walked over to her, wrapping her in a hug. Matt walked into the bus.
“Hey dudes, warm up now. Shows on in an hour.”

***

“Kara, I just...don’t know how to help. I feel so useless.” Alex ran his hand through his hair.
“Alex, don’t put this burden on your shoulders. They can be incredibly stubborn people, and you just have to be there to support her, to let her know that you are her rock, and you’ll always be there for her-”
“I have to be her reason to get healthy...”
Kara half smiled, “Alex- Alex, all you can do in this situation is just be there for her, maybe coax her a little, but don’t push her over the edge. She’s fragile.”
“It just- it just makes me so...angry sometimes...” He rubbed the back of his neck, closing his eyes. “And I don’t understand what her mother has been doing this entire time, hasn’t she seen her wasting away? What if she needs to be hospitalised?”
“Calm down, Alex. It’ll be okay.” Kara opened her arms, and Alex hugged her. He wondered whether he had made the wrong decision in asking Annabelle to be with him. He loved her though. He really did. But didn’t she see how difficult she was? As if reading his mind Kara said,
“Alex, what you have to understand about people with eating disorders... is that they perceive themselves very differently to how you and I see them.”
Alex sighed, understanding. It was hard to control his anger about the matter, but he would try his best; for her. Kara held his arm for a moment.
“Thanks, Kara.”
She smiled. “Good luck out there.”
Alex could hear them screaming his name, screaming the band’s name. Kara waved as she moved away from the stage, probably to find Annabelle. Jack slapped him on the back as he walked onto the platform. He counted to three, until the squeals for the guitarist had died down. He grabbed his guitar and jogged into his place. His thoughts were drowned by screaming and hands and skin, until all that he could do was slam his guitar and begin the set.

Kara was searching for Annabelle, she checked at the barrier, where she could usually be found snapping photographs, in the bathrooms, along each corridor. Unable to find her she walked into the dressing room, the Dogs were sitting around laughing and smoking. Kara sniffed, it smelt like weed. She spotted Annabelle, sitting on one end of the couch next to Gavin, her feet tucked under her. She waved at Kara, smiling.
“Have they started?”
Kara nodded. Annabelle got up and strolled up to Kara, holding out her skinny arm. “Shall we go dance?”
They left the room. Gavin rubbed his eyes, and held his hand out for the joint that was in between Carlos’ lips.
“Man,” Carlos began, handing over the rolled up drug-filled paper, “I dunno what your thing is with her...”
Gavin shrugged, taking a drag. “I just want her.”
Carlos laughed, “Each to his own.” he lay back in the chair, his hands behind his head, “I prefer my girls with a bit of meat on their bones.” He cackled, “Or a lot! If you know what I mean, hermanos!”
“You don’t need to go into it, dude, I’ve seen your porn stash.” Emery winced, taking the weed from a laughing Gavin.
“Well what about you, Em,” Carlos asked, “are you into her?”
“Yeah,” Emery lifted a shoulder, “I guess...I mean she’s pretty cute...” He looked around at his bandmates faces.
“But,” Carlos continued, ignoring Emery, “you don’t have a chance, hermano. Alex watches her like a hawk.”
“I dunno,” Gavin scratched his unkept chin, “I’ve overheard that Alex is pretty fed up with Annabelle’s eating issues.”
Carlos made an indistinguishable noise at the back of his throat. He chuckled, “I guess you could always fuck her next time she feints!” He said breaking into guffaws, Gavin cackling. Emery snickered halfheartedly, and took a hurried drag from the burned up joint.

Annabelle and Kara were dancing together on the side of the stage, laughing behind the too-loud speakers. They paused between songs, breathless and giggly, until finally the set was over. The boys emerged, sweaty and red faced from the stage, leaving the crowd behind them screaming for more. Alex saw Annabelle and broke into a grin that transformed him. He picked her up, holding her to him. Alex leaned back to look at her for a moment, then softly kissed her, trying to transmit as much emotion as possible through his lips. Annabelle was slightly stunned when he pulled away.
“I think they’re calling for an encore.” She whispered breathlessly.
“Shall we give them one?”
Annabelle nodded enthusiastically.
“Guys. Encore. Lets do it!” Alex looked up, away from Annabelle. His bandmates looked at him disbelievingly.
“But I’m tiiireeed.” Jack whined. “I wanna go party.”
“Uhm.” Kara looked at Jack confusedly. He shrugged.
“Cbs!” Rian announced, and grabbed Kara’s hand.
“Matt!” Alex yelled, Matt appeared from behind the stage. “I’m doing an encore.”

“Luckily, we have not dismantled everything, yet.” Matt sighed and talked into a com, “Guys, Alex wants an encore.”
“What are you gonna play?” Zack wondered.
“Coffee Shop Soundtrack?” Alex asked after a pause. The three other boys exchanged a glance, smiled and piled onto the stage screaming. Alex fist-pumped and joined them. Kara shrugged at Annabelle.
“That’s one of their collective favourites.” She laughed, as the crowds screams swelled and Alex began swearing into the mic.

“Houston, you are one group of fucking lucky assholes.” Alex laughed, played a couple of chords on his guitar, then yelled: “Coffee Shop Soundtrack!”
The crowd screamed so hard that the first few bars were drowned out. Annabelle and Kara pulled Matt, who was standing near them with crossed arms, into a triangle of dancing. He laughed, and reluctantly joined in with dorky moves. Alex glanced at them from the stage, and made amusing face at Annabelle, who poked her tongue at him, he grinned and continued into the chorus.

***

“Aren’t you glad we did that encore?” Alex nudged Zack, who was closest to him. He shrugged while Jack broke into a drunken rendition of the Linkin Park song;
“ENCORE, DO YOU WANT MORE, more, more, more!” He jumped madly into the crowd of dancing bodies, looking hilariously out of place amongst the young people who were trying their hardest to look sexy. 
Annabelle cracked up and pulled Alex into the throng to join the bouncing guitarist. They were at a club in Houston, their bus call wasn’t until 4am, so they were making the most of their post-show buzz. The crowd moved together to the beat, vibrating the floor. Annabelle was quickly lost, and Jack pulled Alex out to have another drink. Annabelle found Gavin, who unfortunately had a knack for getting to her in crowds. However, she was on friendly terms with the members of the Dogs, as she saw no point in being hostile, besides, they had given her weed. Gavin placed his hands on her waist, and Annabelle didn’t protest. She was tipsy, and having too much fun to stop dancing; she didn't want to kill the buzz. Gavin tried to say something to her, but she shook her head at him, and made a point of moving. Just keep dancing, she was saying. Gavin swallowed, feeling her move under his hands was like a dream, he went to shift his hands further down her body, but she spun around. Alex, who had been behind her, caught her.

He pressed himself up against her, grinding with her, glaring at Gavin until he went away. Alex loved to watch her reactions to him, she bit her lip as the music became faster, and the grinding became harder. Alex moved his hands down over her hips, squeezing her ass, and pulling her shorts up so they dug into her. She swallowed and leaned up, kissing him all down his neck. He smirked, as the song began to fade out he pulled her away from the dancers. Annabelle was more eager, she caught his hand, and went from a brisk walk, into a run, as an exit came into focus. They hurried outside into a deserted side-street. Alex pressed her up against a brick wall. She remembered the beginning of tour, the same setting, the same Alex; different circumstances. He hurriedly pulled down her shorts as the nibbles at his neck became bites. Annabelle could feel her skin, the bricks tearing holes, but it turned her on even more. She threw her head back, staring at the few visible stars as her back began to bleed.

***

“Man, you guys are so horny.” Jack complained, “We leave you alone for five seconds and you have to run outside to bang each other?” He sniffed looking at the hickies trailing down Alex's neck, “Disgusting!”
Annabelle was snuggled up to Alex on the couch, they were watching a Scooby-Doo on the small bus television. Zack was on the floor, doing sit-ups.
“Hey,” Zack said, looking at Jack, mid-crunch, “Let lovers be lovers.”