Don't Let Jack Drive!

Chapter Sixteen

JACK’S P.O.V:

Zack and Rian don’t ask. I’ve never been more grateful of anything in my life. We walk downstairs as a group, completely silent. But none of as actually make a move to start playing. We have a pretty big show coming up next week. We should be practicing non-stop. I sit down on the couch against the back wall of Rian’s basement, watching Alex. He walks to the opposite side of the room and sits down on the ground. Rian sits at his drums, saying nothing. Zack stands in the middle of the floor, looking from Alex to me. The silence is horrible.

“Should we, um-” I start, just to break the silence.

“Okay, I gotta ask,” Rian finally says. Oh god. “What the hell happened?”

“I, eh…” I mumble, looking towards Alex. He looks away from me, still saying nothing. “Beth and I broke up,” I say. I don’t know what from, exactly, but I feel as though I have to protect Alex’s secret. Even though I know the guys would never judge him, or have any sort of problem with it, I just know he’s not ready to tell everybody yet. No matter how much that hurts, I have to respect that.

“What?” Rian asks.

“Yeah,” I reply, swallowing. “We broke up and aren’t exactly on speaking terms,” I tell them. Not that I’ve tried. I feel so guilty for that. The guys - including Alex - are staring at me. Waiting for an explanation that they’re not going to get.

“Okay,” Rian says, turning to Alex. “So why is she so mad at you?”

“She’s mad at everyone,” I answer for him. Rian turns back to me, looking confused.

“She wasn’t mad at us…” he says, gesturing towards himself and Zack. “And when we asked what was wrong, she told us to ask you,” he finishes, pointing at Alex. Alex looks up at Rian before looking away at the floor. Nobody says anything for a while.

“I’m gay,” Alex suddenly says.

“And I’m bi,” I admit.

“Jack and I were…” Alex starts, struggling to find the words.

“I cheated on Beth. With Alex,” I confess. It takes a few seconds for what we’ve just said to sink in, but Rian and Zack both nod at us.

“Okay. So, I can see why she’d be mad at you,” Rian says, finally picking up his drumsticks. “What are we starting with today?”

“Wait… That’s it?” Alex asks. “That’s all you’re gonna say?”

“Do you need me to lecture you on how wrong it was to do that to your sister? Or your girlfriend?” he asks us. We both shake our heads. “Well then,”

“And you guys are okay with this?” Alex asks now.

“You can’t help who you love, man,” Zack says. Alex and I look at each other.

“We never said anything about-” I start, but Zack cuts me off.

“Are you so sure? Because I don’t think either of you would do that to Beth for no real reason,”

“Can we play some music now?” Rian asks. I pick up my guitar, smiling for what feels like the first time in so long.