What Never Was, and What Happened After - Jalex Oneshot

What Never Was, and What Happened After

Alex shrugged on his backpack, kissed Lisa goodbye and shut the door behind him.

Once behind the wheel of his car, he fired off a text to May.

Me:

Plan is in motion! Xx

May Barakat:

I hear you, soldier ;) text when you need to activate me (as it were. Sounded a bit weird 0_0) xx

Grinning at her reply, he slipped his phone into his pocket and pulled onto the road, excited to be putting his scheme into action.

This had been planned for weeks, and Alex was as excited as May for this. He hadn't seen Jack in almost a year, not since he'd moved to New York to live close to his older sister. With an album to compose and no tours to embark upon, the entire band was somewhat estranged. Alex had made the effort to meet with Rian a few times, since he helped to write music and had a flare for words Alex just couldn't find, and Zack had come to Alex several times when he came to visit some of his old friends, but even though Jack had well and truly kept in touch with Alex, they hadn't spoken face to face in far too long.

Jack's texts tended to be either short and witty or lengthy and explanatory, and there was no in-between. What was evident across all kinds of texts was that Jack missed Alex painfully, and Alex missed Jack about as much, if not more - not that his pride would allow him to admit it over iMessage.

He'd moved away without telling anyone until after he'd gone. Alex and Lisa returned from their honeymoon and Alex had driven to Jack's house to say hello; only it was not Jack's house anymore. It had been sold, according to a large red and white sign outside. The spare key was still under the fake rock and it seemed that the new owners hadn't moved in yet, so Alex let himself in, searching for an explanation and finding it in a letter on the kitchen counter, which had stated nothing more than: "Moved to New York to be with May. I'll send you my new address as soon as I'm settled. Don't worry, I'll keep in touch ;)". Alex had been, needless to say, completely confused and slightly rattled as to his friend's seemingly sudden decision. For a while, he even had the audacity to be worried, until Lisa set his frazzled mind straight - this clearly wasn't an irrational or spontaneous decision. Jack had still lived there when the pair had left for their honeymoon two weeks prior, so he must have sold the house in secret whilst they were still around and moved out almost straight away. A spontaneous decision would also mean that he probably wouldn't have found a place to live yet, and it was clear from his note that he did. So this must have been something that had ben planned well before Alex and Lisa were even married, and that logic managed to somewhat ease his mind. It didn't completely erase all aspects of his bafflement - it still didn't explain why Jack had moved away suddenly without telling anybody. However, with a new marriage to get swinging, a bunch of wedding presents still to open, a needy dog and a swarm of even needier people asking them about the honeymoon, the most Alex could do was keep the spare key and get rid of the fake rock, so that a random stranger would not be able to get into Jack's old home at his leisure.

Alex parked up in the long stay car park at Baltimore/Washington International Airport, hucked his backpack out of the passenger seat beside him and made his way into the airport, a smile still on his face at the thought of what he was doing. Being polite, as always, he gave the check-in lady his passport and she in return handed over his boarding pass, and he zig-zagged his way through the bustling, sweaty airport, filled with rushing commuters and lazy travellers and excited relatives. Alex bypassed them all, one destination in mind.

He was early - a little too early, perhaps. The gate wasn't opening for another fifty minutes, so he sat impatiently in the restaurant, tapping his foot and listening to music - the only thing he had for distraction. After a while, he sighed and got up to purchase a muffin.