Disharmony

Demons

                  

Xavier started missing Dylan a few hours after his little brother left. It wasn't surprising, really. He always missed Dylan, even when he didn't acknowledge it. Since the beginning of his career, he's learned to turn that yearning into passion. It allowed him to channel that extra emotion into his performing and songwriting.

Most people thought he was either heartbroken or extremely in love. The truth was that he was constantly homesick.

Distractions did help, though. This week, that distraction came in the form of Annie Masters, Kasia's best friend.

She was tall and willowy, with white blonde hair chopped into a pixie cut and the palest blue eyes Xavier had ever seen. Personality wise, he understood why she and Kasia got along so well. They both shared the same sense of humor, where an extremely wide range of scenarios made them laugh.

Annie is more refined, however, gentler and more mild mannered. She has a sort of calming effect over the petite brunette, a characteristic Xavier hoped would work wonders when he woke up three days after Dylan's departure and read the front page headlines in the celebrity news section.

Under normal circumstances, he would avoid that section of any news website, simply because he'd learned from his time in the entertainment industry that very little of what was reported was actually true.

But this particular morning, he'd received a text from his manager with the link to a news article and a caption that read 'Something you forgot to tell me?'

Confused, he'd clicked on the link, which had taken him to the celebrity gossip site that he was currently staring at blankly.

Kasia and Xavier's amusement park date.

The headline itself wasn't what bothered him; pretty much anytime he and Kasia were in public together, people assumed they were on a date. No, what was sending his heart into a beating frenzy was the picture inserted at the bottom of the article. Judging by the graininess of the photograph, it must have been taken by a phone, but there was no denying what was happening in the picture.

It featured two figures, one carrying a boy on his back, locking lips beside a dumpster. Someone had taken a picture of him kissing Kasia.

Cursing to himself, he tossed the phone on his bed and ran a hand through his hair. Neither he nor Kasia wanted this kind of media coverage. He preferred to keep his personal life out of the media in general and the whole point of this tour was for Kasia to prove that she was reliable and stable.

With a single kiss, they had managed shoot that to hell.

Groaning in frustration, he leaned back against the headboard and wondered if Kasia knew yet. If not, it was only a matter of time.

His phone buzzed and he winced when he glanced down and saw his manager's name flash across the screen. He picked it up slowly, taking a deep breath as he slid a finger across the screen to answer the call.

"Good morning, Jack," Xavier said lightly, hoping to start the conversation on a positive note because it was no doubt going to spiral into ugliness as it continued.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Apparently Jack was eager to jump into the yelling portion of the phone call.

"I was thinking that there weren't cameras around," Xavier muttered. As soon as he spoke, he realized how idiotic that sounded.

"There's always cameras around, Xavier," Jack sighed. "Kasia Stevens is always being watched. Always."