DARE

{32}Don't

Jack wanted to walk around everybody else to talk to Mark, he wanted to find out where he was going so fast. Everyone except Mark was walking crowded together, so Jack was stuck where he was.

Jack tried to lag behind them all and separate himself as he made it to the backstage room with the rest of revelmode. Mark was all the way across the room, hidden behind all these people.

Jack couldn't immediately just leave his friends too, they were all talking and practically surrounding him, but Jack was just trying to watch Mark.

Mark was quickly pulling off his microphone and all the connected wires while Jack was slowly backing away from everyone.

Jack quietly slipped away from his friends and saw Mark giving his sound stuff back to Tara through the crowd. Jack moved towards Mark, but began to slow down as he realized he didn't really know how to approach Mark.

Mark was going somewhere and Jack didn't want to get in his way, but at the same time he was curious.

Jack started after Mark, but just following him, not actually catching up to him. Mark rushed around all the chatting people to a door on the side of the room that Jack remembered led to a hallway off the convention center.

Mark was looking at his phone as he quickly opened and walked through the doorway. After a second Jack slipped through the door after Mark and barely caught sight of him heading into a storage room a bit down the hall.

There wasn't anybody else in this hallway so Jack slowly snuck up to the door Mark had walked into, which was still a little open.

Jack pressed his back against the wall next to the doorway and turned his head to face the open door. He was about to peek in when he heard Mark calmly say, "Hello."

Jack's eyes widened, thinking that Mark knew he was there, but instead he heard another voice in the room reply, "How could you do that to me?" It was Amy, of course it was Amy.

There was a pause until Mark replied, "I didn't do that to you Amy.. have you been in here this whole time?"

"Yes! I- I didn't want to look at anybody, I couldn't be there!" Amy half-yelled, "I fucking told you to stop. I told you, that you have to ignore that stuff!" Jack heard the plop of someone sitting on the ground.

"B- But it was just a game, you know that!" With those words Jack actually felt a bit hurt, even if Mark was right.

"Literally this morning I said to you I am done! Done with you just playing along to those ships, you could've said no, refused to do it, I mean like you said it was just a game," Amy took a slow and deep breath in, "it makes me feel like you don't even think this is real... like we're just another made up relationship..."

"I- I don't mean for it to seem that way," Jack heard a soft thump like Mark had joined Amy on the floor, "I just don't... I.. look I'm sorry, okay?"

"I know you are, but that doesn't fix anything, you're different Mark, I don't know if you've even noticed, but you've been different."

"D- different how?"

Amy sighed, "You've just been so distant, Mark."

There was another silence.

"I don't like it," said Amy, "I want to know why, what's wrong Mark?"

"I-" Mark stuttered, "I don't know."

Jack heard a ruffle, like someone being pushed away. "Wha- Mark?" Amy questioned.

"D- don't," Mark mumbled, "don't you kiss me."