snake hidden in my daffodils (JALEX)

1. why can't you just be happy for me?

"ready for tour to start next week?" rian asked as he poured himself a drink.

"yeah, it's been a while." alex replied, sipping at his own drink. "i've missed being up on stage with you guys."

it was all time low's last week off before their tour started. alex, being the ambitious workaholic he is, decided they should all live together for the week for practice every day. meaning that tonight was their last day of 'freedom' for at least a month, which of course meant a catch-up with the four of them, and of course a few drinks.

"but where the fuck is jack?" alex continued. they had all agreed to be at alex's by 3pm so they could unpack and relax before they inevitably got drunk. however, now it was 6pm and alex, rian and zack were starting on the drinks, with no sign of jack anywhere.

zack rolled his eyes, "we all know exactly where he is." he said, as he checked his phone for any texts from jack. 

alex shrugged and looked at the floor. zack was right, they all knew exactly where jack was. with his girlfriend doing who knows what. of course alex was happy for jack. he wanted jack to be happy and if sarah made him happy then that's great, but he couldn't help to feel the slightest bit jealous. nobody knew, but alex had a crush on jack. he has done since the first day they met. but he was scared of being rejected, and knew jack was straight- so it could never work anyway. alex tried to distract himself with girls, and sometimes other guys. although it wasn't very often he'd get with another guy, he'd never had a boyfriend. he was scared zack and jack would be grossed out by him. the only person who knew was rian. everyone always sees jack and alex as the closest pair in the band, but behind the scenes rian and alex were closer. rian found out about alex being bisexual back in high school, during a sleep over when they'd had a few drinks. alex had gotten upset and emotional and as rian comforted him, he confessed it to rian- expecting him to be disgusted and leave, however instead he was understanding and hugged alex and promised he wouldn't tell anyone. since then they'd been inseparable as best friends and they knew they could trust each other with everything... or in rian's case, most things.

a knock at the door distracted alex from his thoughts, and he stood up and opened the door.

jack stood there, looking as perfect as ever, "hey lex, sorry i'm a little late."

alex's heart did a mini flip as he heard jack call him 'lex'. it was a mini nickname jack gave him years ago, only jack called him it and he loved it. alex shrugged at jack and they both walked back to where rian and zack were.

"took your time didn't you?" rian said, as he saw jack walk in.

jack shrugged, "chill i'm only like an hour late."

"make that three hours." alex mumbled as he sat back next to rian and took another sip of his drink.

"three hours...?" jack asked, confused. he checked the time on his phone and his smile dropped, "oh shit... sorry guys me and sarah must have lost track of time..."

alex rolled his eyes as jack smirked, thinking back to the fun he and his girlfriend were having earlier on. they'd been dating for about 4 months now and jack was obsessed with her, they rarely left each others side and it was a task from alex, rian and zack to convince jack to not bring sarah over for the week. although alex knows that any moment that they didn't spend practicing jack would most likely be on his phone texting or calling sarah. 

rian awkwardly watched alex as jack left the room to go put his bags in his room. alex always got more tense and angry when sarah was mentioned, he tried to hide it- not wanting jack to know how he felt about it. rian thought it was kind of cute when alex tried to hide his anger, they way he clenched his jaw as if he was holding back from saying something rude, and he'd always try distract himself by fixing his hair- and to try look more 'chill' and casual in the conversation.

alex looked at rian, "what are you looking at?" he asked, playfully nudging rian with his elbow.

"i was just thinking about how messy your hair is," rian jokingly replied, feeling a little embarrassed that alex must have noticed him staring at him.

"hey don't be rude, we all know my hair is always perfect!" alex said as he went back to fixing his hair. he knew rian knew he had a habit of touching his hair when he was hiding his anger, so he knew rian wasn't being serious. 

they continued drinking, and after about 20 minutes jack came back into the room and sat down on the empty couch. alex stood up, quickly went to the kitchen to get more drinks, and came back and sat next to jack- much to rians disappointment.

"soooooo how's our bestie?" alex asked, snuggling up to jack a little bit. this wasn't a weird position for them to sit in, they all loved to cuddle and hug and show their affection- it's just how their friendship worked. however for alex, it felt much more special being able to be so close to jack without weirding him out.

jack shrugged, cuddling back up to alex. "me and sarah went to the beach today. she looked so fucking good, we didn't stay long before we had to run back to the car for some... fun... i'm really gonna miss her this week, i'm glad you guys are okay with her joining us for the tour."

alex looked at jack and held up an unopened beer to him, "here, a few drinks and you'll stop missing her."

jack looked at the can, but hesitated before he took it from alex. "oh um.. i can't, i promised sarah i'd cut back on drinking a bit..." 

"cut back? you barely even drink, dude come on one night of drinking ain't gonna hurt.. it's our tradition, getting drunk the week before tour..." alex replied, feeling quite shocked jack would turn the drink down.

jack pushed alex off of him and stood up, "i fucking said no alex. i don't want to have a drink, just leave it as that!" jack said in a slightly raised voice, before storming off to his room.

alex looked at rian and zack, feeling hurt that jack would push him away AND then shout and swear at him. rian and zack were both as shocked as alex by the way jack reacted. alex sighed and opened the drink and drank it, fighting back his tears.

'this is gonna be a long week,' alex thought.