Cold Mattresses

The sound of the flint in my lighter grinding with no spark was starting to grate on my nerves. This was the second lighter I’ve tried to use and so far nothing has happened; I’m still standing beside the bus at a rest stop in the dead of night, shoulders hunched as my hands cupped the cigarette clasped in between my lips.

Mind you, it’s fucking cold and I’m slowly losing feeling in my fingers but that’s the price I’ve learned to pay for taking up this ridiculous habit. Cars progressively went by but over the sound all I heard would the disappointing sound of a lighter which refused to catch and it was beginning to remind of the intro for Tangled In The Great Escape.

A hand clutching a lighter appeared on my left and as I turned a thumb pressed down, actually garnering a result. Eyes widening I quickly cupped my hands around the flame and leaned in to dip the tip of my butt in the heat, inhaling deeply until the tip blackened and then glowed ember.

“You know, this is probably the main reason you get sick so much more often than the rest of us.”

Leaning back I looked up at our new photographer/videographer who had been our friend for a very long time before joining us on this tour. His long curly strawberry blond hair was tucked beneath his hoodie and his eyes were shielded with the lenses of his glasses, the light of the street lamp reflecting faintly as he looked down at me.

I smiled up at him and shrugged. It was something that I’d gotten used to a long time ago, numb fingers and the casual head cold. I say casual because it happens so often to me that it’s not even a big deal anymore.

“It comes with the territory, Johnno,” I answer before raising my hand to pull the butt away so I could exhale, turning to blow the smoke away from him.

“What are you doing up anyway? I thought everyone was asleep.” I watched as he shrugged before slowly sagging against the side of the bus.

Same.

Moving to mirror his stance I raised my hand to inhale once more before holding the stick out to him, knowing that he would take it. John was a social smoker; he didn’t smoke at all unless someone he was close to offered.

That would be me in this scenario.

Smoke swirled up around us as we stood in a comfortable silence, passing the butt back and forth until it was finished only to light up another for each of us. Sighing softly, I tilted my head back against the bus and closed my eyes.

The night was starting to settle properly, cars slowly decreasing in frequency until it were rare that we heard anything past our breathing and the sounds of the animal life around us. Dropping my butt to the ground I toed out the end with my worn out vans and tugged the sleeves of my jumper down to cover my frozen hands.

Well, Tony’s jumper.

“Is it possible to miss someone even though you only saw them a couple of hours ago?”

I turned it surprise, not expecting John to actually speak before his question caught up with my brain. Sympathy rolled over my shoulders like a warming charm over a wizard and I sighed. I knew all about that.

“Yeah, it is and it fucking sucks.”

He looked down at me for a moment with a slackened expression, pain evident in his eyes before he reached out and tucked me into his side, strong arms wrapping around me as he rested his chin on the crown of my head.

“Who is she?” I whisper softly, absently nuzzling into the soft fabric of his jumper trying to warm my cheeks.

“Gracie, she works at the studio.”

I hummed in recognition as my mind provided me with a mental photograph of a girl with wavy red hair and bright blue eyes. I remembered meeting her when we celebrated the opening of the studio; Gracie was incredibly kind and just as short as I was so we’d hit it off splendidly.

“I remember her, she’s sweet.”

“She really is. I’m head over heels for her.”

I smiled. At least someone was happy in love and John was one of the most amazing guys I knew, he deserved to have someone as sweet as Gracie in his life. I wonder if I’ll ever get to be as lucky and as lucky as Leia and Vic.

John’s voice cut through my thoughts. “You’ll get there, Alice, I promise. Tony will realise that he’s not with who he should be.”

I felt my cheeks flush. “I hadn’t realised I said anything out loud.”

He chuckled and I felt him drop a kiss to my head. “You didn’t, but I’ve known you and the others for so long that I know where your thoughts tend to lead you. And yours tend to lead straight to Tony, my dear.”

I shifted and absently played with the ends of my sleeves before sighing. My thoughts always ended up on Tony. I think is beginning to become unhealthy. “Maybe I should just give up.”

It was just a whisper but John still heard me. I felt him tense up before he snapped his arms away from my waist and held me at arm’s length, eyes wide. “What the actual fuck are you talking about? You can’t give up on this, not when you are so close.”

I looked into Johnno’s blue eyes through his lenses with incredulity. “What the hell do you mean ‘when I’m so close’? I’m no closer to being with Tony now then I was a six months ago. Nothing’s changed.”

Blue eyes relaxed into compassion as he sighed. “Oh, baby girl, you really don’t see it do you?”
I raised my eyebrow. “What? I don’t see what?”

He smiled. “The way he looks at you. There’s more there than you’d think. Don’t give up yet, give it more time. Tony might just surprise you.”

I snorted but chose to stay quiet, mulling over his words as I absently pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. John was crazy. Tony didn’t feel that way about me.

Did he?

Notes

Oh, hey didn't see you there. Guess what I just did. Forgot sleep, and wrote a chapter instead.

Incase you didn't notice, that was written in the beat of 'I Just Had Sex.'

Hey guys, I'm sorry it's been so long but I just got stuck and school got overwhelming. And I know I said I'd draw out the Tony/Alice time but I just couldn't find a way that would work so I just skipped until they started tour, only a couple hours in mind you.

In other news, I now have a polyvore account. Yay?

This is a shitty, short chapter and I'm totally sorry for getting your hopes up for something good. I tried, ignored sleep and wrote this after 3 hours of getting distracted. It's 4:32am so if it's crap, blame the time.