Disclaimer: No, We don't own it. We do, however, have a mutual passion (cough-obsession-cough) with 100 Monkeys' Music...

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Chapter 2 – Alice POV

The dizziness I was feeling was not just caused by the fact that he kept twirling me. All the way back to the tiny, grotty cabin. I felt myself stumble often, though the way his hands wrapped around mine and the way he held onto my fingers meant that I stayed on my feet far longer than I could have imagined. I finally fell to the floor as my feet found the threshold of the empty staff cabin, and the soles of my shoes remained glued to the disgustingly sticky floor, flapping my arms as I tripped over and saw the ground rushing up to me. I probably bruised my face as it became intimate with the solid wood flooring.

"Mary-Alice, I-are you okay?" His words morphed from confusion to concern as he tried to catch me but couldn't, his fingers grasping at fresh air rather than my waist. I found myself staring up at him from a completely new angle, running a hand through my hair as I tried to beat the embarrassment coursing through me back down to a simple slice of humiliation, rather than the whole pie.

"It's Alice." I reiterated, as I picked myself up from the floor, deliberately brushing up against him as I straightened up, and hoping that the short gasp I heard was from that slow movement, rather than the embarrassing thunk I heard myself making as I slammed my hand onto the table and turned around, "And I think I'm golden. Might need to get the hand checked out," I muttered as I lifted it from the table and saw a small streak of blood on the varnished wood. His long fingers wrapped round my wrist as he caught it in his hand, he looked over at me, blinking slightly as he glanced down at my palm. A flash of pain and concern crossed his face as he saw the purple bruises on my wrists. I didn't want to talk about those, let alone look at them, and I think he knew it, though I think he might have been worried about what it meant for us, if there even was an 'us'. He might have assumed I had a man I was hiding somewhere. Yeah, sure. Like that would happen to 'freaky' Mary-Alice.

"What the he-" He held my hand up to my own eye line, as if I had never seen my own bruises before. I'd seen them enough, thank you very much, Jasper.

"Tyler Crowley," I responded flatly, snatching my hand out of his grip, "Now, do you want a drink, or not?" I knew I shouldn't have snapped at him, but it was either that, or start crying. And there was no way I'd let myself do that.

"I had a coffee before I came." He returned snappily, "I'm just trying to help!" I snatched my hands from him and threw them up in the air as looked into his green eyes. He stepped away from me, closer to the door and my hands naturally clenched into fists as I tried to keep him there, with me.

"Did I ask you to help?" I looked over at him, "Look, just go. I'll see you tonight at the gig."

"If you're gonna be all bitchy like that, maybe we shouldn't bother, huh?" He shouted, and I cringed, knowing that I'd sufficiently riled him to make him mad at me. "Maybe it would be better if we forgot all about the whole thing. Forget the gig, forget the meet and… Everything." That wasn't my intention. "Bye, Mary-Alice." His voice had softened, but his glorious eyes remained hard.

Before I could speak, before I was able to attempt an explanation, he grabbed his guitar and slammed the door to the cabin. I watched as he stalked away, the glass windows still rattling in their panes. I took one look at my bloody fingers and slumped down into the seat, desperate not to cry, but feeling the hot tears trickling down my face as I sat there, my bloody palms against my face in an attempt to stop myself crying.

I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket and pulled it out carefully and slowly, praying I wouldn't need to clean it later. Emmett's name flashed across the screen and I sighed, knowing exactly why he was calling.

"You don't need to go tonight, Emmett," I said instead of a proper greeting.

"What?" His usual boisterous laughter was cut short by the slow sound of my breathing, and the sighs I refused to stop breathing out. "Alice, is..."

"I don't know why I keep doing it!" I found myself shrieking alone in the cabin, laughing mirthlessly as I realised that anyone who walked past at that moment would definitely want to call the crazy police on me, because I would have looked and sounded completely mad, streaks of my own blood on the floor and on my face, "But I do!"

"Pixie," his voice was low and it was an attempt to calm me down, "Ali, where are you? Are you okay?"

"Do I sound okay?" I stopped screaming and felt the tears dripping down my face, desperate to stop them from coming. "Well?" I found myself getting even pissier when he didn't respond. "I'm at work, but I really don't want to be."

"Well, I'll come get you, Ali, okay?" I sniffed again and let out a soft 'mm-hmm'. "Good. Now, d'you want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really," I murmured.

"Alice, you know we can't fix it until we talk about it. What happened, Pixie Sticks?" And I swallowed, trying to fight off the pain that was rising and the sickness in my stomach.

"I... I messed up, and I hurt him, Emmett... I made him walk away."

Em POV

I couldn't bare hearing Alice crying so as soon as she hung up on me, I grabbed my keys and jacket and ran from my dorm to the botanical gardens. As I approached the cabin, I could see her through the grimy window. Hunched over, knees tucked into her tiny frame, sobs racking through her whole body. With a speed that was disguised by my size, I was by her side within seconds.

"Shh. Baby." I wrapped her into my arms and pulled her shaking body into mine.

"I ballsed it up as fucking usual Em." She turned to look at me, her silver-grey eyes swimming with unshed tears. "I pushed him away, now he doesn't want me at the gig tonight."

"I'm sure he didn't mean it hun. Let's get you home, washed up and dressed to kill." I gently pulled her to her feet. "Let him see what he's missing out on eh."

"I don't think so. He does-"

"Alice, you ARE going to this gig, you WILL show him what he's missing and you WILL enjoy yourself. You hear me?" She nodded mutely. A glint appeared in her eye.

"I'll go, but I refuse to enjoy it. You'll be to blame for me having a rubbish night then getting absolutely bladdered." We left the botanical gardens and headed to Alice's dorm. She was going to be fine.


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