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"It's alright. Where's Charlie?"

"Um, I'm not sure. She's mad at me."

"What? Why?"

"Oh, uh, I kind of...y'know..."

"Layne, what did you do?"

"Nothing worth being mad over! I was just...smoking!"

"Smoking cigarettes?"

"Weed..."

Alex turned to Layne with narrowed eyes. "And?"

Layne looked away. "You know..." He passed a hand under his nose and sniffed.

"Are you fucking serious? I thought you said you weren't gonna--"

"I know! I didn't plan to, it was just there and I...look, I know I fucked up. I'd promised Charlie I wasn't gonna do it again, and now--"

"Hold on. What do you mean again?"

"Uh...she saw me and a friend splitting an eightball like the day before her birthday party. I didn't think it would be a big deal but she got pissed and we had an actual fight over it. I said sorry to her at the party and told her I wasn't going to go near the stuff again, and then I went and did just that."

"How'd she find out?"

"Probably the fact that when I first saw her earlier I looked like a kid struggling to eat a powdered sugar donut."

Alex face-palmed so hard it actually hurt. "Lord, help him. Relieve him of his stupidity, please, before I relieve him of his life."

"It won't happen again, I swear! I know I really messed up. I have to find Charlie now, I have to--"

"LAYNE!" Sean interrupted him, coming up to the pair with his drumsticks in his hand and Mike walking along behind him. "We've been looking for you for a long-ass time now! Where were you?"

"Hanging out. What did you guys--"

"Follow us and we'll explain on the way. Alex, Jo just got here and she asked for you. She's in that room you and Jerry were in. See you later, okay?"

Alex didn't even get to reply before Sean put his hands on Layne's shoulders and steered him away. There was a sick feeling in her stomach and she didn't know if she even wanted to stick around anymore. She felt like crying. Charlie must be in pieces...

"Alex? Are you okay?" Jo asked when Alex wandered back into the room, probably looking like a lost zombie.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm good. Is the, uh, is the..." Alex trailed off before shaking her head and trying again. "Is the show gonna start soon?"

"Yeah, that's why we came looking for you," Jo explained. "We should head out now."

"Can you hang out after the show?" Alex asked Jerry.

"I'm not sure...come back here when it's over and we'll see."

"Yeah, um...sounds good."