"M'tired," Alex grumbles as we stand in the hotel lobby, waiting for a car to take us to the venue.

"Have you been sleeping well?" I absentmindedly ask while scanning through the emails on my phone.

"Not really." He stands directly behind me. My stomach flutters when he presses his chest to my back, dipping his head to rest it on my shoulder, his dark curls tickling my cheek.

"Why not? Are you not feeling well or is something bothering you?" I ask, subconsciously reaching my hand back to run my fingers through his soft hair, pushing it off his forehead to check if he has a fever. He lets out a hum of contentment and I luckily don't detect a fever.

"Someone hasn't been watching Friends with me," he mumbles into my shoulder, making my heart clinch.

Ever since Chris's comment a few days ago, I've been trying to put some distance between Alex and I. This meant no more late night binge watching my favorite sitcom. Every time he would ask me to watch it with him I would just claim that I was too tired.

"You can watch it without me," I suggest, still trying to consume myself in my emails rather than the presence of the popstar that's lazily resting his head on my shoulder.

"It's not the same." He snuggles his head further into the crook of my neck.

The hotel elevator dings and the doors open to reveal a glaring Chris, Milo right behind him. I quickly shrug off Alex and he almost goes toppling to the floor, confusion and hurt flashing in his eyes at my sudden action.

"Alex," Chris says in greeting as he and Milo make their way to us in the lobby. "Joslyn," his voice a bit more clipped.

The car pulls up to the front of the hotel and we all pile in, heading to the venue. On the short car ride, Alex decides to make himself comfortable in the back seat with me, leaning over to rest his head in my lap. I can practically feel Chris shooting daggers at me through the rearview mirror.

When we pull up to the venue I can't be more relieved to get out of a car in my life. I quickly get out and head to Alex's dressing room, wanting to consume myself with work and stay busy to appease Chris.

"Hey, are you ok?" Alex asks, leaning against the bathroom door while I unpack all of his toiletries, neatly setting them on the counter and in the shower.

"Hm? Yeah, fine." I brush past him to go back into the dressing room, scanning my eyes around to make sure everything's in order.

"You sure? You've been acting... off lately," he comments, turning around, still choosing to lean against the bathroom doorframe, looking at me skeptically.

"Yep. Just trying to get used to being back on tour schedule I guess," I lamely reply, trying to give him a small convincing smile. I grab my phone out of my back pocket to check the time. "We better get going to the meet and greet."

After sound check, Alex, Shay, and I all sit in the dressing room, chit chatting while eating dinner before getting ready for the show.

"Alex," Chris comes into the dressing room, beaming. "I have a surprise for you."

"What is it?" Alex asks, furrowing his brows.

"Bri!" Chris calls out over his shoulder with a devilish grin.

Peeking out from around the dressing room door is none other than supermodel Bri Knight. She smiles wide as her long tan legs carry her into the room, heels clicking against the floor with each graceful step she takes.

"Alex, Bri. Bri, Alex," Chris introduces them.

"H-hi," Alex stutters, scrambling to his feet. As he walks over to her he makes sure to straighten out his clothes and run a hand thought his hair to make himself more presentable. "Nice to meet you," he says, sticking out his hand.

She grins, flicking a strand of her long shiny bleach blonde hair behind her shoulder. "Nice to meet you too." She giggles, skipping his handshake and pulling him in for a hug.

Alex pulls back with a deep blush on his cheeks. I don't know if I've ever seen him so flustered before. I guess I understand, as much as I don't want to. She's gorgeous and every guy on the planet seems to think so. Her perfectly symmetrical face, golden locks, and thin, but curvy in all the right places, body are no mystery as to why she's one of the most desirable women in the world. Especially now with her tight tank top and jean shorts leaving little to the imagination.

"Well, I'll let you two get acquainted." Chris grins before exiting the room.

Alex and Bri stand in the middle of the dressing room for a while making small talk, her giggling at every other word that rolls off his tongue. Shay and I stare at them, side eying each other every now and then wondering what to do.

As the clock ticks on, Bri seems to become more and more flirty with Alex causing an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Jealousy.

As much as I hate and am embarrassed to admit it, the ugly emotion of jealousy is staring to slowly creep in, and the way Alex is looking at her isn't helping me.

After a few minutes, Shay annoyingly looks at her watch, letting out a huff. "I hate to interrupt," she says without an ounce of apology in her voice. "But, Alex, I need to get you ready for the show."

"Oh, right," Alex says, sheepishly looking at his watch before walking over to the vanity with Shay, Bri right on his heels.

"There doesn't seem to be any other chairs around, mind if I sit here?" Bri asks sweetly, feigning innocence as she takes a seat in Alex's lap as he sits in the styling chair. Alex's eyes go wide and he opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out.

"Um, no," Shay says unamused, crossing her arms. "That's not going to work. I can't get him ready with you in his lap. If you'd like, there's a chair out in the hall you can drag in here, but you are not sitting in his lap."

Bri's face falters, turning into one of annoyance as she gets up and practically stomps to the hallway, dragging a chair back in with her to sit next to Alex.

Shay just rolls her eyes, ignoring the supermodel, not wasting any time getting started on styling Alex's hair.

"Joslyn," Alex calls out, turning around in his chair to look at me. "Come sit in your spot." He taps the side of the vanity.

Not wanting to cause I scene, I stand up and walk over to the vanity, perching myself up on the corner that's unfortunately right in front of Bri's chair. Bri furrows her brows, curiously looking at me.

"Oh, Bri this is Joslyn. Joslyn, Bri," Alex briefly introduces us.

"Nice to meet you," I say, forcing a smile.

"And of course you know my stylist, Shay," Alex says.

"I do?" Bri asks.

"Yep," Shay says with slight annoyance. "I've worked with you for a few photoshoots."

"Oh, right." Bri tries her best to pretend that she recalls working with her. "So, what do you do?" she asks, turning to me.

"I'm Alex's assistant."

"Oh." She quickly eyes me from head to toe. "I figured," she says before jumping back into a conversation with Alex to steal his attention.

For some reason my blood boils. What was that supposed to mean? Why did she look at me as if I was a speck at the bottom of her shoe?

The longer I look at her, the more insecure I become. It's no doubt she's gorgeous, no flaws whatsoever. As hard as I try, I can't spot one flaw on her, not even a speck of her bright red lipstick on her perfectly straight white teeth like I was hoping for. And the way Alex is staring at her only confirms that she's flawless, something I'll never be.

I'm not unhappy with my body or the way I look, but I'm certainly no supermodel. Suddenly feeling self-conscious and mildly jealous of all the flirting going on in front of my eyes, I pull my knees up to my chest, suddenly becoming interested in one of my shoelaces. I really want to get up and leave, but I don't want to seem rude. Then again, another part of me wonders if anyone would even notice.

"Excuse me," Shay says sharply, wedging her body between the two to fix Alex's hair, causing Bri to awkwardly lean back in her seat to get out of the way. I don't miss the quick, discrete wink Shay sends me and I can't help but try to bite back a smile.

Walking down the hall to the back of the stage, Bri's hanging all over Alex's arm and I try my best to push down the feeling of jealousy.

"I hate her," Shay grumbles in my ear as we trail behind the two celebrities. "Every time I've worked with her she's been a stuck up brat. She sits there and criticizes everything I do and tries to tell me how to do my job."

"Oh, wow," is all that comes out of my mouth. I believe it. I know I just met the girl, but she rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I could never see Alex wanting to be with someone like that considering how humble his is in comparison.

When we get to the back of the stage, Bri exchanges a few words with Alex and kisses him on the cheek causing me to involuntary grit my teeth. But when Alex gets out of her grip and looks at me expectantly, arms wide open, I don't hesitate to walk into his embrace. Our routine.

During the show, Bri is on her phone the whole time, making sure the whole world knows that she's hanging out with Alex Walker. She posts multiple pictures of them together and records the whole show.

Walking back to the dressing room after the show, Chris stops me and Shay in the hallway, asking for a favor. "Hey, Alex isn't feeling too well. I need you to run down the street to the coffee shop and get him a hot tea with honey," he says, fishing a twenty dollar bill out of his pocket and handing it to me.

"Alex isn't feeling well?" I find myself asking, becoming concerned. I know he was tired and whiney this morning, but I didn't think he was starting to actually get sick.

"Yeah, his throat is a little sore," Chris confirms. "I want to get ahead of it before it gets worse."

"Ok, we'll be right back."

We go to the nearest coffee shop to get Alex's tea, Shay insisting I use the rest of Chris's money to buy her something, but I refuse. Knowing Chris, he'll want every penny back. I even stop at the drug store across the street to pick up some throat spray and some meds incase his condition worsens.

Back at the arena, I spot Chris in the hallway and walk up to him to give him back his change.

"Have you given Alex his tea yet?" He asks, shoving the change back in his wallet.

"Not yet," I reply, holding up the cup in my hand. "We're going to his dressing room now."

"Good," he says. "You better get going, we need to roll out of here soon."

Walking to Alex's dressing room, the door is halfway closed. When we get closer, able to look inside, I stop dead in my tracks almost spilling the hot tea everywhere.

My stomach swoops as I spot Alex shirtless and freshly showered on the couch with Bri straddling him, his face in her hands. When their lips touch my stomach churns and I find myself making a beeline for the nearest empty hallway, not wanting to see what happens next.

Finding a secluded area, I slide down the wall to sit on the floor and bring my knees to my chest, trying to swallow the huge lump in my throat.

"Joslyn?" I hear Shay call out as she jogs down the hall to find me. "Oh, Joslyn, I'm so sorry," she says, face falling as she takes in my state, coming to sit on the floor with me.

"Huh? Oh, no. I'm ok," I try to say as normal and lighthearted as possible, but my voice wavers. Shay gives me a sad, knowing look before wrapping her arms around me, pulling me in for a tight hug. That's all it takes for my tears to break free.

Shay lets out a sigh, shaking her head. "I can't believe it. I really thought..." she says, trailing off.

"God, I'm so pathetic," I choke out.

"What?" Shay asks, pulling away to look me in the eyes. "Joslyn, you are not pathetic."

"Yes. I am." I humorlessly chuckle. "I can't believe I actually started to fall for him." I shake my head, wiping at my tears. "And I especially can't believe I actually thought he might like me back. I'm so stupid."

"You are not stupid," Shay says sternly. "Joslyn, anyone can clearly see that boy is head over heels for you! I just never thought he would be the type to get with any random girl..."

"That's the thing, Shay. She's not a random girl, she's a freaking super model! I knew he would want someone like that, not some Plain Jane like me. I told myself from the start not to get feelings for him, yet here I am, pathetically crying in the middle of the hallway over him." I let out a mundane chuckle, throwing my hands in the air.

"Joslyn, for the past two years, I've never seen Alex happier than when he's with you. Last tour he just kept to himself, walking around like a robot going through the motions to get the tour over with. Ever since you came along, he's happier, more alive."

I just shake my head, not knowing what to think or feel. "Still, I should have known better. But I really thought..." I trail off, closing my eyes.

"You though what?"

"He might like me back," I whisper.

"He does." She tries to comfort me.

"Doesn't matter," I grumble. "Nothing can happen between us anyway."

While standing up, I spot Bri walking down the hall fixing her hair and adjusting her clothes, making my stomach churn once more.

"Shay, can you pack up and get Alex's things for me tonight? I just... I don't want to face him right now," I admit.

"Yeah, of course," Shay agrees in understanding.

"Thank you."

"No problem." She pulls me in for a tight hug. "Love you, girl. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks, Shay." I manage to give her a small smile before heading to the bus to change into my pajamas and curl up in my bunk, pathetically letting a few more tears fall.

The bus door opens and I hear faint voices trail in.

"Alex, she doesn't feel well. Just let her rest," I hear Shay plea.

"I just want to make sure she's ok," I make out Alex's voice.

When the metal rings attached to my bunk curtain slowly screech against the rail I squeeze my eyes shut, holding my breath. Facing the wall, I pray he can't see my tear stained face.

"Joss?" Alex slowly runs his hand up and down my arm.

I don't reply, pretending to be asleep.

"Let her sleep," Shay says softly. "She needs some rest."

"Ok." Alex sighs in defeat. "Goodnight, Joss. Feel better," he whispers before leaning into my bunk to kiss my temple, closing the curtain behind him.

I choke back my tears, not understanding how he can be so sweet and caring with me after being with another girl he just met hours ago.