Alex’s POV

We were at Rian’s house having band practise. Normally we would try to practise every single day, but because school had just started a couple of weeks ago, we hadn;t been able to do that. Everything was pretty hectic and teachers were still trying to see how much work they could give us… not that I ever really did it or anything. But now we were getting back into our routine. We tried to meet up at least once a week, but now we were trying to do at least every other day. Only, this time was pretty special. Ash came to watch.

She finally gave in, and even though I was only because she didn’t have any homework, I was still very excited. I had written a new song, and over the last couple of session we had been practising and perfecting it. Even though I hadn’t said anything, I couldn’t wait to see what Ash thought. Her opinion was pretty important. Not only was she the girl that ‘secretly’ meant a lot to me, but she actually wrote her own music and loved this type of music as well. It was the perfect package (yes, I know, after my last burst out, I still did decide not to give up on her. I just couldn’t). Plus, she had been out of it lately. First, I could see she had been crying on that day we went to the theme park, and then there was that phone call at the beginning of the week. I heard that she was talking about a suicide attempt, she also mentioned a 10 year old and her father. But it couldn’t be one of her brothers. All the stories she told us were perfect, there was no way they would do that. It was probably some family friend or acquaintance.

This was also my chance to drop some hints about my feeling. Apparently Rian had had to pry Jonathan away from Ash during that phone call I was talking about earlier. That guy was basically the worst player in school. He managed to get and play all the girls, even though the girls knew what a fucking douchebag he was. It was like they all thought they could change him, but that obviously never happened. Sure, I was pretty happy that Ash kept rejecting him, but I wanted to make sure he stopped by calling her mine. I was actually pretty confident in myself. After that whole thing about me thinking about giving up, I suddenly realised how stupid I was being. I just had to stay strong and not give up. She was already rejecting and guys that came her way, and she kissed me. I could basically make a move any moment and it would be a happy ending. I just knew it, as self-centered as that sounds.

“Can I just hear this new song already?” Ash pouted from the couch in front of our practise area. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and was watching us curiously, “or can I go changed first?”

“Why would you need to get changed,” Zack asked absentmindedly while he turned on his amplifier.

She looked at him like he had two heads, “for the party everybody’s going to, obviously.”

“I don’t go to you school, I don’t know about it,” Zack defended himself.

“Wait. Hang on,” Jack interrupted and got the guitar pick from between his teeth, “there’s a party going on and I don’t know about it, nor am I invited. What the fuck is going on!”

Ash frowned and shrugged, “it’s at Jonathan’s place. Harper forced me to come and actually threatened to stab me if I wouldn’t wear any of the new clothes we bought on Wednesday. I guess you could come as well, it’s not like there’s a guest list or anything.”

“Awes-”

“I think we’ll skip it,” I interrupted Jack before he could accept. There was no way I was going to that dickhead’s party. It would only show him I approve of him behaviour. And I didn’t have to be at every party, I already went to all the other ones this school year. A nice quiet evening seemed pretty cool.

“Ok, well,” Ash looked at her phone, “are you going to play or can I go change, Harper will come pick me up here and I don’t have much time.”

“We’ll play-,” Rian smiled at her.

I told her to do the opposite, though, “you can go get changed first.”

“Ok, cool,” Ash hopped up from the couch and grabbed her bag before disappearing.

“Dude,” Jack gave me a disapproving look, “it would have been so much better if we played the song first and then let her change. We would have been able to play new stuff while she got changed, but now we can’t do shit.”

“But now we can practise it one more time,” I quickly checked the tuning of my guitar.

Zack chuckled, “he just wants it to be perfect for Ash.”

Rian joined and got ready at his drums, “awe, poor Lexy-Poo wants to show off and impress the girl.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled and turned on the microphone, causing my voice to be louder, “I just want someone’s opinion who doesn’t think we are the best fucking band in the world. And it would be pretty fucking embarrassing if I were to mess up.”

Jack came up to me and pinched my cheek, “Lexy’s got a crush.”

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I laughed and hit his hand away, “so what if I do?”

“How was kissing her?” Rian suddenly shouted, “was it like you expected and imagined in your wet dreams?”

“Don’t even go there,” Jack sighed and shook his head, “he might murder you… he almost murdered me!”

“What?” Rian seemed to think it was hilarious.

I groaned, “Leave it be. Let’s just get through this, I don’t want to fuck up when we play for her.”

So that’s what we did. We all got ready and I started the song. None of us fucked up, surprisingly, and I just hoped we would manage to do it again like this. Jack actually was able to play the guitar properly, I didn’t randomly forget the lyrics, Rian only missed one beat, and Zack sang the right back up vocals when he needed to. That kid could play the bass like it was nobody's business, so I wasn’t worried about that.

And that’s when Ash came back. Her outfit had changed completely. She was no longer wearing long jeans and a simple t-shirt, she was actually wearing something that Harper would wear, and she was totally rocking it. Her face had more makeup, some deep red lipstick and whatever the shit girls put on their eyes. But the clothes, damn: high waisted ripped shorts, a very short and tight white crop top, a green bomber jacket, and new black Nike’s. Holy shit, she looked good. Even the watch she was wearing made her look better!

Jack whistled and started cat calling, “damn girl, you look fine!”

She grinned and shook her head, “note to self, stay away from Jack.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad!” Jack faked mock-hurt and pouted.

Zack looked him dead in the eyes, “yes, Jack, yes you are.”

I rolled my eyes at them and took in Ash’s appearance once more, “seriously, though, you look good.”

She smiled timidly and sat back down on the couch, “thank you.”

You see! I probably did have a chance! When Jack told her she looked good, she just rolled her eyes. But she gave me that actual cute shy smile girls gave guys when they were into them. I’m definitely back in the game! Not like I ever was before, but I was certain this was going to work out.

“Just one question,” Rian picked up a drumstick he had dropped, “just a couple of days ago you were freaking out about wearing clothes like that, but now you are just wearing it, and they are your own clothes. What happened?”

“Sometimes you just shouldn’t give a fuck,” she got more comfortable.

Ok. Wow. She actually swore. Wow. Ok. Ok. Yes, that just happened. She just said shit. It’s ok, Alex, it was just a word. We’ll she definitely changed a lot since she first came here, but I actually liked it… I think… Wow.

“Let’s just play this song already,” Jack whined and slouched a bit.

“Ok, fine,” I stood in front of the microphone and gave everybody a look before starting, “Make it a sweet, sweet goodbye. It could be for the last time and it's not right…”

Ash seemed so into it. She was actually listening carefully and I could tell that she was actually processing the lyrics, unlike some people who only care about the tune. Whenever I opened my eyes I would make eye contact with her, and she’d smile and shyly push some hair out of her face. Everything about her was just so fucking cute and beautiful. I was going to make my move soon. I had to do this. She almost made me forget the feelings behind the song; I didn’t feel remotely upset, which was pretty new for me. God, this girl was perfect.

We let the last chord ring and Ash started clapping loudly. I actually felt really good about this song. It got her approval. And it might sound stupid, but it really meant the world to me.

“That was amazing,” she cheered and showed off her perfect white teeth.

Jack came up to me and literally pressed his mouth up again the microphone before putting on his deepest voice, “I wrote that song, thank you very much. I appreciate the support.”

Ash rolled her eyes, “yeah, right,” she then looked at me, knowing he was fooling around, “it’s about your brother, right?”

“Yes,” I nodded and felt so good about her actually getting it. I could have shown this song to so many girls and they’d either think it was about them or they’d just think it’s another cool song. But Ash actually got it. She was different from the others.

“I guess you could say it’s similar to the song I wrote,” she told me before taking out her phone, reading something, but turning it back off, “only it’s a totally different genre… and the message might be a bit different… but it’s a similar idea.”

“Yeah, you told me it was about your brother,” I put my guitar back on it’s stand.

“Not about,” she shook her head, “for.”

I was about to ask her what it was about then, but Jack opened his mouth before I could, “I didn’t know you write songs.”

“Well, I guess-” Ash was interrupted by her phone ringing, and she answered immediately. For a second my heart stopped; I thought I might have been her dad giving her more bad news. But luckily for suspicions were wrong.

“Oh my god, Harper,” Ash sighed and stood up, “you literally just arrived, don’t get mad at me for not being outside yet. I’ll be there in a sec,” Ash then looked at us, “well, I’ve got to go, but I really liked the song,” she pointed at me, “Alex, tell your parents I won’t be there for dinner and that I’ll be home late.”

“Ok,” I nodded. And then the unexpected happened. She quickly kissed my cheek and rushed off, but not without groaning at Ash once more, “stop threatening me with a butterknife!”

And then she was gone.

“Dude…” Jack gasped and gave me wide eyes.

I shrugged and went back to get my guitar once more, “I know, who threatens someone with a butterknife?”

Rian squinted at me as if he were trying to read me, “are you hiding something?”

“Nope, I’m just really shocked and I don’t know what to do,” I went back to my spot, “holy shit.”

Zack chuckled and gave me a squeeze on my shoulder.

Holy fucking shit. This was it.

Notes

Ok, so this wasn't supposed to be this long.... I was actually going to make this part of the next chapter, but this one is over 2000 words, and the next one over 3000 words. they were about 6000 all together. So that wasn't going to work out.

But this is it! This is the actual part that I have been wanting to write from the beginning of the story. It will lead up to the thing that actually inspired this whole plot line!

I hope you guys are prepared for what comes next!
You probably won't be :P ... or will you? What do you think will happen? I want to know whether or not I've been making things too obvious, because I really hope I haven't!