Title: 19 and Counting
(Older Grojband AU)
Summary: Everyone grows out of certain perks, bad habits, and even petty childhood rivalries. Laney was first to accept the change, and now that Grojband are grown up and in college, she realized that some people are forced to open their eyes to change; change their perspectives and grow out of their close-minded shells. Corey has a long journey to go to accept these new facts of life.
Laney's little secret has finally been uncovered. In result, it unveiled the fact that The Newmans aren't as bad as the Grojband members made them out to be so long ago. At least, most of the Groj members think that. What will it take for Corey Riffin to see that they are people, too? Will he ever accept the new friendships his bandmates had blossomed, or will his unwillingness to mature out of this pettiness of a rivalry lead him to his own demise?
Chapter 1
Corey stirred awake and brought his hand up to block off the sun beams slipping through the slits of the windows curtains. He sat up on the sofa and rubbed his eyes, waking himself up. He looked over to his right where Kin was fast asleep on Laney's spare mattress where a litter of empty beer bottles surrounded him. Corey chuckled to himself. Kin is sure to have a killer hangover. Kon was a few feet away from Kin, sleeping on the floor with his head resting on a decorative pillow.
Getting up, Corey took a pillow and threw it at Kon as hard as he can
"Get up, dude. It's morning." Corey walked over to the fridge in the kitchen all the while stretching his arms up and letting out an unearthly yawn. Over his shoulder, he called out to Kon,"And wake up Kin, too!"
Now sitting up, Kon groaned in annoyance. "Dude! Not cool!" Kon complained. He kicked Kin's mattress, making Kin rustle under the thin blanket he slumbered under
Wha... what do you want." Kin mumbled, half asleep.
"Get up, we're still at Laney's," Corey called. He put his hands on his hip, looking around. Raising a brow, he hummed to himself before asking aloud towards the twins. "Hey, where is she?"
"She's probably in her own room, Corey." Kin said in agitation as he approached the kitchen cabinet behind Corey. He swung it open and reached in for some pain killers. "Fuck, I'm never drinking again." Kin exaggerated. Corey shook his head, handing him a glass of water.
"That's what you always say," Kon laughed. Kin ran his fingers through his hair, making it seem messier than it already was
"Whatever. Corey, we're gonna leave in like an hour." Kin said. "I wanna get home, fuck Laney's extra mattress. I wanna sleep in my bed," he whined.
"I could call up a taxi if you really wanna go home, ya know." Corey suggested.
"C'mon, we'll give you a ride. Don't worry." Kon reassured.
"Alrighty Kon, lemme just find my sweater." Corey said. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Now where'd I put that thing?" He hummed to himself.
"I'm pretty sure that's the closet, dude." Kon pointed.
"Ah, thanks man... wait a minute, it's locked?" Corey said when he jiggled the doorknob. "Laney's closet never had a lock. In fact, I don't remember this door..." Corey trailed off.
"What the fuck? For real?" Kin said and walked over to the said door. He jiggled the knob as well before stepping back with a raised brow. "Now that I think about it... I don't remember this door over here."
"And it couldn't be Laney's room because it's down the hall over there," Kon pointed behind him.
"Huh. Well, I'm looking for my sweater guys. We shouldn't be questioning weird locked doors in Laney's house as she sleeps," Corey said. Kin and Kon shrugged their shoulders and walked back to the kitchen table.
"Hopefully she doesn't know we were snooping a bit," Corey joked. He scanned the room again before his eyes laid upon the sweater in question hanging on the coat rack not too far from the front door. "Aha! Here it is," Corey exclaimed as he walked over to the rack and picked his sweater off of it.
"What's going on out here? You're loud." Laney slammed her bedroom door shut as she walked towards the kitchen table.
"We just woke up. Sorry to wake you, Laney." Kin said. Laney shrugged and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. She leaned against the messy dining table, noting that she has some major cleaning up to do around the apartment.
"It's fine, I was up anyways." She spoke before biting into the apple.
"Hey, just asking, what's that door for over there?" Kon asked innocently. Kin face palmed and kicked Kon under the table.
"Ow! I mean... what is that door isn't for over there?" He asked with full uncertainty, earning him a few glares from Kin and Corey.
"Oh, that?" Laney pointed before nonchalantly answered their suspicions. "It's a small storage room. I don't have the key, so I don't have access either." She shrugged her shoulders before raising her brows. "You guys didn't... try to open it, right?" She questioned.
"No, we didn't. We were just curious." Corey said. Laney stared at them with suspicion for a moment before throwing her apple core in the trash bin.
"Okay," she said simply. "I'm gonna go get the mail."
"Oh, no worries." Kin said with a smile on his face before nodding at the kitchen counter where a pile of envelopes sat. "I got your mail last night downstairs in the mail drop off room in the lobby.
"Why were you even there?" Laney asked. Kin put his hand over his chest in mock hurt.
"I wanted to do something nice for ya!" He exclaimed jokingly. Corey looked at the counter and walked over to it cheerily.
"Oh, I got them! Here," Corey volunteered and grabbed them. A puzzled look dawned to his face when he realized the absurd amount of mail she had. He started shuffling them out of habit.
"Woah, Lanes. This is a lot of mail-" Before Corey finished, Laney snatched it from Corey's hands before he skimmed through the rest of them.
"Thanks guys! Kin, I know you're super hung over and stuff, you should get home." Laney hurried.
"Oh, uh you sure? We can hang for a bit if-…" Corey asked but yet again was cut off as Laney started ushering the group towards the front door.
"Yea, we'll practice rehearsal soon later in the afternoon. I gotta freshen up, you know the works." Laney said.
"Well, okay-"
"Alright, feel free to grab a fruit in your way out," Laney said before walking down the small hall and the sound of her bedroom door being shut closed. The boys stood still and exchanged looks.
"Well, that was odd." Corey commented and gave a shrug towards Kin as he grabbed a banana. Kin shrugged his shoulder.
"It's real early, dude. She's just tired. Let's just get home," Kon said.
Corey looked at the door one last time before peeling the banana and leaving Laney's apartment without a second thought.
"I'm telling you dude, these are great lyrics. Right? Right?" Corey said. Kin and Kon looked at each other with uncertainty scribbled all over their faces.
"Dude. No. Fish and bricks don't sound good together for the chorus." Kin said truthfully as he started playing a few arpeggios on his keyboard. Corey groaned in frustration.
"We rarely get vacations in college, guys. We really need practice before these three weeks are up." Corey said.
"I still wish I can make Trina go diary." Corey muttered. Kin stood up and smiled.
"We need to learn to make our own lyrics without plagiarizing" Kin explain, making Corey utter a small 'I guess' under his breath. Corey looked up at the clock hanging from the wall. He put down his guitar and notebook on the couch before reaching for his phone that was resting on the amplifier.
"We should call Laney right now, we need to rehearse." Corey commented.
"Let's drive to her place. Maybe surprise her and go somewhere to eat before coming back here and rehearse in the garage," Kin explained. Corey silently thanked Kin and Kon in his mind for getting a decent house with a really good garage. Before moving upstate for university they were lucky enough to land an appointment with the landlord for a good price on rent before anyone else had inquired first.
"Yea, sounds good."
Not too long after, the three boys were already on the way to Laney's place in Kin's 2004 Toyota Corolla. As Kin drove the car, Corey stared out his window in the backseat of the car and watched the trees blur past.
"Corey, dude, you alright?" Kin called over his shoulder from the driver's seat. Kon turned around from his seat up on the passenger side with a smile.
"We know you too damn well, so no need on hiding it." Kon stated.
"Yea, whenever you look thoughtfully out the window and not saying some headass shit means something's up." Kin added. Corey sighed but let a smile stretch the corners of his lips. He was very thankful for such good friends.
"I don't know, Laney was acting fishy this morning. Like she was freaking out when we pointed out the lowkey door. And we all know Laney pretty well, so I also know when something's up, too." Corey said. Kin looked at his rearview mirror to look at Corey for a moment before letting his gaze back onto the road.
"Don't worry about it. I think she's still drunk because of how much she drank." Kin joked. Corey smiled but still kept silent the rest of the car ride to Laney's apartment.
Once they arrived to the apartment building, the three went upstairs and went to Laney's apartment door, cracking up a few jokes on the way there. When they arrived, they knocked and rang the doorbell a few times. They waited, and the greeting from their redheaded bassist never came.
"Dude, it's been a few minutes already. She's not answering." Corey said.
"I'll try calling her." Corey took his phone out and dialed. Everyone waited as Corey tried again and again. Shaking his head, he sighed and slipped his phone back into his back pocket. "No luck, it hit voicemail like 6 times.
"She's probably sleeping. She did wake up pretty early." Kon assured. Kin shook his head.
"She's a light sleeper. She'd be up by now." Kin pointed out. Corey's face lit up when he remembered about the spare key Laney told him about long ago.
"I got it guys, Laney told me where the spare key is," Corey said. He looked under the welcome matt and there the shiny metal rested.
"She said I can use it anytime if she's not home or if an emergency is going on." Corey explained. Grabbing the key, he inserted it in the slot of the doorknob and opened it. After stepping in, Corey placed the key back under the matt and closed the door behind him.
"Laney! We're at your house so don't freak out, we're not burglars." Kon called out.
"I'm gonna get another fruit," Corey said as he made his way towards the kitchen table. He grabbed an apple.
"Ah. An apple. Such a pure, sweet thing. Literally!" Corey smiled. But he dropped it, groaning. "Damn it. Clumsy me," he shook his head. Walking over to the apple, he picked it up and wiped it with his jacket sleeve.
"Five second rule." He smiled. He didn't care that he was 19 and in college. He was a firm believer in 5 second rules. He held the apple to his mouth, ready to take a bite. But a gust of cold wind hit his face, and the sound of a door creeped open.
That's when he realized the locked storage room this morning was open, and he was standing right in front of it. A shiver went down his spine at the creepiness of the situation.
"Guuuuuuyys..." Corey called out over his shoulder and took a few steps back.
"What is it- oh my god, the door." Kin pointed.
"Why's it open? I thought Laney said she didn't have a key." Kon said before gasping and clamping the palm of his hand over his mouth. "Is the apartment haunted?!"
"Please shut up, Kon." Kin facepalmed at his twin's naïve-ness.
"Guys, I don't know if we should go in there," Corey said. He didn't want to invade Laney's privacy of her own home. "But doesn't that mean Lanes legit lied to us earlier?" Corey questioned. A small silence fell between the three. Corey's concern manifested into one of anger when he realized that the truth of the situation was that Laney deliberately lied to her bandmates.
"Fuck it. We'll have a small look around and that's it. Maybe something happened to her." Corey said. Kin looked at Kon and Kon to Corey. Kin sighed shakily, he knew it wasn't in their place to snoop around but something bad happening to Laney is a possibility that they can't just rule out.
"Alright, man. But you should go in first." Kin smiled sheepishly to Corey.
"Whatever." Corey muttered. He approached the door slowly, poking his finger at it to open it slowly.
"Hello?... woah. Kin, Kon, come over here." Corey said once he realized there was no threat inside and welcomed himself in the strange room. The twins walked in and their eyes widened.
"Is this like, Laney's extra room? What gives." Kin said as he scanned the completely furnished room. There was no way this was just an empty storage room.
The walls had posters tapped to it. There was a bed in the corner of the room right next to the window, fully furnished with pillows and a comforter. A dresser was besides it, different glass cologne bottles resting atop it with other miscellaneous items of body care products. The room was graced with a color pallet of deep blue and warm brown hues.
"It doesn't seem much, to be honest." Corey said. He walked closer to examine the posters on the walls. He let his fingers caress the glossy paper tapped up on the blue walls./
"But Laney isn't much of a heavy metal fan, though." He commented. "This is a Lamb of God poster. She doesn't listen to them at all." Corey turned to the bewildered twins behind him.
"Dude! Look," Corey looked to the direction Kin pointed.
"What?" Corey commented, now in full confusion.
"I didn't know Laney had two extra basses and three guitars. I've never seen her play these before." Kon pointed out. Corey tilted his head to the side.
There were five separate guitar stands. Two of them held a bass guitar and another two held electric guitars. The last stand held an acoustic guitar. Corey didn't know how his eyes looked over the instruments when he scanned the room. Kon was right, they never seen Laney with these instruments, the patterns on them were foreign. The instrument brands the pile of guitars belonged to were Ibanez and Gibson, brands that Laney didn't own. She was a Fender Bass lover, and she always talked about getting a Gibson but haven't saved up enough to get one yet. Corey furrowed his brows in confusion and another thought came up in his mind.
"Wait a minute, Laney doesn't even play guitar," Corey said with realization in his voice. He eyed down one of the basses on the stands. He felt like he's seen that bass before, and it wasn't Laney's usual blue or black one.
A small creek was heard and the three turned back quickly.
Standing at the doorway holding an earbud in one hand, his green eyes held fear and shock. The guy had a Mohawk, but it wasn't spiked up or anything, his hair was soft and a little messy. The figure was dressed in comfy home clothes. He was a little shorter than Corey, but looks didn't matter at the moment.
They both stared at each other with wide eyes full of shock. But that tranquil moment lasted only mere seconds before the three Grojband members yelled in bloody horror.
"A Newman!"
"Fuck," was all Larry said. Corey had instant fire in his eyes as he walked towards him with an accusing finger pointed his direction.
"What did you do with Laney? And why is your wood patterned bass here?!" Corey now realized why that bass looked so familiar. It was Larry's!
"Laney!" Larry called out loud before he started running across the kitchen area and down the hall.
"Come back here, fucking Newman!" Corey yelled around the corner of the doorway with a shaking fist above his head.
"I'm freaking out holy shit," Kin said, trying to smooth out his shaky breathing. The sound of a door being slammed shut made them realize he ran into Laney's room. Fear was written all over Kon's face.
"What if the Newmans are doing something to Laney?!" Kon exclaimed. The three men wasted no time and all ran down to Laney's bedroom door and started banging on it loudly and frantically.
"Lanes?! Are you in there?!" Corey yelled with concern dripping in his words. He stopped banging the door and the sounds of a male and female voice was heard arguing on the otherside.
"What?..." Corey whispered to himself. After a moment of silence the door swung open, revealing Laney.
"Core?" She asked. Corey looked past behind Laney to see Larry inside the room, staring back at him. Anger came back and he pointed at the cowering man in her room.
"What did he do?!" Corey demanded. Laney groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Core! Calm down!"
"Calm down? But... a Newman..." Corey said, and stumbled upon his words. He was so confused. He looked at Kin and Kon but they were just as shocked and surprised as Corey was. Laney sighed again before confessing.
"Core, guys, I have to talk to you."
"What? B-but..." Corey tried talking. Laney groaned in annoyance before sighing again.
"Larry's been living with me since we started college."
