Chapter Six: June 5, 2012

Summer

It had been a week since Ashton's drunkenness had revealed a side of him I'd never imagined existed. Whenever he walked into the room, the tension grew considerably. I knew he remembered; that the entire night had eventually come back to him. And it was going to ruin our relationship. Ash spoke less and less to me until he wouldn't even sit with Luke, Cal, Mikey and me at the lunch table. Band practices changed from our house to Luke's and I wasn't allowed to be there. The last thing that Ash had said to me was their band name: 5 Seconds of Summer.

And every night I went to bed thinking about my dad; who he was, where we'd live, if he was a kind person, if he had really been in jail of r grand theft auto. I couldn't get the fact that I was leaving out of my head. I knew I'd probably never see the Irwins again once I left. I had seven weeks left. Forty-nine days. I boarded a plane to who knows where with a stranger who called himself my father on July 24th. I wasn't ready. I'd never be ready.

That Monday, when I arrived at school, I headed right for locker instead of meeting Luke, Calum and Michael before class like usual. I kept my head down as I walked and shoved my hands into my pockets until I reached my locker. I spun the dial, put in my combination, and slid the handle up to open it. A note fell to the floor and I glanced around, looking for whoever might've put it in my locker, but the hallway was empty. I hiked my bag higher up on my shoulder and bent to retrieve the letter.

I opened and read it, recognizing Ashton's handwriting immediately. I smiled at his left-handed, scribbled script. It read,

Hi Summer. Meet me in the choir room after school. I wanna show and tell you something. That's a little weird. Show and tell. Haha

-Ashton

I dropped my books into my locker, slammed it shut, and leaned against it, staring at the note. I didn't know what to do. I mean, of course I'd go and meet him, but what if something happened? What if something that pushed us even further apart until I couldn't wait to leave? What if whatever bad that could happened between us eventually broke up the band and drove the guys apart because of bitterness and regret? But what if the best thing happened and we patched up whatever had ensued in the first place and made amends? I dropped my head into my hands and groaned. I lifted my head and found myself looking into a pair of bright blue eyes. With a start, I tried to take a step back, but my shoulders hit the lockers with a hollow clang. Tabitha smiled at me.

"Jesus, Tabitha," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "You scared me,"

"Obviously." She smirked. "You looked like you were in deep shit, and I was wondering what I could do to make it worse," She said sarcastically with a toothy grin.

"Ha-ha." I grinned and shook my head at her.

"No, really. What's up?"

"Nothing, just shit with the boys,"

"When is there not shit with the boys?" She chuckled, and we fell into step and out to the quad, an outdoor area with four corners and plenty of comfy, shaded grass to plant ourselves on.

"True," I laughed along with her.

"Which boy in particular?"

"Ashton," I sighed softly.

"Ah. The short one," She chuckled, bumping her elbow into mine as we walked.

"Yeah, I guess he is, compared to the others. Especially Luke, who's like six-foot-eight,"

She laughed. "Luke is such a giant, but he has great legs,"

I joined in her laughter as we sat down under a large birch tree.

"So, um, aren't you gonna ask me what the deep Ashton shit is about?" I implored.

"Nope," Tabitha pulled a granola bar from her bag and unwrapped it.

"Why not?" I watched her take a bite of the bar.

"'Cause it isn't my place to ask. Plus, we don't know each other that well,"

"Yeah, that's true." I studied her.

"Dude. Why the fuck are you staring at me? Jesus. I'm trying to eat here," She said around mouthfuls.

"Sorry." I held up my hands in mock surrender and started pulling up grass. A few minutes later, the granola bar wrapper hit the floor, and a few grains of grass hit my face. I looked at Tabitha, who was acting innocent, as if she hadn't done anything. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What? I didn't do anything."

I scoffed and threw a small handful of grass at her. She gasped with a smile and chucked some at me. We had a grass fight until the late bell for first period rang.

That afternoon, after the last bell of the day and the school was devoid of students, I stood in front of the choir room door, and I watched Ash through a small window in the door. He sat at the piano, playing a slow, soft tune that I could barely hear through the heavy door. I took a deep breath and lowered my gaze. I pushed the door open as quietly as I could and dropped my bag onto the floor. My binder followed it as the door shut with a click. I sat by Ash on the piano bench and he pulled his fingers from the keys and turned his gaze onto me.

"Hi," He said, nudging my knee with his.

"Hi," I smiled.

"So, um…" He hesitated, running a hand through his fringed hair. "I wrote you a song," He finished.

I was taken aback and didn't speak as the information sunk in. I touched a bass key and the note rang out.

"That's what I've been doing this whole time. I haven't been avoiding you or the lads, I just couldn't get the damn song outta my head," He chuckled dryly. "So, I wrote it down and tried it on the drums first, and it sucked. I did guitar. It sucked. I didn't know what else to play it on, but then I thought of that day when I came home and found you crying at the piano, and I knew I had it; the piano." His hazel eyes lowered.

"Well… Ash… I had no idea…. Can I hear it?" I whispered.

He nodded and replaced his long, slender fingers on the piano's teeth. He began to play a melody that was very different than the first tune he'd been playing. As the song went on, it grew dizzyingly fast and deafeningly loud. Once it hit the crescendo, the tempo died down into a simple tune. The song drew to a quiet close after a several seconds of the soft, simple sound that involved only a few repeated notes and I felt a smile spread across my face. Ash dropped his hands into his lap and watched me.

I cleared my throat. "I love it. It's beautiful and perfect and-"

Before I could react, Ashton pressed his lips against mine and wrapped his hand around the back of my neck. I began to pull away as I realized that I wanted to kiss him back. Our lips fell away and he grew red.

"I'm sorry," He murmured, avoiding my gaze, as he stood. He made his way to the door and I followed him.

"Ash, wait," I reached for his lower arm, pulling him back into the room. "Even though this is totally cliché, and I shouldn't even be doing this…" I trailed off, and pushed my mouth up to his. My fingers threaded through his hair and his arms wound around my waist. His body was warm and solid, and I never wanted him to let go.

Luke

Calum, Michael and I were leaning against Ash's car, waiting for him and Summer to emerge from the school. I checked the time on my phone for the fifty-thousandth time and sighed.

"Where is he?" Calum demanded impatiently.

"Wasn't he going to play the song for Summer today?" Mikey implored. I glanced around at the empty lot; it was completely void of cars and people, it was like we were in the Walking Dead or something.

"I think so. But it shouldn't have taken this long," Calum said.

"Maybe it went really well," Michael smirked, making a crude motion with his hands. Calum laughed, always a fan of Mikey's humor, and I smacked them both on the arm.

"Stop it. They're coming out," I gestured to the front doors, which produced Summer and Ashton. Mikey stepped forward with his arms outstretched.

"Dude. What the hell?" Michael demanded. Ash simply shrugged and glanced at Summer, who blushed and dropped her gaze. Mikey turned back to Cal and I, making the same motion with the same smirk.

"Fuck you, Michael." I said with a chuckle as we all piled into the car. The drive home was silent.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review :)