Hair Dye

Acquired Taste

I trudged into my kitchen, my headphones blasting the lyrics to an All Time Low song that I was too tired to identify. I lazily grinned when I saw the pot of coffee on the table and poured myself a cup. I immediately sipped the black drink and looked up to find a fully dressed Stella staring at me in disgust. I frown at her.

"What?" I was genuinely confused.

"How can you drink coffee black? That's like... Drinking coffee black!!" She exclaimed. I chuckled.

"It's an acquired taste." I said as my brother walked into the kitchen.

"Like you?" He asked. I glared at him and he giggled. Yes, he giggled. My brother doesn't laugh. He giggles. I flip him off before turning back to my coffee. "Um, are you gonna change? We have to leave in like a half hour..." I turn to him, my brows furrowed together in confusion.

"What?" I ask for the second time in the last ten minutes.

"We're leaving to meet the boys. Calum said that he texted you." I pull my phone out of my sweatpants pockets and switched it on. True to her words I had a text from Calum. I was quite confused because none of the boys had texted any of us since the night we met which was two nights ago. But I guess that was for the best because, I totally wouldn't have been able to focus on getting my work done if I was busy speaking to four famous, attractive boys. I don't think my Professors would buy that excuse. The text was asking me to meet him at a diner in town with Xander and Stella in an hour. That was forty minutes ago. My eyes widen and I bolt out of the kitchen to go change and make myself presentable.

As soon as I make it in my room, I'm ripping off the sweats and oversized shirt I'm wearing. I dig through my drawers finally settling on a pair of black ripped skinny jeans, and a batman crop top that showed off the wing tattoos that I had on each of my arms.. After throwing on my clothes I grab my rubber bracelets off my dresser. They were all for different bands including Green Day, All Time Low, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance. I leave my room and go into the bathroom to manage my hair. After brushing through it an excessive amount of times, I went back to my room. I slipped my glasses on, threw my locket around my neck and grabbed my keys and phone.

"About fucking time." Xander said as I walked into the room. The two of them were standing at the door waiting for me. I took in the appearances of the two people in front of me. Xander was wearing a pair of grey skinny jeans, a Blink-182 tee shirt and a pair black ankle high converse. Stella was wearing a black criss-cross crop top tucked into a white skater skirt and matching converse to Xander.

"Don't be suck a dick. I'm the driver aren't I?" I asked, walking out of the door.

"Yeah well-" He was cut off by a groan. I turned to find Stella, head thrown back.

"I swear, if you two don't stop fighting right now, I'm punishing you." She said. I chuckled at how much of a parent she acted like around us. She was definitely the more sensible one in the group. Xander and I... Not so much.

"Sorry, Mom." I taunted. She groaned again and I let out a snort.

"I'm not your mom." I stepped into the driver's seat and waited for the others to get in before starting the car.

"You sure act like it."

"Shotgun!" Xander yelled, throwing himself into the seat beside me.

"I think that might be my weapon of choice when I kill you." I said.

"I give up!" Stella yelled from the backseat and I giggled. I loved bugging her because she got so frustrated but she was physically incapable of getting actually mad at someone. I turned on the radio and drove the distance between our house and the diner singing along to the horrifyingly bad songs we heard on the radio. I don't even know why I know the lyrics...

I pull into the small parking lot and hop out of my jeep. I walk into the diner without looking back to the other two. I search the small room for the four boys when I found them speaking to each other in a booth in the far corner, obviously not trying to be seen which must have been hard because Michael's previously faded green hair was now bright red. By now, Stella and Xander had caught up to me and we all walked over to them. We all sat down and the boys looked up at us smiling until their eyes landed on me. They all gaped and I frowned at them.

"What? What's wrong?" I ask.

"N-nothing, just... I didn't know you had tattoos..." Michael said. I blushed, subconsciously.

"Or glasses." Calum added. I nodded.

"You look so different." Luke said. My blush deepened.

"Bad different?" I asked, taking a seat next to Stella. I nervously bit down on my black lip ring, similar to Luke's, and anxiously awaited their answer.

"No! Definitely not. Just different." Michael answered, quickly. I let go of the small black piece of metal and grinned at Michael before explaining.

"I got the tattoo...s on my sixteenth birthday at the same time that I got my lip and belly button piercings. It was sort of my way of saying that I was ready to leave the 'nest' and be on my own." I said. The boys eyebrows shot up and I chuckled. "Don't worry, I didn't drop out of school or anything. I stayed home, I just took it as a chance to branch out and do more of I wanted, like pursuing my dream of music... which is where we started the band and got our gigs at Josh's." They nodded in understanding.

"The glasses... Well, I got those Freshman year because I'm nearsighted. I just don't wear them on stage... Anyway, I'm sure you guys didn't call us here to talk about me. What's up?" I asked. They all looked at each other with mischevious smirks before Ashton began to speak.

"Okay, so you know how we haven't texted you since that night?" He asked. The three of us nodded. His grin widened. "Well it's because we've been talking to our management. We had to convince them of something." I frown. I'm more confused that I was before. "We told you two nights ago that we were looking for an opening act for the last half of our world tour. And so, after we saw you guys that night, we thought it would be a great opportunity for both you and us." The more he spoke, the more my eyes widened. Was he saying what I think he was saying? He couldn't be... We hadn't even known them for a week yet.

"What are you saying?" Stella asked. She took the words right out of goddamned mouth. Michael decided it was his turn to speak.

"We want you to come on tour with us as our opening act."

Holy Shit.