Unpredictable

Chapter 5

"Luke!" I walk to the bathroom door. "I'm coming in!" I open the door, steam hitting me in the face. "Hey."

"What do you want, woman? I'm in the shower." He says, irritated.

"Are you expecting someone?"

"What?"

"Someone's at the door! It looks like one of your friends."

"Goddamn it. I wasn't expecting anyone, but go ahead and let him in. I'll only be a few more minutes."

"Got it." I leave the bathroom, making sure the door is shut tight. One time, the door didn't shut all the way and it happened to fly open right as I was getting out of the shower, when Luke was walking by. I think we ignored each other for a week or two because it was so embarrassing.

I go to the door and open it up. One of Luke's bandmates is leaning against the doorway, a guitar case by his feet. I point at him. "Michael, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Come on in." I hold the door for him and he picks up the guitar case and walks in. "Are you here to practice with Luke or did he forget that?" I point to the case.

"Oh, it's his."

"Dumbass." I laugh. "We keep the guitars where we practice. Want me to bring it there?"

"Just show me where it is. I'll follow ya."

"Alright." I lead Michael out to the garage and up the stairs. "Right up here."

"Woah." Michael raises his eyebrows. "This is pretty nice. Your brother has a lot of guitars."

"Oh yeah, I know." I take the guitar from Michael and set it against the wall, then put the case in the corner.

"These yours?" Michael asks, running his hand over one of my drums.

I smile proudly. "Yeah."

"Wanna play something?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"Sure." I shrug. "You don't play bass, do you?"

"Nah."

"Good, cause we don't have any bass guitars, unfortunately." I take a seat at my drum set.

"Unfortunately?" Michael asks, grabbing a guitar and strumming a couple chords.

"I like bass." I laugh a little. "If I wanted to play guitar, I'd be a bassist. The next Pete Wentz." Michael gives me a blank look and I sigh a little, rolling my eyes. "Fall Out Boy."

"Yeah, I know who Pete Wentz is, I'm just surprised that you do, too."

"I have pretty good taste in music."

"I can see that." He gestures to my shirt.

I look down and laugh. I'm wearing a beat up Blink-182 tanktop. "Actually, this is Luke's."

"You guys share clothes?"

"I steal some of his shirts sometimes. Guys shirts are 10 times more comfortable, and this one was in my pile. But I swear he steals my black skinny jeans."

Michael bursts out laughing. "That's a good one."

I grin. "Thanks. Now, what do you want to play?"

"What do you know?"

"Just start a song, if I know it I'll join in. If not, I'll just do a basic back beat."

"Alright."

"Do you sing?" I ask.

"Yeah. All of us do."

"All of you?"

"The band. All of us can sing, Luke just sings the most, so he's technically the lead singer."

"I don't know anything about your band, but we can talk about it later."

"Okay." Michael looks down at the guitar and starts playing a familiar song. He plays a few chords and I join him, adding a soft back beat, but gradually getting louder. Michael sings along, starting quietly but, towards the climax of the song, he is belting the lyrics. In the last verse, his voice lowers again. At the end of the song, I sit back and set my drumsticks down.

"Wow." I murmur.

"What?" Michael lets the guitar hang around his neck and he runs a pale hand through his dark purple hair.

"You're amazing! I don't get the lack of confidence, though."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you can just tell. When you were thinking about it and actually focusing on your singing, you were quiet. But when you got into the song, letting your voice go in the back of your mind and just losing yourself in the music, you got so much louder and you sounded amazing. Then, as the song was winding down, you became quiet again. You're really good though, so you shouldn't have that lack of confidence."

As I was talking, Michael's cheeks flushed pink, but now they are burning red. "I-I'm not-no."

I shrug. "You can deny it, that's cool. I don't really care. I'm just letting you know. Just an observation, you know?"

He rubs a hand on his cheek. "Yeah, yeah."

"Oi!" Luke comes up into the garage, a pair of shorts hanging low on his waist.

"Jesus, Luke." I cover my eyes and lean away from him. "Put some clothes on."

He looks down at himself, then at me. He makes a face and shrugs while rolling his eyes. "What's up, mate?" He says to Michael.

"Just playing a set with your sister here." Michael jerks his head towards me. "She's not bad."

"Luke had to learn how to play with a drum beat somehow, yeah?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Shay." Luke says, acting annoyed.

"What."

"Is that my shirt?"

"Aand that's my cue. See ya later, Mike."

"Buh-bye."

"Take in consideration what I said."

"You got it."

As I walk down the stairs, I hear Luke ask, "what did she say?" Nosy bastard can't keep his nose in his own business. I go into the kitchen and get a snack, then sit on the couch and put on the tv. I sling my legs over the back of the couch and lay down on the arm, watching whatever show is on right now. After a few moments, I fall asleep.