Fifth Member

November 18th and 19th 2011

      "Happy birthday!" The boys shouted loudly, scaring me awake. "What the hell guys? Am I not allowed to sleep in on my birthday?" I whine at them, pulling my blanket up over my head. "Aw come on Ashley. We even have ice cream." Luke complains. I pop my eyes out from under the blanket and see the carton in his hand with a spoon. Is it bolt upright and smile. "I'm up." I say eying Luke. The boys laugh and I do as well as Luke hands me the ice cream and the spoon. "Tank oo guysh!" I said through a full mouth, and they laughed at me again. "We have a couple other things." Michael mentioned making me pay attention again. They pull a wrapped gift up off the floor. "Oh my god guys! You didn't have to get me anything!" I said setting the ice cream to the side. They set a medium sized box on my lap with an envelope. I started tearing off the paper to find a brown box. I opened it and found another box. I shot them a playful glare and opened the box. Maybe five boxes later, whatever it was could fit in my palm. I opened the small box and inside was a necklace with two small charms on a silver chain. "Guys! This is beautiful!" I said pulling it out carefully. One charm was a little guitar and the other was a heart. "It's engraved." Cal nodded at me. I looked closer at the heart and it had For our sister Ashley Irwin on one side in delicate cursive and From Calum, Michael, and Luke written on the other. I felt tears at my eyes as I learned forward and hugged all three of them. "I love you dorks." I laughed. I leaned back and picked up the envelope, the necklace still in my hand. I run my finger under the flap and pulled out a simple card. When I opened there was a slip of paper. "No. Holy hell. You didn't." I say, staring wide eyed at the Blink ticket. "I swear you guys must have payed a fortune for all this!" I gushed, twirling it between my fingers. "I swear you are the best friends I could ask for." I said with a huge smile. They stood up, and started to leave the room. "Get dressed and meet us downstairs." Luke said before the door was closed again. I quickly got changed, and hurried down the stairs. "Yo." I said skipping off the bottom step. "Knowing you guys, what did you plan?" I asked plopping onto the couch. "I've got you first, and all of it is a surprise." Luke stated with a smile. I laughed at bit at him, and he led me outside.

   "Where are we going?" I laughed. "Here." he smiled, gesturing to the park on his left. "You are a toddler in a teenager's body Luke I swear." I laughed lightly. He laughed a little too. "Race you to the swings!" I yelled, bolting across the grass. I sat on the swing seat, and watched Luke scurry to the seat beside me. I grinned, swaying back and forth on the swing. "And you said I'm the toddler." he chuckled. "I never said I wasn't." I said continuing to smile. We just spent time chilling in the park, talking about random things. "Okay," I said, lying at the top of the grassy hill. "1...2...3!" I counted off, then rolled as fast as I could down the side, giggling lightly all the way down. "I won!" I cried, standing up at the bottom, only to topple over. "It's time to take you to Cal." Luke said, standing with his hands out at his sides, stumbling around. I stood up slower this time, and walked over to him. He waited until he had his balance before guiding me in the direction of Calum's surprise, which happened to be a local place where some bands were playing."Bye Luke! I had a lot of fun." I said, giving him a hug before walking in to meet Cal. "Ashley!" he exclaimed spotting me. "Calum!" I called back. "How was the park?" he asked with a bright smile. "Well we are both childish people, so it was a ton of fun." I said "Who all is playing?" I asked pointing to the stage. "It's an open mic technically. A few people played already. You actually just missed a group that called themselves swallow the goldfish or something." he explained. "Geez, who came up with that name?" I said with an amused smile. "Yea I know right?" he laughed. We listened to bands play, and like with Luke, talked about random stuff. "Let's play something!" I said excitedly. Calum nodded. I went over to a group of a couple people and tapped one on the shoulder. "Do you mind if my friend and I borrow a couple guitars to do a song?" I asked kindly. they smiled, and two held out their instruments. "Here, just be careful." they said. "Thank you!" I said happily, and Cal and I walked onstage. "Whatcha wanna play?" I asked him quickly. He thought for a moment then shrugged. I sighed. "Can we do Remembering Sunday?" I asked and he nodded. While we were plugging in and stuff, I saw across the room where a boy had joined the group who lent us the guitars. They were talking to him and pointing up at us on stage. When we were ready,  Cal stepped up to a mic, tapped it once, and leaned into it. "Hey Everybody! I'm Calum Hood and this is Ashley Irwin and we are going to play Remembering Sunday by All Time Low." He said and counted off. We played through the song earning some applause at the end. "Damn, I'm late. You have to go meet Michael. I'll return the guitars." He said quickly, elbowing me towards the stairs. "Where am I going?" I ask, stumbling a bit. "Michael should be outside." he said, going in the opposite direction. I watched him walk back over to the group, before I headed toward the door. "Ash!" Michael shouted at me when I walked out, and a boy who was also standing outside turned to look at him. "Mikey you're a dork." I said, hugging him. "I heard you guys playing All Time Low." he quipped. "Did we sound okay?" I ask, and he smiled. "It sounded really awesome!" he said excited, and I felt like he was exaggerating, but I didn't really care. "Thank you Michael. So where are you taking me?" I asked. "It's a surprise." he smirked. "You boys and surprises today!" I exclaimed annoyed, as I started to follow him down the sidewalk.