Internet Friends | mgc

Chapter 24

Michael's POV

When I entered the basement, Calum immediately handed me a nice looking electric guitar. It was bright red, matching my hair. Speaking of my hair, I had to re-dye it soon.

"Thanks mate, this thing seems fancy," I said, rubbing my fingertips along the rough strings.

"No problem, it's my old one. I used it before I switched over to playing bass. You can feel free to take it, I haven't used it in years," he told me.

"Wow, thanks so much. I completely forgot that I left my guitar at home..." I said, trailing off when the bad memories started to come back. I pushed them out of my head, focusing my thoughts on the expansive basement.

There was a leather sectional couch and a tv on one side, and then there was the side we were currently on, which had a large drum set, and instruments scattered about everywhere.

"This is a pretty cool set up you guys have down here," I complimented.

"It's not much, we aren't very professional so we just kinda work with what we have," Ashton said.

"So what do you guys call yourselves again?" I asked.

"Bromance," Luke said proudly.

"Oh yeah, I forgot how stupid your band name was,"

"Bromance is a great name!" Luke defended himself, making me chuckle.

"I agree with Michael, Luke. I think we need a change," Calum said, looking nervous as to how Luke would react.

"Okay, well we'll take a vote," Luke scoffed, "raise your hand if you're in favor of changing the name,"

Everyone except for him raised their hands in unison, causing him to groan.

"Okay fine, but we can worry about that later," Luke muttered.

"Actually, before we do anything else, Michael I thought we should kinda just, you know, check in with you," Calum said, staring at the floor.

"Yeah, we're just worried about you. If you don't wanna talk about it now, that's fine, but we just want you to know that we're here," Luke added, looking sorrowful.

Unwanted memories came flashing back, and I desperately tried to wipe them away. If I wasn't careful, I would lose it all over again.

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. But um, everything's just a little...." I trailed off, searching for the right words. "Just a little painful for me still, really painful actually," my voice cracked.

I took a deep breath, calming myself down.

"Let's just focus on band stuff for right now, yeah?" I said, hoping they would catch my drift.

Judging by the way they eyed me with empathy, I knew they understood, and I was glad that they weren't going to push me, because to be honest, im treading on thin ice right now. One misstep, and I could fùcking lose my head.

"Yeah, how about you play something for us, Michael?" Calum suggested, trying to change the subject and make me feel comfortable.

I could feel Ashton's eyes on me, he hadn't been as rude as I thought he would be, but I know he doesn't particularly like me. He was probably just waiting for me to mess things up, and it was making me nervous.

As much as I believed he was out to get me, the way he was eyeing me at the moment made me rethink things. In his eyes, I saw pity. He pitied me, and felt sorry for the broken boy that had dropped everything to come out here and forget his past life.