Fan to Family.

Acting Odd.

~Liz~

Alyson and I clicked right away. We've been together everyday for the past 3 weeks, and her friend has been with us. The three of us get along very well. Next week starts school.

Her friend went home a few hours ago, her mother needed her to do something at home. Alyson had to go to a birthday party or something so I'm waiting with Jess and Debby. Jess smiles at me.

"You've been between houses the past three weeks and I still know just about nothing about you," she laughs a little. "Do you have a boyfriend or anything?" Is the first thing Jess asks. Debby looks curiously at me.

"Yeah, Liz, do you have a boyfriend??" She questions with raised eyebrows.

I get up, mumbling about the bathroom. Once in the bathroom with the door closed, I pull out my phone.

To Chase: 'I need help. Debby's asking questions. I don't know what to do.'

~Chase~

My phone buzzes twice, so I pull it out and check it. There is a text from Liz and a text from Debby. My eyes widen.

I check the message from Liz first.

Liz: 'I need help. Debby's asking questions. I don't know what to do.'

Then I read Debby's message.

Debby: 'Hey big brother. We haven't seen you in a few weeks and I can tell Liz misses you dearly. She's just itching to see you again. Free today??'

I shoot both of them texts back quickly and resume my game of Mario Cart.

~Liz~

Chase texts me back and I reply with 'Thank you, I miss you X' and then decide it's safe to go back out to the living room now.

Both of them seemed to have forgotten that I didn't answer their question and I sigh in relief as I sit back down.

"Are you excited for school?" Jess asks. I shrug.

"I don't know. I only know like, two people and it's a complete different state. I don't know. I'm nervous."

Debby looks at the clock.

"Hey, Liz we gotta go. We don't want to be late." Debby says, getting up. She grabs her bag and waits for me.

I get up with her and jog to the door.

"Where are we going?" I ask, buckling my seat belt. Now it's Debby's turn to conveniently not respond.

Debby turns on the radio and pulls out. Well, I guess it will be one of those kind of drives.

I watch the outskirts of the city whisk past in a blur, trying to guess where we are headed. My phone lights up, flashing Chase's name. I grin, sliding my finger across the screen to unlock it. I get consumed by our conversation to the point where I forget all about our car trip and my attempt to decode the destination.

My ears perk up at the hint of a melody I recognize and I lift my gaze. The melody continues and soon enough the words slip past my lips as naturally as breath. Debby grins.

"I'm surprised you haven't been attached to his hip since he's been home," She chuckles. I shrug.

"I guess Aly and her friend kept me pretty distracted.... Tyler and Josh understand."

She nods.

~Chase~

I thrum my fingers on the wood of the table, scanning the room every few seconds to be sure I don't miss them coming in. I hum something along to my thrumming and scribble it down every so often. My notebook page is full of fragments of sentences and half words, and some random vowel strings. I thrum a little faster and then shake my head, slowing again.

I close my eyes for a moment, smiling as I think and thrum simultaneously. I sigh, thrumming a different beat to match my thoughts. I'm falling away into my own world of black thoughts and thrumming.

A voice grabs me by my shirt and yanks me back into the lit room with wood tables and the faint smell of coffee with a jolt. My eyes fly open and I sputter, feeling as though my fall wasn't entirely metaphorical. I hear it again.

"What the heck are we even doing here?" She says.

I shifty my torso, the corners of my lips turning up at the sight of the person behind the voice. She sees me moments after I find her, and she smiles. She runs over. I raise, closing my notebook swiftly and opening my arms in time for her to wrap her own around me.

"Hey Liz," I mumble.

"Hi Chase."

"Well I guess we all have impeccable timing," Tyler's voice says. Liz let's go of me and I watch her sprint over to her brother and hug him. She then hugs Josh.

It's odd thinking about all of our connections. My little sister's boyfriend is one of two legal guardians of this girl I've grown quiet fond of, who I've only known for a few months, but I've known the boys for years. It's always odd to think about the spiderwebs of connections. She's Tyler's sister, Josh is one of her legal guardians and my baby sister's boyfriend. Deb and I are thrown somewhere in there.

Deb sits with me, watching me watch the other three talk. She slides my notebook, which I've flipped back open, over to hear and reads my fragments.

She glances up at me.

"What's this?" she asks.

I shrug, " I can't really call them songs, but I can't not."

"Since when did you write songs? I knew you played some and wrote instrumentally, but not lyrically."

"I started a few months ago. I don't know. It just came to me one night."

Liz strides back over to me, leaning her elbow on my shoulder.

We all agree on going to the back half, which is all instruments, amps, and similar.

Josh finds a drum set and some sticks, getting into his happy place. A small piano is where Tyler finds himself and Debby and I find the guitars.

~Debby~

Liz is watching Tyler play.

"Hey lovebug, come here," Chase calls, holding up a guitar. She jogs over. She picks up a guitar and he helps her finger some chords and strums. He puts his face very close to her ear, saying something.

What the heck is going on? They seem very close and secretive.

I make my way over to Josh and Tyler, sitting next to Josh. He plays lightly so we can talk.

"Do they seem to be acting odd to you, or is it just me?" I ask quietly. Tyler looks over, nodding in agreement.