Cynical Romantics (Completed)

Chapter Four

After awkwardly sitting with Calum and Michael for two hours and watching TV, Luke finally comes. Luke turns out to be the scrawny guy I saw talking to Calum after I left. He first scans me then extends his hand with a grin.

"I'm Luke" he states. I take his hand and quickly bring it back to myself.

"I'm Alex" I tell him.

"Oh, like the lead singer of All Time Low!" he adds. I simply nod and turn to face all the boys.

"So where are all the instruments?" I ask, finally finding something to say.

"They're in the basement, I'll show you" Michael says, knowing that Calum wouldn't be the one, even though it is Calum's house.

I follow Michael to the basement where there are three mic stands in front of a drum set and a rack with a few guitars on it. I instinctively make my way to where the guitars and bass are and find myself observing the red electric guitar with a skull and crossbones on it.

"That one's Calum's" Luke says once he notices what I'm looking at.

"I thought Calum plays bass" I reply, shocking Calum by the fact that I actually paid attention to a fact about him.

"He plays guitar too, but mainly bass for the band" Luke explains. I nod and allow my eyes to shift to the staircase where I heard movement coming from. Soon I see a boy a little older than me with blonde, curly hair.

"Alex, this is Ashton. Ash this is Calum's new neighbor and potential lover" Michael jokes, but he's the only one who laughs. Luke doesn't understand the joke and Calum and I just glare at him.

"Nice to meet you" he says in a chirpy voice.

"Back at yea" I say, not really knowing how to continue the conversation.

"Alex, why don't you sit on the bean bag over there and if you need to get up to get a snack or use the rest room feel free to, we won't take offense" Luke adds with a wink. I sit down on the bean bag and hug my legs to my chest to get in a comfy position. I notice Calum looking at me and I raise my eyebrows in question. He simply shakes his head and goes back to tuning his bass.

"Okay the first song we'll sing for our honored guest Alex is called 'Out of my Limit'" Luke anounces in the surprisingly loud mic.

As much as I wished they sucked, they didn't. I found myself tapping my foot along with the beat and even giving into my bad habit of mini air guitaring for lack of a better word. Ever since I started playing guitar, whenever I hear catchy, upbeat songs I feel the need to pretend like I'm playing guitar, but instead of full on air guitaring, my hand forms the position of holding a pick and makes small motions back and forth by my hip. Luckily, none of the boys noticed.

"This last song is called 'Wherever You Are' I expect to see a mosh pit out there!" Luke jokes as he grabs his accoustic guitar.

Personally, that was my favourite song. I could tell the boys meant what they were singing and it was a really pretty song, all in all.

"So what do you think of 5 Seconds of Summer?" Michael asks as they all start to pack up their instruments.

"Honestly, you guys are amazing. Do you play shows?" I ask.

"Yeah only small ones. But the other day we got an offer from Hot Chelle Rae's manager and they want us to be their opening act" Luke says excitedly.

"That's amazing!" I reply, full of envy, but still happy for them.

"Guys I'm starving lets go get something to eat" Ashton says, motioning for the others to follow him. Luke and Micheal do, but Calum is still unplugging his bass.

"I really did mean it when I said you're good" I tell him once the other boys left.

"Thanks" he says harshly.

"Well I should get going. So I guess I'll see you Monday" I say as I turn to leave.

"Yea and you're seeing me on Wednesday night as well. Your parents invited my family over" he explains. I nod and then leave, knowing that he doesn't want to talk to me. But it's not even in a mean way, it's more of in a hurt tone. I hold my head down in regret as I walk up the stairs to leave. Maybe I should of tried to be nicer at this home, but I can always try in the next right?

***

The next day when I arrive home from school I notice that no one's there and there's a note on the table.

'Jim's at work and I'm taking Tom for his yearly check up then to his school talent show. There's pasta and juice in the fridge. Call if you need anything :) -Karen'

She's really trying to be nice. I just haven't figured out if it's genuine or fake.

I leave the note on the counter and get some food to eat while I watch TV as a distraction. After about an hour or two, I realize it's no use. I give up and head to 'my' room. Once there I couldn't help but finally melt down. The tears that have so longingly waited to come down, finally are free. I grab the tissue box and sit on my bed as I cover my face with my hands. I don't want this anymore. I'm sick of it. I want a normal life with my family. I want to make friends and not worry about leaving them the second I leave a foster home. The chance I had at finally making a friend, I blew. And what's better than a friend that's also a neighbor? Well it looks like that's not going to happen because I fucked up... again. I grab my guitar from the side and start strumming 'Therapy' by All Time Low, the song that has gotten me through so much. My crying is still heavy so it prevents me from singing along.

I hear my phone ring and I quickly wipe my tears and cough to clear my voice before answering it.

"Hello?" I say.

"Hey Alex. So like I write some of the songs for the band and like I really wanted to write one tonight but like none of the boys are free and I was wondering, if you're like up for it-"

"Do you want help writing a song?" I ask with a slight giggle from how hesitant he was. He doesn't seem so bitter towards me either which shows that something has changed from the time I left there.

"Yea" he replies with a chuckle.

"Okay. But you don't even know if I'm a good song writer or not" I add, even though I think I'm fairly average when it comes to song writing.

"Yeah but you have a good music taste and another opinion is always good" he adds.

"Sure so I'll see you later tonight" I say with a smile as I wipe a stray tear away from my face.

"See you soon" he replies before hanging up.