Maybe Then...

Chapter 38: when the band gets back together

When the band gets back together

Maybe then, things will start to fall into place again

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"Let's do it again, from the top," Dan directed. He nodded to Dolan to start us up, who just stared at him in turn. 

"What?" 

"Don't you think we deserve a break?" Kyle responded for Dolan. "We've been playing for about an hour straight." 

"We've gotta make up for lost time," he said, to which we all groaned. 

Cooper piped up, now, "Actually, I am kinda hungry. You know I'm a perfectionist but, can't we take a break?" 

He didn't look up, his gaze fixed on tuning his strings after he took his guitar-strap off of his shoulder. "I don't know, can you stop screwing around with my cousin behind my back?" 

My jaw almost dropped to the floor, heat rising to my cheeks. I turned to Cooper with wide eyes, seeing him frozen, a blush rising to his face as well. Kyle coughed awkwardly, followed by Dolan taking advantage of the moment by drumming a classic ba dum tss. 

"Ooh! Cooper, my man!" Kyle smirked. 

The two of us quickly shut it down, repeating "no" over and over again until Kyle's eyes filled with tears from laughing so hard. 

Dolan sat with his arms crossed, a smug look pasted onto his face. When the laughter died down, he spoke up, "Hey Kyle, I think you owe me five dollars, do you not?" 

My eyebrows shot up. "What? You guys put a bet on us getting together?" 

He shook his head, the smug look still on his face. "Nah, I'm just kidding." 

I shot him a look. 

"Wait, so you guys aren't hooking up?" asked Kyle confusedly. 

"No," we say at the same time. 

"The sneaking around part is true, though," Dan presses. 

"I thought you forgave me of that," I whine. 

"I did, but I just wanted to see your reactions," he stifled a smile. "Looks like I got the last word for this." 

"So would anyone like to explain what's going on?" asked Dolan. 

"I quit my job after Zeke and I broke up, and I didn't tell my grandpa because I was afraid he'd make me work with my ex anyway. So for a week straight, while everyone thought I was at work, I was hanging out at Cooper's," I filled them in. 

"Wait," Kyle held up a hand, "you broke up with your boyfriend?" 

"And you quit your job?" Dolan added on. 

I didn't realize until then that they didn't even know about any of this. I'd already told Cooper all of this and then some, and Dan knew, of course. 

"Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you two," I shrugged sheepishly. 

We began putting our instruments away, then head upstairs to the kitchen. "Who wants some chips? We got the individual bags, 'cause ya know, the more the airier!" Dolan said. They all took their pick at which flavor they wanted, but I didn't grab one. "Amelia, you want one?" 

I smiled and shook my head. "I'm not hungry, I ate a big lunch," I said honestly. "But thank you, though." 

Dan sent me an unreadable look, but I quickly remembered what he saw a few days ago. He soon gave voice to the look as well. "Just eat, Millie. It won't hurt you. You need a few extra pounds, anyway." 

I didn't want to deal with him throwing a temper tantrum, so I gave in and reluctantly grabbed a bag. I sighed, reminding myself that I brought this upon myself. I couldn't blame him for being worried about my eating habits after what he saw. He probably thought I was bulimic or something. So I shut my mouth (except to open it to take bites), ate my chips, and dealt with it. 

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"Dino nuggets are almost ready!" Dolan's mom called from the top of the stairs through her thick accent. 

"Ah yeah!" Dolan cheered, giddy as a kid in a candy shop. "This is a good Friday! Dino nuggets rock!" 

"Calm down, Junior," I shook my head at him. 

He pressed his fingertips together, imitating the pose of a meme. "One does not simply grow too old for dino nuggets," he said in a proper voice. 

I rolled my eyes at his childishness, even though I was known to have a few meme references up my sleeve waiting safely and comfortably to be used in the right moment. 

"Cooper, you know when we're ready or not," Dan said. "Do you think we could have a few songs ready by next weekend?" 

"Depends." 

"On what?" 

"If you guys are ready to work you asses off this week," he says simply. 

Kyle feigns offense. "Watch your profanity, child," he scolds.

"Yeah," Dan chimes in, "it's fucking wrong." 

"What he said," Kyle backed him up. His eyes widened a little as he fully processed what he'd just said. "Oh, wait..." 

"Anyway," Cooper brushed off their conversation, "if you really wanna be ready to play for whatever gig you got us, then you better be ready to face a zero tolerance, no slacking off kind of Cooper. Frankly, I don't think that you're ready for that level of dedication. You're probably not ready to see that level of my dedication, either." 

"I'm speaking for myself when I say that I'm ready," Dolan said. 

"Me too," Dan added. 

"I'll third that," Kyle said. 

"I don't have a job or boyfriend to get in the way anymore, so," I trail off with a shrug. 

"Okay then, but don't you dare get mad when I start to buckle down on you guys." It was directed at all of it, but he made eye contact with Kyle when saying it. 

"Ah yeah! Go band!" Dolan cheered. He put his hand out into the center of the room,looking around at us and waiting for us to put our hands on his. "Come on, guys," he persisted. "On three!" We blinked at him for a moment. 

"We're not cheerleaders, you idiot," Dan rolled his blue eyes at him. 

Yeah, it's pretty good to be back. 

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Thank you so much for reading! 

What did you think of this chapter? 

What do you think about Dan still seemingly slightly annoyed with Amelia and Cooper? What about the teases from the other guys? 

By the way, the part where Dan responds to Cooper's swearing with an even worse swear word was inspired by something that I actually heard my dad say in a conversation.