Uneasy ➢ smash au

xxi. School Formals & Sydney Locals Festival

Unlike no other day, he woke up to the sounds of his brother strumming along to his guitar, screaming -- or singing at the top of his lungs. A groan leaves Ashton's lips, his head now buried in his pillow. The sound of the door creaks open, a sudden shift of weight placed onto his bed. The weight suddenly lifts, the sound of springs audible. Luke eagerly jumps on Ashton's bed, screaming a whole bunch of nonsense.

"Are you just excited as I am?!" he shouts. "We get to perform today at the Sydney Locals festival, and then we get to go the the school formal, and then -"

"Lucas Robert!" Luke was suddenly interrupted by their mother, her tone of voice causing Ash to cringe. "Do you know how early in the morning it is?" Luke hopes off from Ashton's bed, which he can tell due to the sudden weight being lifted from his bed. "Luke please, not now. It's too early, and I'm already under a lot of stress with all the moving, and the selling of the house, and the new job and -"

Weeps begin audible, Ashton's figure shooting up at the sound of the noise. Luke embraces his mother, their mother breaking down in tears, her breath hitched. Ashton gets off his bed and does the same as his brother and comforts his mother.

"Mum, it's okay, everything's gonna be alright." Ashton coos.

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll get through this." Luke adds.

♡

The fours boys inhale deeply, nerves building up in the stomach.

"Are you nervous?" Calum pipes up.

"No shit, I'm literally shaking." Michael responds, as if it was already obvious enough.

Among the four of them, they all try their hardest to remain calm and collected. Just seconds after, a man with a black shirt titled "staff" comes back stage to retrieve the boys.

"5 Seconds of Summer?" he asks, his eyes focused on the clipboard in his hands.

"Yes, sir." Luke responds firmly.

"You're on in about 30 seconds." he continues before disappearing off the stage. As the thirty seconds count down, nerves continue to grow as well as jitters in the stomach.

"Sydney! Please give a warm welcome to Sydney locals themselves, 5 Seconds of Summer!" Screams and clapping erupt for the crowd, the four boys walking onto the main stage. As they all smiled, waves of screaming girls were smiling back, hands in the air waving to them. In their minds, they thought hundreds of girls were in the crowd screaming their names. but in reality it's a crowd of twenty girls.

"Hello!" Luke said into the mic. "We are Five Seconds of Summer." more screams. "We thought that it would be nice to give an acoustic performance of our original song 'Gotta Get Out', hope you enjoy." And with that the boys set their things up before familiar guitar strums start to play.

After they finished their set of songs they had lined up, smiles appeared among faces in the crowd, pleasing the four boys.

"Thank you boys, Five Seconds of Summer everyone!" the announcer said into his mic, coming back on stage. The four boys all take a bow in unison as the announcer continues. "Watch out folks, they'll become famous in no time." All four boys walk off the stage and exit out the back, small chatter talked among them.

"That was awesome." Michael commented.

"Did that really just happened?" Calum asked, as if everything was surreal. "I can't wait for our future shows."

"You really think there will be future shows?" Ashton quizzes, surprised.

"I think so," Luke responds. "they seemed like they really like us. Imagine us in front  of thousands, even millions."

"That be amazing,"

♡

Ashton looks into the mirror once more, adjusting his tie for the billionth time.

"Bro, can we go?" Luke sighs, his figure seen through the mirror. He sits on Ashton's bed, waiting patiently for his brother to hurry up. "We're gonna be late, man."

"Fine," Ashton huffs. His brother smiles, rushing out the door and sprinting down the stairs. "I look fine thought right?"

"Eh,"

"Seriously, I need to look presentable."

"You already are, dude." Right before they step foot out the door, their mother calls them back in, her nikon camera flashing, both boys looking like deer in the headlights.

"Wait, can I just get one picture of you two boys before you head off?" she asks, snapping another shot. Of course they agree, another memory for their mother. They pose and smile as she takes several more, prior to watching the boys head off in Ashton's silver car.

As the drive to the formal, a familiar songs comes on the local radio, Ashton telling Luke to turn up the volume. Once the song finishes, the radio host talks about the Sydney Locals festival which occured earlier in the day.

"But I think the best act today at the festival was a local band called '5 Seconds of Summer'." the radio host states. "Brilliant choice making the performance an acoustic, it made the performance a hundred times better." Shocked, Luke looks at Ashton, can't believing what he'd just heard.

"Did you hear that?" Luke asked, eagerly. "We were just mentioned on the radio!"

"I know!" Ashton follows up.

"I tell ya' these boys will become famous very soon, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up playing on of their future songs on this station any time soon." the announcer finishes up before playing some Ellie Goulding.

"I can't wait to tell Michael and Calum."

♡

The formal seemed like it was something straight out of a movie, everything was flawless. Everyone was enjoying themselves, Luke was with Valerie happily dancing, Mikey was chatting up with Diana -- not to mention looking very cozy together, and Calum was bustig out moves to the latest Katy Perry song. Laughing along, Aspen was happily with Ashton both making fun of Calum for his cheesy dance moves.

"I'm really enjoying myself," she tells him, causing a smile to appear on his face.

"I'm glad, I am too." he tells her, now her turn to smile. Shortly after, he excuses himself to go get a quick drink, Aspen understanding. He makes his way over to the punch bowl, a familiar face pouring themselves a glass. "Hey, long time no see." The familiar face turns to face him, Ashton shocked to see them show up. "I'm glad you showed up."

"I am too," she responds, taking a quick sip of her punch. "how have you been?"

"Great, and youself?"

"Not so bad, everything at home is going great." she informs him, a genuine smile appearing on her face.

"I'm glad to hear,"

"I heard that you played the Sydney Locals today," she said, making small talk.

"Oh yeah," Ashton says as he scratches the back of his neck, a little embarrassed by the fact that she knows. "I played with Calum, Luke, and Michael. I was the drummer."

"I know, I heard about it on the radio." she adds. "I can see you guys go far in the music industry."

"Thanks, so did you come with anyone?"

"Yeah, I actually came with Robbie." she says, pointing over to a guy in the crowd of people.

"That's cool, well have fun." he tells her. She gives him a wave as she disappears back into the swarm of people. He quickly grabs himself a glass of punch before returning back to Aspen, the rest of the night going flawlessly.