Rain 》a.i. au [SLOW UPDATES]

Chapter Four

My parents have always told me that I should become a detective when I was old enough, because I was always discovering secrets and finding out information, but when in reality I was just a snoop. I knew a lot of different things about a lot of different people. When I met new people, I always made sure to find them on all of the social media websites, which kind of gave me an idea what kind of people they were. So when I could not find anyone named 'Ashton Irwin' anywhere, you better believe I googled the hell out of his band.

After three days of excessive googling before school, after school, and between shifts at the diner, I had learned many things about his band, which also helped me form many opinions about them. They called themselves '5 Seconds of Summer,' which I thought was idiotic, but it wasn't my band. They had the standard instruments, two guitars, a bass, and the drums.

"What are you doing?" Elaine came up behind me and asked, her voice sounding like I was snooping around her room.

"Just listening to music. Jeez Louise, what's your problem?" I turned to find her clad in one of her band tee shirts, which was not out of the ordinary, but she looked like she was going to go out. "And where the hell are you going?"

"You're not supposed to like them!" She yelled, pointing at my computer screen, which displayed one of the band's latest covers. "You're supposed to be bubblegum pop, not punk rock."

My jaw dropped, because I was quite offended by the last comment.

"I can listen to whatever music I want, but you still haven't answered my question- where are you going?" I crossed my arms.

"I'm going out with Kara," She huffed, turning on her heels out of the room. I followed after her, watching as she grabbed her bag off of the table.

"Where?" I asked, trying not to get angry

"I'm going to watch a band play, okay?"

"How are you going to get there?"

"We are going to walk there! What are you, my mother?" She nearly screamed.

"I'm your sister. I know, I know, 'What's the difference?' I'll drive you." I ran to get my car keys off the kitchen counter, where I had previously chucked them after school.

"No, you won't," She flung the front door open, and I was scared she would break it because of the extreme force she used.

"Yes, I will. Unless you want me to tell mom what I found in your room last week while vacuuming," She turned and looked at me, and I knew I hit the bulls-eye.

Vacuuming was a chore I hated, but it also brought out my snooping qualities. It's how I found a stash of leftover Halloween candy in Emily's room, it's how I found divorce papers in my parents. It's also how I found a pack of Marlboro cigarettes under Elaine's mattress. I confronted her about, telling her that it was a horrible habit, and that our mother, who was a nurse, for godsakes, would murder her if she found out.

I didn't mind Elaine and Kara choosing to sit in the backseat, because that meant I got to control the radio. I turned it to the top hits radio station, and proceeded to jam out to some song by Justin Timberlake that had just recently been released. I looked in my rear view mirror to see both of them rolling their eyes in disgust.

"Erin, you have to turn at-" Elaine started before I cut her off.

"I think I know where to go," I waved her off, which got me another eye roll.

Barely ten minutes later I pulled up in front of Ashton's house. His garage door was wide open, and I saw a few people standing around inside, red party cups in hand.

"How did you know where to go?" Kara looked at me like I was crazy.

"Lucky guess." It was pretty obvious, because what attracts young teenage girls more than teenage boys playing instruments?

I found Ashton right away, not because of the fact that he is sitting on a stool behind a drum set, but because his wavy mop of hair is all kinds of crazy. I could see sweat dripping down his neck, which had coated the bottom strands of brown hair, clumping them together. The front portion is pushed to the side and back, while every other piece is sticking out all over the place.

They were already playing when we entered the garage. I stood near the back, but I made sure I had a full view of the entire room. They were singing a familiar song, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. There were maybe ten people there, all of them kind of swaying and bobbing their heads along with the beat. I was quite impressed.

They played three more songs, and during each song, Elaine and Kara both tried to sneak some beer that someone brought. I stared them down the whole time before they both stopped, before trying again.

"We'd like to thank you all for coming and listening. I know it wasn't much, but it meant a lot to us. We plan to play again sometime next week, so make sure to tell your friends," The lead singer said once they finished their last song. Everyone clapped and cheered, before starting to leave. The four boys began to dismantle everything, unplugging things and putting instruments in their cases.

"Erin?" Ashton looked very surprised to see me there.

"Um, hey. I came to drop off my sister and her friend," I nodded over to the two girls, who were trying to flirt with the bassist.

"Oh, well, thanks for coming." I couldn't think of anything to respond with, so we just kind of stood there in an awkward silence.

"I should probably get going. See ya around," We both waved awkwardly before I dragged Elaine and Kara by their collars to the car.

a/n: i know i said i was going to try to post yesterday but certain things got in the way so i couldn't. i know this chapter is kind of boring but it will get better, i promise. dedication goes to forghets because she is so so sweet and ugh i love her. shout out to manicpanicmichael because she is literally one of my favorite instagram accounts and she read my story and i'm so happy she did. remember to vote, comment (follow maybe?) and leave feedback so i can improve.

until next time,

--the wicked witch of the west