08. Heartbreak Girl
"Mads! You're finally here!" A sweaty Michael attacked me in a hug right when I stepped foot in Luke's garage. The other boys all smiled at me from their designated spot, even Ashton, who was sitting on his speaker box. I was honestly surprised to see him here, but damn did it make me happy.
"You're all sweaty, ew." I pushed him off of me and took a seat on one of the fold out chairs that were always laying around.
"Now you're all sweaty too," He gave me a cheeky smile, "but we've been here all day since school got out practicing, so me being sweaty? Excuse. You being sweaty? Gross, you're a girl."
"Still practicing Teenage Dirtbag?"
The boys were in a "band"- a band without gigs, and a band without original songs, from what I know. They've been playing together probably since the end of Freshman year, but they do it for fun. It's not something that really consumes their lives, they never talk about going "pro" with music. This is their first practice in a while, probably because of Ashton and Michael, but that's hopefully behind the three of us now. I think the boys wanna spend as much happy time together before we go off for school in 3 months, today was our last official day of high school.
"No, Cal and Ash actually have been writing a song and we've been testing and trying it out, Luke spoke up as he took his guitar strap off his shoulder, "but I think we're all done for today."
"Wait, can I hear it?" I smiled at the thought of my two of my closest friends collaborating on something that can one day have the potential to be heard by the world.
"I-I don't know Maddie. I don't really think we've perfected it yet. The lyrics need work, Mikey and Luke need to figure out how they can work together on guitar, and we're still figuring out the vocals. Nobody's chords are really right, I don't know. We've just been testing it out." Calum scratched the back of his neck and looked down, like he was embarrassed.
"Well I think it's fucking amazing. And you said it's about a girl, Cal, so who better to critique a song about a girl than a girl herself?" Michael pushed into his shoulder right as Ashton decided to pipe in.
"Right. And it's Maddie. Who else would we want as the first person we perform our first song in front?" I smiled at Ashton's comment while Calum's cheeks grew rosy.
"I guess." He sighed and stood up, adjusting the strap of his bass. The boys stood in front of their microphones as Ashton stayed sitting on the box. The poor kid needs a drum set here.
"Okay, this song is called 'Heartbreak Girl', and I dedicate this song to you." Luke winked at me with a smile and I let out a small laugh with the largest smile planted on my face.
"Dude, no spoilers." Ashton hushed him with a smile right as they started playing.
"You call me up, it's like a broken record, saying that your heart hurts, that you're never getting over him getting over you.."
Luke looks funny when he sings. He opens his mouth so wide and has the straightest look on his face, even though I can tell he wants to smile. Seeing this four idiots I've learned to call my best friends perform their first original- something we never thought would happen- is mind blowing. I wish I had their talent, they can all sing and play an instrument, and the best I can do is balance a spoon on my nose.
"Cause I'm just a sucker for anything that you do," Calum took over on the vocals and looked in my direction, probably looking for a sense of approval.
I gave him a big smile, even bigger than the one that was previously drawn on my face, and he cheeks grew rosy again. None of them really seemed distracted by me, though. They were all at peace and they seemed so into it. Calum was so worried about not getting the song right for no reason, it sounds perfect.
My thoughts began to consumer me and in no time the boys finished up the song.
"Calum, what are you on, thinking that this needs more work. It was perfect, guys!"
"I wouldn't say perfect, but me and Cal no make a pretty damn good team," Ashton chuckled from his little box, "Too bad we only have this summer to do this kind of stuff."
"Ashton, you and Luke are literally going to a college that's 40 minutes from here, it's not like you're going to school in a different country, or even a different city."
"Man, I can't even imagine how it would be if one of us went to a different country for at least 4 years. That would really suck ass, we'd definitely lose touch. It's a good thing we're all staying close to home, especially Cal over here." Michael laughed lightly a patted his shoulder.
"Hey this way, I can keep you in line. Make sure you don't get Chlamydia. Again."
"I'm telling you mate, no condom is so much better than condom. I love finding girls who are on birth control." He slung his guitar over his shoulder and set it down in his case, taking a seat on another folding chair that was next to me. Luke and Calum put their instruments away, too, and Calum took a seat on the other side of me. Ashton stayed put and and Luke leaned against the wall.
"Speaking of Mikey getting another STD, we really all need to work together to prevent it." I chimed in.
"How do you expect us to do that, Mads? Get him a clean, tested girlfriend?" Calum and Ashton laughed at Luke, but I wasn't sure if he said it seriously or not.
"You say that like it'd be the hardest thing ever." Michael's ego always gets the best of him, but he doesn't understand that it is the hardest thing ever. He's the male equivalent to Brooke, the girl that gave him Chlamydia in the first place.
"Because it is, mate." Calum laughed.
"How about this; you boys can't have sex with people you don't know well."
"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen." Michael scoffed and the boys nodded their head in agreement.
"Then make it a competition. Whoever goes the longest without sex wins something; money, a meal, whatever. Even you Luke, I know what you did." I gave him a joking look of disapprovement, even a laugh from the boys when his cheeks grew red.
"Sorry mate, I had to tell her." Ashton said, adjusting the bandana that sat on his perfectly groomed, yet messy hair.
"Yeah, yeah. But what about you, Maddie? You just get to sit there unharmed until one of us breaks?" Luke pouted.
"Well no, but would it really be fair if I had to restrict myself from having sex? I don't even have a potential partner, and you guys know I don't go to parties." I shrugged my shoulders and crossed my legs under the chair.
Sometimes I worry that the boys and Abby judge me for never having sex, but at the same time I feel like it just makes us all better friends because I'm like the boys little sister and I am literally Abby's innocent best friend. Then again, they all knew I would have if I wanted to. My first break-up was literally last year, because my ex was tired of waiting. What a guy, huh? The boys were all there for me through that, though. Especially Calum, who stood up on the phone all night, letting me cry to him and repeating everything like a broken record, as he later admitted. He's a really good friend.
"Then how about you have to have sex before one of us." Cal chimed in, trying to make this competition fair in the dumbest way.
"Cal, that literally makes no sense. The point of this is no sex." Ashton gave him a "what the fuck kind of face."
"Technically, the point is to have no more STDs in this friend group, but yeah, basically." I chimed in.
"Yeah but you've said it yourself, we can't have sex with people we don't know good. So reverse it Mads; you have to have sex with someone you know, or at least trust. Someone whos 'clean, and tested." Michael mocked my words with a smile plastered on his pale face.
"You know this is peer pressure. I'm a virgin because I don't want to have sex. Not because I can't"
"Sounds like you're already getting a competitive attitude. I'll tell you this; I don't believe that you can have sex." Michael kept going at it, with a smirk painted on his face until I finally gave in.
"You guys are such idiots." I groaned.
"It's your bet, Mad's." Ashton laughed.
