Clarity ~ m.c.

•Chapter 4•

"Well I was born in Boston, and like I said before my mom was in the military so we had to move to Washington. She went on her first tour of Afghanistan leaving my dad to take care of me. When she came back Benny had been injured and we got to keep him. Then my mom got pregnant with the twins. After they were born she got to work in the Pentagon for a few years and everything was fine up until then. Then she was called for a second tour that was going to last for about 5 years they approximated.

Well she had about 3 months left overseas and the regiment she was a part of was called to join in a mission. Little did she know there was a bomb hidden in the building she was searching and she was killed on impact from the explosion. My dad and I took it hard, I went through a phase trying some drugs and changed my appearance hence the aqua hair and piercings, but I thankfully stop doing drugs." I took a breath before continuing.

"My dad on the other hand . . . he started drinking. He would go to bars every night and would get wasted because he was so depressed about it. He would get so drunk; when he got home he would beat me." I paused. "I took every last beating in order to protect Emily and Andrew. It only took three year for court to realize that our father was unfit to take care of us which is why we had to move out here to live with our aunt and uncle."

I turned to Michael. He was watching me, taking in all the information.

"You don't have to be afraid of me Lauren, you can trust me." He reassured me. "The same goes for Luke, Calum and Ashton. We're not like that, we won't hurt you."

"Yeah I've been told that before."

"Well this is true, we're your friends."

"I've never had many friends." I said ashamed at the fact.

"Well now you have four new ones." He smiled. "Now that did answer a lot of my questions, but I have two more."

"What's that?" I asked.

"One, why gymnastics?" he questioned.

"It started at a young age and my parents supported me even when my mom was overseas. I grew to love it and it gave me something to do. Then after my mom died it turned into my place to get away from my dad." I explained to him and he nodded in understanding.

"Okay and two, who's Benny?"

"Benny's our dog." I chuckled. "You just didn't meet him yet because he was still in the car when we meet."

"Oh okay everything makes scene now." he laughed.

"So what about you?" I asked.

"What about me?"

"Ugh I mean what's your story, I told you mine, now you tell me yours."

He started telling me about his passion for music and his musical influences leading him to play the guitar; how and why he wanted to be a musician. How he wanted to write songs and perform with his friends. That leading to him explaining his friendship with Calum, Ashton and Luke. He explained to me how he was friends with Calum the longest and that he and Luke actually hated each other, but are like brothers now, then to how they meet Ashton and how they decided to make a band.

"5 Seconds of Summer." I repeated the band name.

"Yep, we're even on YouTube." He explained to me.

"Oh so you're trying to become famous like Justin Bieber?" I laughed.

"In a way, famous yes, but his music no." he chuckled. "We want to be famous like Green Day, Blink 182, and All Time Low."

"Well I'll have to hear you guys play sometime then." I said.

"You should." He smiled. He had such an adorable smile; sweet and innocent, defiantly a contagious one that could make anyone else smile too.

I jumped off the edge of the trampoline, it now being really late. The sun had fully set now and the street lights were the only thing allowing us to see what we were doing. The rest of my family was still over at Luke's.

"Well we should probably head back over." I said.

"Yeah I guess." He said and we started to head back over to Luke's. Before we walked back into his back yard I stopped him.

"Thanks for listening to my sad story Michael; no one's ever really cared that much before."

"Hey no problem, and from now on call me Mike or Mikey or something. Michael's too formal."

"Alright." I laughed and we walked back into the party. Everyone was still up in full conversation.

"There they are." Mrs. Clifford said. "Thought we would have to send out a lookin' party now, didn't we." She laughed while Michael, sorry, Mike rolled his eyes.

As we walked closer I could see Harry was fast asleep rest his head on his moms lap, while Emily and Andrew were fast asleep as well, but using pillows from the outdoor seating.

"Yeah sorry about that." I blushed, me being the reason he left and caused a scene before.

"No sweetheart it's not your fault, we don't blame you for not wanting to talk about your past." Mrs. Hemmings reassured me.

"I hope you don't mind that your aunt did." She added.

"At this point not at all." I said, I already told Mike, that was enough for one day and now actually glad she did so I wouldn't have too or be forced too.

"Well it's getting late and there is a lot of unpacking that must be done." My aunt said standing up to leave.

"Thank you for having us." She said to Mrs. Hemmings and hugged her.

"Oh no problem, anytime and if you ever need anything just ask." She said.

"Will do." Aunt Sue said excepting the offer.

I walked up and picked up my sister, while Aunt Sue did the same thing with Andrew. Emily is really light weight so I had no trouble carrying her so she could sleep.

**

After putting Emm and Andrew to sleep in their rooms, I laid in my bed using my laptop. I looked up 5 Seconds of Summer on YouTube and sure enough like Michael said they were there. I spent the rest of the night watching their videos of them covering their and my favorite artists.