Days || hemmings

2: the kick-off.

Luke;

Alex is possibly the most stubborn human being on planet earth. After an hour of persuasion, she gave me her show details. The only thing now was to try and convince the boys.

I casually walked into the living room where Michael and Calum were playing FIFA, Ashton just watching. "Yo," he greeted.

"Hey... We need our fake ID's for tonight" I saw the suspicious look he shot me from the corner of his eye. "There's a band playing a few blocks down."

He nodded, taking a sip from his Pepsi can. "So, who's the girl? And how old is she if she's playing at a bar?"

Damn, Ashton. He knew me too well. "Her names Alex, she's in the band. And she's seventeen."

He smirked and I could tell he was going to be a little shit about it. "Right, and exactly how old did you tell her you were?"

I let out a breath, letting my lips do that flappy thing. "Twenty," I said defeated.

"What was that?" Calum asked, not looking up from the television.

I groaned. "Twenty, I... I told her I was twenty."

"Dumbass," Michael chuckled.

"Screw you guys, I'm going to take a shower." I dragged my feet down the hall, stripping as I went. I made a point to cover the bathroom with water, more than usual anyway. When I got dressed into black jeans with the knees ripped out and my favorite Nirvana tee, I went down to see the boys dressed as well. "So, is shit on Luke hour over?" 

Ashton laughed, ripping off a piece of toas in his mouth."Didn't anyone tell you it was shit on Luke night?" The other boys snickered and I grabbed a sweater. 

Slipping on black VANS, I eyed them. "Are we going or are you guys going to stay and bathe in your own doucheyness?" I watched their smug faces as they tore their eyes from the television and pulled themselves off the couch. They put on essential outerwear and we walked down the street before advancing on a pub that was pretty loud. "Seems like a good time," Mike pursed his lips and nodded his head. 

I checked the time. "It's 11:30, they're probably getting their set ready." Sure enough, adter we'd gotten our coats checked and were on our second round of drinks (the first went down quickly), you could hear the raw sound of an amp. Turning around, I was faced with the back of a body on stage, black and fire red hair cascading almost to the top of her ass. "That's her," I nudged ash. He made an approving face. 

Alex turned and smiled, letting out a 'phew' noise. "Well hello, fellow drunks." The whole club howled as she chuckled to her friend and picked up a beer bottle that had been laid next to the mic stand, holding it up. "Alright, for those of you who don't know, we're The Paralyzed Winter. But we're subjected to a name change if you have a better suggestion." She shrugged and took a long swig, looking to the other guitarist. 

They nodded to each other and started an intro to All We Know by Paramore. When the words cut in, Alex grabbed the mic with both hands, belting it. 

"Dude, she's good," Cal raised his eyebrows. 

"Yeah," I nodded in both admiration and curiousity. Admiration for obvious reasons, but curiousity for less obvious ones. I'll admit I may have been overlooking, but she was covered in clothes from head to toe. She had on a black long sleeve v-neck, black shorts, ripped and acid washed. That wasn't weird, but the black tights were. I guess I was lost, because they had played four songs already. Ash had elbowed my ribs. We kept our backs leaning on the bar for easily refills. 

Alex tied her hair into a ponytail, her hair still sitting in the middle of her rib cage. Then the band sat. "Alright, due to my old age I've got to sit down and give my hips a break." The bar errupted into laughter, catching some inside joke the boys and I did not. "So here's a little cool down acoustic song. I Miss You, by Blink, boys."

The intro was long as usual, but when she sang, she gave so much life to it. Way more than Blink did, and even more than we did. I watched her knuckles go white as she gripped the mic tighter. Then I watched her smile broadly at the guitar player as she sang the chorus once, slow and very ballad-like. 

But she kept her smile as she belted the chorus, one last time. It almost looked like she was crying. Brushing it off, she placed the stool off stage. "The last song is on Jess requested we learn last week. It's Unpredictable by this band I've never even seen or heard of before, 5 Seconds of Summer. But they're damn good in this song, so check them out."

"Shit," I whispered under my breath. If it was a movie it would be a part where they zoom in on my face and I say it to the camera. 

Cal facepalmed himself. "She doesn't know, does she?" I shook my head with a gulp. 

"Are we punk rock yet?" Alex laughed into the mic. "We were The Paralyzed Winter, hope you enjoyed!" She tried to bent her left elbow but couldn't, so I decided I'd question it. 

She lightly hopped off stage, striding up to us with her band in tow; all girls. PErfect. She was slightly out of breath and sweaty. "Hey, I'm Alex. This is Roxy, guitar; Fletcher, bass; and Finley, or Fin, drums." 

Everyone exchanged handshakes and engaged in conversation. "Don't you get warm dressed all up in black, head to toe? Even your boots cover a lot."

I chuckled as she looked at her boots, clicking her heels and pulling her hair out. "These are my babies."

We laughed and I broke the laughter. "So, what's wrong with your arm?"

"Huh?" She furrowed her eyebrows. 

I pointed. "It's constricted." 

She held out her arm. "It's a brace. See?" She put my hand on the place where it ended.

I nodded. "Why?" 

She looked flustered without words. "Oh, um, bad break."

Our conversation was cut off by Ashton. "So, let's be adventurous, shall we?" He rubbed his hands together, wiggling his eyebrows. Without warning he grabbed Fletcher and pulled her out of the bar, everyone following. Alex looked at me worried but I just rolled my eyes, ushering her out by my hands on her lower back, while she was still trying to chug back her fourth beer.