[DISCONTINUED] In The Crowd (Muke)

0.3 - Luck

2 days later, Luke was riding with his brother Jack to a guitar shop. Jack had a friend who's father owned the shop, and since Luke knew how to play a guitar, Jack's friend had managed to talk his father into giving Luke a job interview. Neither of the Hemming's boys knew what type of work Luke would be expecting, but Luke hoped that it wasn't too bad. Like, cleaning toilets or something.

As they pulled up outside of the shop, Luke read the 'Guitar Man Dan' sign, and chuckled to himself at the catchy name. The sign was a large plastic cut out of a red electric guitar, the lettering going across where the strings would normally be.

"C'mon." Luke heard Jack say, then they both walked towards the entrance, hearing the sound of a bell chime just after they opened the door. Not too long after, Jack's friend - Phillip - came into their view, standing behind a rack of guitar stands. He ushered them over to where he was standing and the three of them began to walk towards what Luke thinks is Phillip's dad's office. Phillip knocked on the door twice. and you'd think by now that Luke would be nervous. He wasn't; He was excited.

The door opened to reveal a tall, buff looking man, with a slight stubble appearing. His hair was a dark blonde, combed back nicely, and he wore a smile on his face.
"Hello, you must be Phillip's friend!" The man, obviously Dan, greeted, sticking his hand out for Luke to shake.

"Good luck lil' bro." Luke heard his brother wish, before seeing him walk off with Phillip. Luke shook the guy's hand politely with his right hand, and held his left hand behind his back. For no particular reason of course, it was just a habit Luke had developed. Luke shot the man a smile, and introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Luke Hemmings, and um, I'm pretty sure you already know what I'm here for." Luke pulled his hand back as the guy nodded his head confirming that he knew.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know why you're here. Hello, Luke, I'm Earl."

Luke furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. Earl?

"Oh." Was all that Luke responded with, before seeing him begin to laugh loudly.

"I'm just playing with ya kid, m'name is indeed Dan." Dan said, stepping back into his office and motioning for Luke to sit down in a chair in front of his desk. Luke thanked Dan and sat down, folding his hands together and placing them on his lap. He looked around the office, seeing the several guitars hanging off of the pegs screwed into the wall, and looked at them in awe. He had always loved looking at guitars, guitar playing was one thing Luke loved. And also he had in common with Michael, his subconcious added.

"So, I heard you can play a guitar?" Dan's voice pulled Luke out of his thoughts, and he nodded quickly, but not so much as to make him look weird. Although Luke is weird.

"Yessir."

"How are you?" Dan continued to ask.

"Uh," Luke scratched the back of his nexk, pursing his lips together in thought. "I'd say I'm... pretty good at it, I suppose."

"Show me."

"What?" Luke asked.

Dan gestured to the wall to Luke's right, the wall he had been staring at earlier, and repeated: "Show me." Luke looked down at his feet, his light-coloured skin showing from the rips on the knees of his jeans. He then stood up and slowly walked towards the wall. He stopped in front of a guitar, and turned back around to look at the man that had his gaze following his every move. Luke gave him a look that read 'are you sure?' and Dan chuckled loudly, his chest moving up and down, in sync with the sound. Luke grew even more awkward and nervous than he was 2 minutes ago.

"C'mon now, play it."

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

Luke took a slow and deep breath, nodding his head and pulling off the all-black guitar off of the wall, used to the weight of it. He put the strap around his shoulders and positioned his fingers, quickly playing a small piece of a song he had just recently learned. Luke smiled in satisfaction as he finished playing flawlessly, happy to see that Dan had also been smiling.

"You're hired."

Luke walked into Ashton's flat, opening the door with the spare key that he had on his keychain. After he walked in, closing the door behind him, he heard the sound of drum's banging, and he smiled at the sound.

"Ash!" Luke called out, taking his shoes off and placing them on the shoe rack. All the sound coming from the drums stopped and then Ashton appeared from his room, well one of his rooms anyway, and smiled at Luke.

"Lukey!" Ashton yelled, running over to Luke and giving him a hug. "So, how was the job interview?"

"Surprisingly very easy." Luke shrugged, smiling. Ashton nodded as they both walked into the kitchen, deciding to make dinner seeing as it's six in the evening

"What's your work position?" Ashton asked.

"I help Phillip with hanging up guitars and I show customers how they work and all that kind of stuff." Luke grinned, jumping and sitting on the counter top, looking at the fruit basket next to him. He took an apple, biting into it and moaning quietly to himself because wow, Luke really loved apples.

"Nice. How much does it pay?" Ashton continued asking questions about Luke's new job, happy for the younger boy.

"6 dollars an hour, I only work on weekends though, so Friday through Sunday."

"Whoa, really? That much on your first job?" Ashton gaped, and Luke nodded, grinning proudly. "Well that means you have to save..." Ashton mentally added up all the paychecks so that they totalled up to the price of the concert tickets. "Only a few weeks worth of your pay checks. But seriously dude, you're lucky as shit. Six dollars an hour?!"

"I was surprised as well." Luke admitted.

"Well, I'll try my best to make as much money as you are. Our goal is floor seats by the barrier's, and meet-and-greet tickets, right?" Ashton asked, Luke nodded.

"Right."