mixtape '94

love is strong

the song for this chapter is love is strong by the rolling stones

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2 o'clock. Sitting in the ground, headphones plugged, a coffee between my hands. I've never been this punctual in my chaotic life. In a normal day I would've stayed home watching a movie or sleeping, but not today. Today was different. I didn't want to admit I was kind excited about meeting Ashton's bandmates and listen to their music.

My eyes met a familiar face walking towards me, a warm smile on his face. "You're here !" Ashton pulled me closer to him, hugging me.

I unplugged my headphones and put them on my black backpack. "Of course I am." He connected our hands as we walked down the street. The thought about meeting his bandmates was kind of scary for me. I was never good at meeting people, I usually just stay quiet and avoid eye contact. It's not that I'm shy, I just don't like people. "They are gonna love you." he said, reading my thoughts.

-

Ashton's apartment looked really nice from outside. It was a dark gray color, and the walls of the hallways were white. I only function in black or sometimes very, very dark gray. With that said, he unlocked the door and we walked in. The first thing I looked at was two guys yelling at each other. It took me a while to realize one was shirtless and other one had no pants on. "Dude just give me my shirt!" One of them yelled. "Nooo ! Oh Oh Oh!" This guy had red hair and was dancing around with no pants on, they didn't seem to realize I was there because they kept yelling at each other. "I'll fight you ! Give me my damn shirt !" The tall guy tried to reach out for his shirt, but the red haired guy ran away yelling "Fuck off !!!" I was standing there questioning what the hell just happened.

"Can you guys shut up !?!" Ashton screamed. They both looked ashamed after noticing my presence. "I'm not sure of how to feel about this." Ashton laughed at my choice of words.

The red haired guy put his pants on and walked towards me. "You are Sam?"

"That's me." I nodded. "We've heard a lot about you. Ash is really dirty by the way." His voice was low. "He started taking longer showers since he met you." He was now whispering.

"Stop it mate." Ashton warned him. I didn't know if he was just messing around, I couldn't help it but my cheeks blushed. i laughed at his words.

"I'm just saying." He shrunk. The tall guy next to him put his shirt on and extended his arm out to me, greeting me in an old fashioned way. "I'm Luke." Plain and simple, he had a blank expression on his face.

"Michael where did you put my underwear?!?" A new voice shouted. "Oh hey" His expression changed at my sight.

"God, you are all apes." Ashton chuckled and walked to the living room. I followed him like a child, unsure of what to do. He seated in a black couch and so did I. His arm found his way to my back, resting on my shoulder.

I looked around, guitars and wires all over the floor, a battery in the corner of the room. It wasn't a neat place, shirts were laying in the floor and probably underware? A bag of chips laying on a desk, and a jar of vegemite on the floor. It looked like a normal apartment full of college kids. I was okay with it because my apartment was a mess too.

"Sam right ?" The boy with black hair asked me. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt, showing his arms and a tattoo on them. He had a very sharp jaw and looked kinda asian?

The red haired guy appeared out of nowhere with a slice of pizza on his hands. "I'm Michael, and the asian one is Calum"

"I'm not asian!" He furrowed his brows and looked at Michael, showing him his middle finger. "Ching chong" Michael simply responded and took a bite of his pizza.