High School Never Ends

“I’ve never heard of them…” Mike lied, as he tried to keep an emotionless face
“You don’t have to lie, Mike.”
“It’s not like they’re my favourite band… They’re good though.”
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never listened to them.”
“Seriously!?” Mike seemed astonished
“Well, he left so I didn’t want anything to do with him.”
“Oh.” Mike mouthed
As we pulled up outside of my house, I turned to face Mike.
“Maybe you could meet him? We could all have a movie night tomorrow and you guys could meet him then?”
“Look Ari, you don’t have to.”
“Yeh, but you all want to meet each other so why not?” I shrugged
“Alright, sounds like a plan!” He grinned
“Thanks for tonight, you were amazing.” I smiled as Mike waved goodbye
“It’s 23:53. Where the hell have you been!?” Austin hissed
“The gig lasted longer than I expected.” I shrugged
“I swear Aria… I want to meet them.”
“Tomorrow night.” I said as I trundled up the stairs to bed
I knew that I’d left Austin quite lost since I gave in so easily. I never really shared much with my family, except for Paige.
After a long day at school I now had to slave away in the kitchen to cook everyone dinner. Blasting out Blink 182, I quickly cooked a pasta dish to keep it simple. Austin kept a close eye on me, probably fearing that I was going to burn the house down.
“Who you trying to impress, Aria?” Austin teased
“What are you on about?”
“You seem to be putting a lot of effort in dinner.”
“I want it to be edible.”
“Yeh, yeh.”
“Shut up, Austin” I hissed
Was I trying to hard? I just wanted tonight to go right. Austin has a tendency to ruin things in my life.
Soon there was knocking on the door. I didn’t move assuming Austin would answer the door since I was busy making his dinner.
“You gonna get that!?” Austin called about a minute later
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. Lazy arsehole.” I muttered under my breath
Quickly, I sprinted towards the door. Just when I was about to shove the guys into my house, I noticed how nervous and smart they looked. I burst into fits of laughter as I gestured for them to come in.
“What’s so funny?” Mike asked, confused
“You… You guys just look… So… So, uh, smart.” I spoke through laughter
“Is it too much?” Jaime worriedly asked
“Oh no. It’s just seeing you guys look so… Like this instead of how you normally look.”
“Woah. That’s a bit harsh.” Vic pouted
“Ah, get over yourselves. Go sit in the living room with Austin, dinner will be out in 5.”
They nodded before cautiously entering the living room. I turned my music down slightly so I could hear the conversation between Austin and the guys. I heard them say their hellos and that was it. From that moment on, they sat in silence.
Hurriedly, I put dinner on the table to break the awkward silence.
We all sat down to dinner. Nobody spoke, so I decided to pipe up.
“So, uh, I hope you guys like pasta.” I nervously laughed, before shooting Austin look as if I was telling him to talk
He seemed to pick on my message and began a new conversation.
“So, Aria tells me you guys are in a band?” Austin asked
“Uh, yeh. We play a few local shows when we can.” Jaime replied
“That’s cool. So how did you lot become friends with Aria?”
Again, I shot Austin a look but he just winked back.
“We’re in some classes and just started talking.” Mike nervously answered
I gave him an appreciative look. I really wasn’t looking forward to telling Austin about the stuff with Paige, but I especially didn’t want that conversation at this moment in time.
“What’s it like on the road?” Tony unexpectedly asked
Suddenly, they all began a conversation related to touring and gigs whilst I zoned out. About 45 minutes later, I realised that Mike was shaking me and that everybody had left the table.
“You alright?” He asked
“Yup. I just zoned out.”
“Your brother is awesome.”
“Glad you lot are getting along.”
“Is everything alright? You seem a bit off.”
“It’s… It’s just complicated.”
“I don’t things can really get much more complicated. You can tell me anything, remember?”
Slowly, I took in a deep breath.
“It’s Austin…” I whispered

Notes