Abby

CHAPTER EIGHT

She just assumed she was grounded all the time now. The only plus side being that she saw a lot more of Aaron. And she was permitted to continue going to dance and band practice. She walked into Sean's house, and down to the basement where they practiced.

"Abby!" He said with a grin on his face. He seemed overly excited. She gave him a sideways glance, her forehead scrunched. "What's with the look?" He asked.

"What's with the excitement?" She asked.

"You're here. And you're on time." He said, sticking his tongue out at her. He was serious, but he didn't want there to be a fight. He knew she'd been in the hospital just a couple days ago, drug related. Overdoes was his guess, but Aaron wouldn't come right out and say it. She didn't know how to take his comment. It ruffled her, but she didn't want to fight. She ignored it.

"What are we working on today?" She asked.

"I did have a set list, but maybe we could make something up together?" He asked.

"I'm in." She agreed. They both looked at Dave on the drums.

"Sounds cool." He was in. They spent the next few hours working hard to create music together, while alternating fits of laughter and lots of jokes. Sean ate it up. It was like the real Abby was back. On time and eager to play anything, just eager to play together. They even took a couple of sneak peek videos for Instagram. Abby's phone went off, and she saw that it was Aaron. She held up her hand and they all stopped playing.

"Sorry, guys. It's Aaron." She answered the call. "Oh shit, what time is it?" She asked. "Yeah, that's fine. I think we just lost track of time." Sean could only hear her side of the conversation, but he checked his phone and realized they'd gone over on their time. "Give us another twenty minutes?" She asked.

"Abby, I'll give you a ride home." Sean said. Abby turned to him.

"Aaron, hold on." She pulled the phone down. "Are you sure?" she asked Sean. "Because Aaron can come get me."

"No, no. I'll bring you home." He insisted.

"Hey," she said, turning back to her phone. "Sean said he'd drive me home." After Aaron conceded, trusting Sean wholeheartedly, she hung up so they could finish their practice. Afterwards, they said good-bye to Dave, and walked out to Sean's car.

"I think that was the best practice we've had in a long time." He said as they drove. She didn't live far.

"Yeah. Sometimes we work so hard on covering other bands that we don't do enough of our own stuff." She agreed. He wanted to mention what happened the few days before, but he didn't want to ruin the mood. She knew he wanted to ask. But she really didn't want to talk about it, either. Before she could decide what to say, they were at her house. "Thanks for the ride."

"I'll go in with you." He offered. He wanted to catch Aaron if he was home. His car was there. They walked in. Jennie heard and greeted them.

"Hi, Sean. It's nice to see you again." She said, giving him a hug.

"Hi, Mrs. Demarco." He replied, hugging her back.

"How was practice?" She asked.

"Best one we've had in a long time." He bragged. Jennie smiled at Abby. They both knew she what she was thinking. See how good life can be sober? Abby resisted the urge to roll her eyes and smiled back.

"I'm going to put my bass in my room." She said, trying to peel Sean away from her mother.

"Yeah, of course. Go for it." Her mother said, watching them ascend the stairs. After a few minutes of talk, rehashing their session, Sean said goodbye and slipped out of her room. He wanted to catch Aaron before he went home. Sean tapped lightly on Aaron's bedroom door. He didn't want Abby to know he was stopping in to talk.