Everything I Didn't Say | 5sos

Chapter 1: Where It Begins

"You sure you're up for this, Aspen?" Mack, one of my roommates, asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I swear," I lie, wiping the tears from my face.

Grant, my boyfriend- sorry, ex-boyfriend, just broke up with me. On my birthday. Right before the party.

"Are you sure? Cause I can call the band and tell them we have to canc-" Mack starts to say.

I jump up from my superhero sheeted bed. "No! I'm fine, Mackenzie."

"Alright... I'm trusting you won't go home with some guy you shouldn't..." She raises an eyebrow, "unless they're from the band, then you have my blessing to sleep with them."

.

After I slip on some blue jean shorts, a white crop top, and some vans, I don't even bother brushing my newly purple hair. I leave it knotted and wavy.

"Ready?" Mack asks, patting down her skater dress. Her black dress makes her ombré angled bob hair look even more striking. And her red framed glasses match the scarlet sandals on her feet.

I look at the mirror on the wall one last time. My freckles are getting darker as the summer days gone on. The darkness of them make my blue eyes stand out, like a lake in a desert.

They're rimmed with red from the breakup tears. I'm almost ashamed I cried over something so petty like a boy. I always told myself I'd never be that girl who always gets emotional over breakups.

The thought gives me a burst of energy and determination to have fun tonight.

"Let's go."

.

As soon as we walk into the club Mack and some of my other friends rented for my party, all courage is lost. The booming bass knocked it right out of my mind. Before I could even tell Mack I wanted to go home, drinks were being forced down my throat.

After several shots on the house, my anxieties are replaced with bubbly happiness from the alcohol.

"Feeling better?" Mack laughs. She's dancing with some guy I'd never seen before.

I just giggle and wobble close to the stage to listen to the band. I glance at the drummer's set and see it has "5SOS" on it.

"Whatever that means," I laugh.

"So I hear it's someone's birthday tonight," the lead singer says. He's got blonde quaffed hair and a lip ring.

I try to duck down, but Mack comes running to me hollering "She's right here!"

She grabs my arm and swings it wildly.
She's got a grin so big I could smack it right off for calling me out.

Lip Ring Boy smiles and reaches a hand out to help me on stage. I grudgingly take it and look out onto the crowd. I recognize a lot of them from school, but nobody really stands out.

"What's your name?" he grins.

"Aspen," I blush deeply.

"Hi, Aspen. I'm Luke," he replies, "this is Calum, Michael, and Ashton."

He points to the bassist, guitarist, and drummer. All I can do is just smile and wave.

"How old are you turning today, gorgeous?" Calum asks.

"I...ummm," my mind had gone totally blank from all the sudden attention.

"Nineteen," Mack hollers onto stage, laughing. Glad she's getting a kick out of my embarrassment.

"Well, this next song is for you, Aspen," Luke grins, and I climb off of the stage, still in shock.

Ashton counts them off, "one, two, three, four!"

"I hate you!" I holler at Mack over the song. The great song. Wow, they were actually kind of decent.

"You love me," she screams back.

We dance and dance, swaying and spinning to the beat of the song.

.

"Ouch," I wince. I open my eyes, immediately my head begins pounding like a drum. Great, nothing better than a hangover.

I looked around, somehow I'd managed to make it back to my dorm safely. At least I think I'm okay. I yank the covers and check my body for any injuries.

Both arms? Check. Both legs? Check. Ten toes? Check... I think, I can't even concentrate hard enough on them to see for sure. What's one missing toe, anyway?

Ten fingers? Check. Phone number on my hand? Check.

Wait, what? Who's phone number is this? God, I really hope I didn't get caught up with Ralph, the six fingered hobo I almost made out with last birthday.

I lift my head, causing it to thump harder. Where's Mack? Maybe she knows a little something about what happened last night because I honestly have no idea.

The last memory I have is of her and I dancing, and after that, everything is just a blur.

I look to my left and see Lauren sprawled across the small couch. Well at least I'm doing better than her, I actually made it to my bed.

Not sure how I got to my bed, but by some miracle I did. I usually end up on the floor or on rare occasion, the hallway.

I pull myself out of bed, and look at the bunk on top of mine. Mack's not there. But that's not too surprising, she usually wakes up pretty early.

I walk over to Lauren, her dark red hair is plastered all over her face. I pull a Star Wars blanket out from a drawer and cover her.

She mumbles a little under her breathe, something about someone eating all her Magic Stars.

I tiptoe to the bathroom, and pull out my phone. I dial the smudged numbers on the back of my hand.

It rings a few times, then a faintly familiar voice answers. "Hello?"