Rochester Avenue // Luke Hemmings

Chapter 27 - 'Do I Look Punk Enough?'

The first thing I saw when I reentered the studio was Sasha, and my already bad mood deteriorated even more. Fran had warned me that she was going to be here but it still pissed me off. What was even worse was that she was talking to Luke again.

For fuck's sake.

Be the bigger man, Noelle.

There was more of a busy atmosphere today compared to yesterday. No one was sitting and lazing around. Calum was strumming his bass guitar with Fran watching carefully, while Ashton was tapping a light beat on the drums. John and Kate were wandering around, making sure everyone was doing something. They needn't have bothered checking. It seemed that everyone was wanting to distract themselves from everything that was going on by throwing themselves into music. My eyes went to Michael. I had a feeling things were going to be awkward between us, and that upset me. My friendship with Michael had always been really important to me, but now that was sort of ruined. But then I decided to myself that no, our friendship would not be ruined. So I walked over to Michael, sitting next to him and saying, "Hey."

He glanced over at me, a seemingly indifferent expression on his face. "If you're sitting with me to try and make Luke jealous, don't bother."

I stare at him, a feeling of hurt growing. "Michael – what? I'm not that kind of person. Please tell me you know that."

He shrugs and looks slightly guilty. "I – sorry. No, you're not. I'm just... annoyed. At myself, really."

I nudged him with my shoulder. "You shouldn't be."

"Still am," he muttered. "I really didn't mean for this to happen, I swear."

I laughed slightly. "I get it. You can't help some things."

"Wish I could. That way, life would be a hell of a lot easier." He sighed.

I nodded slightly and then looked around me, purposefully not looking at Luke and Sasha, however I could see out of the corner of my eye that they were laughing together. My stomach dropped slightly but I tried to ignore them. I grabbed a guitar and shoved it into Michael's arms. "Here, let's not talk about that. Let's distract ourselves and write a song."

Michael dipped his head towards another guitar. "Only if you do it, too."

I grimaced but grasped the guitar, looking expectantly at Michael. "Okay, go."

He looked confused. "Go what?"

"Play something," I ordered.

"Why? It was your idea."

"Yeah, but I meant for you to do the singing and shit," I said laughingly. "I didn't mean I was going to play."

"Tough. You have to." Michael waited, and I gave him a look.

"I can't just play something out of thin air," I said in exasperation.

Michael chuckled. "You think I can?"

"I don't know, you're the one in a band here," I stated, grinning.

He raised an eyebrow. "Noelle, are you saying you want to be part of the band?"

I laughed. "Michael, that is exactly what I'm saying, and I'm surprised it took you this long to catch on. I think I'd be a real improvement."

"Noelle, anyone would be an improvement. Our band sucks."

I lightly slapped him. "Why do you hate your band so much? You don't suck. But can you imagine? '5 Seconds of Summer – plus Noelle'. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"