dirty little secret // ashton irwin fanfic

chapter two

"Come on guys, we've got this!" I cheered on my very overtired band. It was Wednesday, and we still had not picked our song for the performance on Friday. We had to leave tomorrow, and that had us all on edge. We were currently in our apartment in Bakersfield, California, and we had been here since Monday trying to pick a song. Over the weekend we all visited our families to tell them the news. The boys families were overjoyed, and so proud of what they'd done. Their families are basically made up of musicians, it's actually pretty cool. West's dad is a music professor at a local college and Jamie's mom was in a small time band once like we were. Their siblings either sing or play an instrument. My parents didn't give a shit. They had always wanted me to do something with my life that was practical, and obviously this wasn't practical. My mom actually told me there was still time to go to college while I was there. I decided then and there that pleasing them was not going to happen, so I left shortly after and came back to the apartment, and I don't think I'll be visiting again soon.

"Dammit guys, we only have a day left," West piped up from his corner of my room. We're all spread out in my room with acoustic guitars, playing all our songs and arguing about what song to play.

"We're well aware, West," Jamie griped from his chair. "What song would you like to play?"

West groaned, throwing himself on the floor. "Let's play Wasteland."

"We wrote that when we were like, 16!" I exclaimed. "We'll sound like a bunch of punk kids."

"Jess, we're only 18 as it is," Jamie informed me. I stuck my tongue out at him, because he was right and I didn't want to admit it. As dumb as it sounds, I feel older now that I'm 18 and technically an adult.

West gasped and jumped to his feet, dropping his guitar in the process. Jamie and I turn to look at him, utterly confused.

"Yes boy, what is it?" I asked him, cautiously.

"Let's write a kick ass song!" He shouts, throwing his fists up in the air.

"Mmm." Jamie murmured, rubbing his hands through his hair. "About what?"

"About being punk kids," West said. "Because in the end, that's what we really are anyway. A couple of punk kids who made a band and we kept it together this long... So let's pay homage to that."

I stared at West in shock. "West..." I breathed. "That's the best idea you've ever had."

"I agree," Jamie piped up, "but how are we supposed to write a song in..." he checked his phone, "less than 12 hours?"

"With a lot of faith and determination," I joked, but in all honesty I meant it. If we had to write a song, it had to be fast but we also had to put a lot into it to win this gig.

*******

"We were just some punk rock kids," I crooned, while strumming my guitar, "looking for a reason to live. Flyin' by the seat of our pants..."

"Jess I'm sorry but seat of our pants?" Jamie giggled. "That sounds dumb."

"I couldn't think of anything else!" I exclaimed, laughing.

"The rest was good though, sounds like a good chorus." West nodded in approval.

I sighed, looking at my phone. It had been 2 hours, and so far we had the beginning of a bridge and a chorus. I worried we weren't going to finish, and then we wouldn't have time to practice a song that we actually knew... Suddenly a knock on the door to our apartment brought me out of my train of thought.

"It's me!" Claire shouted. "I brought pizza and coffee!"

"What a wonderful combination," West joked, smirking. "I'm coming!" he shouted to Claire as he got up and started walking toward the door.

Jamie took off his guitar, stood up and flopped onto the bed next to me. I could tell he was exhausted, more exhausted than usual.

"Jamie, are you alright?" I asked, turning to face him.

He rolled over to look at me. "I'm fucking tired as hell, but other than that I'm fine," he told me smiling.

"Let me know if you ever need a break, alright?" I reached over and ran my fingers through his hair, and his eyes fluttered shut. There was nothing Jamie loved more than someone playing with his hair. I learned over the years that it was his weakness. I knew in a minute or two Jamie would be asleep, something he desperately needed. I kept stroking his hair for a bit until I heard a small snore escape from him. I smiled, happy he'd be well rested.

"What's going on in here?" I heard West ask behind me. I rolled over to see West and Claire in the doorway of my room holding pizza and four coffee's. I put a finger to my lips, gesturing to the sleeping Jamie. West rolled his eyes playfully, but I knew he understood Jamie was overworked. He was the most hardworking of the three of us, Claire being the only one who worked harder than him. But Claire hadn't been working on a song for a day, so she seemed awake. I motioned for the two of them to help me gather the instruments as I sat up from the bed. Claire set down the pizzas and West set the coffee down, and they each grabbed a guitar and the sheets of music we had been writing. I grabbed my guitar and let the two down to Jamie and West's room. Some people found it wrong that West, Jamie and I shared an apartment, but to me, they were family. So I didn't care what anyone else thought. I carefully set my guitar down on Jamie's bed as Claire and West followed suit.

"I'll go grab the pizzas" I told them and set off down the hall.

"I'll grab the coffee, Jess," I heard West say as he came walking out into the hallway. We brought it back to the room and began to feast, a couple hours of song writing does things to a person.

"Hey Claire, wanna help us write this damn song?" West joked, his mouth full of pizza.

Claire giggled, tapping him on the nose. "I wouldn't be much help. I failed my poetry unit basically ever year in school."

"Come on," I groaned, playfully. "There's gotta be a little musical genius somewhere in there Claire!"

Claire thought for a moment, chewing on her pizza. I saw the gears in her head turning and I knew she was onto something.

"Well..." she began.

"Yes?" West pressed, eager to know what she thought.

"You could use a whole, 'fuck the cool kids' kinda deal maybe. I mean, don't say fuck or anything but something that says you beat the kids who thought you'd never make it. You're successful in doing what you love." She smiled, proud of herself, and continued eating her pizza.

"Claire!" West yelled.

"Shhhh!" I shushed him.

"Shut up Jess, this is just the idea we needed to finish the song!" He jumped up, grabbed Claire's face in his hands, kissed her forehead, and grabbed his guitar on his bed to continue writing. Claire blushed a beautiful color of red, and I laughed as I went to grab my guitar to help.

AN // this chapter is shorter sorry! Also um these songs aren't even songs I just think up a couple cool lines and they go to a best I swear. But it wouldn't make sense for me to think up an entire song if you couldn't hear it in real life and understand it at all. Also I suck at songwriting. So hope you liked the chapter, hope the story isn't going too fast but honestly the drama comes later I promise. Thanks for reading xx