I opened Michael's car door and was immediately engulfed in a Yellowcard song I recognized. And not only recognized but listened to on repeat and dubbed it a favorite. My face perked up, "I know this one!" I said before any kind of "hello".

Michael smiled. "Good, we're working on a cover of this song."

I made a subtle excited squeal and he laughed at me. I leaned back in the seat and I started to mindlessly sing along to the song. Michael turned the volume down, and I quickly shut my mouth. "Can you sing, Princess?"

I shook my head. "I can do a lot of things; chemistry, lacrosse, French, calculus... But I can't sing."

"That's not true, the first rehearsal I brought you to, you and I sang Blink together."

"You sang. I yelled in rhythm."

"I don't believe you." I curled my lip up; I liked to sing, I just wished I was good at it. He skipped to another song. "Sing for me."

The haunting guitar melody of "Remembering Sunday" started playing. I knew all the words, I knew exactly how it went. "I've never sung in front of anyone before."

The first verse began. "There's no time like right now Princess."

I bit my lip and looked down at my lap. I felt his eyes looking at me and not at the road a head of us. "Just please don't look at me." He rolled his eyes and looked straight forward. I sighed and waited for the chorus to come in:

"Forgive me I'm trying to find
My calling, I'm calling at night
I don't mean to be a bother, but have you seen this girl?
She's been running through my dreams
And it's driving me crazy it seems
I'm gonna ask her to marry me..."

My voice was soft and quiet and did not sound good to me in my own ears. I knew that I did not hit that high note in the middle of the chorus and most likely butchered the rest from that point on. For a second I wasn't sure if he heard me over the song. He kept his gaze on the road. And he stayed quiet, which let my brain wander off into—

"God dammit, you're good at everything," He said, a smiling curling across his lips.

"What?" I said, shocked.

"It's so nice. It's soft but also has a raspy-sound to it somehow." I smiled back at him. "It's another thing to like about you."

"Stop," I said, flustered. "You're just saying that because I'm right here." One of my nails was completely chipped away of nail polish now. "Don't lie to me to make me feel better."

"Princess, I'd never do that to you." He pulled up to Ashton's place. "No one likes the sound of their own voice." He shut his car off. "Except for me, I have a beautiful voice."

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of his car. He grabbed his guitar from the backseat. I took the lead up to Ashton's apartment and opened the door myself. The two of us were warmly welcomed by the guys and Holly. Michael went to set up his amp and tune his guitar. Holly sat at the counter with her computer and camera in front of her, patting the barstool next to her.

I sat down on the stool and looked at the laptop screen in front of her. "We have a lot of work to do tonight Ally."

"You guys have a lot of work to do?" Luke said from across the room, "We need to perfect a setlist filled with every song we know for Friday night."

"We need to make sure people actually come Friday night," Holly said right back.

Luke stuck his middle finger out to us, and Holly gave him hers right back. The guys began rehearsing the song that I first heard earlier through Michael's speakers with Luke singing, "Bottoms up tonight, I drink to you and I..."

8 Sessions /michael au/Where stories live. Discover now