BLOOM • awsten knight

40

JUNE 2018

"Aws, hey," Jawn continues attempting to grab his attention, being unsuccessful so far.

Awsten has his head buried in his phone, a concentrated frown on his face, with his guitar laying in his lap.

He's sat cross legged in the middle of their rehearsal space, at his parents' house, as they prepare for Warped Tour; he'd sat down while Geoff tuned his guitar, and somehow slipped away, getting caught up in his own thoughts.

"Oh my god," Jawn mumbles, quietly, shaking his head at how far away he seems. "Awsten," he waves his hand in front of his face.

"Huh? What?" Awsten finally seems to rejoin the present, and swats Jawn's hand away. "What do you want?" He asks, looking up from his phone.

"Are you just texting Elle?" He raises an eyebrow.

"What? No," Awsten shakes his head, closing his notes app and standing up.

"Then wha-"

"Hey, can we take a quick break?" He ignores Jawn, speaking to the rest of the room, earning a couple nods.

Awsten slips away, heading up to his room quickly; Jawn follows fairly closely behind him.

He watches him from the doorway for a moment, as Awsten opens his computer and turns his keyboard on.

Humming quietly, he retypes what he'd previously written on his phone into his laptop.

"What're you working on?" Jawn finally speaks up.

"Obsessive love song number two," Awsten mutters, his not looking up from his computer. He shifts his keyboard, beginning to play something that isn't recognisable to Jawn.

"That sounds," he pauses, trying to find the right word, "shiny."

Awsten nods, "feels shiny," he shrugs. "Like glitter."

Glitter rings a bell for Jawn, and he seems to put two and two together pretty quickly.

"Are you writing about Elle?" He questions, honestly, wandering closer to sneak a look at the lyrics.

"No," Awsten shuts his laptop abruptly.

"No, as in its not about Elle? Or, no, as in you don't want me to see it yet," Jawn raises his eyebrows.

"No, as in I don't want you to see it yet," Awsten stands up from his seat, grabbing his guitar, ready to head back downstairs. "S'not done."

Jawn nods slowly, looking skeptical as Awsten moves towards the door. "Wait," he stops him. "There's something you're not telling me."

"Don't know what you mean," Awsten shrugs, avoiding eye contact.

"You won't look at me," Jawn observes. "Spill it, Awsten."

He tries to keep his mouth shut, he really does, but there's too much of Awsten that wants to shout it from the rooftops.

"I kissed Elle," he blurts, before letting out a long breath. "Fuck, I can't believe I've managed to keep it quiet for more than five fucking minutes," Awsten finally turns around, to see Jawn's jaw dropped.