"Come one, come all, you're just in time
To witness my first breakdown
'Cause there's a mile gone for every minute passed
When I'm wasting space in this town
Don't call the doctors, I don't need no medication
I just need one more vacation and make it last"
☼ Summer's POV ☼
2 months earlier
I walked down that street of San Francisco, swinging from one side to the other to avoid the other humans who crowded the place.
They made me think about robots walking aimlessly, just because someone told them to. They were probably fretting to get to work on time. A work they probably didn't like, to have money they probably didn't need to buy things they probably couldn't afford. Isn't it bitterly amazing what people are willing to do in order to believe they are free? These people, they weren't free, to me. They were just running blind towards a standardised version of life pretending it was their choice, while in fact they were just powerless pawns in this sick game of chess that is society.
Most people may think I'm cynic for that, but if I had to label myself I'd say I'm a realist, this is just how it is for me, as simple as that.
Now I was finally running away from all this, from all the problems, from all the rules, from all the expectations and the disappointment that followed. I was 19, I had no relative to take care of me, I had the whole world ready to be discovered.
It's not that I lived a hell of a life until then. My childhood wasn't so bad after all, my parents loved me blindly and unconditionally, they gave me everything I asked for and this was their only fault. They believed they could buy my love and happiness, not even trying to really get to know their only daughter. They had been weak.
I was totally absorbed by a great All Time Low song when I bumped into someone, the collision almost making me trip. The tall figure catch me by my forearm just in time to stop my fall.
"What the hell?" I grunted.
"Didn't your parents tell you that crashing into people is not the right way to make new acquaintances?" The boy with ruffled hair and nerd glasses told me, wearing a wide smile on his dorkie face.
"Didn't your parents tell you that I don't give a fuck?" I said, half annoyed and half still processing what was happening.
He burst out laughing. "Ok you win. Listen, I'm sorry, really sorry. But let me make it up."
I stared at him, not knowing how to react to the fact that I had been a bitch and he was being nice nonetheless. "I have to go now." I started walking away but was stopped by his hand. He had pretty big hands for a boy so young.
I turned around and shot him a glare. "Leave.me.alone"
"Come with me tonight. I can tell you don't live here from your accent and the least I can do after running into you like a mad pony is to take you to the best party ever with the best people ever" He smiled so genuinely he looked like a child.
"Listen, I don't know you don't get it or maybe you're just used to always get what you want, but I said I have to go. I'm leaving this city tonight." That was so me. This was how I always did, tended to do everything my way, plus the fact that giving satisfaction to people made me itch.
"C'mon, it's not even 24 hours I'm asking for. Just one night and you won't see me ever again. I'm just offering you the opportunity to carry some good memories with you."
I knew I wanted to stay and enjoy my time and be there the next morning, to laugh at all the stupid things we would do. Pure fun was what I longed for after all and this guy was offering me the chance to do what I'm good at: feel.
"Has anybody ever told you you're extremely annoying?" I sighed. "This party better be good Harry Potter."
"Annoying is a compliment milady. I have been called obnoxious, petulant and other things that are inappropriate to repeat to a girl." He paused, smiling. Nothing seemed to spoil his smile. "Is this a yes then?"
"Tell me when and where and let me go before I change my mind."
"You don't need to know that, I'm taking you."
"Have I already told you you're extremely annoying?"
"Something like that" He giggled. "I'm Ashton by the way." He said, holding out his hand to me.
"Nice to meet you Ashtonbytheway. I'm your worst nightmare kid."
XXXX
"This is crazy! You could have told me this was a house party. Well played Harry Potter." I ruffled the curly mess Ashton had on his head.
We entered the huge manor and made our way into the hall. In the end Ashton had never left me alone. He had like kidnapped me for all the afternoon and had never quit talking. I learned that he worked in a video games store and that he had an insane obsession for bananas. He was not that bad after all, except for the banana thing, that was weird. We had the same musical taste and he also played drums.
After an xbox session while he was supposed to work, when we were both too tired to even get up from the floor, he told me basically everything about his life, things like how his parents where a pain in the ass and stressed him about everything. He wanted to leave his life in San Francisco. He wanted to play his drums all around the world. He wanted a fresh start, just like me.
"Who's this party of?"
"No idea. But I wanted to come."
"We're not supposed to be here?"
"Is it a problem?"
"No way. I have a natural inclination for doing what I shouldn't do in case you didn't notice. Actually, I intend to find the host and piss him off a bit."
"Whatever you want Sum 41, but first let me take you something to drink."
"I love the way you think Harry Potter, but don't you dare calling me that one more time or I'm tearing your face out." I said, faking an angel face. People giving me nicknames was something I couldn't stand, funny that I was the first giving people stupid nicks. Though I had to admit this was the best nickname someone had ever given me.
Ashton wasn't even a bit bothered by my harsh outcome. "Yeah sure. Be back in a minute, Sum 41." He said, drawing out the 's' with a grin on his face, before disappearing in the kitchen.
I sat on the couch and observed all the people drunkenly dancing and the couples making out in the corners. As I was observing this wonderful picture of American youth my eyes were caught by a boy with bright red hair dancing at some shitty music, he someway looked like a traffic light but he managed to be hot at the same time. He must have noticed as he started giving me quick glimpses, smirking every now and then. I stood up but in that exact moment Ashton came back with two blue cups.
"Here, and don't ask me what it is because I won't be able to give you an answer."
"Who's that?" I asked him, nodding towards the direction of the mysterious guy as I took a sip of my drink.
"He's not me, hence he sucks." He said, nudging my shoulder.
"What a sassy bitch you are. I'm finally starting to like you." I sat on the large marble stairs, Ashton following. I still hadn't told him about my plans and the fact I thought he could be a great travel mate. I wanted to take a road trip through California on my van, that was something I had always wanted to do and now I was finally chasing my dream. Now that I had nothing to lose, now that I was a grown up girl - or so I liked to think - now that I had someone that could share the joys of escaping.
"What are you thinking about?" He noticed my silence. Nothing could get past him. Ashton had this special gift of a remarkable empathy.
"Nothing. Just that this drink sucks." I lightly punched him in the shoulder.
"Hey, no need to be a hater." He said unsuccessfully trying to act offended.
"Not all the things you do with love come out good my dear." I said that so light-heartedly but on second thought it was something I had seen many times in my life. "But you could always join me on my trip and I'll teach you how to make a good drink along the way."
"Are you drunk? What are you talking about?" He looked at me with a confused yet amused expression.
"I trusted you today, now it's your turn to trust me. Just take some clothes, some bananas even, seen you apparently can't live without them. Tomorrow morning. I'll meet you near the game shop you work in. I know you need to take a vacation from people's bullshit"
He thought for a moment and smiled, turning to me.
"Be there at 8" I said, knowing it was a yes.
"It's totally crazy. But, let's do this Sum 41."
XXXX
"Truth or dare?" It was like 4 in the morning, we were all pretty high and we ended up playing middle school games.
Now it was the turn of a tall blonde guy that I had found out to be the host of the party. He was the son of some CEO, a big deal in wine industry. He was a mama's boy who threw a party whenever his parents were out out town because he didn't want them to know and be disappointed in him. I think life can be extremely difficult when people have too many expectations on you.
For some unknown reason boys always choose dare. "I dare you to spend twenty minutes in the closet with one of the girls." A guy told him. "Let this bottle choose, where the bottleneck stops, that will be your closet date."
The boys left the circle of people and made the bottle spin. It seemed to me it could go round and round for all the time in the world and I was so hypnotized that I didn't realize it had stopped right in front of me.
"Whoa!" The dull boy spoke again "And Lukey goes with..?" He addressed me, waiting for me to say my name. Of course they didn't know me, I had sneaked to the party uninvited.
"It's Sum 41" Ashton spoke for me. I mouthed him a "fuck you" and stood up as the blonde boy did. His face was so red it seemed like he was choking or missing air. He forced a smile and I obliged myself to smile back. He looked so scared and uneasy I didn't even know how he could be the host of a party this crazy.
We made our way to the closet, he opened the door and invited me to enter.
"So.." He spoke, he was so embarassingly shy. I almost felt the need to protect him, I almost felt like being nice and ask him if something was wrong and things like that, but this wasn't me, I wasn't this way. Besides I hardly even knew him and there was no reason I should treat him differently.
"So we need to pretend we're actually doing stuff in here, it's what they want. Let's play along."
"We have 1200 seconds to spend in here, what are we supposed to do?" He told me, his eyes begging me to find a solution, or at least it's what I could see in the dim light.
"Woah Einstein, you maths monster, we can do whatever we want to, let's... let's just do something funny, I didn't come here tonight to get bored."
"Uhm... ok. Well maybe we could..." He started rummaging through the shelves. "This." He said, taking a small box off a shelf and opening it.
"Are you serious? Pokémon cards?" I was incredulous, and a bit amused.
"What's wrong with that? It's better than awkwardly doing nothing. If you like, that is." He said so innocently.
"Really manly of you." I chuckled. I didn't really despise his choice, it was the first time a boy wasn't trying to sneak in my pants just because I had a pretty face. "Let's see if you can win this at least, but I'm gonna kick your ass dude."
"Oh, very womanly of you madame." He mid-coughed, he was so awkward.
We played and I actually enjoyed it. Lark - or whatever name he had - was quiet, and his calm made me feel calm too. I won, or he let me won, I guess.
"Our time is over, let's get back victorious." I said as he stood up, offering me his hand to get me off the floor.
"Can I kiss you?" His jaw almost dropped. "I mean on your cheek. They need proof, don't even think about a real kiss."
"Oh, yeah, of course you meant that, I understood." He said, nervously scraping the back of his neck.
"Yeah, of course." I smirked. I got on the tip of my toes, he was way taller than I expected. I left a lipstick stain on his cheek and smeared it on his jaw. I unbuttoned the neck of his flannel and ruffled his hair a bit. "This will do." I said, stepping back to admire my creation. He stood still by the wall. "What do you think?" I motioned him towards a small dusty mirror.
He looked at his figure and back at me "I think it's a work of art." He slightly smiled. "Thanks for playing along to this stupid dare."
"No need to thank me. When I have a mission, I aspire to perfection."
"I'm Luke."
"And I'm Summer. Oh, and I sneaked to your party, just so you know. Now, talking about missions, I have one for you."
"Wh-what?"
"Just say yes."
"Tell me what it is first." He said nervously biting his bottom lip.
"I'm leaving tomorrow, I want to get away from this dead place, and I'd really like you to join." I knew he needed this, the boy had to learn how to live. Being a rich kid must be boring, he needed to be freed.
He stayed silent for what felt like forever. "What if I say yes? Is this gonna be dangerous?"
"I don't know, but you have to take risks sometimes."
He started tapping his foot on the floor and scraping his cheek. "Fine." He finally sighed.
"Is this a yes then?" He simply nodded.
"Great, pick you up tomorrow morning at 7."
He sighed again as he turned the knob to leave the closet. "My mom's gonna kill me for that."
XXXX
I was chilling alone on the couch when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
We had come back to the living room and every guy surrounded Luke to ask him how it was, except for Ashton, who had given me a questioning look and I had told him everything. He had really liked the Pokémon solution me and Luke had found, and he had decided Luke was a good boy since then. It was great as the three of us were gonna leave soon and have an adventure together.
I turned around and found myself in front of the red haired boy I'd seen before.
"Hi." He said.
"Hey." I smiled.
"Are you new in town? Because I've never seen you and like, how could I not notice a girl like you?"
"Oh." I smirked. "And yeah I'm new, not for long actually."
"What do you mean? And what's your name princess?" He wore his most beautiful smile. He was being so sappy but I found him sweet, maybe I was too drunk to think straight but I felt the desire to never stop talking to him.
"I'm gonna leave this place tomorrow morning." I told him. "And my name surely isn't princess, I'm Summer."
"That's a cute name princess. And I'm Michael." He said, plopping on the couch, next to me.
"I'm not cute." I said, grimacing. "Puppies are cute. And you don't look like a Michael." He didn't look like a Michael, he looked more like a Daniel or something, I didn't even know why I was caught up in such thoughts.
He chuckled. "Then what do I look like?"
"I think you look like an anime character. Like, your hair are so bright." You know when you lose any filter between your brain and your mouth. That what was happening to me. That was the sign I was definitely a little too wasted.
"Well, I can't deny you're not the first that's telling me that, but you're definitely the prettiest." He said smirking. He was a charmer, and for a while I forgot I didn't particularly appreciate manipulative people, especially guys. I was soon caught in his trap. I have to blame his eyes for that, they were so deep they seemed they could see right through me.
We talked about our life, well actually he told me about his, I never tell people a lot about me, he only figured out I was a free spirit who wanted to travel the world.
"Now, princess, I have to ask you two things." He said. We'd been sitting on that couch for a while now, laughing and talking and laughing again. Michael had this sort of positive halo which made everyone happy and energetic.
"Go on" I said.
"First, who's the guy you came at this party with? Second depends on first." He said, approaching me even more and wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
"Oh you talk about Harr... I mean, Ashton." I didn't tell him anything more, I knew where he was trying to get.
"And is he like Ashton your brother, Ashton your friend, Ashton your gay friend maybe?" He said, wearing his signature smile again "Ashton your boyfriend?" He muttered under his voice, but I could still hear that.
I chuckled a bit as I thought about Ashton as my boyfriend, that was never gonna happen, I preferred the gay friend label, even if he surely wasn't gay. "Uhm, more like just Ashton the guy I met a few hours ago."
He widened his eyes "Oh, I see" He smiled, more to himself than to me. His facial features relaxed and brightened. "I think it's great because here comes the second thing I wanted to ask you." He paused, like to increase the solemnity of the moment. "I've been watching you since you walked in tonight, you have such pretty eyes and hair, and lips and I might be a bit stoned right now but whatever." He started to look at my lips, biting his own. "So, can you please stop making me act like a crazy kid and kiss me, right now, right here?"
I can't really say he took me by surprise because deep inside of me I knew he wanted that, of course he wanted that, but that's what I was longing for as well. "No way, mr. Kawaii. This is not happening, I'm not in the position to accept a kiss from a stranger." I decided to play with him.
"Well." He said, leaning in to look closer at me . "Let's get to know each other better first, then." And without saying anything more he pressed his lips against mine and in a moment that became a proper make out session, and it felt great.
"You know you're coming with me tomorrow right?" I said as I pulled out of the kiss to take some air.
"I was actually hoping for tonight, but tomorrow will do." He grinned, reattaching his lips to mine.
And here we go again. That's gonna be a great adventure.
XXXX
Hey cuties, I finally updated the first chapter!! I wanted to say sorry for making you wait for so long but I started uni and moved to Milan and like activated my wifi only two days ago.
What do you think about this? (I know there's no Calpal in here, but don't worry, he's gonna pop out in their life soon)
What do you think will happen? What couple do you ship? Sashton, Lammy or Mammy (I know they sound weird but hey tell me if you have better ship names).
Also, it's unedited so I apologize for typos and mistakes.
Lub choo huns, Xx Marion