"And I never

Saw you coming

And I'll never

Be the same"

✰

Arlo winces as a harsh note pierces the air. So far, she'd done a pretty admirable job of keeping her face neutral, but she simply couldn't anymore.

The man standing on a makeshift stage in the center of Calum's basement seemed nice, he really did. But, he was also awful at singing and if Arlo was being honest with herself she really was starting to get a headache.

They'd been at this for close to three hours now- audition after terrible audition and the very last candidate is proving to be just as horrible as the last twenty, meaning all of their suffering had been for nothing.

Although, secretly Arlo was glad none of the auditions were going well. She felt kind of terrible for thinking it, but if none of the auditions passed the boys test that would mean Luke would be singing with the band.

And if Luke sang with the band not only would she see him every day, but she would get to hear him sing. If she was lucky, she might even convince him to write a few songs too. She wasn't too sure what all he wrote in that notebook of his, but she had a feeling it would help them.

"Alright." Calum says, not even trying to keep the annoyance out of his tone as he stops the music playing from the speaker. "You can go now, sorry man."

Arlo fights the urge to frown at the lanky brunette as he clambers off of the platform, a disappointed look on his face. As he walks past her towards the door, she shoots him a smile. "Uh... good try!"

The brunette boy pauses, looking down at the small girl curled up on the couch. "Thanks." He scoffs before bounding up the stairs, showing himself out of Calum's house with what little dignity he had left.

"That was horrible." Michael groans "Three hours and twenty-one contestants and still, nothing!" He stands up from the couch, stretching his arms above his head before heading toward the stairs. "I'm going to check for any stragglers and make sure no butt hurt pricks are defacing your house, Cal."

Calum merely shrugs before making his way to the small mini-fridge in the corner. "The party is still happening. We'll figure it out." He declares stubbornly.

"Mate, Friday is three days away." Ashton points out with a tired exhale, dragging his hands down his face. "Maybe we should start practicing having you and Mike switch off on the singing parts."

"That would work." Arlo points out gently. Really, the girl didn't know a single thing about music besides that she quite enjoyed a good heartbreak ballad, but she was willing to offer as much support as she could.

Michael bounds back down the stairs, feeling pretty damn responsible for locking the front door when Calum had obviously already forgotten. "What about me?" He asks, plopping down on the couch beside Arlo. He shoots the girl a smile, which she happily returns.

Calum huffs in frustration. "Ashton thinks we should give up on trying to find a lead singer and just start practicing with the three of us."

Michael shrugs, having no particular bias towards either scenario. Lead singer or not, he just wanted to play a sick-ass guitar riff in front of a real crowd instead of just his mom. "Are we going to start practicing now?"

Arlo really wanted to jump in with the fact that they still had one option left. Calum was Luke's best friend from what she understood. He had to know that Luke could sing, right? But, she keeps her mouth shut in fear of what questions her input might bring.

"We have one last option." Calum declares, standing up and puffing his chest out proudly. There's an uncapped water bottle in one of his hands and a video game controller in the other. "Arlo, can you sing?

Ashton instantly perks up at this, his eyes wide. "A girl lead singer! That would be totally sick."

Michael nods furiously, grinning with his teeth peeking out through his pink lips. "Like Paramore!"

Arlo, on the other hand, sits stunned. Her lips part and she remains speechless with the three boys staring at her with so much hope in their eyes that guilt blooms in her chest for what she's about to say. That was not the last resort she'd hoped Calum was referring to.

"Guys, I can't sing." Arlo says with a wince. "Not even a little." The boys all groan in sync, only working to intensify the guilt brewing in her stomach. "But I do have an idea!" She defends hastily.

Calum takes a swig of his water, quirking up a brow. "What? 'You have a musically inclined cousin or something?"

Ashton crosses his arms over his chest defensively. "I thought I knew all of your family? You only have girl cousins."

Michael only grins from his spot on the couch next to her, enjoying the way the girl's eyes frantically dart between the two boys as if she doesn't know what to do. Arlo looked kind of like she was going to malfunction with the way her lips keep parting and closing, unable to form words as an onslaught of questions are thrown her way.

"I don't have any boy cousins." She turns to Ashton first. "And speaking of you and my family, my mother says hello." Arlo takes a deep breath, her chest expanding with the movement. "And I was going to suggest asking Luke to be the lead singer."

The entire room goes dead silent.

Even the sound of Calum gulping down his water ceases as every eye in the room turns to face her. Arlo's throat becomes tight with nerves as the three boys all look at her accusingly, as if what she'd said was the most outrageous thing in the world.

"Luke Hemmings?" Michael scoffs, causing Arlo's heart to drop. His tone is far less than pleased.

She fiddles with her fingers nervously, averting her eyes to the faded couch cushion she sits on. "Uh... yeah. He's really nice." The words tumble nervously from her lips.

"How did you meet him?" Ashton asks. His tone was closed off and she couldn't quite tell if he was angry or disappointed or clueless- maybe even all three.

Ashton Irwin had heard of Luke Hemmings. They went to the same school for a while before Luke left. He didn't know if he was homeschooled or if he dropped out, but Ashton had a feeling it was the latter.

Luke was quiet, but he also had a certain reputation. Luke was a womanizer of sorts. Despite only being sixteen or so at the time, Luke Hemmings was infamous for the number of girls he would hook up with, only to never speak to them again. He never allowed himself to be with the same girl more than once and he certainly didn't do relationships.

Ashton had always sort of been envious of the way Luke could effortlessly get girls to fall at his feet. Luke didn't even need to speak. The few times Ashton had shared a class with Luke, the blonde boy sat in the back of the class with his head resting on his desk. When people approached him- especially girls- he wouldn't even spare them a response.

Yet, when the weekend came and it was time to party, Luke was always there with a girl attached to his neck.

It took a few years for Ashton to grow into his own skin, but by the time Luke had left school, Ashton became exactly the same as the boy who he was envious of. He had no room to judge, really, he didn't because he was the same, but the thought of Luke and Arlo made him upset.

Maybe, it was a case of lingering jealousy, but Ashton hated the idea of Luke joining the band. Even if he had the same habits as the boy, that's what made him so certain of his feelings. Ashton knew exactly how Luke's brain worked and he knew that type of mindset is what would get Arlo shattered.

Arlo struggles to meet Ashton's eyes, her fingertips tracing a pattern on the couch as a way to occupy her mind from the unwanted attention she'd suddenly had thrown onto her. "Calum introduced me to his bookstore. I go sometimes and we... we talk."

To Arlo, what she and Luke did was much more than simply talking. She wasn't too sure if Luke felt the same way, but Arlo considered her conversations with Luke to be meaningful. She had opened up to him in a way. She'd offered him a glance inside her thoughts that no one before him had the privilege of seeing.

Luke felt the same way as she did. The way her mind worked was his favorite thing about her- not that he could really choose just one, for there were so many things about Arlo Abbott to like.

He envied how vulnerable she was. Luke, himself, could never quite find the strength to be as daringly open as she was. Maybe, she would be the one to help him break down those walls finally. Maybe.

"You guys talk?" Calum asks in confusion.

To his knowledge, Arlo had only been to the bookstore once. In fact, Calum was on the verge of begging at her feet for her to go back and buy another book just so Luke could have a customer. Hell, after the conclusion of this band meeting he was planning on slapping a twenty-dollar bill in her hand and telling her to pick him up a book.

More importantly, how the hell did she know Luke sang? Calum was Luke's best friend, of course, he knew of the boy's talent. But, Luke was always so unwilling to share it with the world, no matter how many times Calum told him how amazing he was. He'd been asking Luke to form a band with him for years now.

If Calum thought there was even a slight chance that Luke would agree to sing, he would have asked a long, long time ago.

"We do." Arlo nods. "He's really nice and he's a fan of literature too, so I'm able to talk to him about that kind of thing." She really hoped they wouldn't ask more of what she and Luke talked about. The words they spoke were meaningful to her and she planned to keep them a secret in the most special places of her memories.

"That's amazing!" Calum exclaims, his entire face lighting up. Water from his uncapped bottle sloshes over the sides, splashing to the basement floor as he waves his arms excitably. "I knew you would love that store, I just didn't know you would hit it off with Luke too!

"Woah, Luke has a bookstore?" Ashton jumps in, his fingertips pressing to his temple in confusion. "Is that where you've been disappearing too?"

"I thought Luke had a girlfriend?" Michael adds bitterly, his body going rigid from where he sits only a foot or so away from Arlo on the couch.

"I'm a genius. Luke has been less grumpy lately and now I know why." Calum shakes his head in disbelief, a sly grin on his face.

Arlo's head is spinning more and more with every question thrown her way. Her eyes struggle to find something to focus on and combined with the guilt in her stomach, she kind of wants to run back across the street to her comfy, very quiet room.

More than anything, She couldn't quite get over Michael's words. Did Luke have a girlfriend? Selfishly, she hoped that wasn't true. But, that would explain why his body had gone rigid in her hold when she hugged him at the park only a few days before.

Although, since that day in the park earlier in the week, Luke had been texting her nonstop. He seemed to text her about everything. From the new shipments of books as they arrived to what he was eating for lunch. He'd even sent her pictures of tattered-paged books with his favorite poems bookmarked.

Certainly, someone with a girlfriend wouldn't do that.

Unless, maybe he only saw them as friends?

Luckily, she's saved from the anxiety swirling around her mind as Calum lets out a scoff. "Luke doesn't do relationships, Mikey. He definitely doesn't have a girlfriend."

"But, I saw him with someone in the park the other day." Michael furrows his brows. "I went to scope out the venue the other day and I saw him with his arms around some girl."

All at once, it seems as if Michael's words cause something to simultaneously click in the three boy's heads. In a split second, every single person in the room is on the couch as Calum hops over the armrest, landing in the seat next to Michael and Ashton clambers over top of him.

"Spill."

Arlo's cheeks are so red that she could walk into an emergency room and immediately be diagnosed with a fever as all three boys narrow their eyes accusingly at her. She was torn. She wanted to keep her and Luke's moment just to herself, for it was far special than even the boy himself knew, but she didn't want to lie to her newfound friends either.

"We got ice cream and checked out the venue that's all." Arlo begins, her palms pressing to her cheeks as she wills her blush to dissipate. "When I go to the bookstore he gives me advice on manager things. I told you guys I didn't know anything about managing a band, so he helps me."

"That sneaky little prick." Calum laughs, a smirk tugging at his lips. Luke wouldn't go out of his way for anybody, much less some girl. He knew his best friend well enough to know that Arlo had definitely weaseled her way into his heart.

"Luke Hemmings is helping you?" Michael asks in disbelief. From what he knew, Luke was the opposite of willingly helpful. He doubted someone who fucked other people's girlfriends was capable of niceties and favors.

"Yeah." Arlo nods, more confidently now. "He really is."

For some reason, when she heard one of the boys speak in a disgusted tone towards Luke, it made her upset. He wasn't there to defend himself after all, and she certainly wasn't going to let them talk ill of him when he'd helped her so much.

"Well, then let's call him." Ashton shrugs, surprising the room.

He'd known Arlo for years now and if she thought Luke was a good person, he believed her. Besides, Ashton had formulated his entire opinion of Luke off of rumors and the few times he saw him hooking up with a girl. Maybe, he was different.

Luke wasn't different. He hooked up with a concerning amount of girls, only to never talk to them. He treated people like shit and didn't give a fuck about anyone but himself. He was a womanizer, that was true.

But, when it came to Arlo. He was none of those things.

Calum grins, his brown eyes lighting up with excitement. "The band is in business, baby!"

✰

Luke Hemmings hated a lot of things.

He hated dragging himself out of bed in the morning, he hated bananas- he'd thrown one up once after a night out and couldn't get the memory out of his head- he hated science class and more than anything he found that he really fucking hated string lights.

"What the hell am I doing?" He whispers under his breath, using the back of his hand to wipe away the slight perspiration that was forming on his forehead.

Luke stands on a rickety ladder, a thumbtack between his teeth and several yards of string lights wrapped around his body. The number of curses that had left his lips in the past hour or so was enough to get him damned to hell for sure- as if he wasn't already going.

He had been angry the whole day. Why? Because Luke Hemmings had woken up that morning with the sudden urge to make the bookstore feel homier.

Luke had stumbled out of the storage closet that served as his bedroom intent on making his morning coffee. He did so and sat down behind the register, scribbling in his notebook as he usually did in the morning.

But then he began to look around the shop. The walls were plain white and the only sort of decoration that could be seen in the room was the bookshelves themselves and the beanbags. It was plain and boring.

And well, if Arlo was really going to be spending more time at his bookstore like she said she would, Luke wanted to make her want to stay.

So, he hangs string lights from the ceiling. On a limited budget and minimal to no knowledge in interior design, there wasn't much else he could do. But, he did dust off the bookshelves, straighten up the bean bags, and add a few lamps.

As Luke finishes hanging the last of the string lights, his phone begins ringing from its place on the counter. The device vibrates against the wood, able to be heard even over the rock music Luke had playing through the shop.

As quickly as he can without falling, Luke scrambles down from the ladder. He hastily picks up his phone from the counter, turning over the screen to find her name displayed.

He answers instantly.

"Arlo?" She'd never called before, only texted. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no." Her soft voice floats through the speaker. "Nothing's wrong, I was just wondering if you remembered the other day in the park."

Luke furrows his brows. How could he not remember? When he felt as though his chest would burst with contentment and she had wrapped her arms around him.

"Of course I remember." Luke says simply.

"Well uh... about that."

Luke frowned. She sounded nervous, her voice wavering slightly. As much as Luke enjoyed when he made her nervous, he never wanted her to be hesitant in telling him things.

"What is it, Lo?" He threw in the nickname in hopes of calming her down- and maybe he really fucking liked how it felt coming from his lips. "What's up? You can tell me."

"It's nothing bad!" She reassures. "It's just that the auditions didn't work out and I was hoping maybe you still wanted to sing with the band."

Luke's silent for a moment, shock rendering him speechless. Fuck, was he actually going to do this?

"What time should I be there?"