The first thing I saw when I reentered the studio was Sasha, and my already bad mood deteriorated even more. Fran had warned me that she was going to be here but it still pissed me off. What was even worse was that she was talking to Luke again.

For fuck's sake.

Be the bigger man, Noelle.

There was more of a busy atmosphere today compared to yesterday. No one was sitting and lazing around. Calum was strumming his bass guitar with Fran watching carefully, while Ashton was tapping a light beat on the drums. John and Kate were wandering around, making sure everyone was doing something. They needn't have bothered checking. It seemed that everyone was wanting to distract themselves from everything that was going on by throwing themselves into music. My eyes went to Michael. I had a feeling things were going to be awkward between us, and that upset me. My friendship with Michael had always been really important to me, but now that was sort of ruined. But then I decided to myself that no, our friendship would not be ruined. So I walked over to Michael, sitting next to him and saying, "Hey."

He glanced over at me, a seemingly indifferent expression on his face. "If you're sitting with me to try and make Luke jealous, don't bother."

I stare at him, a feeling of hurt growing. "Michael – what? I'm not that kind of person. Please tell me you know that."

He shrugs and looks slightly guilty. "I – sorry. No, you're not. I'm just... annoyed. At myself, really."

I nudged him with my shoulder. "You shouldn't be."

"Still am," he muttered. "I really didn't mean for this to happen, I swear."

I laughed slightly. "I get it. You can't help some things."

"Wish I could. That way, life would be a hell of a lot easier." He sighed.

I nodded slightly and then looked around me, purposefully not looking at Luke and Sasha, however I could see out of the corner of my eye that they were laughing together. My stomach dropped slightly but I tried to ignore them. I grabbed a guitar and shoved it into Michael's arms. "Here, let's not talk about that. Let's distract ourselves and write a song."

Michael dipped his head towards another guitar. "Only if you do it, too."

I grimaced but grasped the guitar, looking expectantly at Michael. "Okay, go."

He looked confused. "Go what?"

"Play something," I ordered.

"Why? It was your idea."

"Yeah, but I meant for you to do the singing and shit," I said laughingly. "I didn't mean I was going to play."

"Tough. You have to." Michael waited, and I gave him a look.

"I can't just play something out of thin air," I said in exasperation.

Michael chuckled. "You think I can?"

"I don't know, you're the one in a band here," I stated, grinning.

He raised an eyebrow. "Noelle, are you saying you want to be part of the band?"

I laughed. "Michael, that is exactly what I'm saying, and I'm surprised it took you this long to catch on. I think I'd be a real improvement."

"Noelle, anyone would be an improvement. Our band sucks."

I lightly slapped him. "Why do you hate your band so much? You don't suck. But can you imagine? '5 Seconds of Summer – plus Noelle'. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Definitely," Michael said dryly. "You could play the triangle."

I snickered. "I'll have you know that I was once really good at the triangle. I played it in a concert once when I was seven. I'm pretty sure the standing ovation was for just me. Everyone else was awful."

We both laughed and I was happy that maybe our friendship would be okay. We could just carry on like we used to, and everything would be fine.

My eyes drifted to Luke. Hopefully. When I saw that he was now teaching Sasha how to play the guitar, I had to clench my jaw to keep myself from throwing the worst possible insult I could think of at her. Was she serious? And why was Luke doing this? They were standing far too close for my liking, and amidst my anger, there was a sliver of hurt.

"So you coming to the party on Saturday?" Michael's voice interrupted me from my jealous trance, and I turned to him, confused.

"What party?"

"The – oh. You weren't here. Well, Capitol Records are throwing a party this Saturday, and their parties are usually crazy," he told me, excitement in his voice.

"Oh. Um..." I thought to myself for a second. On one hand, parties are always fun, and I'd never been to a Capitol Records one. On the other hand, I wasn't sure if I was really in the mood for a party.

"Come on, you have to come," he insisted. "You're allowed to bring friends."

I glanced at him at that. If I told Jess and George they could come to a party with 5 Seconds of Summer, they would probably faint, but would absolutely want to come. A smile started to spread across my face. "Okay, yeah, I'll come. I've got a couple of friends who want to meet you."

"Me in particular?" Michael teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Exactly. They don't give a shit about the others, they only want to meet you."

"Thought so," he said in a self-satisfied sort of way. "Bring them. Think it probably starts at around nine and carries on way into the early hours of the morning. Open bar, too."

"Sounds like one hell of a party," I agreed. I suddenly gasped. "Will there be more famous people there?"

"What, are we not good enough for you?" Michael said, pretending to feel insulted. "I'm seriously offended, Noelle."

I laughed. "Come on, just tell me."

He gave me a mysterious look. "Guess you'll just have to wait and see."

I elbowed him lightly. "So secretive. But fine." My eyes flitted to Luke again, my smile fading. Michael followed my gaze, but then looked back at me.

"Noelle, you know that Luke doesn't actually like that Sasha person, right?" He put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "He's just doing it to make you jealous."

"I know," I muttered. Doesn't make it hurt any less. I had to remind myself that it wasn't like Luke and I had broken up, or anything.

Not that you were ever really together.

I pushed the snide voice out of my head and glanced down at the guitar I was holding. I needed to focus on something else. I slowly put my fingers on the strings to make a chord and I absent-mindedly picked the strings at random, just trying to create something. Michael took the hint that I didn't want to talk about Luke anymore, and he watched what I was doing before joining in. Slowly, our random strumming turned into a gentle, smooth sequence, and I began to hum along a tune. Michael liked it and recorded it on his phone, much to my disgruntlement, but I let him. When he played it back to me, I had to admit it all went well together. I was definitely getting better at this whole songwriting thing.

During the rest of the day, I could see John and Kate glancing between Luke, Sasha, Michael and I, curious and slightly concerned expressions on their face. I wasn't sure how much they knew of the story, but they could tell something was up, especially since Luke and I were pretty much ignoring each other. At one point, I saw Ashton standing with Luke, arms crossed, and whatever they were talking about, it looked pretty serious.

The day finally came to an end, and although I'd enjoyed my time with Michael, I'd found it extremely difficult to be around Luke. I felt almost drained – just seeing Luke with Sasha the whole time had caused so much bitterness in me that my energy store was just completely depleted. So when Fran offered to clear up, I smiled at her gratefully and took the opportunity to slip out unnoticed.

Or so I thought.

Just as I was stepping in the elevator, I heard an Australian voice call my name. And it wasn't Michael. I ignored it and pressed the button to close the doors. I could see him, walking quickly towards me, but I knew he wasn't going to make it. The doors shut just as he reached me, and the last thing I saw was those blue eyes, watching me, and then he was gone.

***

When I told Jess and George about the party, their reactions were as expected. Jess's mouth dropped open and she immediately began looking through her clothes to find the perfect dress. George let out a high-pitched shriek of excitement and threw his arms around me, practically suffocating me. Then he jumped up and down on the spot, saying slightly hysterically, "Oh my god, oh my god, I'm going to meet 5 Seconds of Summer, oh my fuck, will there be other famous people there? I'm going to meet famous people! What do I say? How do I act? Holy shit this is the best thing that's ever–"

"George!" I interrupted, holding back a laugh. "I swear to god, if you embarrass me..."

He put his hands on his hips in an indignant way. "Why would I embarrass you?"

Jess and I both just looked at him, and then we burst out laughing. George tried to look annoyed, but eventually he joined in.

"Okay, fine, I'll try my best. I can't promise anything." He clapped his hands together. "Right. Jess, you wear that lacy blue dress of yours, and Noelle... the red one. You know which one I'm talking about."

A sly smile crept onto my face. I knew the one. I'd never actually worn it before, but I'd tried it on many times and always said to myself that I would save it for a special occasion.

This definitely counted as a special occasion, and I knew it would turn heads. Especially Luke's. Hopefully.

The night of the party, I took George's advice and slipped into the dress. It was made out of a satiny material and it wrapped around my body in the most flattering way. The neckline was low enough that I would usually feel the smallest bit self-conscious, but I didn't feel that way tonight. Instead I felt sexy, and although I was hoping this dress would make Luke suffer a bit, I was also wearing it for me. I looked good and I felt good, and that mattered. I did my makeup carefully and precisely, going for a smoky eye shadow look that accentuated the green in my eyes. Jess appeared in the bathroom next to me, also dressed in the outfit George suggested.

When it comes to fashion, we always trust George.

He materialized in our dorm about ten minutes before we were due to set off. We had decided we were going to be fashionably late, showing up at around nine-thirty so that everything was in full swing when we got there. When George saw Jess and I, he looked us up and down and nodded in approval.

"You both look gorgeous. And how do I look?" He did a twirl for us. "Do I look punk enough?"

We laughed. George was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with tight black jeans and sunglasses. I commented, "Why are you wearing sunglasses? It's almost dark out."

He tilted his head so his sunglasses slipped down his nose slightly, eyes peering at me from over the rim. "Don't question fashion, baby. Just roll with it. I look cool and no one can tell me otherwise."

I grinned. "George, you will look cooler than everyone else at this party."

"I know." He glanced at his phone to check the time. "It's time to go. Everyone ready?"

Jess pulled on a dark denim jacket, putting her phone in its pocket while I just grabbed a clutch. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"No jacket?"

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'. They both just smirked at me knowingly. "What? It's warm outside."

"If you say so," George sang, and I whacked him with my clutch before leading the way out of the dorm. We hailed a cab and squished in the back seat together, laughing with each other. Although I was ridiculously nervous, I was also looking forward to tonight. The fact that Jess and George would be there calmed me. I didn't even have to talk to Luke, or any of the boys, if I didn't want to.

But I wanted to. I missed Luke.

When we arrived, my heart was beating so fast I thought it would explode out of my chest. I was twiddling my hair non-stop and biting my lip in uneasiness, not knowing what I was supposed to say to Luke if I saw him, or to anyone for that matter.

I was really starting to wish I'd had a shot of something beforehand.

Jess and George on the other hand, looked completely at ease, which was kind of ironic considering I was the one who actually knew a few people here. They knew no one but they looked like they belonged here.

Music was playing loudly and everyone was standing around with drinks in hand, laughing and chatting with one another. There was a pool by the DJ booth, and the bar was massive and overflowing with already drunken people, the bartenders making cocktails and pouring shots non-stop. George suddenly shrieked in my ear.

"Noelle. Noelle. I just saw Katy Perry. Katy Perry! I think I might faint."

"I think we need drinks," Jess stated in a calm manner, but her face was full of excitement. I nodded in agreement with her, trying to compose myself. I looked down at my dress and tried to remember that I looked hot and that I did in fact look like I belonged her, too.

As we made our way to the bar, a few faces glanced our way, and some of the men were glancing at Jess and I appreciatively. I also saw a couple of women check out George and I laughed to myself. Unlucky for them, they had no idea. But I was sure it would still give George an ego boost even if he didn't swing that way.

When we reached the bar, Jess ordered us three shots of tequila. I raised an eyebrow at her but she just shrugged, saying loudly over the music, "What? Might as well dive straight in." George high-fived her and when the shots arrived, I was the first to down mine, not even wincing at the taste. Ever since I got here I'd been on the lookout for any of the boys from the band, but so far hadn't seen them. They would probably be at least an hour late.

"I need another," I shouted, and waved the bartender over. He was really cute, and his nametag said he was called Tyler. He grinned at me.

"What can I get for you, gorgeous?"

I shot him a flirtatious smile, feeling reckless. "Well, Tyler, what do you recommend to get absolutely shit-faced?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "There something you want to forget about?"

"Someone," I corrected with a mysterious smirk.

Tyler's grin widened. "I know the feeling. He here tonight?"

"He will be."

"Well, trust me, with the way you're looking tonight, he's going to regret losing you," he said knowingly, pushing three shots towards me. "Jägerbombs. Not the strongest, but the night's only just beginning."

I beamed at him and got my friends' attention. Jess and George were both looking around at everyone and seeing how many people here were famous. As soon as I tapped them, they turned to me. I handed them their drinks but before they downed them, I raised my glass and said, "Here is to having one hell of a time at a Capitol Records party."

They whooped and we clinked glasses before chugging the drink. I was barely feeling tipsy, but like Tyler the cute bartender said, the night was only just beginning.