Catastrophic Happenings

Ben’s home made Azalea’s house look like a shack. The band felt stupid that Azalea’s place had even impressed them, standing in front of a full blown mansion. Sammy nearly giggled in delight at the other three’s awed expressions. He felt the exact same way when he first laid eyes on it.

“Wow,” Rick uttered, mesmerized.

The band was currently next to the fountain that the driveway wrapped around. The house was huge; gray stone that towered what looked like four stories high with large shiny windows. No one was able to see the end of the gated property when they had pulled up.

“This is where Ben lives?” asked Austin. The house made him feel disgusted, but not at Ben’s wealth. He felt disgusted in himself. It was just another thing that Austin couldn’t measure up to next to Ben. He would never have a fighting chance to get Azalea.

Cade rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything out loud. The entire trip over everyone was begging him to try and not speak unless spoken to. Normally he wouldn’t listen, but he knew things were serious when even Sammy started feeling agitated. And even though he could care less if he hurt Azalea, he didn’t want to hurt his best friend even further because of this whole ordeal.

Sammy ran up the many stairs to the front door so he could ring the doorbell. He beckoned them to follow once he heard the musical ring course throughout the house.

One of the massive white double doors opened to reveal a petite woman with brown skin and short, dark brown curls.

“Hi,” Rick greeted. “We’re here to see Azalea Henderson.”

“Come in,” she beckoned with a smile and a Spanish accent. “You must be her band friends.”

Once they stepped in they realized that the inside was even more majestic than the front of the house led on. The ceiling of the foyer must have been nearly thirty feet high, and housed a large crystal chandelier. As they followed the woman deeper into the house they passed a multitude of rooms, each finely decorated and extremely expensive looking. The woman then opened a glass door that led them on to a white wooden deck.

Azalea and Ben saw them as soon as they started descending the stairs to the patio, but they waited until they were closer before saying anything.

“They are here to see Azalea,” she smiled.

“Thank you, Consuela,” Azalea replied as she continued treading in the pool next to Ben.

“Do you need anything Benjamin?” Consuela asked.

“Could you please bring out some refreshments?”

Consuela nodded and turned around to reenter the house, leaving the four men standing there awkwardly.

“Is the basketball and tennis courts yours?” Sammy asked with excitement, this also being his first time seeing the rest of the house.

“Yes,” Ben laughed.

When no one else said anything, Azalea took the initiative to talk. She looked up at them, eyebrows raised high. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Ben, I’m sorry to intrude,” Rick started to explain.

“It’s no problem,” Ben replied instantly.

“But we really need to speak with you, Azalea. It’s important.”

She had to admit, she wasn’t expecting them to barge into Ben’s house like this. At most, she was hoping for a call from Cade grumpily telling her to come back to work things out. Even though she didn’t want to seem like she had given in so easily, Azalea was intrigued that they came all the way out here to work their issues out.

“We can talk up there.” She nudged her head toward the outdoor furniture on the deck. As the men turned back the way they came, Azalea closed the distance between her and Ben.

“You mind if I leave you alone for a while?”

“Ditching your boyfriend to be alone with four guys? What else is new?” Ben joked with a twinkle in his eye. She playfully hit his chest in response.

“Any advice?”

He reached out his arms to encircle her waist. “Don’t give in just because you’ll miss the singing. But don’t let that stubbornness of yours hold onto a grudge that can easily be shrugged off.”

“Wow. That didn’t help steer me in one way or the other at all.”

Ben chuckled at her sass and kissed her on the cheek, “Come get me when you’re done.”

“Sure thing, babe,” she replied before making her way to the edge of the pool.

Azalea looked up at the deck and considered going up there in just her bikini to make them uncomfortable, primarily Cade. But she ended up grabbing her towel off of the lounge chair and wrapping it around her body. There was enough immaturity in the band as it was.

“I’m guessing Sammy led you here?” she asked as she climbed the last few steps onto the deck.

Sammy wasn’t sure if she was upset or not. “Sorry?”

She laughed as his confused expression, “No worries.” She took the seat on the left of Sammy, and looked at the other men gathered around the glass table. “So what was so important to talk about that you guys felt like you had to barge into Ben’s house?”

“Were you serious about quitting?” Rick cut to the chase.

“Yes,” Azalea answered immediately, though she wasn’t completely confident in her answer.

Rick sighed in disappointment when he heard her answer.

“What do we have to do to make you stay?” asked Austin.

“Nothing,” Azalea answered. “You, Rick, and Sammy, don’t have to do anything to make me stay.”

After hearing her answer, the pressure was on Cade.

“What do I have to do?” he asked rudely.

Azalea sighed and leaned forward on your elbows. “Alright, Cade. I’m going to be completely open and honest with you, and I’m going to speak to as if you actually give a shit about my feelings, okay?”

Cade simply nodded when she paused.

“I’m not going to stay if you really don’t want me to. If you hate me that much, then fine, I’ll go.”

“Just like that?” Austin asked in disbelief.

“Zaley…” Sammy said sadly.

Even though it was her fellow band members complaining, she noticed that she could not stop glancing at Rick. She felt that giving in and quitting meant letting him down.

“He crossed the line today,” she said. “Big time. And I know a lot of people would say that I should be over it by now and shrug it off but I’m not and I can’t. I am the epitome of a girl with daddy issues. And Cade, you know that I take a lot of shit from you. And I know I give you plenty of shit in return. But he’s off limits, okay? Joking about my dad is not funny. At all.”

“I know. I’m sorry about that.”

Azalea’s eyebrows rose high. And judging by the equally surprised expressions on Rick’s and Austin’s faces, it wasn’t pre-planned and forced.

“Thank you,” she said in reply. “That means a lot.”

As Consuela returned with glasses of lemonade and fresh fruit, Azalea thought of what to say next. She wasn’t expecting that this mini-breakthrough would mean a radical change in Cade’s personality. Azalea knew better than to think that Cade was suddenly going to start being a total gentleman to her, so she thought of a compromise.

“Do you want me in this band? Or are you going to continue to hate me for being lead singer?”

Rick looked at him expectantly. “It’s time to let it go, Cade.”

“Plus, the only girls that are going to be drooling over me are going to be the gay ones,” Azalea joked. “You and Austin can battle over the rest.”

Cade chuckled at her comment. He had already decided in the van that he was going to patch things up with Azalea, for the band’s sake as well as the strength of his relationship with the other guys. He didn’t tell himself that he was suddenly going to be best friends with the girl, but practice would be a lot more endurable if they didn’t hate each other.

“I’ll stop trying to insult you so much, as long as you do the same.”

Azalea thought his statement over. All of the men were looking at her intently, waiting for her response. She stood up and walked around the table to where Cade was sitting.

She extended her hand out to him, “You have yourself a deal Mr. Porter.”

Cade smirked and took her hand to shake.

Austin smiled and said to Rick, “I have a feeling this is the start of a decent acquaintanceship.”