Marching Band

His brown eyes scoped the street for any signs of intruders. There wasn't anything to disrupt or intrude on but it was probably because Michael had been immensely paranoid lately. Being himself, he would've blamed it on hormones if he were female.

His left arm was outstretched as he gripped the steering wheel with a hand and his remaining arm was placed by the car door, his fingers tapping the surface. As he was a drummer, his fingers naturally began tapping to one of the latest rhythmns he was told to learn. It was one of th earliest songs that were going to be on their next album.

It had been almost been half an hour since he parked his car. He glanced at the car's analog clock. 10:40. She should've woken up around twenty minutes ago and her presence was due outside so she could fetch the mail. Michael hummed content with the silence and tried not to get his impatience get the best of him.

The rapping part of the band's own 'Not Your Birthday' rang throughout the entire interior of the vehicle and Michael scrambled to get a hold of the blaring device. Wasting a little more time, he follow through a couple of the lyrics before answering. "Hello?"

"Michael," he recognized Zach's voice coming from the other line. "Are you coming?"

The older boy sighed, flicking the edge of the steering wheel cover. He focused on the smooth material not replying for a few seconds. "Uh, maybe. I remembered today dont worry and i know we should be going as a band but," he exhaled deeply, "I don't know. I-"

"Rachael!" His azure eyed friend yelled, a chuckle coming right after. Michael refrained from snapping at him for using the nickname. "It's okay, I know you've been pretty busy with...everything."

Michael smiled but didn't listen to anymore of Zach's rant. He never managed to pay attention nowadays as he was really too distracted by other things. At least, he thought that Alexandria, or her problem, was really too important to simply turn a head to and ignore. He even gave up such things for his own band and fans, whom he adored with his life.

Zach had a inkling that he wasn't paying much attention to what had to say and screamed his nickname once more. "Do you know a girl called um, Pamela Hal-"

"-ton?" Mikey ended for him. "Yeah isn't she singing at the event? I still have the list of performers if you want. I met her before, why? Has she already gone on?"

"Yeah she has-wait, you met her?" he yelled. "Without telling me?"

As his bandmate issued out profanities about Mikey not informing him of his little visit to this Pamela character, he sheerly listened like a good friend would and didn’t make a move to argue. He didn't know why it had bothered Zach so deeply as he never knew her before. Then it hit him but before he managed to begin his teasing, a movement was caught in his peripheral vision.

He watched as the girl travelled the length of the path that lead from the house, her and her older sister resided in, towards the gate. He carefully studied while she opened the mailbox, seeing if he could see any wavering emotion in her gestures. Surprisingly enough – sarcasm dripping from each syllable of those two words – he couldn’t read people well enough.

“Well I gotta go, Porter. Lex just woke up. I think she slept late which me-”

Zach interrupted his best friend for the nth time that morning with another chuckle. “Calm down for a second, man. Okay bye and I'll see you later yeah?"

"Yeah, bye. Later." Michael didn't wait for his next good bye and quickly pressed the end call button, stuffing the phone into his pocket. He thought about following his friend's advice, leaning back onto the seat, attempting to even out his breaths.

Once he decided that he had relaxed enough, he pulled the key out of the ignition and stepped out of the car. He persuaded himself that he was only paranoid when he locked his car and rechecked twice that it was actually closed but he knew he was taking time.

His nerves were on a frenzy as he neared the front door. It was a simple wooden door, with a silver knob and two window panels of frosted glass. Michael couldn't understand why or how he was shaking in such an unnatural way or why he had neverfelt any more nervous than he ever had in his life.

The fist he lifted to tap against the door, trembled and it made him chuckle. Maybe laughter could help with clearing away the anxiety. Maybe it was because of the events of yesterday. He would never see the end of that until the day he passed from the surface of this earth.

It was a while until Michael was saved from his own relentless thoughts and the door was opened. He expected a faux bubbly Alexandra, but instead he was greeted with her other half, Ashlynne. "Oh hi Mikey. I shouldn't be surprised to see you here but uh-I am!"

He strolled inside like he had many times before. He had grown quiet accustomed to the nooks and crannies of this house and felt fond of the lovely home of the Beaumont sisters. He shouldn't even be considered as a guest anymore, but rather more of a brother or close cousin.

"Yeah how's it going babe?"

Ash giggled at his attempt to lighten up the mood. She knew how he felt, also being affected by the drastic emotions her younger sibling was experiencing, and was glad he was at least trying to heal the wounds. "Fine, fine. I'm baking cookies. I'll bring up some when they're ready, alright?"

Michael nodded seeing no need to further the conversation. The two fell silent and he began his journey on the way to Alexandra's headquarters. That was what she always called because the word 'room' was apparently too mainstream for her.

He didn't bother knocking and found the girl he was searching for lay down on the bed, earphones in and novel raised above her face. His brown eyes glared at the book hoping it'd fly out of her grasp. He knew that was a failure so he coughed instead. And just like that, Alex had dropped all other things and ran to his side.

The two friends exchanged embraces, hugging in tightly as if they hadn't seen each other in years or that they were about to leave and never return. "Thank you for coming Marty. Why are you such a good companion?"

He chuckled at the nickname she created. Alex had always had this little habit of hers - not calling things or people how they're usually called. She liked to be different from people but yet she was exactly the same when it came to broken hearts.

"Because I'm Randy Curtis." They pulled away laughing, and for the first time in days, he heard real laughter flowing freely out of her lips. She straightened herself up though, sending him over one of her meek soft smiles. "So what's the agenda for today?"