Even the Sun Sets in Paradise

It was about half past eight when I woke up the next morning. Still in my football shirt, I wandered downstairs and into the kitchen, greeted by the smell of bacon. Auntie Julie was cooking a fry up as she did every Sunday morning.
“Smells delicious,” I smiled, making myself a cup of tea.
“Good, should be ready in fifteen minutes, would you mind waking the guys up?”
“Oh, did they stay over?”
“Er...Layton went home late last night. I think Cyrus has just gone to pick him up now. But Rowan’s in the spare room and Ellis is obviously in his room.”
“Okay, I’ll go get them up,” I agreed, climbing back up the stairs, not exactly thrilled at the prospect of Layton coming over. I knocked on the door of the spare bedroom. Rowan was already up and dressed and neatly making the bed, as expected.
“Breakfast in fifteen minutes,” I told him.
“Alright, cheers,” he smiled. I nodded, walking across the hallway to Ellis’s room. I was about to knock on the door but Rowan stopped me.
“I got this,” he whispered, grinning evilly. Silently, he pushed open the door and crept over to Ellis’s bed, picking up the glass of water on his bedside table.
“Revenge for last night shit face,” he smiled, pouring the glass of water over Ellis’s head.
“What the fuck?!” Ellis screamed, waking up with a jolt. Rowan and I fell into uncontrollable laughter.
“That was hilarious, your face!” Rowan laughed, collapsing on the floor.
“You little shit! Get the hell out of here,” he cried, groaning angrily.
“I’m going,” Rowan chuckled, still laughing.
“This is war gay boy!” Ellis yelled, pulling on a t-shirt over his trackies and following us downstairs.

An hour later, everyone was dressed and fed, and almost ready to go to the recording studio for their first session. I stuffed some essentials into my bag and headed downstairs. I heard voices in the kitchen, and froze, listening intently to the conversation between Cyrus and Layton.
“What was your problem last night?” Cyrus asked casually.
“Nothing.”
“Clearly was something,” he sighed, “You get pissy every time I talk to Jenna. Do you fancy her or something?” I tried to hold back a laugh.
“Do you?!” he cried, and I heard the clatter of pots and pans.
“Fuck, calm down,” Cyrus laughed, “Course I don’t you dumbass. Do you?”
“No, why the hell would I like her?” Obviously, I knew for certain that neither of them had a thing for me, but it didn’t stop me from feeling slightly hurt by their complete dismissal.
“Well she is hot,” he admitted, and I smiled, rolling my eyes.
“Which proves my point exactly.”
“Come on. You don’t seriously think I like her? Sure, she’s a great girl and everything, but she’s fifteen! I don’t think the sex would be too great, she’s a virgin for fuck’s sake.” Well that just proved exactly how shallow Cyrus was. Besides, little did he know, my virginity was taken a long time ago.
“Is that all you care about?!” Layton yelled, going into another one of his outbursts.
“Well I’m pretty sure it’s also illegal,” Cyrus chuckled, and I cursed myself for letting it bring back the memories.
“That’s not what I meant!” Layton cried, storming out of the room.
“What was that about?” I asked, deciding now was a good time to make my presence known.
“God knows,” Cyrus sighed, shaking his head as he shoved his wallet and keys into his pocket.

In the end, I decided not to go to the studio with the guys. I told them I wasn’t feeling well and wanted to stay at home. Truth was I felt bad. They all appeared to get on so well before I came along, and now everyone was falling out. I wasn’t even sure what I’d done. Maybe they just didn’t like female company. I thought that some guy time just those four would do them good. Instead I went out with Mel, aware that spending the day in bed would only give me time to overanalyse everything as I always did.

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Mel apologised, rushing over to the table where I was sitting in Starbucks.
“It’s alright,” I smiled, “How are you?”
“I’m good thanks, you?”
“Yeah I’m alright.”
“So have you fallen for any of the guys yet?” Mel asked excitedly.
“Jeez, is that all you think about?”
“Pretty much,” she sighed, and I laughed.
“Well the answer is still the same as last week.”
“Damn it, do you know how cool that would be if you actually went out with them?”
“Not cool!” I cried, “Layton is a dick and I’m ninety-nine per cent sure Cyrus is suffering from some sort of sex addiction.”
“That’s not such a bad thing,” Mel joked.
“Oh my god, what is with you guys? Is that all anyone cares about?”
“I was joking,” she sighed, a playful smirk on her face.
“Good. Now I’ve got news for you…and you are gonna love me forever.”
“Oh my God, did one of the guys ask for my number?”
“Get over yourself, you…” I hit her with my magazine, “Bitch.” For some reason we both found it hilarious and collapsed into fits of laughter.
“Okay serious now,” Mel smirked, composing herself, “What is it?”
“The guys and a few other people hang out at this place by the lake sometimes and they said we could both go,” I explained.
“Ahhh,” she squealed, a huge smile lighting up her face, “You are the best friend ever. Eeek, we have to go shopping to find the perfect outfit. Oh my God, let’s go get our hair done.” Mel rambled on for a while, and I soon drowned out, laughing at how obsessed she was. I honestly could not understand what the obsession with After Dark was. I’d heard them play a few times and there was no denying that they were amazing, but I just couldn’t understand why people would obsess over them quite that much.

When I got back that night, the guys were over excited, and kept telling me how amazing the recording had been. They were going to one of the local nightclubs to celebrate, but Ellis warned me that Cyrus and Layton would most likely be getting high, so I decided not to go along. Nightclubs weren’t really my scene anyway. It just pissed me off. What was the need to get high every fucking night? There was no rational explanation for it. It seemed those two spent most of their life drunk too, which again, I couldn’t understand. Why could they not have a good time without several beers inside them? I guess maybe I was being oversensitive but it was one of those things that really bugged me. I couldn’t understand the point of having a good time if you wouldn’t even remember it the next morning.