- AC/DC, Thunderstruck -

https://open.spotify.com/track/5yv9topSflhSO8hNxNTkg3

- July 20th -

It was probably no shock to know that I was with Ethan. We were sat in the garage with a guitar each.
Somehow, we had managed to write a song between us.
It had started with us being all cute. So disgustingly cute that we had started throwing out really silly stuff in rhyme.
In the end we had spontaneously started writing down some of our silly endearments and started putting them into a song.

"Do you remember the tune you were humming that day in the band room?" He asked.

"The guitar picks day?" I asked.

"Yep," Ethan grinned at the memory.

"Not sure if I remember the exact tune. Some really sexy guy distracted me with some extremely silly behaviour," I giggled.

To my surprise, Ethan started humming the melody from that day and trying to fit our words into it.

"Hey, it works!" I laughed.

"We just have to not make it so cute," Ethan muttered at our sappy lyrics.

"Yeah... Simon is gonna veto this," I grinned.

With some thought and a lot of laughter we had something slightly more ambiguous.
I read through it again and replaced a couple of words to fit in references to Oddball and Simon in the lyrics.

"It's the story of us," Ethan said.

"Good title," I nodded before humming the song while tapping out a heavy backbeat on my leg.

"And here we have a drummer," Ethan said as the sound of Oddball's Dodge van pulled into the drive.

Simon entered and picked up our discarded ideas with a distasteful frown.

"Are you two writing a Harlequin romance novel? You just need a dirty stablehand and a kidnapper. The dialogue is obviously done," he smirked.

I handed over the almost finished work and saw his face drop.
He had seen the connections.

"I'm in there?" He asked.

"And Oddball," Ethan confirmed.

"It's good tho," Oddball said, reading it over Simon's shoulder.

"Okay... so what's the tune?" Simon asked.

Ethan started playing on the guitar, I drummed the backbeat on my legs again and started singing.

"I kissed all the frogs
Trying to find you.
I made a wish
And you came true
There was no doubt
It had to come to this
The taste of moonlight on your lips
Rainbows at my fingertips,
The story of us
Is still being written,
No end in sight
No heartless nights
The magic that is us" I sang the chorus.

At some point Oddball took over the drumbeat with a simple, heavy 4/4 beat.

"Rainbows? " Simon asked with a chuckle.

"Couldn't resist," I laughed.

"Well.. I think we have another tune for the five," Oddball grinned.

"The story of us," I replied, testing the title.

"And we were talking about 'Dark Days' on our way over. We were wondering if you'd be willing to change that slightly?" Oddball asked.

"Sure," Ethan nodded.

Soon we were polishing the songs. We already had a few songs we were happy with for the demo.

"Are you guys free next Thursday?" Oddball asked.

"Yeah. Apart from the saturday gigs and hanging around here I'm free until we go into the studio," Simon said.

"You making plans for your birthday?" Ethan asked.

Oddball nodded with a grin.

"And there will be a party?" I asked, remembering how he'd made a fuss about Ethan's 20th.

"Not a party as such... I was thinking lazer-x games... but yeah," Oddball replied scratching his neck without looking at us.

I exchanged a look with the other two who looked like they had caught the same thing as me.

"So a smallish gathering of your band buddies and Evan?" Ethan laughed.

Oddball nodded self conciously. There was a laugh from Simon at his extreme awkwardness.

"We'll be there," I promised.

Oddball looked at me with a smile.

"He means a lot to you, huh?" Simon teased.

Oddball simply nodded again. I went over to give him a hug.

"If you love him, we'll love him. And if he doesn't love you back, we'll kick his ass," I grinned.

"I think his ass already is in trouble," Simon laughed.

I looked at Simon with a tired frown.

"Simon?" I berated.

"Not even a small inuendo?" He grinned.

"You're the ass!" I laughed.

Oddball looked at the three of us with a weird smile.

"You guys are actually okay with this, aren't you?" He asked rhetorically.

"Of course we are!" I replied and was wrapped up in another Oddball hug.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"And Evan is actually kinda awesome," Ethan grinned.

I looked at him feeling mystified.

"I may have infringed on some couple time... on several occasions" he shrugged.

"You tagged along on their dates?" I asked.

Ethan shrugged.

"My skinny little best friend had some woman trouble a few weeks back and needed advice from a pair of poofs," Oddball laughed.

"Evan suggested Iris... well... not Iris... but he said I should sing something if I couldn't say it," Ethan mumbled.

"And Simon suggested Iris..." Oddball said thumbing towards our bassist.

I threw Simon a look and received a shrug back. I should have known.

"And what did you do?" I asked Oddball.

"Admired my boyfriend for his remarkable intelligence and told Ethan he was being an idiot," Oddball grinned.

Ethan walked over to me and rested our foreheads together with his guitar between our bodies.

"As I said... thank god for interfering band-buddies," he grinned.

I was again drowning in his eyes until two other people in the room loudly cleared their throats.

"We get that you're in love and stuff, but... band time? Rock stardom doesn't happen by itself you know," Simon huffed.

I shook myself out of my daze and smiled at my best friend.

"One day, Simon... It's gonna hit you hard!" I replied.

"I'm taking a sabbatical from all things women until I can start picking up groupies," he said with a smirk that I saw hid a serious note.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously! Nothing since April! I think I'm drying up. Shrivelling!" He said hooking a thumb in his jeans belt loop and looking down sadly.

"He really doesn't get it," Ethan grinned gripping me closer.

"Just because you're getting it several times a day..." Simon retorted with a dry laugh.

"Enough with the dirt already! You are coming to my birthday right?" Oddball said with an exasperated smile.

"Of course," I said trying not to squirm as Ethan planted a kiss at the base of my neck.

"And Mr. Summers asked if he can come here tomorrow to hear what we've been up to," Simon informed us.
Casually.
Simon-style.
Just throwing it out there.
Which meant we spent the afternoon working on 'Story of us', in case it made the cut.

That evening we went back to mine. I had to get a change of clothes and I hadn't seen my mum for a while.
I found the house cold and weirdly unlived in. There was a note in the kitchen telling me that she was at Josh's, but would be back in the morning.

Ethan and I settled in my basement lounge with a movie when I turned to look at him.

"Just so I know... You're staying here tonight, right?" I asked.

He tilted his head questioningly with a small smile.

"It's just... I didn't ask you to stay the last time we were watching a move here. And I still regret that," I admitted.

There was a flicker of pain across his face as he looked around.

"That's true. Star Wars weekend," he said.

"So? Will you stay with me?" I asked again.

He smiled softly as he nodded.

"I don't know about you, but it kinda feels all empty without you at night," I whispered.

"Same," he smiled and twirled a strand of my hair around his finger.

The next morning I got up before Ethan woke to get some basic chores around the house out of the way. My mum arrived as I was throwing stuff out of the fridge.

"Seems we're not home enough to bother stocking up on food," she said with a chuckle.

I dropped a bag of browned, mushy salad into the bin and went to give her a hug.

"How would you feel about me living with Josh?" She suddenly asked.

"I'd be extatic," I replied but felt a rush of hesitation at the thought not having this house anymore.

"Good. We're talking about living here. Abby is moving schools anyway and will be living with her mum most of the time. And with you going travelling, both Josh and I thought it would be a bit stupid being alone in separate homes," she said.

"And you don't really want to be apart anyway, so it's just a formality?" I teased seeing straight through her common sense.

She giggled and gave me a hug.

"Go for it, mum," I said.

"Thank you, Izzy," she smiled.

I looked over her shoulder to see my messy looking, morning-faced Ethan looking at us from the doorway.

"And there's my future son-in-law," my mum chuckled.

"Good morning, Emily," Ethan yawned before turning to me.

"You disappeared," he accused.

"I woke up. You were dead to the world," I shrugged and placed a cup of coffee within his reach.

"Glad to see that Rose and I were right," my mum grinned.

"Huh?" Ellen and I said simultaneously.

"We figured you'd be inseparable once you got yourselves together," she smirked.

"When did you make that observation?" I asked.

"We may have had a little conversation at your signing party," she grinned.

I looked at Ethan and saw a happy smile.

"I knew our mums were up to something," he grinned.

"Oh... and I've already accepted an invite to spend Christmas at the Ryder's house," my mum grinned.

"Okay?" I asked.

"Rose asked and I thought it would be nice to do something different," my mum nodded.

"Christmas is months away!" I replied.

"And? Would you prefer Bing Crosby and your old mum?" She asked.

I looked at Ethan's shy smile and shook my head.

"I love my mum and good ole' Bing, but I think I owe someone a christmas day," I said.

Ethan nodded back with a smile before taking a sip of his coffee.

After a few hours of cleaning the house, Ethan and I headed back to his for Mr. Summers appearance.

Oddball was already there and Simon turned up a few minutes before our manager.
Mr. Summers sat down in the two seater sofa and gratefully accepted the coffe Simon put in front of him.

"So. Simon tells me you've got a fair few tunes going so, pretend I'm not here and do your thing," he grinned.

I looked at the time and realised it was around noon and still mid work day. Mr. Summers was dressed in jeans and a short sleeved polo shirt that showed the tattoos down his arms. He looked more like the rock star he used to be than the business man we'd seen at the office.

"I'm still a music man," he grinned as he caught my look.

Ethan shook his fingers and started playing a series of notes on the guitar to warm up. Without thinking he made his fingers go faster and it morphed into the opening riff of AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck'.
It still amazed me how he didn't even have to look where his fingers were hitting strings, he just played.
I looked at Odd who had recognised the tune and both of us jumped into action sprinting for the drums.

"Dibs!" I laughed as I dumped down on the drumseat, picked up a pair of drumsticks and found the even bassdrum beat.
Oddball had taught me the basics.
I could do this.
Simon picked up the rhythm guitar and grinned at Odd.

"Looks like you're singing," Ethan laughed at Oddball.

Once I had shrugged off my open button down shirt and was sat more comfortable in a singlet I started drumming to match Ethan's riff and Simon's guitar.

There was a wide smile on Mr. Summers' face as he watched us mix up our usual band positions and Oddball's voice belted out the rock anthem. His voice was too smooth for the song, but we were just playing for fun. I caught myself thinking we would need a song to suit Odd's voice in the future.

I was sweaty and my hair was a mess by the time we completed the song but we were all laughing. A strong pair of drummer hands lifted me from the seat.

"You done good, little padawan... but the drums are mine," Oddball chuckled as he sat down.

"That's actually quite cool, how you can swap around like that," Mr. Summers grinned.

I took the guitar from Simon and slung it over my shoulder, leaving Simon to get the list of songs we had ready for the demo.

"You are amazing," Ethan grinned in front of me.

"No... that would be you," I replied and stretched across the two guitars for a kiss and a nose rub.

"And I see there has been a change in band dynamics," Mr. Summers smirked.

"Yeah, well...We tried our best, but we can't keep them apart for more than two minutes," Oddball sighed dramatically.

"Don't worry. We'll keep it unofficial," Ethan shrugged.

"Yeah... that won't last long..." Simon mumble.

"It would probably be easier for you if you keep it on the down low. You don't want the band to be famous for the relationship rather than the music," Mr. Summers explained.

"We get that," I replied.

"And we'll try to keep work and personal lives separate," Ethan said.

"As long as the four of you make good music, I'm happy... But Penny might see it as a promotional challenge..." Mr. Summers said.

"So... Music," I said and Oddball started a rhythm from our own selection of songs.

For the next two hours, we played our tunes, Mr. Summers gave advice on small changes and suddenly we were sat with a shortlist of 13 songs.
Simon had explained about Elsie's song being a secret but I noticed Mr. Summers had made a note of a song at number 14 with an 'ES?' Scribbled next to it.

"Guys... I don't usually do this, but I think I want to drop the five track promo and go straight for a full album," Mr. Summers frowned and looked at his list of tunes and his notes to go with them.

"Album?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah. And 'Story of us' as your first single. It sounds like something the Pixies could have done with Blondie," Mr. Summers nodded.

We stared at him.

"Let me get on to my bosses. I already know I want Mr.G. to do your video," he grinned.

"Mr.G? As in the guy that does most of the Britney Spears videos?" I asked.

"That's the man. He'll make you look good," Mr. Summers smiled.

I caught a sly smile on Simon's face and shook my head.

"No Simon! That does not mean you get to try your luck with Britney Spears," I laughed.

"You never know, he might have her number," Simon grinned.

"Seriously, dude! Dick in pants!" Oddball laughed and patted Simon's shoulder as he walked past.

"Excuse hormonal-man. We can't seem to find his leash," I told Mr. Summers with a huff.

"You sound like Glory when we were starting out," he grinned.

"Why did you quit?" Simon asked.

"We had kinda run our course. And most of us had found wives and started breeding. My kids were starting school so I couldn't take them on tour anymore. So we decided to quit while we were still cool. James and Paul still tour tho," he said wistfully.

"Do you miss it?" I asked.

"Sometimes... when I see you guys I do," he nodded.

"We haven't got any Glory tunes on our list, but if you wanna jam, we're here," Ethan shrugged.

"Seriously?" He asked.

"Sure!" Oddball said and pointed to the drums.

"Okay... You're best on rock right?" He asked with a bright smile.

"Blondie, Pixies, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Breaking Benjamin...." Simon listed.

Mr. Summers grinned and sat by the drums, testing the set up before he launched into a drum solo that had Oddball looking surprised and slightly envious.

"Do you know Heaven and Hell? Black Sabbath?" Mr. Summers asked.

Simon nodded and started the bassbeat. There was a wide smile on our managers face as we spent the next hour digging through out catalogue of covers.
Oddball got some drum-tips along the way and we discovered that the slightly scary man from our first contract meeting, was actually a really nice guy.

As he left, we looked at each other and jumped together into a band hug.
I looked at my three boys and felt a tingle of exitement at what we had ahead of us.