DMs // hemmings [editing]

tredici.

[unedited]  

30th August;

"So we're taking the long way home, 'cause I don't wanna be wasting my time alone." My voice cracks on the word 'alone' and I literally want to scream. Luke, Calum and I are in the studio, re-recording 'Long Way Home'. I was singing it perfectly yesterday when I was practicing, but now, I can't get it right.

"Sorry guys!" I say into the microphone in the booth, knowing that Luke, Calum, and John Feldmann can hear me. I feel so disappointing right now.

"Do you mind if we take a break?" I hear Luke's voice in my headphones, and I nod, pulling the plastic off my head and onto the hook, before walking out of the small room. John and Calum walk out of the room, and I walk straight into Luke's open arms.

"I'm sorry I keep fucking up." I mumble into his shirt, and he just chuckles.

"Don't worry about it, I do it all the time. You were doing it perfectly yesterday so it's not like you can't do it, your voice just doesn't want to work properly today." He reassures me, and I feel happier almost instantly.

"I'll give it a few more tries, but then I think I'll give up for today." I say, and then my phone starts ringing.

"Hi Mum!" I answer excitedly, feeling like I hadn't spoken to her in so long.

"Hi hun, how are you doing? How's London?" She asks, and I fill her in on everything. Well, except the things I saw after Luke and I's date, she doesn't need to know that.

I've been avoiding Ashton ever since that night, and I feel like he might be doing the same. Michael apologised to me as soon as he saw me the next day and of course I forgave him, all he was doing was making out with a girl. We've been talking a lot more, actually. Apparently Calum was out as well, and when Luke said he found him, he meant that Calum turned up at the penthouse and had the same reaction as the two of us. Calum, Michael and I have actually been hanging out together the past few days, playing Fifa on the Xbox (I've been kicking their asses) and just chilling out. Luke's been there too but it's cool to have two other friends in addition to having such an amazing boyfriend.

After the comfortable conversation with my mum, Luke and I go and grab a bottle of water before I get back to recording.

I have three more tries at the chorus, and after about 3 more tries, I finally sing it perfectly.

"YES!" The four of us cheer, and I'm ridiculously happy with how it went. Next, Luke rerecords his parts of the song, and then Calum does a low harmony of my sections, as he originally sang them in the song. By about 11pm, all of us have finished our parts and we're all happy.

"Celebratory drink?" Calum suggests, and we all agree to it.

John informs us that there's a quiet bar nearby that serves amazing cocktails, so we head there, in the hope that the guys don't get recognised.

***

2 hours later, and Luke, Calum and I are a little tipsy, and we're clambering into the back of an Uber and heading back to the hotel. I'm sat between the two guys and I'm holding Luke's hand.

I've been ignoring social media for a while now, and for good reason. I'm now dating one of the most famous 18 year olds on the planet, and don't really want to see the horrible things that teenage girls are saying about me. However, as Luke informed me the other day, I will have to make my account public again and get verified. Ashton said he'd help me with doing that because he said it can be tricky, he had to help the others do it as well. But of course, that means talking to him and I'm not sure if I can do that yet.

The car slows down and we climb out, and to our surprise, there are still a few girls waiting outside the hotel. The girl who called me out on my first day in London is still there, and when she sees me with Luke and Calum, she gets up instantly. The three of us rush into the hotel as quickly as possible and manage to avoid the fans.

When we get back to the penthouse, we find Ashton and Michael on one of the sofas playing a game on the Xbox. I fall silent when I see Ashton, but don't go into my room. All of us sit on the sofas, and Calum sits next to Luke, meaning that I have to sit next to Ashton. I awkwardly sit on the edge of the seat, and avoid looking at him.

He loses the game, and he taps me on the shoulder soon after.

"Um, Jen, can we talk?"

///

Don't particularly like this part at all, but all stories need filler chapters amiright?

P.S. ty for 1k reads, that's insane. I just hit 12,000 words so this is hella awesome :-)