You're a Catch 22

The Tour Bus

Nova headed on the tour bus excitedly. Cal had two of her suitcases, and Ash had the other. She had her backpack slung on her back.

"Geez, Nova, how much stuff did you need?" Ash commented.

"A lot," She said.

After Cal and Ash had set her bags down, she looked around. The bus was bigger than she had expected. "I'll give you a tour of the bus," Cal offered.

"Alright," She accepted, following Cal to the back of the bus.

"Here's the bathroom. There's a shower in there and stuff," Cal waved a hand. Then he moved throughout the bus, showing her the little places where food was stored and other stuff. He pointed to the bunk beds, on each side of each other. "That's where the boys and I sleep. You, under any circumstances-" He glared at Luke "- Will not be anywhere near these beds."

"Of course, Master Calum," Nova bowed. He grinned and turned away, leading Nova to some other places.

"This is your bunk. I hope you'll take notice that it is away from all the boys bunks for a reason," Cal smirked. Luke pouted, and then laughed as the engine of the bus started.

"Gus," Nova said suddenly.

"What?" Cal turned to look at his sister.

"Gus the Bus; I remember seeing you said that in one of your interviews," Nova remarked.

"I like this girl," Michael grinned.

"When she was 6 she picked her boogers and ate them," Cal said, looking Mikey in the eye.

"Did not!" Nova protested.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Ah, shut up. The point is that... well, you watch our videos?" Ash cut Nova and Cal's fighting off.

"Yes..." Nova thought of the way she had always had a crush on Luke. And now she was standing with him, in a tour bus, along with her brother and 2 other Aussies.

"Oh my God, remember when I dressed like a banana for that one?" Ash giggled.

"I watched that one!" Nova announced.

"I kept telling you to not dress like an idiot, and you just showed up in a banana suit, and I was like oh my god really," Calum laughed.

"I missed that interview," Michael said sadly.

"It's all good, mate," Ash patted Mikey on the back.

"Aye," Nova screamed and fell backwards onto the kitchen table as the bus came to a sudden stop. "Oof!"

"You okay?" Cal asked, not bothering to help her up.

"Sure," Nova smiled and regained her balance, steadying herself on the ground.

"I'm hungry, how about you guys?" Michael commented.

"Shut up Mike, you're always hungry," Calum said unhappily.

"You like, hog all of the food that we have. Now that we have a lady on the bus, you're going to have to back off," Ash laughed.

"It's fine. I don't really eat much of anything," Nova smiled grimly. Her stomach was rumbling, since she hadn't had much of a breakfast, but she did her best to ignore it.

"Why not?" Cal said gently.

"I'm on a diet," Nova lied, unable to tell them that she didn't want to eat because she wanted to stay skinny.

"Okay," Cal collapsed onto his bunk and rubbed his eyes.

"Awh, is wittle Cwalum tiwed?" Nova laughed.

"SHUT UP!" Calum yelled.

"Fine!" Nova responded. She climbed the little ladder to her top bunk. She had always felt comfortable in top bunks, even if the lower one wasn't occupied.

"Well, that was a view," Luke grinned as he sat down on his own bunk, a top one that was almost parallel across the bus from Nova's.

Cal's face crinkled up, and he turned to look up at Luke. "Did you just talk about my sister's butt?"

"Of course not, I was talking about outside," Luke stiffled a laugh.

"Liar, the blinds aren't even open!" Cal retorted immediately. "That's it," He said before getting off his bunk and stepping on top of the kitchen table.

"If any of you even lay a finger on my Nova, I will personally throw you off this bus and disband you from 5 Seconds of Summer!" Cal said, loud and clear.

"Dang it," Luke mumbled under his breath.

"Do you hear me?" Cal's voice echoed.

"Yeah," All three boys said in unison.

****

When Nova, Ashton, and Michael were all asleep, Luke and Calum sat at the table playing cards. As Luke won the second game, he grinned in victory. 

"Cal, I have to ask you something?" Luke whispered softly.

"What?" Cal whispered back.

"If you never liked Nova and thought she abandoned you, then why are you so protective of her?" Luke asked softly.

"Because I realize now that it wasn't her fault. And she is my blood, I still love her. Every time I look at her, I see us when we were 8 and we had so much fun together. I see how much I loved her, and how she's grown into herself. And I still do love her, and I don't want her to get hurt if she doesn't have to."