The Bass Player » [cashton] √

0.2

[27th of October - Manchester]

Just three days later, they were in a new country, playing at a new venue. Entirely surreal. An even more surreal feeling was, performing, knowing that a musician you admired immensely was watching you from side stage. That's right, Ashton Irwin was watching him from side stage, sipping from a plastic cup full of vodka Redbull. Calum knew exactly what was in the cup because, well, he'd watched him make it. He found his eyes followed Ashton in a way he just couldn't help, and that they didn't with the others, so maybe the crush he'd had in high school had come back, but he was sure it would go away soon enough, it was still early days.

That wasn't the important part though; the important part was that he was playing one of the biggest shows of his life, and he was entirely distracted imagining what he looked like from Ashton's perspective. Did he look as stiff as he felt? He was trying to shake the thought, but he could feel Ashton's eyes on him. Which was kind of funny to think about when there were literally thousands of eyes on him, but Ashton's were burning a hole in the side of his head.

However, by the time they played their final note and took a bow, Ashton had vanished, and he stayed gone until Calum his own set forty minutes later. Then was gone again when they all made their way to a bar only a few blocks from the venue. He did reappear though, once they had all settled in. Calum had managed to end up in a booth between a wall and Michael, who had Rachael on his other side. Opposite them, Angel and Luke looked far more comfortable with a nice gap between them. Then there was Lesedi and Ashton, who had seemed to notice how uncomfortably close the others were and pulled a small round table toward the end of the booth and perched themselves there.

Part of Calum wanted to roll his eyes at the fact Ashton seemed to have found the furthest seat from him. Still, to be fair, if the older one (yes, the older one, he was older than Calum, which was for some reason part of the allure) had sat where Michael was, Calum might not have been able to articulate responses. Not that the conversation was difficult to follow at the moment, because they'd all seemed to notice that two people were missing from their number.

"They're at the bar together," Luke told them; being the tallest, he simply straightened up and looked straight over Rachael's head and, by extension, the booth to watch them. The others could see from where they were, either pushing up and looking over or around the booth. Calum noted that Ashton could see but didn't seem bothered sipping from his drink absentmindedly. Michael and Calum, however, were trapped in the corner of the booth and were having to take everyone else's word for it.

"How close together are they? What's the vibe?" Calum asked, looking over his shoulder pointlessly.

No one really offered an answer, so Michael pushed himself up, his arse half on Calum, half on the table, and turned around to look at the pair; he wasn't standing long when Rachael pulled him down by his jacket sleeve.

"They'll see you!" she scolded.

"What's going on?" Calum asked, this time directing it at Michael, who seemed like the only person who would admit what they were all doing, gawking.

"They're just talking, I mean close-talking but just talking," he assured, sipping from his beer.

"Ooh, looks like they might hook up," Rachael giggled.

"He'll be after all of you," Michael said, taking another long drink. Rachael, Lesedi and Angel all started laughing amongst themselves, but Calum saw the look Michael and Luke shared and knew there was something else there; whether they thought Angel & Trinkets were up to something or they had an unspoken rule amongst themselves, he wasn't sure.

"Well, he's really only got a shot with Nia. I mean, Rachael's a lesbian, Lesedi doesn't go anywhere near straight guys, I have a total girl preference, and despite how horny he might be, I doubt he's self-aware enough to admit he'd love to bone Calum," Angel listed it all off as though it was law and earned chuckles from the rest of her band as she went.

Calum's protest came almost involuntarily, "Like I'd ever!"

This earned him a laugh from everyone this time and a pat on the shoulder from Michael, "It's okay man, we know,"

"You sound really homophobic right now, Calum; I'm disappointed," Lesedi said with a pretend disappointed sigh.

"I'm gay!" Calum whined, a part of him terribly worried he would give the boys the wrong impression. He knew that Michael and Luke had girlfriends, but that didn't mean they couldn't be gay, too.  Ashton was definitely some sort of Queer, though he'd never publicly said as much; he'd been photographed with guys at parties all the time.

"You're too easy to rile up," they laughed, everyone else joining in as Calum's cheeks reddened.

He rolled his eyes, trying to play off his embarrassment, "you guys never cut me a break," followed by a sigh and another sip at the dregs in his glass to avoid seeing the boys' responses to his torment.

Angel was stretching up, "Oh shit, she's coming back," she pulled herself back down into her seat quickly. Luke looked to confirm what she'd said before getting up and letting Nia into the booth. Instead of sitting back down, he turned and asked if anyone wanted a drink. Calum shook his head silently as he turned into Michael, who was starting to tell him a story about something one of his dogs had done. Calum wasn't entirely sure if it was an excellent attempt at pretending they hadn't been watching Nia return or if he really just felt the sudden urge to tell him about... Southy, was it?