The Bass Player » [cashton] √

3.0

[15th of December - Travelling]

Things were tense. 

They were on their way back to LA, Calum had a connecting flight back to his parents from LAX, which was unfortunate because it meant he had to fly with the other three. They hadn't had much more of a chance to talk the previous evening, it'd been time to soundcheck, and then Luke had kept the other's busy doing a live stream between then and beginning of the show. Which they played pretty well all things considered and then Ashton and Luke had disappeared to talk while Michael and Calum had watched television. It had been awkward, and Michael was trying to be nice, which he appreciated, but he couldn't focus, especially having not yet spoken to Ashton himself. In the morning it had been much the same, he and Ashton had only had the chance to throw one another glances and nothing more. 

Now they were on the plane, Michael and Ashton were sitting in seats across the aisle, and Calum next to Luke. He was honestly terrified of Luke. He knew the older man would never be needlessly rude or cruel to him, but he wasn't ready to have the conversation with him he knew was coming. He'd thought they were friends and that Calum had understood his concerns, but he'd been running around with Ashton behind his back. He couldn't handle Luke being disappointed in him. 

It was while Calum he was trying to find the best way to express everything that he regretted, and that he didn't mean to betray the others trust when Luke spoke. 

"I'm sorry, I know you probably want to sit with Ashton, but If you guys are going to be together you're going to need to spread your time between us a little more evenly," Luke said offering Calum a kind smile as he shuffled things around in his seat pocket. "I know it sucks, but I just don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about how you got here is all," he clarified. 

Calum was taken aback, for a moment he'd completely forgotten just how giving Luke was, of course, he was worried, Luke was always worried. 

"I-I, no I get it, It doesn't bother me at all, I'm still really sorry Luke. It started before, before, Angus, I didn't- I knew I shouldn't have, I should have-"

"I get it; he's hard to say no to." Luke shrugged, and he chuckled quietly to himself, "I'm not mad, I can tell you like him a lot, and I get why you didn't say anything, I'm sure he gave you some really compelling reasons, I bet he even half meant them." he paused again, "I know how conflicting it must have felt, I'm sorry he put you in that position," 

"We didn't want you to worry any more than you already were, which in hindsight is dumb but you were so stressed all the time, you looked like you were going to explode," Calum reasoned. 

Luke smiled, "I know you were worried about me, and I- I just don't want this to snowball into something that could ruin your career, you know how ready people can be to condemn celebrities" Calum went to refute the word celebrity, but Luke realised and continued, "anyone with any sort of following." he sighed this time, "I promise, I'm trying my hardest to work this all out, okay? I just need a little time to figure out our options, and worst comes to worst, and we can't figure something out, then my offer about finding you another band still stands," 

"I really appreciate that I completely understand why this changed things and I promise if you'd have invited me to join you guys and you still hadn't known about Ashton and me, I would have told you or said no. I would never have agreed to something permanent without telling you," Calum explained earnestly, "I just really didn't think you guys would ever consider inviting me to join Tempted Timeless," 

"I know. You're a good person." he smiled softly, "I'm really not mad at you, I promise, I can tell you're worried I am, I'm just upset with Ash, and worried of course. Things will be fine, I'll have a think over the break about what we can do for you," he seemed to think for a moment, "I thought for sure Ashton would have told you, as soon as I realised you were together, I was sure he would have mentioned it," 

"He's never really told me anything about the band, or like what you talk about when I'm not around. The only thing he'd ever mentioned was Angus, and him not writing, he didn't even tell me about Angus' bender, I overheard you two talking about it," Calum confessed. 

Luke hummed, "That'll all change now, don't worry," he grinned wide, and Calum wasn't sure what exactly was so grin worthy, but he smiled back politely. After that, he changed the topic, "so are you going to come back for Christmas?" his tone was light, and he shifted his eyes back to something on his iPad. 

"Oh, uh, no I'm having Christmas with my family. We met like less than two months ago, that's a little early to be sharing the holidays, isn't it?" Calum asked incredulously before adding, "I didn't even know we were dating until yesterday," 

He nodded slowly, not tearing his eyes from his device, "just curious is all, you spent the last break with him, didn't know where you guys were at," 

"I honestly don't know where we're at," Calum sighed, "It sucks actually, now would be the perfect time to figure that out, but instead we're going to be apart for a month, and we've been practically living on top of each other, which might be half the reason we work. It'll be a real test I think," he let out in a stream before pressing his head back into the seat cushion.

Luke thought for a moment, "well- I- I don't know exactly how to put it but, just, I don't know... make sure you stay on the same page, and- and be careful," 

"I'd never do anything to hurt Ashton," Calum assured him, eyeing Luke before, turning to snatch the book in his backseat pocket. 

"I'm not worried about him," Luke told him quietly, there was no malice in his tone, but something else Calum couldn't quite place. 

"But," he didn't know what he had wanted to say, but he was confused. 

"Ashton's overwhelming, in a lot of good ways and some bad ways. I just think it'll be good for you to have a break, come up for air. Just make sure you have some space, some perspective and that you communicate is all I'm saying," He smiled softly at Calum, and he suddenly understood what Luke meant.

"Anyway," he said cheerily, "If you want to come back to LA after Christmas, you're more than welcome to stay with Sierra and me, she already loves you. She'd probably love you a little more if you hadn't gotten me drunk at lunch though," he chuckled to himself. 

"Hey, I blame her and Ashton for that entirely, you and I were the victims of that situation," Calum defended needlessly. 

They settled into comfortable on and off chatter for the rest of the flight. By the end of the flight, he felt much more confident in his and Luke's friendship and a lot more free, knowing that he had half as many things to worry about. He even ventured a glance at Michael and Ashton, afraid they might have been watching Luke and he but instead Michael was playing on his switch, and Ashton was asleep against him. He looked uncomfortable and had several neck rolls as he slept, head tilted both against Michael's shoulder and with his chin against his own chest. He did look cute and peaceful, though.