Promise » [cashton] √

0.6

[18th of June - Irvine]

Lily and Calum had had a spectacular night, in his own opinion. Well, not a whole night; she'd left after a few hours, emphasising to Calum that all she wanted was what was between his legs. Calum had laughed and given her one last kiss, making sure to tell her that if she kept being so mean to him, he might fall in love with her. She actually laughed that time.

And now they were all back at work, getting ready for the next day, and it would seem no one had thought anything of their early departure, or if they had, they hadn't mentioned it. Despite that, Calum was slinking around, avoiding Ashton, not that they really ever ran into one another, but he knew his luck; today would be the day he ran into Ashton, when he would barely be able to manage to look him in the eye.

It was while he was skulking around, moving from his (slightly more spacious than usual) room to the bathroom, that he overheard Michael talking on the phone to, he assumed Sierra, because when he finished, he said, "your wife said they'll be gone most of the afternoon, so you need to make sure Andy knows the set list has changed, Ash needs an acoustic guitar for tonight,"

"And why can't you pass that on to Andy?" Luke said quickly, and as Calum rounded the corner, he caught the older man rolling his eyes. 

"Let's try, because it's your job," Michael said quickly; as he turned, he saw Calum, "look who it is, the murderer in the Parlour with a cracked camera lens," he laughed happily, "you missed out on a very aggressive game of Cluedo last night,"

Calum laughed, grateful there was no sting of accusation in his tone, "I really wanted to enjoy a good ten hours in my own be, before having to get back in those fuckin' bunks tonight," he explained, "what were you two fighting about?" Obviously, Calum already knew, but it was easier to steer the conversation away from his departure last night.

"Just trivial crap," Luke explained, "so was there someone waiting in that bed for you? Or have you been all talk this whole time,"

He wanted to groan; he didn't want to tell them; it was rude to kiss and tell, in Calum's opinion. That being said though, they were really the only people who would know if Ashton was actually upset about his... debauchery. He had said something about drama when they'd first spoken, but this wouldn't lead to any sort of drama; he'd make sure of that. 

"Ah, yeah, about that, don't tell anyone; she probably would rather you both didn't know, but Lily and I went home together last night," was what he settled on saying, surely this pair of squares wouldn't go around besmirching a young maidens name? He held back a laugh at the thought. 

He could see the astonishment clear on Michael's face and regretted bringing it up; not just squares but prudes too, he decided, "I didn't know you two knew each other that well, thought the only person you ever hung around was me," is what Michael chose to say. Still, his face had already given away his honest thoughts. 

"Well, we've only really spoken in passing, but we talked a little- well, that's actually what I wanted to ask you both about. We were sort of- in the middle of getting... Acquainted, and Ashton must have come in. I don't know at what point, but he knocked over your side table and looked bright pink, apologised, and turned tail into the bathroom. So my question is, how badly did I fuck up? Is he going to be mad?" Calum let it out as quickly as he could, knowing he could only handle the range of thoughts flashing across Michael's face for so long. Luke's reactions were the ones that drew Calum's attention, though, they were much more measured than Michael's, and that made him curious. 

"Why would you sleep with someone you barely know? Do you do this every tour you go on?" The judgement that had been reserved before was not now, Michael's voice heavy with his horror.

"I'm not looking for judgement," Calum clarified, trying not to take Michael's tone to heart. He was going to give the other the benefit of the doubt, he was just surprised, "I just want to know if I should apologise, or should I just steer clear of him?"

Michael made to speak again, but Luke stopped him, "you were making out with Lily in my living room, and Ashton's the only person that noticed?" He laughed far more cheerily than Calum had expected, "an apology is probably a good idea, he'll accept it, he was probably just surprised, he doesn't- he's not really used to that sort of thing. You saw what our parties are like," the way he spoke was far more diplomatic and plain than he had come to expect from people in 'management' though he supposed Luke wasn't really all that managerial.

"Mmmm yeah, I'll admit it wasn't what I expected when Ashton invited me, not that I thought he was planning anything crazy but... ah, not board games," he confessed, laughing, "will they be back in time for me to see them today?"

Michael shook his head, "They'll barely be back in time for him to sound check; every radio station wants a piece of him," Michael rolled his eyes; he seemed to have been easily reassured by Luke's attitude.

"Just leave it; talk to him tomorrow; another day won't make much of a difference," Luke reassured.

"I guess I'll go talk to Andy, seeing as you're not," Michael said, turning and heading off; the way he left made Calum feel as though Michael expected he was going to get a talking to from Luke.

But once he was out of earshot, Calum turned back to Luke and began his own line of questioning, "I didn't realise how scandalised he'd be, I thought- I don't know he was just straight when he was all blushes from me flirting with him," he confessed.

Luke sighed, "Michael found the love of his life young; he can't imagine wanting anyone else," he paused, "and maybe he never will. Or maybe he and Crystal will decide they want to look out, but for now, he's- he's only ever had sex mean romantic attraction. He's a good guy, though; he'll sort it out in his head, realise that there's more than one way to butter your bread,"

Calum was thoughtful for a moment, turning Luke's words over, "and you, you know that there's more than one way to butter your bread?"

He chuckled quietly, "Sierra and I both know how to butter our bread, even if we don't always butter it the same way,"

The younger man laughed in earnest now, a hearty chuckle coming from his stomach; who would have guessed? Turns out he had more in common with someone on this tour than he'd thought.

What is our poor Calum going to do hanging out with these fuckin' squares, except maybe Luke? That remains to be seen. ANYWAY! Hope you enjoyed it, and hope you're having as much fun falling in love with the album as I am! If you have any one-shot ideas from the album you'd like to see written, let me know, I have a bit of free time these days so I would be more than happy to give it a go! Lots of love to y'all!