Project Daddy || a.i

Chapter 62 || "They're musicians not models."

In a way, I slightly respected him for it.

"Michael-"

"It's a really long story," I chuckled, interrupting Louis before he could scold my friend. I was lying - it wasn't a long story - but I couldn't just tell him I skipped school and got lost. That would sound too disrespectful and he wouldn't want to sign us, and right now I really needed this record deal - especially with my mum now constantly questioning my future "but I basically went on this large expedition with my close friend and lost track of time."

"Expedition?" Calum snorted, raising his eyebrows quizzically

"Close friend?" Michael joined, causing my cheeks to redden.

They could fück off.

"Sounds exciting." The man mumbled, sounding completely disinterested. He then darted his attention towards Luke, the only one who had sat quietly throughout the whole thing "And you? What do you have to say?"

"Me?" He choked, his cheeks flushing a gentle shade of pink "About what?"

"Tell Simon about the band." Louis answered, shooting him an encouraging smile. Luke nervously swallowed, glancing hesitantly towards the man - who we now knew as Simon.

"Well, we are called 5 Seconds of Summer and are made up of four musicians - two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer. We write our own music and perform them at gigs in our local area, but other than that we just post occasional covers on YouTube."

"Have you been friends for a while?" Simon questioned, his eyebrows ticked upwards with interest.

Luke nodded, wetting his dry lips before replying.

"Most of our lives."

"So there is a lot chemistry between you all?"

"Uh... Yeah?"

"Great."

Luke shot me a confused glance to which I replied with a shrug, softly shaking my head. At this point, I didn't really care if we got signed or not. I just wanted to leave.

"We brought these back." Calum hesitantly stated, pushing a few papers out towards Louis.

The young boy accepted them graciously, sweeping the signed papers up into his arms and placing them on a cabinet behind him, out of sight and reach. It was as if he were scared we would change our mind, but I knew we wouldn't.

Especially now that Pandora was going to Uni, there was no point in me sticking around.

"Do any of you have girlfriends?" Simon curiously questioned, causing the boys - especially Harry - to smirk.

"Ashton does."

The chorus of answers around the room left me dumbfounded, their accusing fingers not wavering as they pointed towards me. I felt slightly offended, as if they had just pushed me off into the deep end - although it was completely true.

"I uh... I do." I coughed, confirming everyone else's statements.

Simon nodded, his expression seeming slightly troubled.

"Is it serious?"

"Uh... Yeah?"

I don't know why I felt so goddamn awkward admitting to it, but I did, and I couldn't help but constantly glance towards Luke, making sure he wasn't ready to snap my head off.

He seemed pretty contempt so far, which was always a good sign.

"This could be bad for your image." Simon stated slowly, causing not only my own, but all of the boy's jaws to drop