Close As Strangers | Sequel to Beside You

The meeting

*Luke's p.o.v*
I was annoyed that management's meeting had cut my phone call with Alyssa short, but I supposed there was nothing I could do about it. This meeting was apparently "urgent" and "couldn't wait any longer". It sounded pretty serious, so I was just hoping that it wasn't anything to worry about. Management never usually called meetings in the middle of the tour unless it was something serious; otherwise they'd be either before the tour started, to give us information on the shows we'd be playing, or at the end of the tour to tell us how successful it was and how well the whole thing went.

"So what's this about then?" Ashton asked, tapping out a drum beat on the shiny mahogany table top.
"We'll get to that, Ashton," Jake, the head of management replied shirtily. They were sat at the other end of the table; Jake in the middle, Keith on the right and Alan on the left. All three of them were wearing suits and ties, compared to us who were sat at the other end of the table in black skinny jeans and ripped band shirts. We were horrifically underdressed compared to the three men across from us, but it wasn't like there was a dress code or anything.

"So anyway, boys, as you know the tour is a huge success and is going incredibly well," Alan began, his voice serious. He always sounded like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and I don't think that I've ever seen him smile in the whole time that I've known him.
"Oh yeah, we'd like to thank you for this opportunity," Ashton said earnestly. He always spoke the most out of all of us.
"It's not a problem, Ash," Keith grinned. Keith was probably the nicest out of all of the men; he always managed to have a laugh and a bit of banter with us, and didn't call us by our full names, like Alan and Jake insisted they do.

"As I was saying..." Alan began, obviously mad since he got interrupted, causing Ashton to roll his eyes; none of us had been very fond of most of the management team, but I suppose they did do a lot of good things for us.
"As I was saying, the tour is a phenomenal success, but you boys haven't been in magazines and tabloids recently," Alan continued
"Yeah, but that's been kinda nice, to have some private time," Michael interjected, and we all nodded in agreement; it was nice to not be followed by the paps 24/7, and finally have some down time as the normal young adults that we were.

My mind began to drift as Jake began talking again. I so far didn't see how this meeting was urgent at all; it's not like they'd told us anything that needed to be known straight away. I was bored, and I missed my girlfriend, our call being cut short a half hour earlier. I wished that I had been able to spend more time with her, and I regret not flying out to Milan before the tour started to talk to her and avoid missing out on those six months. I thought back to the time before Zoe's birthday and I let Alyssa go, and focused on the many happy memories of when we were together. My favourite things were definitely the little things, one of my favourites being the time that I had come home after a long day in the studio to find Alyssa sat on my couch. We didn't even say much, the only sounds being the content hums from either of us, or the random tunes that I occasionally started humming. My arms were wrapped tightly around Alyssa and I remember  just relaxing in the heat that was radiating off us both. Alyssa's head was on my chest, and I watched as she slowly started to drift off.
"What?" She had asked, when she noticed me looking at her, making me shake my head slightly at her.
"Nothing," I had replied softly. "I just can't believe that I got so lucky."

Sure, it was cheesy, but it was one of my favourite memories; just me and Alyssa sitting quietly, enjoying each other's company as I contemplated on how amazing my beautiful girlfriend was. I remember at the time I was thinking that we could actually grow old together, get married and have kids one day. I had even started thinking of baby names, which is a little crazy, but I was so crazy for Alyssa, it didn't even bother me. The boys teased me about being whipped, but I didn't care: I was happy. The six months she was gone were absolutely awful, and I was such a wreck; I barely ate, I barely slept, I didn't do anything or talk to anyone. But now I had her back, and I was happy again. Nothing could ruin that.

"Luke! Are you even listening?!" Alan snapped, making me jump slightly as I was pulled out of my daydreams.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" I replied, apologetically but still earning disapproving looks from both Alan and Jake.
"Well, we were busy telling the boys that you haven't been in the tabloids recently," Jake began
"Yeah, I know, and we were saying that we liked the privacy," I replied, confused as to why this so heavily involved me.
"The thing is, Luke, we don't want the band to slip under the radar, and even somewhat negative publicity is better than no publicity," Jake continued
"So?" I asked, even more confused as Alan slid a photo along the mahogany table. There was writing on the back of the photo and as I read it, it dawned on me exactly what they were making me do.

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A/N

This was such a goddamn boring, short chapter, I'm sorry!

Slight cliffhanger at the end there, so more drama coming soon

Chicken grease peace nipples
Lots of dat love
Zoe xxx