Obsession

Ch 5 - Not Old Enough

"There's Ashton," Traci said, far more casually than I would have ever expected her to in such a situation. It was like her words didn't even register in my brain.

I followed her gaze to see a man in a newsboy hat walking toward the entrance from the elevator. Behind him was another tall, dark headed guy. I blinked a couple times, looked back at the first guy, and what Traci had said finally hit me.

"And Calum!" I whisper shouted. Then I saw two teenaged girls go out the entrance behind them. I had no idea where they'd come from. I guess they were on the elevator with Ashton and Calum?

"Shit, come on!" I said, grabbing Traci's hand.

She stood up but hesitated, her feet planted firmly. "What, we're just going to chase after them?"

I laugh now because normally I'm the timid one. I never expected Traci to be the one who was afraid. But something took over and I didn't have time to waste.

"We have to go for it. This might be our only chance. Come on!" I didn't give her a choice. I tugged on her arm until she had to walk or else fall over.

We hustled up to the door, but then regained our composure when we stepped outside and they were right there in front of us. Calum was answering one of the girls who had followed them out. She had apparently asked for a picture, because he said, "Yeah, but we have to hurry. We're late for dinner." However, Ashton kept walking, looking down at his phone, completely ignoring everyone, or at least pretending to.

I didn't know what to do. I figured it would be a waste to approach Ashton. He obviously didn't want to be bothered. So I just stopped to wait on Calum. Traci, however, returned to her usual bold self, scurried to catch up with Ashton, and said, "Ashton, I don't want a picture. But may I have a hug?"

I was sure he was going to keep walking, but he stopped and turned around to see who'd asked him the question. Traci stepped forward, and he smiled so big at her. "Aww, of course," he said, opening his arms and walking to her.

I couldn't believe it. I was hyperventilating, but tried to not let it show. I prayed that I was pulling it off as well as I thought I was. It was dumb, really, but it happens every time I'm in a similar situation. Stupid anxiety, I have no control over it.

Ashton glanced at me when he pulled away from Traci, and I took the opportunity to ask, "Can I have a hug, too?"

"Yeah," he replied, with that same beautiful smile he'd given Traci, and motioned me to him. He smelled amazing, like he'd just gotten out of the shower and put on some expensive cologne.

While we hugged, I rubbed his back and said, "Thank you so much for taking time for this." There was so much more I wanted to say, but they obviously didn't want to/couldn't hang around. I at least wanted him to know how much I appreciated him taking time for one simple hug that meant the world to me.

He nodded his head, still flashing those dimples, and said, "It was my pleasure," before turning to leave.

I could have died the happiest person in the world at that moment.

Calum had finished taking pictures with the two girls, and Traci asked him for a hug as well. I took in his gorgeous face over her shoulder while he hugged her. Words can't even properly describe how perfect it was up that close.

Calum looked at me expectantly after he hugged Traci. I told him, "I just want a hug, too." As he put his arms around me, I said, "I want a memory, not a picture." I realized right away how stupid that sounded, but my words never come out right when I'm nervous. I'm lucky I was even able to say that much. I took in a deep breath, because he smelled even better than Ashton. I was afraid he was going to smell like cigarettes, to be honest. So that was a very pleasant surprise.

Calum said, "Aww, that's sweet." I told him thanks, and he went to catch up with Ashton.

I thought that was the end of the brief experience, but Traci wasn't giving up that easily. "Hey, Calum," she called to him. I know my eyes got huge and I held my breath in anticipation of what she was going to say.

Calum turned around and walked a couple steps back toward her. "What?" he asked, but politely with a smile, not like he was annoyed. And it didn't go unnoticed that his eyes quickly skimmed her from head to toe and back.

"Where are you going? I'll buy you a drink."

My girl has some balls. Straight and to the point, she is.

Calum smiled even bigger and chuckled. "But I'm not old enough!" he pointed out, holding up his arms and shrugging.

"Well, damn. You can't blame a girl for trying," she said, shrugging in return.

Calum was still smiling, and he opened his mouth as though to say something. But then he bit his bottom lip for a second, winked and walked away. Ashton had just rounded the corner, and Calum jogged a few steps to catch up with him. Then they were gone. Just as quickly as it had happened, it was over.

Traci and I didn't say a word for several minutes. We just walked around aimlessly, headed in the opposite direction in which Ashton and Calum had gone. When we made it to the end of the block, we sat down at a table outside of a closed coffee shop. Then we proceeded to quietly lose our shit.

Traci was the first to say anything. "What. The. Actual. Fuck. Just happened?!"

"I think we just met Cashton. Fuck, Traci, we just met Cashton! And hugged them! Oh my god. I can't deal with this." I had managed to hide my excitement all that time, but I was suddenly shaking.

Traci's eyes teared up and she covered her face. "They smell like sunshine and rainbows."

We carried on for a moment, finally letting our inner fangirls out. I'd be lying if I said we didn't cry. Just a tear or two. We may have been older than typical fangirls, but the feelings were the same.

After finding our chill, we both realized our phones were running on about 15% battery. And we had no charger. And we weren't planning on going back to the other hotel any time soon. I mean, hello, we still hadn't seen Michael and Luke. So we looked up nearby stores to buy a charger, and located a Walgreens a couple blocks away. We headed in that direction, not knowing how perfect our timing was going to be once again.