His Sister

Chapter 22.

"Sometimes, it all gets a little too much." Maia sings a little quietly as she shakes the shaker back and forth in her hands. Luke picks the guitar, looking at her sing.

They're facing the camera in Michael's living room. Ashton stands behind the camera with Ivy at his legs on her phone. Michael is on his phone on the other end of the room, lounging in a beanbag. I sit next to him, watching the two film a beautiful duet to one of Shawn Mendes songs. This is one if one of Maia's favorites.

Luke smiles at Maia and Ashton slumps down to the ground by Ivy, letting the two finish their cover. He looks over at her phone and I see them doubling tapping or replying to things. Michael is stalking fans twitters and I just admire the two lovebirds sweetly singing. Calum is in the kitchen making food, bur probably failing. Calum isn't the best cook.

I hear a crash and Michael and I look at each other in worry. We better go check on him. Michael and I say through our eyes and Luke and Maia are now looking in the direction of the noise as they finish their duet. Michael and I race to see if Calum's okay. The worst that could happen is him burning the house down...

Crap.

We fling into the kitchen and see Calum in a tangled mess. He has vegemite all over his face and his apron is in knots around his waist. his legs are hooked on the counter top and his arms are flung on the ground. He has a napkin on his head and the pan on the stove is falling over.

"Um, hey guys..." He says, and Michael and I laugh. we help him up, and he brushes his hands on his apron. He looks at his mess on the stove and sighs.

"well, I tried." We laugh some more and We hear ashton start clapping in the background. That must mean Luke and Maia are finished with their cover. Calum takes off his apron and we race into the living room.

"That's was awesome!" Ashton says, high fiving Luke. Ivy hugs Maia and Luke plants a kiss on Maia's cheek. Michael comes in,

"Great job, guys!" he high fives Luke and Ivy and Ashton stand together, beaming. Ashton's arm is around Ivy as she squeal,

"Ash and I will edit and upload it tonight! I'm so excited!" She claps and Ashton looks down at her, smiling proudly as his excited girlfriend. I see pride in his eyes. I see admiration. I see love in his as he looks at Ivy. It makes me so happy to see ashton happy. to have someone besides me to care about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boys, Maia, and Ivy all decide to spend the night. Ashton and Ivy are in ash's room "editing" and Maia and I lay on my bed and floor. Maia nauseously hugs a pillow to her stomach, eyes fixed on my ceiling fan.

"What's wrong." I say, knowing she's freaked out about something. she keeps her eyes on the fan and shakes her head,

"The video." She closes her eyes and then recollects herself. "I'm not sure I want people to see me sing." I have to stop myself from laughing. Is this what I was like when Ivy put that video of me singing on instagram?

"dude, you're fine. You sounded amazing! I think the boys were jealous." She laughs and asks, a tear of worry going down her temple,

"you really think so?" To answer her I put my hands in the air, picturing a huge imaginary sign. I say,

"Maia Symone...Newest member of '5sos'." She giggles and I laugh. just then, Michael, Calum, and Luke all barrel into my room. Luke jumps on my bed, almost landing on top of Maia, and Michael takes a seat in my desk chair. Calum sits by me, as I am not leaning against a wall.

"How y'all doing?" Michael asks, but Luke has already figured out the answer. He looks into Maia's red puffy eyes with concern on his face,

"Babe, are you okay?" Luke sits closer to Maia, his eyes becoming wider and red rimmed,

"Oh my gosh Maia, what's wrong?" He says, worried but also in a soft tone. He takes oth of Maia's hands and rub the back of them with his thumb. She shrugs,

"Nothing. I was just...worried about the video." He opens his mouth in both relief and pity, and brings Maia into his arms. He holds her close to his chest and rubs her back, his cheek laying on the crown of her head.

"You all are so cute." Calum says and Michael has now found my giant teddy bear. he pretends it's Maia,

"Oh, Maia, it's Luke. Will you love me? I'm so shy when I'm around you, and I really want to spend the night with you, if you know what I mean," I laugh at Michael being his inappropriate self as he continues, "I love you so much, let's write songs and perform beautiful covers and ride off into the sunset." He then plants a kiss on my giant bear, and Calum claps at this in the midst of his laughing. Luke snorts and Maia's shoulders are rising and falling in Luke's arms from laughter.

"Well ,everyone's kissing...?" Calum says, looking at me with hope in his eyes. he's obviously finding ways to kiss me, that's just how he is. I roll my eyes while smiling and he lunges in, kissing me. our shoulders bang against the wall as we lean to the left, and Calum's hand is now behind my neck. His thumb moves back and forth against the back of my scalp, where my hair ends, and it tickles.

"wow, y'all are weird." Luke says, still holding Maia in his arms as he watches us kiss. Michael and my teddy bear, and Calum with me. Calum holds his other hand up, motioning to Luke to "talk to the hand." Luke laughs as Calum is still kissing me through all of this. Michael starts to cuddle my giant bear and says,

"I'm naming her Peanut butter." he smiles and I almost choke while kissing Calum, trying not to laugh as his lips are on mine.

We stay in my room until sun down.