The Unexpected

EASIER

~~Hey guys! thanks soo much for reading. This chapter is not one of my proudest, but I'm finishing up finals so I'll be able to give it my 100% when I finish all these damn tests! Bare with me on this one as it's just going to be setting up dialogue and background info. Next chapter sh*t goes down! ~~ ENJOY AND PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK OR MESSAGE ME ANY IDEAS! I'M OPEN TO ANYTHING! ~~

General POV

"What's up Los Angeles! We are 5 Seconds of Summah" Luke says into the mic as the crowd erupts in cheers. 

He smiles and waves, "We are excited to be here, and cannot wait to share our new album with you. In the meantime, this one's called Easier -- Go!" Band starts to play Easier (Vault version)

Michael POV

This crowd is wild tonight. We have an amazing set and everybody is playing amazing tonight. I've caught Calum looking at Luke every now and then when Luke has a guitar session in a song, he was a bit off at the beginning but nothing that the crowd could tell as it still sounded amazing but we knew our cues and we could tell he was not focused. Hard to guess why. "Cuz I -- have a jet black heart -- and there's a hurricane underneath it -- trying to keep us apart" I sing into the mic. This song means so much to us and by the looks of it, it's hitting Ashton and Luke hard right now. Ashton is playing insanely emotional and Luke is actually crying with every passing lyric. The crowd seems to not have noticed but the camera crew is cued to face it to him. When the concert is over we head backstage and wait for our call time for 'Who Do You Love'. In the meantime we just stand side stage and watch Chainsmokers perform. We all just stood there and danced and goofed around until we were set to go back on stage. 

*skip rest of concert -- we all know they are amazing and there is no need to write out their amazingness* 

*End of Concert* 

Ashton POV 

The concert was over and we were heading backstage to change and pick up our stuff to head over to our next show. We were all tired so we headed to pack our stuff right away and get our bags out onto our bus. I check the time and it's 12:30 a.m.. I finish grabbing my go bag and duffle bag to see Luke staring at his phone while struggle to carry his bags and helping Calum with 1 of his 3 bags. Calum sleepily walked out behind him -- I'm assuming he got a nap in before packing even though we told him not to since it would just make him more tired. Michael was already heading out the door no doubt tired as fuck as well except this idiot listened unlike Calum. -- 

General POV 

"You idiot did you take a nap?" Ashton asks Calum 

"Yeah mate, I just couldn't stay awake anymore. I was literally nodding off while packing where  I used my bag as a pillow on the floor. I don't even realize when I went to sleep til Luke woke me up after he finished packing my stuff." Calum said as Luke looked up "huh?" when he heard his name being mentioned. 

"you packed for Calum?" Ashton said

"oh yeah -- " he said as he looked down to his phone again typing away "I came in to the room and he was passed out on the floor. Packed his stuff while I packed mine." he hit send and put his phone away. 

They entered the bus and immediately just threw their bags to their respective bunks and spread out. They loved spending time together, but touring always left them on their nerves since they literally spent 24/7 together -- always wanting at least 5 minutes alone. They enjoyed their company and being there for each other but it always got tiring having to turn around - boom a mate -- turn the other way -- another mate. Sometimes they just looked at each other and knew that they needed to be alone. And in this circumstance, Luke had that look. 

Calum POV 

Luke was stressed out. His face said it all. He was exhausted, stressed, mad, emotional... He couldn't even stand himself but there was nothing we could do for him. He had that look of wanting to be alone so no one followed him into the man cave. He dropped off his bags into his bunk and dropped mine off next to my bunk and took his phone out as he walked into MC. Ashton, Michael and I just looked at each other and fully understood our intentions -- let him have his moment alone as he was most likely going to call home. It's night time here which means it's day time in Straya. We silently agreed on our routine of when someone was having a difficult time -- give them time alone, but also let them know we are here for them; once we felt they had enough time alone we always went to them and just cuddled with them or brought them something they enjoyed -- in Luke's case; Mr. Pengy.  

Ashton POV 

As the bus started on with the route, we were all scrolling through our phones playing iMessage games and scrolling through Instagram. We were tagging each other on memes we found from our 'unknown to the public private account'. We followed family but disguised our names as someone else so we can easily tag ourselves in memes or other posts without having the fans or public eyes judge us. I found a particularly funny one and tagged Michael immediately. He was sitting in the front sofa and Calum was next to me so I could just show him my phone. I tagged Michael and started to reply to Calum's iMessage game when Michael burst out laughing -- telling me he had received my meme. Calum laughed as well as he reacted to Michaels funny reaction. 

It had been 10 minutes since Luke had gone in to the man cave and we had heard him call his mom. Liz knew he felt bad and didn't want to hurt Ben's feelings but she also missed him. It's been 2 years since Luke has gone back to Australia, and 5 years since he's been able to stay for more than 3 days. The guys and me were able to go for a quick 2 week stay but Luke had NYFW and Glass Man photoshoot planned by management that he only stayed for 4 days. Neither him or his family were happy when we dropped him off at the airport. Michael had missed out on some trips as well due to his collaboration with Gibson guitars but he made up for when he flew out unexpectedly from Management only us knowing his plans. We vowed to be there for our families like they were there for us and we vowed to never forget where home is but management had different plans for us and it's been difficult to even make it home after our moving to LA. As the 3 of us finish replying to a card game, we're startled by a  screaming Luke screaming to what seems is Jack-- 

"Fuck dude I apologized already there is nothing more I can do! I'm sorry i'm so fucking sorry --" his voice cracking. 

We stared at each other with wide eyes as we debated whether to go in or wait until he hung up.