Edited - 8/2/19
Warning: Minor PG-rated scene at the middle.
Luke
I wanted nothing more than to just stay in that room with Calum. Both of us just sitting down, enjoying the silence and basking in each other's company after months of being apart.
When we heard voices outside the door, we figured it was time to meet Andrew on the stage. Mercifully, nobody was in the hallway when we got out. Seeing Calum and I walk out an empty room surely would've raised some questions. The silence that settled between us was comfortable.
Andrew was stood in the middle of the stage, holding his phone up to his ear with a hand on his hip. He ended the call once we stopped a few feet away.
"Hey lads," He smiled at us. "Perfect timing. I just got off the phone with both of your managers. Ms. Wilkins requested that you be photographed together, to further confirm what the fans just saw."
Here we go.
It was comforting that Andrew looked at Calum almost like he was sorry. "As with all concerts, most paparazzi will be waiting just outside the arena," Andrew continued nevertheless. "You'll be escorted—"
Calum's phone started ringing. He excused himself before walking towards the left side of the stage, phone pressed to his ear.
"You know," Andrew said after a moment. "Nobody should be forced into what you guys are doing." His face held so much sympathy I almost couldn't look at him. Before I came to the concert and had talked with Andrew on the phone, he told me that he was briefed about Calum and I's situation. Again, he was bound to secrecy.
"It's okay, it comes with the job," I didn't know if that was making Andrew's perspective on the situation a little more optimistic. "He and I are doing okay now."
"You weren't before?"
Yes. No. "It's complicated, also a very long story."
"Before I started working around celebrities, I thought things like this never happened." Andrew sighed, crossing his arms. I wondered how long he's been a tour manager, and whom he had worked with in the past.
"I did, too." It was true. Before becoming an actor then a model shortly after, I never would have guessed that celebrities were actually coerced by their management to do things for publicity, and not because they wanted to do it.
Before either Andrew and I could speak again, Calum was making his way back. "Patricia," He said without me needing to ask.
Somebody shouted Andrew's name from the other side of the stage. "Be right there!" He called out. "You boys can head back to the dressing room. Once Ashton and Michael come back, we can have Jensen escort you two out towards a separate vehicle."
I nodded before Andrew took off. "What'd she say?" I asked Calum. Both of us began to walk off the stage, heading back to the direction we came from.
"She did most of the talking." Calum cleared his throat. "Although, I did ask her if it was possible that you and I could just spend the rest of my short time here in Sydney without her or Dave telling us what to do and without a bunch of cameras following us everywhere we go."
I snorted. "I'm sure that request was thrown out the window."
"Actually," Calum scratched the back of his neck. "She offered me a deal. I told her I'd talk to you before I agreed."
My eyebrows knitted together. "And that deal would be?"
"We have to come up with a creative way to make headlines. Something she, nor the public, expects. And something that would have, uhh, made the wait worth it." Calum grimaced at his words. "I'm guessing she meant making people waiting for us to be seen together satisfied."
I tried to understand what Patricia meant by that. "How long will you be here for?"
"Three days," Calum answered.
"So, if we do something, other than walking out and holding hands or whatever, that will get the media's attention, they won't ask us to do anything else.. for the three days you're here."
It was almost too good to be true. "Pretty much," Calum answered.
We reached their dressing room without another word. Calum grabbed two beers from the mini-fridge and stood in front of me, offering me one.
I wanted to be with Calum, to have the illusion that we were simply just two non-celebrities hanging out and getting to know each other again—even if it's only for three days.
God, I missed him. It's actually pathetic how much I missed him.
"Luke," Calum said. His hand still outstretched with the beer. "Don't want one?"
I took the bottle he was offering to me, then took the other one. I set them both down at a table near us.
The words came out my mouth before I could stop them. "Can we make-out now?"
Calum looked taken aback.
He didn't waste any time coming up with a response. His fingers gripped onto my shirt, pulling me closer to him and then pressing our lips together quite abruptly, our teeth clashing in the process.
I steadied myself by settling both hands on his hips. It was no secret that Calum had been waiting long for this, I could feel his eagerness and it made me smile against his lips.
I brought up one hand to his hair, tugging just a tiny bit and relishing at the sound he made. I used the leverage to pull his head slightly backwards, our lips still grazing. I tilted my head for a better angle before licking my way into his mouth.
Calum was practically melting in my arms.
The kiss went on like that, a bit slower and a lot more passionate. We broke off when we both couldn't hold our breaths any longer.
Calum spoke with softness. "When I saw you a while ago, I wanted to be as close as I could. I actually wanted a lot of things. I wanted," He breathed out. "Luke, you don't even know."
A chill crawled up my spine.
"You could try finishing your sentences. Or," I was leaning in again, my hands going down to his ass. "You could continue kissing me until your bandmates come back." At some point during our make-out session, Calum had pushed us until my back was against the door. If anybody was going to enter, I'd be able to hear their footsteps coming.
Calum was biting his lips, his arms coming around to wrap at my waist once more. "That sounds like a good plan."
I purposely avoided kissing his lips this time, my nose and my lips barely brushing over his cheekbone then his cheek and down to his jaw. His breath caught when I moved to his neck. I landed a kiss right at the point where his neck and his shoulder met.
"As much as I would love for you to keep going," Calum said and I felt him swallowing, his throat obviously getting dry. "I think I just figured out what we can do to get management off our backs."
I leaned back, narrowing my eyes. "We are not making-out in front of the paparazzi. Kissing at the airport is differe—"
"I wasn't going to suggest that," Calum chuckled. "Just trust me, okay?"
I didn't have a clue about what it was he was planning. But then Calum was kissing me again and my brain failed to think altogether.
I had asked for this. I wanted this. And by asking for this, I was now dancing along that line. That line we haven't acknowledged out loud, that line I drew years ago to protect my sanity.
That line's getting thinner each time we're together.
It took a second to figure out that Calum was kissing his way down my neck. "I wonder," A kiss. "What people would think we did," And another. "If they saw you covered in hickeys?"
My mind just short-circuited.
I swallowed. "Oh." Now I understood.
His breath ghosted over my skin, making goosebumps erupt all over my arms. My hands were now holding onto the back of his shirt.
"That would make quite the statement."
I felt Calum smile against my neck before he pulled away. "I won't do it if you don't want me to. There'll be pictures, pictures on the internet practically last forever. I'm just giving a suggestion." And of course he was a hundred percent sincere.
As if he wasn't perfect enough.
"I don't have a better plan, so.."
Calum shook his head, rubbing his hands slowly up and down my arms. "We can think of something else. Everybody's going to see them, you know. And I mean everybody."
I shrugged. "They've seen worse from me."
Calum didn't like that I brought up the time a man took pictures of me naked without my knowledge and then leaked it. He didn't like it one bit. I pecked his lips to get him to stop frowning. "Just go for it, Calum. I've made up my mind."
Where I was getting my courage, I had no idea. Maybe this wasn't bravery though. Maybe this was just recklessness.
Calum's hand were now gripping my hips and was back to kissing my neck. His lips parted, and all thinking has ceased. I tilted my head to give him more access, my eyes closing. He was nipping at the skin just below my jaw. Calum would plant a kiss kiss then lick over it before going back to nipping and sucking at the patch of skin.
"This shirt," Calum said against my skin as he slid the fabric up. His hands are cold from where they're settled just under my waist. I shivered. "Best thing you own."
I hadn't thought this through.
I hadn't pictured that once he started, I wouldn't want him to stop. I didn't picture it getting so hot so fast.
It was an effort not to make any noise when he stumbled upon a more sensitive spot, my hand flying upwards to tangle in Calum's hair. A soft moan managed to slip from my lips. Before I could even begin to feel embarrassed, Calum had pulled me closer to him and was continuing to abuse said spot.
I barely noticed that my hand had tightened around his hair until I felt the vibrations of his moan and I almost lost it.
Calum abruptly pulled back. "That's.." He was breathing heavily, pupils blown. "Stop doing that."
My mouth began to feel very dry. Once he went back to kissing my neck, I gave another slight tug on his hair. He made a low sound at the back of his throat.
I chuckled despite being maybe more than a little turned on. The sound died and became a gasp then a moan. Calum had licked the spot he was working on and sucked harder.
Holy shit.
The sucking turned into feather-light kisses. He pulled away and stepped back.
Warm. My entire body was heating up. His hands were warm now, and were now on my waist. My shirt had ridden up with his hands.
A blush was settling on my face and I couldn't look at him directly, so I stared at his chest.
"I'm—" I breathed out. Fuck. What in the world do I even say?
"To be honest," Calum said, way too nonchalantly. "Looking at you right now makes me want to keep going." He gave me a smile, lowering his hands and fixing my shirt. "This will do for now, though."
I went to check my reflection at the nearest mirror. "Well," I cleared my throat. "The only way they're going to miss these is if they're blind."
Calum stepped until he was behind me. "You taste good."
I laughed, trying not to make it obvious how much that statement affected me and the other images that popped into my head. "You seem quite proud of yourself."
"Maybe I am." Calum was smirking. "I have another idea. Let's leave and get dinner."
"We have to wait for Jensen," I reminded him.
He was fixing his hair. "There'll be security outside. I'll just text Andrew and tell him that we're going to get dinner. Easy."
"No, not easy." I shook my head. "Are you rebelling?"
"Yeah, you know, teen spirit and all that." He waved his hand and I rolled my eyes. "But seriously, I'm hungry. Let's just go."
"Calum—"
"You're just going to let me starve?"
"Are you pouting?"
"Come on, Luke. It's going to be fine." He grabbed various things around the dressing room, including his wallet and phone. He took my hand and dragged me out of the dressing room, I barely managed to grab my denim jacket.
"Calum!" I nearly tripped over my own feet. He was running, which meant I was also running as he was still pulling me along towards the back entrance.
He stopped and pulled out his phone, still not letting go of my hand. He was asking for the person he called to pick us up. Turned out there was security waiting for us just outside, even though we were practically escaping from the arena without Andrew or Jensen's knowledge.
The lights from the camera flashes outside were blinding. As usual. And I ignored whatever comment I heard about the very obvious marks on my neck.
Calum knew where to go. We managed to get in the car in one piece.
Andrew didn't put up much of a fight when Calum said we took off early. Ashton and Michael didn't say much either and just told Calum and I to have fun.
"Hey," Calum said. We were both at the backseat. There was light music playing from the radio and the driver was talking to Jensen on the phone. "You wanna just order take-out instead?"
"Take-out?" I raised an eyebrow. "You mean, eat at your place?"
"Yeah," Calum nodded. He must've seen my expression because he let out a laugh. "We're not going to do anything, Luke. I was thinking we watch a movie while eating dinner, then afterwards you can get the driver to take you home."
It sounded better than being ogled at in a restaurant. "Yeah, sure."
"I guess this is a start?"
I tilted my head, not really catching on. "What?"
His hand found mine, my fingers intertwined with his almost immediately.
I looked down at our hands then back at Calum. He was looking at me, hesitant and waiting.
"Dinner." I took a deep breath before nodding. "Yes, it's a start." I squeezed his hand.