(A/N) Hi:) So the Friday update turned into a Saturday update...aha, oops? Let's just say I tend to forget to press save sometimes, and trust me, knowing I'm uploading even just a day late makes me want to slap myself -__-
Thankyou bunches for the amazing feedback of the last chapter:) I can't wait to here what you think of this one! And in honour of chapter eighteen, I've linked the freakin amazing song somewhere...yeah, somewhere on your screen xD
Happy reading x
***
"Did you-"
"Yeah."
"And did we just?"
"Uh- huh."
"..."
"..."
"Well,"
"Well..?
"... Well, do it again."
***
"What's gotten into you?" Mikey questioned Luke the next day, lazily biting into his pizza slice, eyeing up Luke with suspicion plastered over his face.
"I don't know what you're taking about." Luke grinned widely, shrugging his shoulders. He stirred around his cereal bowl, looking down at the contents as Michael raised a questioning eyebrow at him before turning to me.
"Did you put something in his food?" he said in a serious tone.
"What?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes. But Michael kept staring at me, waiting for my answer. I sighed, as if talking to a toddler. "No, Michael. I did not tamper with Luke's food." I stuck my tongue out.
"Maybe you should lay off the hair dye, man." Luke chimed in, "Maybe the chemicals are seeping into your skull or some shit." he shrugged, trying to cover up his smirk with his large hand.
Michael shot a glare at him, which only made Luke's laugh harder to muffle. Then to me and back to Luke. He folded his arms across his chest.
"Hah. Hah. Hah." he grimaced, playfully. "You're just never this happy on a Monday, that's all..." Mikey leaned back into his chair. "Seriously, what have not told us?"
"Nothing!"
"Nah, I've noticed it too." Calum scooted onto a chair, tearing a bit off of his sandwich and dropping it onto the table. "Something's new," he bit into his food, chewing quietly. "He's hiding it."
"I'm not hiding anything! I'm just- happy, okay?" the lopsided, goofy smile he sported not helping with his point. He glanced up at me promptly, "Happier then I've been in a long time."
"Honestly, you and your vague answers get really annoying sometimes." Calum munched, resting his elbows on the table.
Luke's phone's ringing sounded and he excused himself from the table before answering,
"Hah, you should her this other person I know, they can be real confusing." he stuck his tongue out to me promptly, before walking into his room and pushing it shut.
"He's such a-"
"Dork?"
Mikey nodded, rolling his eyes. But it was impossible for him to hide the smile forming on his lips.
"Where's Ash?" I asked Calum as my eyes darted up to the clock sitting on the wall.
"Still in bed."
"But it's like noon, plus you've got that appearance of that chat show later, don't you?" I replied. Calum made a concerned face,
"I know." he sighed, tilted his head towards the direction of the room Ashton was staying in. "Maybe you should go check on him."
Ashton had been oddly quiet lately. Apart from him bringing foods for me when I was 'sick' the other day, I haven't really spoken to him. No one has, really. He seemed to be keeping to himself more, moreover he barely spoke more then a few sentences whenever anyone tried to make a conversation with him.
It wasn't only us that had noticed. Their fans had too. Ashton, being the most active on the bands' social media accounts, had barely been posting- and it didn't go unnoticed.
And it doesn't take a genius to figure out why.
"Hey..." I said softly, peeping into Ashton's room. "Can I come in?"
A short, muffled grumble came from under the lump of blankets on the bed. Ash's fluffy tufts of hair where visible from the top and his feet poked out from the bottom whilst he was submerged under the crinkly bedspread.
I plopped myself beside him making the mattress bounce up in down as I slowly peeled the blankets off of his torso. He wasn't even dressed yet.
"...Ash," I mumbled, playing with his messy hair as he remained face down on the pillow. "Come on, it's almost one. You have a TV appearance later, remember?"
"I'm not going." Ash's voice was dry and gruff and his bare arms reached back down, pulling the covers back over his head.
"Ashton, don't be like that..." I ripped the covers back off of him. "Come on."
"I'm not going." he repeated, just as low as the last.
"What about your fans?" I challenged, knowing that this question wouldn't be as easy to answer.
"You don't get it do you?" he gave me a deadpan look, propping himself upright. "One of the most important people in my life has gone behind my back to sabotage our reputation with the media. And I've tried to not be bothered with it, but it's eating away at me inside so excuse me for wanting to hibernate for a few decades or so." he flopped his hands back down to his lap. "She tried jeopardize the bands career."
"She didn't jeopardize anything."
"No!" Ashton exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "No, you don't understand, okay? Me and Ani go way back, a-and"
"And you're going to leave her without even hearing her out?"
"I've heard enough."
"And who have you listened to- Bree?" I pushed myself up onto my feet, "Are you really going to listen to your stylist over your girlfriend?"
Ashton raked a hand through his tousled locks. Despite sleeping into the afternoon, the puffy, grey bags under his tired eyes didn't show the extra rest.
"She's not my girlfriend." he swallowed, staring at his lap.
I walked over to his suitcase, flipping it open. "That hurt to say, didn't it."
Ashton huffed in denial, placing his elbows down on his knees. I scooped out a shirt and flinged it onto the bed.
"How long have you known Ani, anyway?" I said casually, digging through an endless pile of black jeans.
I glanced up at Ashton, who was still hunched over. However, once in the past few days, a crack of a smile found it's way to his face.
"Technically we met in Highschool, but I didn't talk to her for a while, I was too nervous." he rubbed his palms together, distracted by the flashback. "I think, like, two years passed before I plucked up the courage to talk to her."
"Did the guy's know about her?"
Ashton broke out in a chuckle, "Heck yeah, they knew. I submindedly rambled on about her so much the Calum and Luke even wrote a song." he wiped his hand over his eyes. "Sorry, this is really embarrassing."
"No, no keep going." I ushered.
"Well, when you hear it it could be about anyone. But when you really listen you'll hear these lines that give it away..." he rested his chin into his hand, lightly smiling into the palm. "She has this tattoo, but she doesn't really like to show it off. I noticed it one day when I saw her in town when she was reaching up for something. She caught me looking, and let's just say I didn't make the best first impression."
Ashton's grin became large and goofy, reaching up through his cheeks and creasing at his eyes.
"She's got a rose tattoo but she keeps it covered..." I sang quietly, handing Ash his jeans. "I play guitar,"
"But she's into drummers." Ashton finished. He pulled his shirt over his head and smoothed down his frizzy fringe. The wide, gleaming smile faded off of his face and returned to the glum expression he had been sporting beforehand.
"I felt like she was too good for me, too out of my league. 'Out of reach', I guess you could say." he said, using his fingers as quotation marks. "And I couldn't believe it when I finally was able to all her mine."
I grabbed one of Ash's bandanas from his bedside table and flicked him with it. "Then why they heck are you pushing her away, idiot."
I thwacked him on the head, letting go of the bandana into his hands. "You've known her for years, you said it yourself. You know she didn't do it. Your mind only believes it because you think it's the only option."
"Well what else am I supposed to base my decisions on? My legs?"
"Unlike what most people think, it's actually the mind that's the most gullible." I said, placing my hand on his knee. "Thankfully, the heart's not so much of a pushover."
Sighing, Ashton adjusted the bandana over his head, looking over at my with big, tired eyes.
"I didn't know you were so good at this stuff, Soph."
"Eh, I do try." I smirked, starting to fix Ashton's messy beddings. I paused. "Listen, Ash. I know most of your songs are about finding love and all that sappy stuff." I smoothed down the cream coloured pillows, "But's not always romantic love, even if that's what we hear bout on the radio."
I pointed at his cellphone that, despite being untouched as of this morning, was forever lighting up with social media notifications. "If I could name every single one of your fans, I would. But there's too many to even start with. And every single one of them love you and no amount of tweets, hashtags, votes, posts and- dare I say it, fanfiction- could even begin to express how much they do."
I reached over and handed Ashton his cellphone. "I'm not saying you and Ani are for certain going to get back together, it would be great if you did- but that's not how life works. Regardless," I tapped the screen of his phone. "I know some people who will love you even when your ninety."
I pinched his cheek,
"Now, go wash yourself you absolutely stink." I slapped his back lightly, shoving him off of the bed and he trudged over into the en suite bathroom.
"Soph?" Someone yelled from the other side of the door.
"In here!" I called back.
Luke burst through the door, still holding his mobile, and a coy expression on his face.
"I have someone that wants to meet you." he said sheepishly. "She's kinda forward and a little, well, outspoken? I guess."
"Luke? Luke!" a womans voice streamed out from the speakers.
"Yeah, mum she's here... okay... okay!" he handed me the phone. "She really wants to talk to you." Luke said with his stupid halfsmiles that could make a policeman commit a crime.
"Wait, no! I can't- you know what I'm like at first impressions." I threw the phone back at him.
"Seriousl- mum, yeah she's here- Soph!" He tugged me foreword and shoved the phone into my hand without letting go of my other arm.
"What if doesn't like me?"
"That's not possible."
"Luke, I can't- Oh hi, Mrs. Hemmings..."
Luke took my hand holding the phone into his own and pressed it onto my ear himself.
"Oh, that's much to formal- call me Liz." the unfamiliar sound of Luke's mother replied. I giggled half- heartedly, unsure of what to say to Luke's mother who, in this precise moment, was probably judging everything that comes out of my mouth. No pressure.
"What's she saying?" Luke mouthed in front of me.
"You take care of those boys, now." Liz advised in a calm, cool voice. "Especially my Luke, he's a master at losing things..."
I chuckled at her statement, only making Luke more curious of his mum's words. He scooted beside me, bringing his ear close to mine, listening in.
"Make sure they're all taking care of themselves and washing," she continued, "Oh, don't get me started on Luke and showering..."
Luke screwed his eyes shut, "Mum..." he muttered, exhaling deeply.
"And make sure he does not participate in any or anything related to s-"
"Okay! I think that's enough chit chat for one day- thankyou mother..." he briskly whipped the phone out of my hand before rushing out of the room followed by descending foot steps and multiple 'okay...okay..'s before Luke reached his own door and slammed it shut.
I rolled my eyes at the pair, but there was no denying the mother and son relationship between them both was anything but adorable.
Suddenly, I felt a pang of neediness towards my own mum. And my brother. I am doing this for them, after all- Bradley especially. Well, that being the original, sole purpose. However, there it's so much more that has come from this experience.
People don't always get what they want- but they get what they need. Ashton is a perfect example of this. All he wanted was a nice, normal relationship. And he got just that. But he also wanted a career in a band. He also got just that. But ever heard of the phrase 'just too good to be true'?
I am a worrier. I'll admit it. I don't like showing it though, I feel vulnerable and easy to be taken advantage of when I do. I like to push out all unnecessary negativity present in my life and pretend it's not there. I try to preserve all the positive instead,
Sounds like a good plan to me. Or so I thought. I tried to hang on so much to the good times in the past, I never made any room for the new ones. And instead of pushing the bad ones into the back of my mind it only thought about them more. I guess you could say I was hoarding them. And I would worry. And I would worry.
And I would worry.
I would worry about not being adequate enough to keep up with my grades in school. I would worry about my brother, and feel compelled to be a role model for him even though I myself feel no sense of security within my own body.
I would worry about mum, and how she has to cope single handedly and wonder whether or not I was helping or just pestering her.
I had everything planned out so that I wouldn't worry, but then whenever something fell out of place it would blow the whole system.
But now, I've learned thing. I've experienced things. Now, I couldn't care less.
Because, hey. Why waste your time worrying, right?
For Ashton it would be the struggles of having a girlfriend in the public eye. Not to mention a pesky back stabbing rat they call their stylist. But there will be one of two outcomes from his drawback. Either it will all work itself out and his relationship with Ani will become stronger.
Or he himself will be the stronger outcome.
For me, well I'm still trying to figure out what's to come.
Let's just hope it's worth the wait.
The echo of footsteps sounded from other side of the door, before three sharp knocks tapped against it.
"Come in..." I shouted, pulling out my phone to check the time. It was 1:04. The boys needed to be in the car and on there way by 1:30. I could her the sound of water, indicating that Aston in the shower would itself make us late.
"Hey, Sophie." a high pitch voice intoned, stepping into the room. After days of not seeing her, stood right in front of my dressed in a white playsuit and floral jacket was none other then-
"Bree?"
Ew.
She sauntered over to an armchair in the corner, sitting herself down across from me. Pursing her long, matte lips and crossing her legs as she sat.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, flatly. She shrugged,
"Just wanted to talk, you know." she flipped her curled hair to one side, "Have a bit of a catch up with a friend." she smiled sweetly.
I half wanted to laugh, half wanted to gag. Either this girl was really dumb or she was under something.
"Okay, you know what." her face dropped into an unbemused expression. As if a mask had been whisked off of her face. "Let's just get to the point here, Sophie."
"Gladly."
She folded her arms, drawing attention to calm calm fall and rise of her chest. She was up to something. You could feel it in her presence.
"I have a proposal I'd like to share with you."
"Hah." I said drying. "Wow, how kind of you." I shook my head, unlocking my phone, uninterested in anything that girl had to say.
"I think we made it clear that money is a big issue with you and your family right now, correct?"
Her voice itself disgusted me. Have you ever dislike someone so much that anything they did annoyed you? Well, it didn't help that this particular person was sick and twisted on purpose. Scrap what I said earlier about her being dumb. This girl was a genius. Worst still being that she knew it herself.
I didn't reply, so she continued for herself.
"And I'm hear to offer just that."
"Oh wow." I scoffed.
"I know, it's a pretty generous offer."
"No, it's just that I find bullshit hilarious." I jested, slapping myself on the knee like a character from a pantomime.
"There's more." she proceeded, ignoring the fact I would rather make a deal with a talking starfish then with her.
"Really? Gosh, all that thinking must really hurt that pretty little head of yours."
"We are both in the small handful of girls that get to see the guy's on a regular basis- even more so then they're own families." Bree lurched forward, tapping the sides of the armchair with sharp, manicured nails. "We have access to things paparazzi can only dream about."
"Dude, you're acting like we're in some drama show, pipe the fuck down." I cringed at Bree, "You're seriously freaking me out."
I logged into my email on my phone, pretending to not be listening. But in reality, I was hanging on to every last word that came out of her primped mouth.
"Help me, and not only will I match what Calum offered you," she reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a large wad of cash, secured by a rubber band. "I'm prepared to give you double." she threw the money on the bed. "Right here, right now."
I looked down at the large some of money, then back up to a smirking Bree.
"You really are a bitch, you know." I said, almost sorry for her and how pathetic she was.
"That right there is enough for your brothers complete programme and can help out with the rent bills." she explained, gesturing at the bulk of money beside me. "Go on, Sophie. It's so easy- just pick it up."
I swatted the money away like it was some sort of vermin and I was also prepared to slap the rest of the crazy encrypted in the girl opposite me.
"Where did you even get that money?"
"I sold the necklace Calum got me for my birthday." she shrugged. "There wern't any diamonds on it anyway."
"Okay, you must have inhaled some of the hairspray you used on your head because you are out of your mind."
"Easy money, Sophie." she rubbed her fingers together. "You know you want too."
I knew that I wanted this girl out of my presence and preferably out of the country whilst we're at it.
"Honestly, I'd rather sew up every hole in all of of Ashton's t-shirts then work with you." I laughed, quickly making my way to the door and pulling it open. "Now get out before I pull every extension of your hair."
"Fine." Bree raised her hands up to her head. "You were only needed as an extra anyway." she picked up the money from the floor. "I've already found someone. Yeah, she's absolutely perfect for helping me find dirt about the boys."
Bree strutted past me, leaving me almost choking under the cloud of perfume that trailed behind her.
"In fact," Bree added as she reached the door leading to the hallway, "She's already found her first scoop for me."
She flashed me one last smile before finally exiting the hotel room.
"Wow..." I said to myself, walking over to the door of the bathroom. "Ash, get out of the shower already! We've gotta go soon!" I bashed on the door before falling back into the bed, sinking into the sheets.
I scrolled through my email. As always, my mum's address was present on screen. But there was a different email address on my screen. And it wasn't familiar either.
A_4260@gmail.com
There was an attatchement included and, out of curiosity, I opened the file. It was a photo.
A photo of me and Luke. From the other day in my bedroom. It looked as if it was taken from the doorway that Luke had left open. And, from the quality of the image, it was definately taken on a camera phone.
It showed my arms around his neck and his around my waist. Pulled together and lips locked. To me it's a picture of one of my happiest moments.
To anyone else seeing it- it would be Calum Hood's girlfriend kissing one of his most trusted bandmates and best friend.
This picture alone could ruin the band.
I closed the picture, scrolling down to see if there were any others. Thankfully, there wern't any more. But there was a piece of text at the bottom of the email which read simply:
I'm not going anywhere.
Can't say much for you.
- A.