Katie's POV-
The whole Alex scandal was intense and frankly, I couldn't blame anyone for the things they were saying. After all, Ashton came into my bus and Alex Gaskarth came out with a black eye and a bloody nose. Since this was the case, it wasn't my label thag threatened to ruin me, but Ashton's. They said something about "breaking up friendships" and "bros before hoes" . But all these senseless words meant absolutely nothing to me.
Ashton never left my side, and I mean it when I say never. He was always backstage waiting for me while I was performing. Also, he made me move from my bus and into his (which Luke wasn't happy about). Of course, all my stuff remained in my bus, but I'd gladly sneak out every day if I had to if it meant sleeping next to Ashton.
I called Taylor the moment I was done sobbing my eyes out and around the same time Ashton had left to allow me to get ready for my gig. The conversation panned out just like I thought it would. She asked me about Ashton, and I told her that everyday, he was falling deeper in love with me. And the worst part, it was true.
There was something in Ashton's eyes every single time he looked at me and every time he could, he would sing for me. But I was afraid that every time he looked at me, touched me, or even talked to me, I was the one doing the falling in love.
Day by day, I grew fonder of Ashton and everyday I had to remind myself that this was only a plan to gain my reputation back. But it was more than hard. Hell, it was terrifying. I had never fallen in love with anyone, in my entire life, and just to know that I had to break up with Ashton some time soon - fuck, it scared me to death.
It scared me that one day, someday, I would have to wake up and he wouldn't be there by my side. It terrified me that there would come a day where he wouldn't sing for me, but for another girl. He would whisper in her ear the songs that I thought were only ours to keep like a secret. And this fucking horrified me.
One night we had been so pumped from the concert that we went to a club. Luke had stayed behind, quietly mumbling how he had left his (fake) ID elsewhere. As soon as we got there, we were all tequila and shots, not settling for anything less strong than that. I had been assigned the designated drivers, and frankly, I had too much on my mind to even be thinking about alcohol running through my system, making me forget all my worries.
Okay, maybe I did want to get piss drunk. But I knew that Ashton and his band had been through much more stress than I and, so I let them be. I watched Michael make out with at least three different girls, had to deal with Calum's drunk jokes, and Ashton dancing on the floor, begging me to go along with (and whenever I didn't, he attempted to make me jealous with the first girl he saw). It didn't work.
It wasn't very often that we got to stay at hotels. Normally, we only stayed in an actual space if we were staying at the same place for three days. Which we were, so I took the three drunken boys back to the hotel.
As soon as I snuck these boys in through the back door, I got them upstairs. The second I opened the door, Calum saw the first couch and collapsed on it. Michael attempted to do the same, but ended up on the floor. Ashton gave me a kiss and a small, school-boy giggle, and collapsed on the biggest couch, face first.
Luke came out of the kitchen, an empty glass in his hand. He looked around the room and saw that all of his bandmates had collapsed into a deep sleep. Then, he looked at me and his expression turned from amused to annoyed in less than half a second. "Oh,"
"Luke," I chuckled, pulling my hair up in a ponytail and kicking off my shoes, taking away at least four inches off of my height. It was odd to me how he was up so late, so I began to question him. "What are you doing up, it's like three-twenty in the morning."
"Uh-" He mumbled something to himself as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Then, he retreated to the kitchen, and I was quick on my feet to follow him- even though my feet had been killing me for the past two hours. Luke was pouring chocolate milk into his glass.
I scoffed and he immediately looked up, as if to say 'Can I help you?'. Without waiting one more second, I handed him one of the glasses and he had to restrain himself from grinning as I asked for such a childish thing like chocolate milk. As he put the milk away, he spoke to me,"Don't you have anything to tease me for?"
"Why would I do that?" I tilted my head sideways and slid the glass towards me. Taking a sip out of the milk, I sighed, so glad that I was consuming something rather than liquor, and much more delicious too, may I add. Luke shrugged and took a much longer swig out of his glass and then let out a breath.
"I just told you I had a nightmare and now, I'm drinking chocolate milk with you in my pjs." Technically, he was just wearing large sweatpants that hung low from his hips and on top of that was a cut-up, Misfits tee. He seemed pretty decent -this is not to mention his hair, which was all over the place. However, something atuck out to me, I didn't hear him say anything about a nightmare so this sort of surprised me.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Luke." Honestly, it had happened to me that Joey would come to me when he was homesick or if he had a bad night. Hell, there was even this one time that we slept together because he was afraid that I would hit the road. But Joey was older than me. Luke wasn't, so. I felt like a big sister to him.
"That's it?" He widened his eyes and took the last sip of his milk and placed the glass down on the sink. I was still not even half finished, so I kept on drinking at my own pace. Currently, I was leaned forward and Luke, as soon as he got back, did the same on the other side of the kitchen isle.
"Well, do you want to talk about it?" I asked, pressing the cool glass to my lips and downing the remainder of the drink. Pushing the glass to the side, I locked eyes with Luke once again, but it was only for a few seconds, then, he looked down.
"There was this girl, and somehow, I could tell she was the one, but I never saw her face." He explained, looking down at his hands as he recalled the dream. It was like for the first time since I met Luke, he was letting go. "And I blinked once, and she was gone. So, I went downstairs and she was leaving,"
I was about to speak and ask him what did he think this meant. But instead, he continued to speak, his tone becoming sadder as the mood settled down like a falling leaf when it reaches the ground. "But she wasn't leaving alone, she was leaving with Calum."
"Oh, shit." There were no other words that I could possibly use to express my thoughts. He chuckled, a smile growing onto his face. His blue eyes lifted up to meet mine, and they flickered down to my lips for just a few seconds. We were a good five inches away, so I really hoped he wouldn't try anything.
"Yeah, oh shit is right." Luke laughed, looking down as he regained himself from the humor of the situation. I wished to keep the conversation going, acknowledging that talking about it would make him feel better about loosing the girl of his dreams in his dream. But he clearly had a different intention.
We both spoke at the exact same time. Our voices colliding perfectly as two singers' would. It was quite harmonic.
"But, do you think-"
"Katie, have you ever been in love?"
His question caught me off guard. But when I looked up at him, I saw the sincerity in his eyes and the fact that he was begging for guidance. Sighing and dropping his gaze,I shook my head,"No, not really."
"But Alex told me that you two loved each other." Luke pressed and as soon as these words left his mouth, something snapped inside of me. Somehow, I knew exactly what to say and how to say it.
"Well, yeah, Alex and I fell in love." I acknowledged. Of course, Alex and I had fallen in love with each other, but I suppose I was never in love with him. There's a difference. A difference quite large to me.
"But, isn't it the same thing? If not, a sort of chronological order? You know, A to B, B to C?" He was clearly confused, as his eyebrows scrunched up together in confusion. Luke really wanted some sort of guidance in this position and he really didn't understand. Yet again, I couldn't blame him. At his age, I barely knew what love looked like.
"No, you see, 'Falling in love' is more of a scrape on your knee, after a little while, it goes away. But 'Being in love' it's like a birthmark - something that lasts forever. " I attempted to explain this to him in a way he would understand it. And to my surprise, he understood. However, he put up another argument.
"But isn't it you fall in love and then you actually realize you are in love?" He was beginning to understand and he was developing his own thoughts and opinions, something I had never seen before. Of course I knew that people as young as Luke are still attempting figure themselves out. And I suppose the nearest girl is the best person to ask this question to.
"Well, I believe that there a three degrees of love. Liking, then Infatuation, then after that, you get to choose between 'falling' and 'being'. That's where most of the guys I date choose one path and I either choose another or even worse, I stay behind and turn back." That was all I had to say in the matter. However, instead of following up my comment with a brand new argument, he just stared into my eyes as he inched closer.
Our faces were now about one inch apart and his heat was radiating onto me. His hot breath fell upon my lips like soft snowflakes. But as I switched from his lips and onto his eyes the same thing happened that had happened to me with Alex.
Luke's eyes weren't Ashtons. His lips weren't Ashtons. His façade wasn't Ashton. Once again, he wasn't Ashton.
Luke muttered lowly enough for me to hear,"What would you do if I kissed you right now?"
"I don't know," I spoke in a hushed tone. Moving closer so that our faces were closer together, but never touching. After all, the art of not touching is one of the most beloved ones. "I'd probably kiss you back. "
"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," Another voice entered our conversation, making me snap back and chuckle as I scratched he back of my neck, hoping that would provide some sort of comfort. But Calum stood there, a smirk on his face as he held a shaking hand out to us,"That was all very cute - all the love talk and shit- but we can't have another scandal like that. "
"What are you even doing up?" Luke scoffed, taking my glass and placing it beside his and returning back to stare at Calum. He chuckled, looking at Calum's clueless face as he rapidly spoke.
"Ashton won't stop groaning about how Katie isn't there with him and I was hoping there was Advil somewhere." Recalling when was the last timeI used the medicine, I remembered everything and where it should be located. Also, soon enough I would have to go with Ashton before he threw a pity fit and woke Michael up. We really wouldn't want that. Last time, Michael threatened to shove a piece of paper down Ashton's throat.
"The medicine should be in the front pocket of my suitcase, as for Ashton, tell him to shut up. " Calum nodded and walked away, beginning to look for my medicine.
Before I left the kitchen, Luke spoke to me, making me swish around for a few seconds, only to listen to him and respond. "I still hate you Katie,"
"I know."
Ashton's POV-
It must have been around a quarter to nine in the morning when I woke up. My head began to throb as I hissed at the sunlight beginning to peak through my windows. However, I felt a weight on me and there she was. Katie on top of me, a sweatshirt I recognized to me mine hanging over her, covering all the way down to her butt. She looked so peaceful, I almost didn't want to breathe, because even such a simple action would awaken her.
However, Calum was already up, and as soon as he saw that my eyes had fluttered open, he signaled me over to the door. Carefully, I lifted Katie off of me, slipping away from her grasp. She stirred around, as did Michael when I accidentally stepped on him, but then, they returned to a peaceful slumber.
After checking that my hair was presentable in front of a mirror, I went out the door with Calum. He had a piece of beige paper in his hand, covered in a very formal-looking envelope. I furrowed my eyebrows and pointed at the paper, but he just shook his head and nodded to come along with. In a hushed tone, he explained our destination. "The other guys are downstairs having breakfast, so we'll join them. But there's something you need to know."
Calum had never been this secretive before, like ever, so why would he be doing it now. As we strode towards the elevator, he explained everything to me, word by word, phrase by phrase. "Last night, I woke up and asked Katie for an aspirin. She told me to go look for it in her suitcase. So when I did, I found this, and I think you should read it."
The envelope was slipped into my fingers as we stepped into the elevator. Slowly, I opened what had already been torn open. And looked inside. A note, with perfect cursive, most likely done by a man with great penmanship. So I read.
Dear Caroline,
I suppose this is extremely sudden and unexpected, since we haven't talked since you ran away. So, I am sending this to Jason's house, in hopes that you will find it. I write to you to inform you that your mother is not getting better. The doctors say it is terminal, and there is nothing we can do about it. However, we remain strong, and we haven't lost hope.
The true reason to why I am summoning you is the fact that your mother, whom may I remind you is extremely ill, has requested your presence. She wants to see how much of a lady you've become. She just wants to feel your presence.
I do understand that your career is taking off at breathtaking speeds, and your mother and I are so proud of you. But if you truly wanted to redeem yourself into this family, you would do the correct thing. Even if it means making time for a 'charity case', like you described your mother.
Please pass by anytime you'd like.
My best regards,
Your father.
"What the hell is this, Calum?" I scoffed, folding up the paper and shoving it back into the envelope. Instead of giving it back to Calum, I saw Katie's name in the same cursive handwriting. "I'm assuming these people call Katie 'Caroline'?"
"Yeah, and the story fits in with the letter. " Calum responded, stepping out of the elevator as it had halted on our floor. Then as I walked behind him, he asked me over his shoulder. "Should we tell them?"
"No, not yet."
--/--
Ay why is there so much drama in this ff i swear
so okay luke hates katie but he wasnt to be in bed with her its THAT type of relationship
and the only reason why katie said that she might kiss him back was because she was tipsy
okay b4 u get a confuzzled caroline=katie and u find out why but youse gots to wait
MY CONCERT IS TODAY CAN U HEAR ME SCREAMING
okay 3 votes and two comments and imma ask u a question
who do you ship
kashton (duh)
Latie (luke and katie)
Matie (mikey and katie)
Kalex (katie and alex)
Or
Jatie (joey and katie)
okay answer and vote for the tWENTIETH CHAPTER SAY WHAT
love youse