Missing You

Ashton. Calum. Luke. Michael.

Ashton


“Thank God you’re here!” No sooner had you stepped out of the elevator than you were bombarded by two towering Australians. Calum, who had greeted you, pulled you into a tight hug before passing you over to Michael who was waiting to hug you as well. Calum took hold of your suitcase , following Michael as he pulled you to the room in which you would be staying.

He knocked loudly and not even a few seconds later the door flew open to reveal a very stressed out looking Luke.

“I’m so glad you’re here; he’s a mess,” he briefly hugged you, pulling you into the darkened room.

“Ash, mate; there’s someone here to see you,” Calum spoke into the darkness, pointing over to the rather lumpy bed where his friend lay under a thick duvet. You made your way over to it.

“I don’t want to see anyone,” his voice was gruff and he sounded like he had been crying.

You crouched down to be level with his face, his beautiful features covered by the duvet; “Not even me?”

There was a sniffling and the cover pulled back slightly, his eyes peeking out, “Bunny?”

You smiled at him even though his upset was breaking your heart, “Hi.”

The others crept out of the room shutting the door behind them.

You reached out, running your fingers through his matted fringe, “Scooch over.”

He did as he was told, lifting the duvet for you. You slid in next to him feeling his arms wrap tightly around you as you lay down, pulling you closer to him.

“Tell me what’s making you so sad.”

He sniffled again as he rested his head on your chest; “I just feel so low all of the time and being away from you for so long hasn’t been helping. I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

You continued playing with his hair, tracing small shapes on his bare shoulder to soothe him as best as you could, “Don’t you worry, my love. We’ll figure it out.”


Calum


The familiar tones of a Skype call coming through shook you from your daydream. You grinned when you saw it was your boyfriend, Calum.

Clicking “accept”, you waved shyly at him as your video chat connected.

“Well hello there gorgeous,” his smile seemed to grow with every word.

“Hi handsome.”

His smile turned into a pout, “I’m mad at you.”

Your face fell, “What? Why?”

“Who told you that you were allowed to look so beautiful when I’m not with you?”

Your shoulders relaxed as relief flooded over you, “Cal! Don’t scare me like that! I thought I’d done something wrong.”

“Sorry, gorgeous,” he scrunched his nose as he laughed.

“You’re so lucky you’re not here right now otherwise you’d be getting a slap.”

His eyes grew sad and his pout returned, “I’d rather be with you, though. Y’know – minus the abuse.”

“I miss you too but Thursday isn’t so far away,” you place your hand in the screen, “Only three more days to go.”

He places his palm on his own screen, “Three more days…”


Luke


“Hey, what’s up?” you grinned into the mouth piece of your phone as you greeted your best friend.

“I miss you.”

“Aww, sweets. I miss you too. What are you up to?” you tried to be as quiet as possible as you walked down the unfamiliar hallway.

“Just hanging out in the dressing room. We’re on in like an hour and a half. What about you?”

“Oh, y’know…” you faked a yawn, “it’s 4am here so I was sleeping until you rang.” You dodged some people, praying that they wouldn’t make any noise that would alert him to the fact that you weren’t at home in your bed.

“Oh, fuck. Did I wake you? You can go back to sleep if you want. I just wanted to say “hi” and see how you were.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you pretend to yawn again, “you know I’ll always pick up when you call and anyway; you sounded like you really needed to talk.”

He sighed, “I just finally had a moment to sit down and think and all I could think about was how much I miss you so I picked up the phone and dialled your number. What have you been up to?”

“I’m glad you thought about me. I was gonna call when I woke up but I wasn’t sure if you’d still be on stage or not,” you looked around for a second, confused as to where you were. The corridor seemed to go on for miles and there were various other corridors leading off it. You decided to just keep walking straight ahead, “Aside from sleeping? I’ve been working my ass off sorting through all your fan mail and taking it to your houses. I actually sent a stack of birthday cards to the venue you’re in a few weeks ago to make sure you got them tonight.”

“Really?” He looked around the room, finally spotting them on a table in the far corner, “Oh, yeah! They’re here!” He made his way over to the table.

“I know it’s early but I wanted to make sure you got them in time.”

“Thanks, babe.”

There was some murmuring in the background.

“Ash says ‘hi’ by the way,” there was some more murmuring, “Cal and Mike say ‘hi’ too.”

You laughed, “Hi guys! Is Ash next to you?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Can you put him on, please? I sent some cards to the hotel you were in around the time of his birthday and I want to make sure he got them.”

“OK,” there was a muffled muttering of ‘ wants to speak to you’ followed by a rather chipper, “Hello?”

“Hi Ash.”

“! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need you to listen to me and not repeat anything I say.”

“Erm… sure”

“First off; can Luke hear me?”

Ashton cautiously looked over, seeing Luke immersed in sorting through the stack of envelopes; “No.”

“Now; I need you to reply with ‘yes; I got them’ or ‘no; I didn’t’ based on my next question.”

“OK.”

“Is Luke opening the cards?”

“Yes; I got them.”

“Good! I need you to ask him if he got mine.”

Ashton relayed the message to him. As you waited for the message, you suddenly spotted where you needed to be. You made your way over to the door but hung back outside of the room it led to.

Luke’s voice echoed through the phone from a few feet away, “It’s not here!”

Ashton brought the phone back to his ear, “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah. Is he facing away from the door?”

“Yep.”

“OK. I’ll be knocking on the door in a few seconds. I need you to get him to open it.”

“Sure.”

All ears in the boys’ dressing room pricked up when they heard a knock at the door.

Ashton shoved Luke towards it, “Luke’s getting it!”

Luke gave him a weird look but proceeded to the door anyway. He opened it up wearily and an envelope was thrust in his face;

“I hear you’re missing a card.”

“!” He practically leaped forward, hugging you tightly.

“Hi!” you hugged him back. You had missed him so much that it took all you had not to cry.

Luke suddenly couldn’t control himself any longer, pulling away from the hug only to engulf your lips with his.

You kissed him back, until you pulled back for a breath, “Well; that’s new.”


Michael


It had been a month since the break up. One long, hard month – especially for Michael. On the outside he had appeared to be fine – an act he had put on for the press – but on the inside? He was a wreck. Anything set him off these days; their song that always seemed to be playing wherever he went, the sweet scent of her perfume lingering on the bed sheets…

He picked up his phone, unlocking it and going to his contacts. He hovered over her name. Should he? Shouldn’t he? A flurry of emotions overcame him, his face flushing and his eyes watering. He was just so mad at himself for losing her and in turn, the reality of losing her made him incredibly blue. Usually, she would be the one he would call when he felt this way but he couldn’t call her. Could he? He shook his head; no. It just wouldn’t be fair to her. Sure they had broken up rather amicably but even though they were no longer together, he just couldn’t bear to do that to her; to dredge up the emotions of the past month. He knew how she was. They had known each other for years – since childhood, even – and he knew that although they had had a friendly split, she would still have taken it hard. She had cried when she had left; they both had. They weren’t just saying “goodbye” to their relationship but to their friendship as well.

He stared at her contact name. He hadn’t had the heart to change it even though the hearts surrounding her name were now broken. He closed down his contact list, scrolling through his apps until he got to his gallery. He selected the most recent image of her, staring at the sight before him. She was beautiful. A real classic beauty with her hair, her glistening eyes and glowing sun-kissed skin. A single tear escaped him, rolling down his left cheek. How could he have been so stupid as to just let her go simply because they were too tired to fight for what they wanted anymore. To save themselves from the physical and mental distance between them? Truth be told they had been falling further and further apart since he had taken off on almost back-to-back tours two years ago and she had chosen to stay at home to work on her college degree.

Fuck it.

He exited the gallery and went to his messages, typing out a text to her:


I miss you.


Sighing, he cleared the screen and placed the phone on the bed next to him. A minute or so later it buzzed. Not once, not twice but a series of times. Michael gazed at the phone; he was receiving a phone call. His eyes found the name on the screen. It was her. Taking a deep breath he slid the call bar to “answer”. Before he could speak a soft, quiet voice spoke up:

“I miss you too.”


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