On the Road

4: The Last Day

Mikey and I spent as much time together as possible. Anissa and I stayed at the guys hotel all night. We danced, partied, sang karaoke and played video games all night long. I kicked ass at Mario Kart but not much else. We ended up crashing out at 4 a.m. in a giant heap on the ground in Ashton's room. No one bothered to wake us until about noon, but by then we were all too hungry to stay asleep. Calum lent me a pair of skinny jeans since his were the only pair that gave room for my ass and I stole one of Mikey's shirts. "How do I look?" I asked emerging from the bathroom. "Like part of the band." Luke laughed and so did I. "Nah she's way more punk rock than us. Just look at that dark eyeliner running down her face." Ashton giggled at his stupidity. I looked in the mirror and fixed my smeared make up. "Can we go now I'm starving!" Anissa complained from under Luke's arm. "Yeah yeah let's go." We left the hotel and were piled into a van. We drove to some pizza parlor on the other side of town and they basically closed down the place for us. I guess it pays to be famous. "Two large cheese, one large pepperoni and a large all meat pizza please." Ashton gave the order and my jaw dropped. "That's a lot of pizza Ashton." I said skeptically. "You've never seen Luke eat before. Trust me." I looked at Luke and he smiled a big cheeky smile causing Anissa to giggle. Well okay then. "Can we go play in the arcade?!" Calum jumped up and down and soon enough Luke joined in with his childish antics. "Who the hell is stopping you two?" Ashton questioned looking around. Luke stopped bouncing and looked at Calum. "Dude, we're adults." Calum looked as if he'd had an epiphany and they took off running to the arcade. Yeah, adults. I laughed and looked at Anissa. "Race you!" We took off in a dead sprint for the arcade. "And I am the winner!" I threw my hands up in the air claiming victory. "Excuse me? I'm pretty sure I got here first." Anissa set her hand on her hip and took deep breaths. "Well I don't think it really matters who won. You're both losers. You ran like fifteen feet and you're out of breath." We both stuck our tongues out at Ashton. Michael laughed and hugged me close as i heaved in air. "He's right this is sad." I huffed. Soon my breath was back though and Michael had engrossed himself in some kung foo fighting game with Calum at his side. Their two little figures made ridiculous noises as they fought and the two boys made similar noises. Luke and Anissa were playing with the guitar hero game in the corner. "Come play air hockey with me please." Ashton asked me as I stood awkwardly by the table. "Sure." I hadn't had a whole lot of time with just Ashton so it was going to be cool to get to know him better. "So you and Michael are like a thing now huh?" Ashton asked pushing the puck across the table to me. "Yeah I suppose so." I looked at the red haired boy and smiled. "Please, if you really like him I am happy for you, but he is so caring and has a big heart. If you're doing this for money or fame... It could really hurt him a lot." A heat rose in my chest. How dare he. I violently pushed the puck his direction and it shot down his slot. A slight ding marked my point. "I care about Michael a lot. I am not doing this for anything." Ashton looked pained. "Look I'm not saying you are. It's just this whole thing is moving fast and with us being who and what we are..." he placed the puck back on the table tapping it my way. I hit it back. "There's not a whole lot of time. Plus I didn't care who you guys were before the other day." I said starting to understand his hesitation toward me. "I understand that. Just take care of him. He loves hard. The fans are right when they call him a kitten." I looked over at Michael. He laughed at something Calum said and his whole face scrunched up and he closed his eyes. He was my kitten. A dinging sound brought my attention back to the game. Ashton scored a point. "You cheat." I took the puck out of my slot and placed on the table. The game ensued and became intense. A battle to the death. Well the pucks death at least. The last ding sounded as Ashton made his winning point. "Aww, screw you drummer boy." I laughed and leaned into Michael. Once he had successfully killed Calum's avatar he had joined me over at the air hockey table to cheer me on. It didnt work. Ashton had beaten me 12-8 and he was rubbing it in. "You're a sore winner Irwin." I scoffed at his goofy victory dance. "Luke dance with me!" Ashton called to his companion. "Nah man pizza's ready!" Luke took off and Calum and Anissa followed suit. Ashton stopped dancing. "But... but... Luke woll always dance with me..." I laughed at the wounded expression on his face. "Come on lets go get pizza before its all gone." Michael and I wrapped an arm around the sulking Ashton. What a moddy human being. As I neared the table I realized why we needed four pizzas. Luke had maybe five slices stacked on his plate and Calum had four but was reaching for another and even Anissa had three slices on her own plate. I do admit I am quite hungry though. I took two slices for myself and watched Ashton grab four and Mikey another five. Luke later took three more slices. "Well Ashton I will never doubt you again." I stated watching Luke down the last piece. How was that boy that thin? "Ha I told you! And he'll probably want ice cream or something after." Ashton glanced at Luke who's head popped up quickly. "Ishh crem?" Luke had stuffed his mouth full of bread sticks. His hunger seemed insatiable, however ice cream sounded fantastic. "I scream! You scream! We all scream for ice cream!" All six of us chanted as we exited the pizzaria. Our chanting drew the attention of some people and within minutes we were starting to get swarmed. "Well shit." Ashton pulled Anissa and I into the middle of the four boys and created a human wall around us. "We've seen the body guards do this around million times we got you." Calum informed us. At first I was confused as to why the guys needed to keep us from their fans. Then I realized why. They were clawing at Anissa and me and screaming foul things and I was scared. Once in the van the boys apologized. "Are you kidding! That was awesome!" We all laughed at Anissa's out burst. The rest of the day was fun and easy and I hated that it had to end... the boys were going to leave in the morning and then it would be up to scheduling to figure out if I am able to see Michael. We arrived at the hotel and Cal and Ashton said bye and went inside. Luke pulled Anissa into a hug and I thought she was going to pass out. "Hey.. I will see you very soon you know that?" Michael hooked and finger under my chin and I met his gaze. "Just come back to me." I placed a kiss on his cheek and Anissa and I got into my car and pulled away from the hotel. "You're the best friend ever.." Anissa said as she drifted to sleep.