Night Train || cth

e p i l o g u e

Never in a million years would I have imagined the day where I'd be cheering on my boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, and two best guy friends as they take the stage as a band for the first time since being the official opening act for One Direction. It's amazing to think how far they've come in the last three years and how far they'll go in the future. 

It seems like just yesterday that we were all hanging out in Calum's basement, messing around as we usually did, when all of a sudden Michael came up with an interesting idea. 

3 years ago

"Let's start a band," Michael said out of nowhere, catching us all off guard. 

The four of us looked at him as though he was an alien from outer space. Sure, they'd all gotten extremely close since the beginning of the year when Ashton moved back to town, but the idea of forming a band seemed crazy.

"A band? Mikey, you're joking, right?" I couldn't help but question his wild suggestion. 

"Sorry, Tay, but you can't be in it." He stuck his tongue out at me playfully as I hit him in the face with a pillow. 

The other boys busted out laughing while Michael took a second to compose himself. 

"Come on, guys! I'm being serious. It's not like we haven't messed around here and there." He tried his hardest to convince the guys, but I wasn't so sure if it was working. 

"That's just it, Mikey. We've messed around, but I don't think that's enough to form a band," Luke spoke up from beside me, trying to mentally slap some reason into Michael's head. 

The conversation surprisingly continued for about two hours as they weighed the pros and cons. After the first hour and a half, I got quite sleepy and nodded off after resting my head on Calum's shoulder. 

Unfortunately, my beauty sleep was quickly interrupted when Calum abruptly jumped off the couch, therefore knocking me over. As I came to, I found the four of them jumping around frantically with huge smiles on their faces. 

"What's going on?" A yawn escaped my lips as the question was released into the open air. All of a sudden, they all stopped jumping and looked at me simultaneously. "Quit staring, it's really creepy." I carefully stood up from the couch while their stares never faltered once. 

"Tay, we're doing it!" Ashton exclaimed. I looked at him with confusion written all over my face, in desperate need of a further explanation. "We're forming a band!" My eyes immediately widened, looking carefully between each one of them. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. 

As my eyes landed on Calum, he gave me an even huger grin - if that was even possible - and ran towards me, engulfing my petite frame within his strong arms. He spun me around a few times before placing me back on the ground. 

"You okay with this?" He whispered, depriving the others from hearing our conversation. A serious look had quickly overtaken his face as his brown eyes stared deeply into mine. I knew that he cared deeply for me and my opinions, so therefore he wouldn't do anything I didn't approve of. 

"Of course," I said happily, loud enough for only him to hear before kissing his lips gently. "You guys are gonna be great!" My voice was louder this time since I wanted them all to hear. 

"You really think so, Tay?" Luke's eyes stared at me intently, a small smile forming. 

"Definitely. You guys are gonna be the next best thing. I can just see it now," I paused to break from Calum's hold. With four sets of eyes focused solely on me I said, "You're gonna make it."

My trip down memory lane began to fade as I heard the final chords of Heartbreak Girl ringing through my ears. I swear that the smile on my face can never be taken away as I watch them finish their last song for the night. 

They say their last goodbyes before turning and walking off the stage straight towards me. Just as every performance prior to this, they are extremely sweaty and slightly tired, but giddy nonetheless. It never seems to get old for them, and truthfully I don't think it ever will. I don't think it will ever set in just how far they've come since that day in Calum's basement.

"That was absolutely incredible," I praised, walking right into Calum's outstretched arms. As they tightened around my waist, I thought back to the first performance where I didn't even want to go near him until he showered, but I've come a long way since that day. I honestly couldn't care less how sweaty he was anymore because there was nothing better than being the first thing he sees and touches once he descends the stage. Plus, he always looks incredibly attractive after bouncing around for over two hours. 

"Thanks, babe." His words are slightly muffled due to his lips being momentarily pressed to my forehead. Once he removes them, he touches our foreheads together and mumbles, "I love you," before kissing me passionately on the lips. This ritual as pretty much become our tradition for whenever he comes off stage, but unfortunately not everyone is always very happy about it. 

"Damn, get a room you two," Michael shouts as he walks by. He makes a face of disgust as he removes his guitar and hands it over to their stage manager, Danny. "You're ruining my innocent mind." 

"Mikey, you couldn't be innocent if someone paid you a million dollars in cash," Luke retorted, coming up beside us with a water bottle resting right in front of his mouth. He quickly downed half the bottle before speaking again. "But, seriously guys enough with the PDA. We don't want the cliffaconda getting too excited." He winked before Michael took the chance to smack him upside the head. 

"Fuck off, Hemmings." With that said, he walked off behind the curtain, leaving the three of us busting out laughing at Luke's comment. A few moments passed before we managed to settle down, and once we did, Luke decided to leave as well, finally allowing Calum and I to have a moment of alone time.

"They're just jealous," Calum joked, planting one more kiss on my lips before removing his bass from his back. Luckily, he took the time to sling it over his shoulder before coming up to me, or else that would've been quite an uncomfortable embrace.  

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly as I watched him remove the contents of his microphone from his ear and waistline. Every night it was the same old routine, but honestly I can't imagine ever getting tired of it. Having the pleasure of watching Calum and the guys live out their ultimate dream every night was impeccable. There's no other way I would want to spend my time. Some may think that I might want to venture off in order to fulfill my own dreams, but in a way this is allowing me to do just that. I've always been so intrigued by concerts and musicians in general that I always dreamed of being able to spend time either working in the concert venue itself, photographing the show, or even touring along with a band and writing about their time on the road. So, all in all, this allows me to fulfill all three of those things, and I couldn't be anymore grateful than I am for 5 Seconds of Summer allowing me to tag along with them. Although, I do have a slight advantage for being the bassist's girlfriend, but sometimes I wonder what would've happened had I never met him. Even though I don't usually like to think about how my life would be without him in it, there are moments where I wonder how I got so lucky. 

I mean what would've happened had I never gone to the train tracks that day? Maybe I would've met him anyways, but what if I didn't? Who knows how different my life would be had that one moment changed. 

--

So, I finally decided to give you guys a little epilogue/bonus chapter. It's not exactly the best, but it gives a little insight into their future.

this chapter is dedicated to all of you for sticking by me through this whole process. i love each and everyone of you very dearly, and I never could've imagined all of the support I've received from you guys on this story. so, thank you very much for everything!