NO SHAME

XLI

It had been three months since Luke and I were forced to fake our break up. Three long months of barely seeing Luke, and phone calls. Three months of living with Calum and getting little sleep.

    I never knew that something like this would be so exhausting and that I wouldn't get much sleep without Luke there with me. I didn't know when I became so dependent on him, but I missed him so much. I hadn't seen him in person in nearly three weeks, but luckily the band was supposed to be coming over to Calum's later that night, so I would finally be seeing Luke again.

    As I finished up what I was working on in the office, I got a text from Luke telling me he couldn't wait to see me later, and I smiled. The sound of footsteps behind me caused me to look up from my laptop and I saw Mark approaching me.

    Swallowing down my disdain for the man, I put on a professional smile and stopped working to greet him.

    "Ms. Miller, how's that report coming along?" Mark asked as he stopped walking.

    "I'm almost done, sir," I told him.

    "Good. Listen, Aspen, I know you aren't happy about this arrangement with Mr.Hemmings, but just know that this is for the best."

    "Of course, sir."

    "Thank you for understanding," Mark finished and walked away again.

    I sighed and turned back around so that I could finish my report and get the hell out of the office.

    It took me another hour before I was finally done and was able to leave the office. I texted Calum that I was on my way before I left and then headed out, saying goodnight to Carla as I left. The drive back was nice as I shuffled my favorite Taylor Swift album, reputation, and just drove. When I pulled up to Calum's house, everyone was already there and I rushed out of the car to go greet Luke. As if he was waiting for me to pull up, he opened the front door as I got out of the car and I ran and jumped into his arms. Luke caught me, his arms wrapping around me.

    "Did you miss me?" Luke teased as he pulled back to look at me.

    "Hell yes," I responded before kissing him.

    "I missed you too," Luke whispered against my lips.

    I smiled at my boyfriend and buried my face in his neck as he walked us back into Calum's house. Luke closed the door behind us and carried me over to Calums couch where he sat down and I stayed on top of him, my face still buried in the crook of his neck. I felt Luke begin to play with the ends of my hair and smiled as he lightly scratched my back as a result.

    "Hey, Aspen," Michael called out to me from one of Calum's chairs.

    "Yeah," I mumbled.

    "We have something kind of important we want to talk to you about," Michael said cautiously.

    "You guys aren't moving, are you?" I asked as I sat up in Luke's lap.

    Luke shook his head at me with a smile as his hand fell from my hair. He pulled me back to his chest and gave me a small squeeze.

    "No, love," Luke reassured me.

    "Oh, then what's up?" I asked, slightly relieved.

    "We're going to fire Mark," Ashton said bluntly.

    "Oh."

    "But, we want to hire you as the new publicist for 5 Seconds of Summer," Michael quickly added.

    "What?" I said quickly and shot up again.

    "We know that firing Mark would mean you losing your job, and us needing a new publicist, so we want you to work for us as an independent publicist," Luke filled in for me.

    "Wouldn't that be wrong, though?" I asked. "I mean I'm dating a member of the band, and I'm best friends with you guys."

    "We trust you," Calum spoke next. "You have the experience, and a fresh outlook on this stuff. You wouldn't do something stupid like force one of us to fake a PR relationship with a poor girl who made a mistake. Plus, I think because you're so close to us, you know us the best, and would know how to be the best publicist for us."

    "Exactly," Michael agreed.

    "What do you say?" Luke asked me with another gentle squeeze.

    I looked up at Luke, and then to my best friends. They were waiting on my decision, as I looked around at them to process what had just been thrown at me. I then looked back at Luke and saw in his eyes just how much he wanted this for me.

    "Yes, of course I'll do it," I smiled and was soon crushed by the three boys sitting around me.

    I laughed and started complaining about them crushing me before they got off and took their places around the living room again.

    "When are you guys going to fire him?" I asked them.

    "We may have already done that," Calum told me.

    "Luke was very confident that you'd agree to the whole thing," Michael teased.

    "I was right, was I not?" Luke said.

    I let out a short laugh at the four boys, the smile on my face never leaving.

    "Wait, does this mean we don't have to pretend to be broken up anymore?" I asked Luke.

    "That's actually why this whole thing started," Luke said, shyly.

    "Good," I said and kissed him.

    "Speaking of," Luke started after we pulled away and pulled out his phone.

    I watched Luke as he unarchived our posts and put his highlight of me back up on Instagram. He then handed his phone to Calum, who took a photo of Luke and I curled up together on the couch. Luke posted the photo on Instagram with the caption, "Back with my fav<3".

    I pulled out my own phone to take a selfie of me and Luke that I could post on my own account, which was still private.

    "Your fans are going to be so confused," I laughed as I watched the comments flooding in on Luke's post.

    "We'll explain to them one day," Luke said from behind me.