Promise » [cashton] √

2.4

[6th of August - Travelling]

It had been a quick turnaround, having one day with Calum's parents and then driving back to LA the day after. The trip had been much shorter without all the extra stops but it was the last chance they got to spend time together before Ashton was busy with rehearsals and a final radio interview. Even at the airport, Calum hadn't been able to have a moment with Ashton. Bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived he'd wanted to go and lay his head on the younger man's shoulder or bury his face in the hair at the back of his head. Only there had been people waiting to see him at LAX, so he and Michael had made themselves scarce while Luke and Ashton signed things. Then they had been running late and Sierra had been hurrying them through security, still no time to more than smile at one another as people waiting for their flights started to recognise Luke and Ashton again. That was when Michael and Calum decided to go and find coffee.

When they finally boarded Calum realised that he had somehow... ended up almost as far away from Ashton as he could get. They were toward the back of the plane and took up three rows, The backmost row sat (from left to right) Calum, Michael and Dove, the next row, Gabby, Lara and Jackie, the makeup artist Lily had filled in for. Then Luke, Ashton and Sierra. The rest were either already in Europe and were meeting them in Horsens or were leaving on a later flight.  Calum was amazed that somehow Luke had managed to convince his wife to sit separately from him on a fifteen-hour flight, all in an attempt he was sure to keep Calum from going up there and trying to spend any time with Ashton.

The lights were dimmed and Calum was craning his neck down the aisle to see if Luke had fallen asleep yet, but he was talking to Ashton quietly.

"Luke still awake?" Michael asked.

Calum nodded slowly, pulling his head back in and resting it against his seat, "he's talking to Ashton too," he rolled his eyes.

"Probably grilling him about the trip to Sacramento," he said, sliding his headphones from atop his head to his neck. "He didn't tell anyone where he was going, he just blocked off the days apparently, Sierra thought he was going to stay with his parents,"

He wanted to groan, why couldn't Ashton have just told them? Now it looked like they were hiding something. "I didn't know that, I thought everyone knew where we were," he tried to keep the exasperation from his voice.

"He probably just knew Luke would have something to say, Sierra will know it was Ashton's idea, she knows what he can be like," Michael reassured, and he pressed up off his seat to try and get a look at the three of them, "mmm, looks like mum and dad are giving him a talking to," he said before sitting down.

Calum didn't know what to say, he felt bad but he didn't think anything he said could improve things with Luke, he knew if anything it would probably make things worse. A sigh slipped from his lips and he felt Michael's eyes on him.

"So how was the trip? I can't believe you're already at the meet the parent's stage," he laughed quietly, clearly trying to ease Calum's nerves.

"It was good, I think it was good, my parents think Ashton's amazing, they want me to marry him," he laughed easily, he hadn't thought his parents would dislike Ashton, but he hadn't realised just how much they would like him. They'd invited him back for Christmas. "I wasn't one hundred percent ready for it, but I know Ashton needed it, he said his parents wanted to meet me and they seem..."

"Like assholes?" Michael supplied.

He held back his surprise, "I wouldn't have used that word, maybe less excited? My parents already knew I was gay so they don't care," he shrugged.

"Gay? What about Lily?"

Calum shrugged again, "I'm lazy, I just use it as an umbrella term," he nearly added, 'I'll fuck anyone', but thought better of it.