Wasted Time

Chapter 2

Emily's POV

ONE YEAR LATER

I leaned against the wall and checked my phone for the hundredth time. It was 10:20 – Maddy was late. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do to hurry her up – she was in an audition. After leaving school, Maddy had decided that she wanted to be an actress, and had already taken part in some plays and had a small role in a film. Since I had decided to go to university in London to study law, Maddy and I had decided to share a flat there, while I studied and she auditioned and acted.

The boys were supposed to be back six months ago, but they kept needing an extra week here, an extra few days there, until eventually they decided to lengthen their whole trip into a year. Maddy and I had of course had no choice in the matter, and had to accept the decision without arguing. However, it hadn't been easy. Of course, I was still talking to Luke, as I had been throughout the year, but every month we talked less and less often, almost as if we were running out of things to say. Today we finally got to see them again, but every time I thought about it, my stomach jumped. A year was a long time not to talk to somebody face to face, and I was worried it wouldn't be the same. I had found in the past that whenever I didn't see friends for a long time, I drifted away from them without even noticing. I had put a lot of effort into staying in contact with them all, but would it be enough?

Maddy rushed out of the building, pulling her coat on as she walked out of the door.

"Sorry," she gasped. "They were running late."

"As usual," I said, rolling my eyes. "How did it go?"

"Yeah, it was alright," she said, pulling a face. "I think they wanted more experience, though. Some of the other people auditioning had done so much stuff."

"Aw, you'll get there one day," I reassured her. "I know you will."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Anyway, let's get going!"

"Their flight's already come in," said Maddy sadly, checking the time as we took the bus to the airport. "I wanted to meet them straight off the plane, and do the running-into-his-arms thing with Ashton."

"We're only late because your audition overran..." I pointed out. "You're over-romanticizing anyway, you know we wouldn't have been able to do that. There are too many fans, they wouldn't have been able to get to us. You can do it outside instead."

"Yeah, I guess... But I've always wanted to do that with Ash."

"You're such a romantic," I laughed.

"Come on, I know you've imagined doing that with Luke before."

"I guess so..." I admitted. "But it'll be so great to see them again, I don't really care what the reunion's like."

It was a good thing that I didn't care about the nature of the reunion, because it wasn't nearly as romantic as anything I could have imagined. Luckily, it wasn't raining this time, but it was much colder outside than I had expected. I pulled my thin jacket as far around my shoulders as I could, but it didn't make much difference. Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket. My heart sped up as I read a text from Luke: 'hi babe, almost out of the airport! See you soon xx'. I wasn't sure if I was more excited to see him again or anxious that we would have all changed too much.

"They're coming," I told Maddy happily. She was definitely more on the excited side, as I could tell by the way her eyes lit up and she began bouncing on the balls of her feet.

We waited a few more minutes, huddling together and jumping up and down to try and warm up, before we heard a familiar chuckle.

"You guys look ridiculous," laughed Ashton, emerging from round the side of the building. Maddy squealed and ran into his arms, almost knocking him over. He chuckled and hugged her back.

"Hey," said Calum, pulling me into a hug. "How's Flavia?"

"Well, you know how busy they are doing shows at the moment, but she seemed well the last time I saw her, a few weeks ago. Loving life as usual."

"Good," he said, grinning. "I can't wait to see her again."

My heart almost stopped when Michael came round the corner. He had dyed his hair again recently, and I hadn't seen any pictures of it yet, but I could already see that the fans were going to go crazy. It was a gorgeous black colour. I mean, not gorgeous, what am I thinking?! I told myself angrily. It suited him very well, that sounded better. I let out a small sigh when I realised that even a year apart from Michael couldn't squash my feelings for him. Realising he was coming over, I quickly forced a smile.

"Emily!" he said, giving me a hug. "It's so great to see you again!"

"You too," I said, smiling into his chest. "We've really missed you."

"I'm going to move out of the way, because I feel like if I don't, I will get trampled by an angry Luke. He's been talking about seeing you all day. Kinda boring really." He winked and moved to the side.

I saw Luke walking over to me and all my worries faded away. A year hadn't changed him much, and he was wearing the same easy smile as ever.

"Hi," I said, wrapping my arms around his waist. "Your pink hair's gone. Shame, I liked it really."

"Are you serious? That was one of my worst decisions... Your blue's gone too, that really is a shame. Of course, you look beautiful either way."

"Good save," I smiled, kissing him. "I'm surprised you guys came back at all... I thought you were all going to stay out there forever. Thought maybe you'd met some prettier girls or something." Luke looked at me with concern in his eyes, but laughed when he saw that I was teasing.

"That would be difficult since you're the prettiest girl in the world," he said, smiling when I rolled my eyes. He didn't bring up the subject of me finding other boys. I was kind of glad, although of course I hadn't even thought about any other boys while they had been away, because everyone was still kind of awkward about the me-Luke-Michael thing, understandably. I just smiled in Luke's arms, knowing that everything was going to be okay again. 

A/N

Hi! Sorry this has been a bit slow, I was really busy this week! Going to see 5sos in London tonight, so excited! Hope you liked this, please vote and comment :)