Fire on Fire [L.H]

forty-eight

"Was your second-first date successful?" Calum asked us as we were out eating breakfast at a breakfast cafe called Grand Central Kitchen.

"No, it was a total nightmare," I joked. Luke groaned and kicked my foot under the table.

"She loved it, don't let her fool you," Luke said, taking a bite of his toast.

"That's good," Calum commented back.

"You're welcome!" All three boys harmonized. I stopped drinking my coffee and Luke stopped chewing as we both looked at each other. After sharing a glance, I put my mug down.

"Don't tell me you guys worked something over again," I pretty much asked them.

"I mean, they gave me the idea-" Luke started before Michael interrupted.

"And you went with it. So therefore, it was our idea, our plan, and our execution," he spoke confidently.

"Correction, MY execution," Luke said, finishing off his toast.

"Oh whatever. You didn't even have the idea!" Ashton argued.

"But it was my idea to do something for the start of this whole thing-"

"Okay, can you all shut up?" I asked them. They were beginning to get on my nerves. Not like they haven't before, but this was the first time it's happened in a while.

"How are you guys statusing your relationship anyway?" Cal questioned after the bickering ended. I pushed my plate forward so I could place my arms on the table in front of me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, unsure of his made up word.

"Well, you guys were publicity dating for around six months and have technically been dating for almost a full month now," he explained to both Luke and I, while whispering the world 'publicity'.

"Well, since the six months already seemed like we were dating and felt like we were dating for the most part," I began. "We just continued to go on with the relationship that way. So, technically speaking, we've been together for almost seven months," I explained to them all.

"But isn't that kind of weird?" Michael asked, sitting next to me at the end of our connected tables.

"Why is it weird?" Luke asked him, setting his coffee down.

"Well, you guys weren't technically dating for all those months. Don't you find it odd that you guys jump into this relationship like that and just continue it from a project?" Michael's thoughts so make sense. Cara and Jay expressed the same concern, but understood our thought process and didn't see how it wouldn't work out that way.

"Look at the reality, Mike. I mean, people already 'knew' they were dating for these past six months. And by people, I mean everybody. You know how bad it would be to come out to press, 'yeah, Danielle and I never really dated. We actually hated each other and were set up in a social media publicity relationship. But we fell in love and now we're actually together,'!" Ashton said, doing his version of Luke. Which was a pretty lousy impression if you ask me. But I'm just judgmental. Who isn't nowadays?

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yeah, that's pretty much right," I said.

"I don't sound like that," Luke said. I turned to him as he was glaring at Ashton from across the table. Ashton shrugged his shoulders, giving him a look as he was basically mocking him before turning back to Michael.

"Yeah, that does make sense."

"Besides, it'd be easier to think we've been together this long when going into an interview and being asked about our relationship. We can't go out and just say it's only been a month now," I said, following Calum's spoken words. Michael shrugged his shoulders.