The Tour

29

"You have to be taking the piss" I said rolling my eyes at the sight of a lanky blonde curled asshole stood at the arrivals gate with a sign with my name on it and a bouquet of flowers in his other hand. The smile over his face seemed as fake as my current excitement to be back on the states.

"Is there another way for me to get back to the arena?" I asked approaching him as his arms widened for a hug

"Be quiet and hug me there's paparazzi everywhere in here" he muttered before holding me close as I hugged him back not having enough energy to fight back.

The flight here had been nothing but turbulence and crying children which ruined my plan to sleep for 8 hours straight. Although I knew I would be seeing him for the next 4 weeks, Luke was the last person I wanted to see. Especially fresh off a night flight where I looked and felt like a zombie.

"We need to look like we love one other until we're in my car" he whispered in my ear as I nodded understanding that the press recently for the two of us hadn't been great and was overshadowing a lot of 5sos things

He quickly let go of me and passed me the bouquet of flowers with a large grind on his face before taking my suitcase and walking in the direction of the car park.

"Good time off?" He mumbled as I hummed in response

"Yeah until you ruined it" I snapped slightly as he sent a glare my way

"I didn't do shit Nicky" he snapped back opening the boot of his jeep and throwing my suitcase in slamming the door shut behind him

"Yes you did you asshole you sent the paparazzi my way the abuse I got the other night was all because of you" I snapped back before getting into the passenger seat hoping the rest of the drive would be quiet and he'd let me sleep

"You love the attention I thought I'd help out" he said sarcastically as I shook my head choosing to ignore him. He wanted me to bite and argue it's all he ever wanted. A reaction was what he craved and I wasn't going to give that to him today.

Silence quickly overtook the car as he pulled off and I stared aimlessly out of the window. I'd only been back five minutes and the overbearing sense of homesickness had already returned. I missed my family. I missed my dog. I missed Kensie. I missed Oli. All I wanted right now was all of them to be here to tell me it was okay.

My thoughts were quickly distracted by the static noise of the car radio starting as we left the car park before slowly turning into popular music breaking the silence between Luke and I.

"How are you feeling?" I muttered secretly hoping he'd tell me he's still ill so I can have another week off but I knew that would be too good to be true

"Better now you're back" he said before placing his hand on my thigh instantly causing me to slap it off leaving a gobsmacked expression in his face

"Please don't touch me" I said feeling my skin crawl at his touch. A quick sense of sadness joined my emotions at the realisation of the thought of Luke now repulsed me. I had spent two years with this man and never once had I wanted him to not touch me or felt uncomfortable by his presence but today was different. Just his scent was enough to make me angry and him touching my thigh did nothing but cause an instant rage.

"You used to love when I did that" he said calmly as I sighed

"Things are different now Luke" I replied before turning up the radio wanting to stop the conversation as soon as possible

A few more miles of driving in silence passed and I sat enjoying the views of a state I'd never visited before whilst humming along to the radios random selection of songs. Both modern and old songs filled the car and were beyond helpful in filling the awkward atmosphere that was present. As the song playing came to an end the presenter began to speak.

"Big news from the music world today as we woke up this morning to the announcement of a new 5 seconds of summer album in the next three weeks" the presenter said in high spirits as I snapped my head in Luke's direction as I saw him looking at the road sheepishly

"We spoke to the band to see how excited they are" she continued as my eyes widened

"You know we're about to get to the end part of our tour and we thought the week before it ends would be perfect and we can't wait for fans to hear it" a voice that was clearly Ashtons explained

"Calm is out March 27th, here is there new single easier" she finished as Luke quickly glanced at me waiting for my next comment

"March 27th" I replied as he nodded in response "Why? Why now?"

"Management Nic" he said simply as I nodded "you and I collectively haven't provided the best press for 5sos at the moment. This album distracts fans from the last week its something for them to be excited about" he explained as I nodded

"It's also why I picked you up from the airport" he continued as I looked at him confused "we announced it while you were in the air I wanted to be able to tell you in person what was going on. There's going to be more press this side of tour as we don't have long to promote this album" he explained as I nodded

"So you wanted to give me a heads up I appreciate that" I smiled as he hummed

"And to remind you to be on your best behaviour. Don't fuck this up for everyone" he snapped as I sighed and turned up the radio paying attention to their new song not wanting to talk to him any longer.