Under the stage lights

Chapter 8

Ashton's POV

The guys and I all listened intently on what Amanda had to say. From what I could gather it seemed that they were invited to an interview with Allison Jackson who's notorious for trying to rip into those who are relatively new to the spotlight.

Hearing Amanda speak about how horrible their first run in with her angered me to no end. I balled my hands into fists and mentally fought back the urge to find and confront this woman. The sound of sniveling pulled me back from my thought induced daze and I glanced back up to see droplets of tears slowly making their way down the girls faces. I turned my head and my eyes met Calum's and we both shared a look of helplessness, as we both were unsure of what we could do to comfort the four overwhelmed girls. After a moment of uncertainty I decided to take a slight risk. I pushed up from where I was seated and made my way over to Amanda.  Her water filled eyes peered up at my approaching figure, and once I arrived next to her I immediately took her into a warm embrace. Soon after Luke, Mikey, and Calum followed suit. Sydnee, Sam, and Maddie all let themselves relax into the guys caring hold's.

We sat there in silence for a while, each of us soaking in the wonderful feeling of serenity. After a few minutes Cal spoke up, his eyes still focused on the red haired girl leaning against his chest. "Are you girls okay now?"

Pulling back ever so slightly from Michaels arms enveloped around her, Sam let out a huge breath before nodding slightly. "Yeah we're good now."

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that we weren't prepared at all for such an intense interview." Chimed in Maddie. "It felt like we were being interrogated."

"You can say that again." Sydnee said with a huff nuzzling her head into the crook of Luke's neck.

"Well." Started Luke. "I don't know about any of you, but I'm starving." We all let out a laugh at his quick change of topic before agreeing to go get something to eat.

We all jammed out on the way to the pizza parlor, singing completely out of tune to a plethora of songs. It was nice seeing the girls smiling again, I don't think any of the guys including myself realized how much we grew to care about them over the course of these past few days.

Upon arrival at the restaurant we all eagerly clambered out of the car. I luckily managed to get out first and I offered my hand to Amanda who grinned gratefully before taking hold. After I helped her down she hadn't let go of my hand, so I took the chance and entwined our fingers. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her flush slightly. We started walking towards the building before us and I took a quick look over my shoulder to see that Luke and Syd were also holding hands. We all made our way into the restaurant and sat ourselves down at an open booth. We ordered a large pizza and drinks. When everything was served we dug in and started chattering about everything and anything. Cal whispered something into Maddie's ear causing her to let out a giggle and blush a bright red.

We sat there for what seemed like hours sharing stories and cracking jokes like we had known each other for a lifetime rather than mere days. Maddie was telling a particularly hilarious story from back when she in the girls had been in school together causing them all to laugh until their stomachs hurt because of the memory. At one point Sydnee was laughing so hard she let out a quick snort which resulted in everyone else laughing even harder. She turned maraschino cherry red and hid her face in Luke's chest, and I swear while we were all still shaking with laughter I saw him press his lips to her forehead.

We were incredibly lucky that the pizza parlor was next to empty, because if it hadn't been we surely would've been kicked out due to the loud level of noise we were making. The events from that afternoon had been completely forgotten, but sadly the hilarious fun had to come to an end.

Our laughter was silenced when the sound of Michael's phone went off. He answered it and stayed silent for a few seconds before letting out a quick 'okay' and hanging up. His focus snapped back to us. "Did any of you guys remember that we were supposed to head into the studio at 5:15 today?" He questioned.

"Oh crap." Uttered Luke.

"Oh crap is right." Said Calum a bit of bitterness detectable in his tone.

"You guys have...er...twenty-ish minutes to get there." Announced Maddie looking up from her phone. "How far away is it?" She asked.

"Not too far." I answered. "We should be able to drop you guys off and then get there with time to spare."

"Yeah we should really start rehearsing our setlist for the show." Expressed Sam.

"We already paid so let's just head out." I said sliding from the booth everyone else following.

Once again the guys and I grasped hold of our respective girls hands and headed back towards the car much like earlier. Only this time we were filled with pizza and memories that would last a lifetime.

Hey guys this Chapter was written by one of my super good friends mandyismee and I would like to thank her for that!! Lots of love💖💖