"Stuck In The Friend-Zone Again and Again"

"So Let's Sing This One More Time"

^Another kickass Halsey lyric edit for y'all (american-idiotx am I southern yet?)

Dedicated to my bae: Tamwyyn 😏😏😏😍😍😍

I woke up beside Luke, his arm wrapped around me gently, so I could move if I wanted to.
But who would ever want to move out of the grasp of a sleeping Luke Hemmings?
When I reached for my phone, which was on the floor beside me, I clicked it on to find that it was 8:30.
I knew we probably didn't get to the hotel until very early that morning, so I didn't want to wake anyone up yet.
Instead, I trained my focused gaze on Luke's peaceful figure.
He was perfect.
His messy blond hair and rumpled band tee combination that made him look like a god, paired with his barely-there stubble and his slightly open mouth, well... how could you not spare at least a minute to look at him?

After a while I decided I might as well do my work for the day while everyone was sleeping, so I pulled out my computer.

I flashed back to the days when I was completely in love with Luke while my computer booted up.
Those were the good old days.
No broken heart slowly mending itself back together, no tarnished ideas of love and happy endings.
But in a way, the present was worth all of that.
I was on tour with my best friends, who were still my favourite bands, on the rise to fame, and I was curled up next to the one and only Luke Hemmings and admiring him in a friendly (non-stalkerish) way while he slept.
A million people would kill to be me, and while they didn't (really) know about what Jake did to me, or what my home life was like, or how my anxiety affected everything I did, they knew that I was imperfect and (most of them) accepted me for it.
Pages of hate still flooded me everyday, and even though, if I'm being honest, some of it really got to me, I did my best to ignore it.
I knew that there were tons of people who loved me despite all of my flaws and imperfections, even if they didn't know me, and that that was more important than people that didn't know me that resented me for inane reasons like my face or my hair or my weight.
This was the real world, and in the real world people are gonna criticize you unfairly and people are gonna worship you for being yourself, so you might as well do whatever the hell you want.
At least, that was my motto.

---------

It took over two hours for all of the boys to rise.

Luke woke around 9:10.
Calum roused around 9:45.
Ashton managed to drag himself out of bed at roughly 10:20.
By the time Michael finally moped in around 11:00, I was done all of my work for that day.

"We have a rehearsal today," Calum said to no one in particular.
"Do you have a rehearsal before every show?" I inquired.
"No," Ashton shook his head. "Only before the first show."
"The rest of the time we just have soundcheck before all of the fans arrive," Luke added.
"What time do we have to be there by?" I asked.
"Noon," Michael answered.
"Shit!" I cursed. "It's 11:30 now!"
Mutters of "shit" and "fuck" followed, as we all scrambled to get up and ready.
I hurried into the bathroom and tossed on a red My Chemical Romance shirt along with a pair of black jean shorts before pulling my hair into a haphazard messy bun.
I rolled up and tied a black bandana around my head like a headband, then teetered around trying to put on my mismatched socks standing up.
When I finally blew out of the bathroom to slip on my black Converse, grab my black leather drawstring backpack, and apply a layer of lip gloss, Michael, Ashton, and Calum were waiting by the door.
"Sorry I took so long," I breathed. "I kept falling over trying to put on my socks."
"It's fine," Ashton said.
"Yeah it's Diva over here we're really worried about," Michael said, jabbing his thumb in the direction of Luke, who was doing his hair.
Knowing we would be late if we allowed to continue, I strided over to Luke, took his hand and pulled him out the door followed by the boys.
"But my hair-"
"Looks fine," I finished, cutting Luke off. "And we're going to be late."
"It's just a rehearsal," Calum said as we stepped into the elevator.
"It's unprofessional," I said.
"We're unprofessional," Michael said. "We're a fucking rock band."
"A fucking rock band you are," I nodded as the doors opened with a ding.
We stepped into the hotel lobby where a small man with beady eyes, a receding hairline, and a nervous look came rushing over to meet us.
"Would you like a car?"
"That we would," Ashton nodded.
The man nodded back and hurried off, and a few minutes later, a black car was pulling up to the curb outside of the lobby.
We rushed out of the hotel and fairly jumped into the car, leaving me squished between Luke and Michael as Ashton and Calum snagged the back.
"How come I have to be squished?" I jokingly pouted as the car started towards the venue.
"Because you're the smallest," Calum said.
"I'm not even four inches shorter than Ash!" I protested.
"Four inches is a lot," Ashton said.
"Not when you factor in that you're a guy and you're 6 years older!" I defended.
"Well how about the fact that you're the youngest," Calum tried.
"I'm not that much younger," I reminded him. "I'm not even four years younger than Luke."
"But to us you're like a little baby," Michael joked, pinching my cheek.
"Ow," I said, punching Michael in the shoulder to get him to stop.
"Ouch," Michael pulled away. "Your punch is definitely not one of a baby."
"No shit," I said. "I grew up with an older brother who insisted I needed to know how to defend myself. I know how to inflict temporarily paralysis on someone."
Michael pulled away, looking slightly frightened. "What?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "Just kick them really really hard in the back of the knee."
"Remind me not to make you angry," Luke laughed.
"It's not you that makes me angry, Lucas," I said easily. "It's the rest of them that need to worry."
All of them but Luke (who laughed) gasped slightly.
"I'm kidding," I assured them.
They breathed sighs of relief.
"But I will punch you."
"And that hurts," Michael pouted, leading me to kiss his shoulder where I hit him.
"All better," I giggled.
Michael laughed. "Gee thanks."
"Anytime!"

-----

We arrived outside the venue with 5 minutes to spare, so Ashton picked me up over his shoulder and fireman carried me while they all ran to the back door.
"Ow ow ow ow!" I giggled as my torso repeatedly bounced against Ashton's back.
I was still on Ashton's shoulder as security let us through, and wasn't let down until we reached the stage.
"Finally!" John called. (JOHN FELDMAN WOO WOO)
"We thought you were gonna be late," John added with a laugh.
"Right on time," Calum said, out of breath.
"You ran from the car didn't you?"
They all nodded, breathing heavily.
John's eyes grazed over the boys until they landed on me.
"Oh you must be Paris," he smiled, striding over to me.
"In the flesh," I smiled back.
"It's great to finally meet you," John greeted, shaking my hand.
"You too," I told him.
"I've been following you on Instagram for years," I admitted.
John laughed. "She's a keeper," he joked to the boys, who all laughed.
"We know," Michael replied with a chuckle, playfully wrapping his arm around me.

After a couple minutes of chatting, it was time for them to rehearse and get down to serious business. (SRS BSNS DAN HOWELL AF)
They all got their instruments and I got a spare electric guitar and got situated on stage.
"Try Money first!" John called.
"Okay!"
We all got ready to play, then, on Ashton's count, began.
Even without all the lights and screaming fans and everything, it felt incredibly like I was a part of this famous band on tour.
"We're gonna do a rendition of Good Girls!" Luke called out. "Like we talked about, right?" He turned to me.
"I guess so," I said nervously, setting my guitar to the side as I moved centre stage with Luke.
"Do do do do do do do do do do..."

After the song was over, every member of the crew hollered and cheered.
"That was brilliant!" John called.
"Luke and Paris came up with it!" Michael called back.
"Well it's amazing! The fans will go crazy! We should record it and put it on iTunes!"
"Oh my god," I gasped. "iTunes?"
"Look at you go kid," Ashton grinned at me.
"Wow," I breathed.
The tour hadn't even officially started and they were talking about me in an iTunes single.
This was gonna get interesting.

A/N: I'm a terrible person for never updating but come on MonEY THERE WAS NO WARNING ASDFGHJKL