Broken Home

II

Ashton

"Sorry about that, Ash. They're so careless. They'd do anything to get more money." Calum slung his arm around my shoulder.

"Yeah. They're cold hearted and meanies." Luke pouted.

"But what do I do?" I asked, thinking about how Bryana would react.

She'd flip.

"I wouldn't do it if I were you. You seem to really love her." Michael winked at me.

"But then we might get in deep trouble. I don't want anything to go wrong." I sighed, feeling the weight on my shoulders.

They all stayed silent as our manager walked in the room again.

"Please don't run out again, Ashton." He scolded me.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"Mr. Jafleck needs to speak to you all. He sent someone to get you." He started writing things down on his clipboard.

We silently waited for whoever was going to pick us up. The tension and awkwardness grew as time slowly passed on. Our manager occasionally looked back up at us with a disappointed expression. Butterflies flew into my stomach and my hand felt cold.

Mr. Jafleck was the guy who you did not want to mess with. He could rip up your contract without a care and send you on your way. He also was the guy who signed you in but the other part was terrifying.

He could literally end the contract. Just because of me.

I tried to calm myself down and looked around the room. The sofas we sat on were a light cream color and very soft. There were large house plants everywhere, and the windows were huge. The cream walls had pictures of past successful bands and a few guitars hung up. The rug beneath our feet was furry and orange. Our manager's desk was orange and so were most of the things on it.

Someone knocked on the door behind us and the door creaked open. Everyone looked up except me. I looked down, and closed my eyes in fear.

We could get sent out of here without a contract.

"I'm here to pick up four gentlemen." A familiar voice said.

"Ashton?" I heard a soft voice ask.

I opened my eyes and looked up to see Austin waving at me. Next to her stood Connor, who stared at me awkwardly.

She wore a white deer themed short sleeve crop top shirt and grey skinny jeans. Her long neon purple hair flowed down her chest, a few strands tucked behind her ear and her white converse looked new. She was quite small, and had fair skin. She slightly blushed as I smiled at her. She had big brown eyes, but last time I saw her they were green. How?!

Austin goofily smiled at me, her bottom front teeth missing. She wore a nirvana shirt that looked like it would fit Connor. It was tucked into her white shorts and she had cute little hand drawn designs on her white converse. She had a grey bow in her hair, pulling back a chunk of wavy brown hair away from her face. Her big, light brown eyes shimmered. I pulled a funny face for her, which made her giggle.

"Yes, here they are. Go on boys." Our manager said, a bit forcefully.

We all awkwardly stood up and walked towards them and they lead us down busy halls for quite a while. We finally reached Mr. Jafleck's office. Nervousness overtook my body as Connor opened the door. We all walked inside, Mr. Jafleck silently sitting at his desk, hands folded on top of his laptop.

"Afternoon, boys." He said, sounding a bit intimidating.

"Afternoon." We all mumbled.

"Sit down." He pointed at a few multicolored bean bags on the floor in front of his desk.

I sat in the blue, green and grey one. Luke sat in the blue, pink and white one. Calum sat in the red, orange and yellow one. Michael sat in the purple, navy blue and black one.

The entire room screamed COLOR! Everything was more than two colors. His desk looked hand painted, rainbows all over it. His laptop case had a unicorn on it, which made me want to burst out laughing. The walls were white, perfectly making all the colorful decor pop.

Connor and Austin stood by the back wall, staring at Mr. Jafleck. Connor pulled her hair to one side, and I noticed a small letter on her wrist. It caught my eye but she put her arm down so I could it see it. She stared at me, looking a bit scared. I looked back at Mr. Jafleck.

I guess they were his daughters, seeing a purple picture frame holding a family photo of them all. Connor and Austin sitting in front of Mr. Jafleck and a beautiful woman with long, honey colored hair.

The tension grew as Mr. Jafleck silently sat there, individually looking us up and down. My stomach flipped as he stared the longest at me. He squinted his eyes and made a disgusted face at me before looking away. I felt like bursting out in tears and running into Bryana's warm arms.

She'd always be there to cuddle with me when I felt nervous or she'd always Skype call me if I was lonely. I miss her dearly.

"So, Mr. Morrison, your manager, tells me we're having problems?" Mr. Jafleck broke the awkward silence.

I looked down at my hands, feeling Mr. Jafleck's eyes on me. Someone awkwardly coughed.

"You do understand that you need to get more public attention to grow a wi-"

"We understand, but we feel like the things your making us do are a bit too much. For god's sake, you're making him break up with his girlfriend!" I heard Calum cut Mr. Jafleck off.

"He could always get another one." I heard Mr. Jafleck say, making a volcano erupt in me.

"What if he didn't want to? What if he truly loved Bryana and wanted to stay with her? There should be another way to get publicity." Luke said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I closed my eyes in fear as I heard Mr. Jafleck sigh.

"The other option was making you adopt a child, and I fought for that not to happen. You're teenagers, you can't take care of a child." Mr. Jafleck said.

"Adopt? A CHILD?" Michael shouted.

"Yes, Michael. That's why I told them not to make you do that. It was either that or one of you break up with your girlfriends." Mr. Jafleck said.

All the weight was on my shoulders now. Either I do this or we're done for.

It's my choice now.