Stay Courageous

Chapter 17

So basically, this is a continuation of chapter 16 because chapter 16 was gonna be longer but I cut it in half because I was writing it late last night and I knew I wouldn't finish if I made it as long as I originally planned. Also, sorry if this is again, unrealistic, because I've never met famous people so I'm not sure how it goes. Thanks so much for over 300 reads and and over 50 votes. Y'all are awesome. :) The character picture is Fletcher.
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Stella's POV
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After Zoe and I got off the stage, Luke announced that they were going to slow things down a bit and they played Beside You, Wherever You Are, Close As Strangers, and Disconnected before the end of the concert. It's not that we weren't enjoying listening to the boys play, but Zoe and I were really anticipating the end of the show so we could go back stage and meet the band! More specifically, I was excited to meet Ashton since we didn't get to interact with him as much as Calum, Luke and Michael.

The boys played the final song, Try Hard, before they said goodnight and the lights in the stadium were turned back on. It seemed like everyone in the crowd but us was rushing to get back outside. The people who had meet and greet tickets would come back tomorrow, so it looked like we were going to be the only ones sticking around.
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"Hello, Zoe," Michael brought my friend into a real hug instead of a side hug now that he didn't have a cumbersome guitar hanging around his neck. I started to stand there awkwardly when Ashton came up to me.

"And hello, Stella," he hugged me just how Michael had hugged Zoe. I guess our favorites were more obvious than we thought. After the crowd had cleared out, some security guards showed us to the underneath of the stage where the boy's dressing room was an that's where we were now.

When Zoe and I continued to be awkward, Calum spoke up, "well you two are a bit more shy than you seemed on stage!" It made everyone laugh.

"I guess we're just nervous," replied Zoe who couldn't suppress her smile. "We love you guys so much. Like, your music is our life and we never thought we'd be meeting you when we came to this concert. I mean, it's lucky we even got tickets!"

"Oh?" Like pressed, sitting on the big couch that was up against a wall and popping open a Coke.

"Yeah," I continued, "our friend Kat had them originally, but she couldn't come so she gave us the tickets." A giggle popped out when I finished talking. I guess I really was nervous.

"Well you'll have to thank your friend Kat, otherwise we'd have never met you two!" Calum said, joining Luke on the couch.

"Oh, we will. Calum, Kat loves you. I'm sure she'd give her right arm to be here meeting you with us," Zoe gushed.

"Well, how about this," Calum smiled, apparently thinking about what he was about to say, "if you have your phone with you, Luke and I can FaceTime Kat since you and Stella are more interested in talking to Michael and Ashton."

"Sure!"I said as Zoe handed Calum her phone and pressing the FaceTime button on Kat's contact. "Luke, can you FaceTime our other friend Taylor on my phone?" Everyone laughed at me. "Sorry," I laughed at myself, "she loves you like Kat loves Calum."

"Why not?" Luke said. "Seems like you girls have each claimed a different member here." Everyone laughed again as I pressed Taylor's FaceTime button and handed my phone to Luke.

Finally, I could just talk to Ashton. "Can I have a picture?" I asked.

"Sure!" We took a selfie while I heard Zoe chitchat with Michael.

"Ashton," I said when we were done taking the picture. "I really love y'all's knew album and I wanna say that I really love the song Broken Home. I feel like it describes me perfectly."

"I'm glad you love it! It's good to know that we're connecting with fans that way," Ashton said. "That song was written mainly for kids with divorced parents or other bad family situation, so if that's you I know how you feel."

"Aw," I gave Ashton another hug, remembering how his dad left him and his brother and sister. Maybe he even inspired that song.

By the lack of squealing and other sounds of freaking out, I realized Luke and Calum were done FaceTiming Taylor and Kat. I went to collect my phone and the two boys stood up and joined Michael, Zoe, Ashton, and I.

"Well, we loved having you girls backstage," said Calum.

"We loved having you on stage as well," added Luke.

"Yeah, but unfortunately we have to pack up and get back to the hotel," said Michael.

"Aw. Okay. Can we get one big group picture with y'all before we leave?" Zoe asked.

"Sure!" They had a security guard come take the picture for us and then we were giving each of the boys hugs again as we for ready to leave. Zoe just had to hug Ashton and then our backstage experience would be fulfilled.

"Thanks for everything, 5sos," Zoe raised her hand to wave at them and the sleeve of her flannel shirt dropped down below her wrist.

"Wait," said Ashton. He grabbed her hand that she was just waving with. Her left hand. He pulled back her sleeve again and I saw that it was the hand that had all those weird gashes. "I know what those are," he said simply. Out of his pocket, he produced a black fine tip Sharpie, which he used to draw butterfly wings on Zoe's hand, using the biggest scratch as the body of the butterfly. Then, he pulled her into another big hug and said "take care, Zoe."

"Uh..." I just kind of stared awkwardly as I watched the whole thing unfold and wondered what was going on. Ashton saw confusion and smiled softly.

"Here," he then grabbed my hand and drew a line on the inside of my left wrist and then drew butterfly wings, using his line as the body. "I want you to go home," he put the Sharpie back in his pocket, "and look up 'Ashton Irwin butterfly challenge'. Then I want you to help your friend." He glanced at Zoe and smiled again. Zoe didn't seem comforted.

"Oh, and your southern accents are really adoreable," said Michael. This made Zoe smile.

"Bye," all the boys said to us as we were escorted by security back out the way we came and into the stadium again. We went outside, where we realized it was now raining, and hopped into Wanda's car that was waiting there on the side of the street to pick us up.

When we were back at the hotel, I did look up Ashton Irwin butterfly challenge. What I saw made me understand everything.
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End of chapter 17

Hi. :) If you have no clue what just happened, *you* go google 'Ashton Irwin butterfly challenge' and then you'll probably get it. If not, message me.

Thanks CurrentlyMuke_ for help with this chapter. You're the best. :)

As always, thanks for reading. Love y'all.

-SJ