More Than a Moment

Two

"You did great tonight!" Michael cooed once they were off stage for good.

"Thanks." Magnolia stood quietly, tugging on her long, dark brown hair, while the boys finished putting their things away.

"You can come hang out with us for a bit," said Calum, leading her to what she assumed would be their dressing room.

They all entered the rather large room and took seats on the various sofas and chairs. Michael plopped down, letting out a big "oof" as he did. "Always fun, but soooo tiring," he whined.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Luke asked, almost teasing.

Magnolia figured they all could tell she was nervous, but by the end of it all, she really had the time of her life. It was actually kind of easy to stay calm if she didn't look out into the crowd too often, and the lights were so bright, it made it hard to even see anyone.

"I was pretty nervous at first, but I actually had fun," she responded, trying not to give it up that she's freaking out right now.

"Well, good, because we have something to ask you," Ashton began, eyeing everyone else for their approval.

Magnolia noticed short nods, and her palms became sweaty. "We're wor--" -ring ring ring- -ring ring ring-

"Sorry!" Luke picked up his phone and hurried toward the door. The sound of his greeting, to whomever was on the other end, fading as he left the room.

The other boys subtly rolled their eyes, not especially wanting Magnolia to notice. The four sat in notably comfortable silence until Luke returned less than a minute later.

"That was Ali..." Luke's hand wrapped around the base of his neck, almost apologetically.

"Yeah, we figured," Michael said under his breath but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Magnolia shifted uncomfortably in her seat, as she could feel the tension.

"The guards aren't letting her back, so I have to go get her. I'll be right back." Luke left without anyone else saying a word.

"Joy," said Michael sarcastically once Luke had shut the door. "He probably won't be back for a while."

"Why?" Magnolia asked, finally breaking her silence.

"Oh, she's probably gonna be mad about not being let back here, again, and then you'll be the cherry on top," he explained nonchalantly.

"Me? Why me? I didn't do anything," Magnolia retorted, her voice becoming a near squeak.

Ashton and Calum scoffed trying to hide their laughter, and Magnolia's eyes grew with her worry.

"Listen, I know I didn't take the class, but you and Luke had some major chemistry tonight," Michael smiled, probably impressed by his own line.

"No? I just-- it's-- we were just singing. I sang with all of you." Magnolia's panic was creeping up in the form of a hot face over her plump and freckled cheeks, and she couldn't stand the idea of Luke's girlfriend being upset with her over nothing.

By now all three boys were holding back laughs. "Sure, you sang with all of us, but you performed with Luke," Ashton clarified.

"But isn't stage chemistry like a thing? Like it's just getting caught up in the act?" Magnolia's voice stayed that high, annoying pitch that she hated.

"You two were certainly caught up in something..." Michael muttered. The other two laughed.

"Sure, it's a thing, but, c'mon. You can't tell us that you didn't feel something when I'm pretty sure everyone else did." Calum looked around for approval, and Michael and Ashton nodded along with their eyebrows raised as if they were teaching her some kind of lesson.

Magnolia sighed heavily, leaning back in the chair with a certain weight on her chest.

"Let's take to Twitter to find out!" Ashton exclaimed, pointing his finger into the air like some sleuth. "Luke and Magnolia," he mumbled as he typed the names into his phone.

Magnolia would be lying if she said she wasn't interested in what people had to say. In all honesty she did feel something with Luke that she didn't feel with the others.

"First one: 'Ali who?' with a picture of you and Luke on stage. Another: 'Luke and Magnolia were so cute tonight! eeeeee' with the heart-eyes emoji. Another: '5SOS brought a fan on stage tonight named Magnolia, and she and Luke really hit it off during Outer Space'," Ashton used a girly voice to read all the tweets, which provided some much needed comedic relief to Magnolia.

"Okay, I get it. Fine. But can we just drop it because the last thing I want or need is to be the reason behind a bunch of drama or a fight between Luke and his girlfriend." Magnolia ran her hands down her face.

"It's probably too late for that, but it's whatever. She'll get over it," Michael comforted her.

"In like a year..." Calum quipped.

"Calum!" Magnolia blurted in anger, already feeling poorly. She knew better, though. He's probably right.

Just then Luke entered, and everyone went unnaturally silent. "Uh, she went back to the hotel," Luke explained even though no one asked.

"Oh, no. Is she angry about something?" Michael asked lacking any and all sincerity.

Magnolia expected Luke to freak out, but he's used to the blatant dislike his band shows toward his girlfriend. "She said she's really tired... but, yeah. Probably." He gave an uneasy glance toward Magnolia who caught it because she had been staring.

"Anyway," Luke began in an attempt to change the subject, "did you guys tell her yet?"

"Nope. We waited for you," said Calum.

"Okay, Magnolia. The moment we've all been waiting for. Literally." Ashton took a deep breath before he delved into the topic at hand. "We are working on an acoustic album, and we all agreed we wanted a female feature, so we've been searching around for a while, holding auditions and stuff, and we haven't really found anyone we like. Until tonight." He paused giving Magnolia time to register what he's saying.

"Me?" She asked after a few silent seconds and everyone staring at her.

"As soon as we heard you sing with Calum on Amnesia, I think we all knew you were who we've been waiting for. You can sing well, you can harmonize, you went over well with the fans, you're a fan..." Ashton explained and everyone nodded along.

Magnolia sank back farther into her chair, her face contorting with confusion and consideration. "Well, I'm certainly flattered, but--"

"You can come to the studio sometime and just test it out, see what you think? You don't have to do this, but we'd all really like it if you did." Luke had turned his body completely toward Magnolia, and his eyes were pleading.

"I'm in school, and I'll be going back to Michigan in a couple of months," she explained, trying to reason with them and herself.

"We'll work with your schedule. We only have a few more shows for the tour, and then we'll be back to LA for a few weeks to record. But we can come around on days off and work with you!" Ashton said, hoping to convince Magnolia to accept their offer.

"You'd get paid!" Yelled Michael.

"Well, now that you say that...," said Magnolia jokingly. This room contained four of some of the most important people to her. She came to this concert expecting to hear some of her favorite songs live, but she actually got to sing them live and now she's being asked to record with them? Unreal.

"So you'll do it?" Luke asked excitedly.

"Easy, cowboy. Don't let your true feelings shine too far through. You've got a girlfriend," Michael teased, though everyone but Luke-- actually Luke probably knew too-- knew that he was being serious.

Luke shot Michael a glare and faced forward again, feeling uncomfortable. Luke was feeling guilty because he knew what Michael said was true. He did feel something with Magnolia on stage, something more than just the thrill of performing with another person. It was different. He chewed on his lip and let out a big sigh, not realizing how loud it was until everyone turned to look at him.