More Than a Moment

Four

It's been a good three days since Magnolia saw the boys, but they've all texted her here and there-- except Luke, but Magnolia didn't have to guess why not.

"I have good news! Think you could stop by mine and Calum's place later?" Ashton texted.

A pit grew in Magnolia's stomach. She hadn't really had much time to think over such a huge decision, and she was struggling with her answer. Of course she wanted to work with 5 Seconds of Summer, but what if she's not good enough? What if it's too much with school? What if she loves it and doesn't want to continue school? There are so many reasons not to, but also so many reasons to do it. She'd get to spend time with 5SOS; she'd get to learn about the recording and producing process; she'd get paid; she'd have her voice out for everyone to hear. She sighed, mindlessly flipping through her textbook before answering Ashton.

"Sure! Let me know when you'll be there, and I'll see if it can work." She replied.

His response came through immediately: "We should be there any time after 4."

Magnolia told him that would work and returned her attention to studying. Magnolia hates studying, but who doesn't? She's always struggled with how to be humble when explaining her brains, but it's hard when learning comes naturally to her. Before college, she never really had to study, so she really has to force herself to now.

-bzz bzz- -bzz bzz- Magnolia's phone vibrated, and assuming it was just Ashton responding with a thumbs-up, she didn't bother to look. That is, until she realized she hadn't retained a word of that last two paragraphs she read and became too frustrated to continue.

To her surprise the name on her phone was Luke's. "Hey."

She smiled at this for no reason. Okay, there is a reason. She likes Luke because who wouldn't, and this is cute.

"Hi." She texted back, hoping for an immediate response like Ashton's.

She got her wish because Luke responded with "How are you?".

Magnolia sighed, getting her head out of the clouds. "Should you be talking to me?"

"Why not?"

"Oh."

Luke realized that Magnolia was referring to Ali and her behavior the night of the show. She's still mad, actually. Ali was between the gate and the stage, and instead of Luke singing to her like he usually does, he couldn't keep his eyes off Magnolia. She just knows he was saying flirty things to her outside of the microphone's range.

Luke really likes Ali, for real, it's just that she can be a bit overbearing sometimes, and he's not the best at saying no or defending himself when it comes to her. It's frustrating, and sometimes he'd rather have a simpler relationship or none at all.

"Yeah." Magnolia responded, wishing she didn't have his best interest at heart.

"Well, I was just going to tell you that John, our producer, likes what he heard from you at the show."

"Is that why Ashton wants me to come over tonight?!" Magnolia hates the idea of meeting their producer, and so soon?

"Ashton asked you to come over tonight?" Luke felt a pang of jealousy, and was then consumed with guilt. Magnolia's right; he shouldn't be talking to her. In fact he should probably only talk to her and be around her in a professional setting.

"Yeah. He said he has good news, but I'm scared John won't like me. I just get so nervous." Magnolia debated even sending this, because while she may not be being exactly emotionally vulnerable, she is opening up to Luke a little bit, and that only invites deeper connections. That can't happen.

"That's probably why, then, yeah. But don't worry. It sounds like you've already impressed John enough, and he's ready to get to work. You'll be great." Luke sent the text and decided that was enough for now. It's only a matter of time before Ashton tells him to come over tonight too.

"Anyway, that's all I wanted to share. Have a good day."

Magnolia banged the back of her head against the wall a few times before sighing and shutting her eyes. Being friends is good-- great, even. It's more than you ever expected. You don't need more; don't be greedy. She kept trying to coax herself out of feelings for Luke, but Magnolia has had feelings for Luke since the band's birth.

It was always Luke. No matter what he did or how the others made her feel, Magnolia always ended up back to Luke. She has always found his quietness charming, and he's always seemed sweet and thoughtful and funny, and to her dismay, all of those things are true.

When Luke and Ali got together, Magnolia was upset. It was hard for her not to be. She always tried to tell herself that he's a celebrity, she knew this would happen, he doesn't even know her so why would she be upset, but then she came across a post on tumblr that explained why she couldn't just be happy for Luke and Ali-- it's the same reason it's hard to be happy for the cute boy she liked in art class when he got a girlfriend: you don't get a celebrity crush on 5SOS, you get a real person crush.

Magnolia accepted her fate (and realized what an unhealthy hold the band had on her life) and began to back away from the in-depth interest in 5SOS. She can attribute her success to growing homework assignments and less free time, but had that not happened, she probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere with 'backing away'.

But it seems like her fate has changed now, and she so gladly wants to accept it, but there's not an option to. Not to mention, any relational interference within the band could hurt them and the project that Magnolia has just now decided to partake in.

When 4 o'clocked rolled around, Magnolia hopped in her car, plugged in Ashton's address, and nervously began the drive. Not only is she going to Ashton Irwin's house to meet their producer to start working on an album with one of her favorite bands, but driving in LA is the worst. It's much much different from Michigan traffic.

Magnolia knocked on the door once she got there and was greeted by all four of the band members-- Luke looking guilty and not meeting her eyes when they exchanged hellos. Was he ever going to get out of his head and be able to be civil around her? Luke felt pathetic and helpless about how to deal with his feelings.

"You must be John," she greeted with a firm handshake. "It's nice to meet you."

"And you as well," John returned with a smile. "The boys were so excited to tell me they finally found their voice. I had to hear it for myself, but I was pretty convinced beforehand because the chance of you getting chosen from the audience and having what they're looking for is no chance at all." John beamed like a proud father. He had listened to several videos from the show Magnolia was in, and he had to admit there was something special in the way she connected both vocally and emotionally with the boys on stage. He couldn't help but notice a special connection that seemed to be with Luke. From an audience member's perspective, one would guess they had known each other and been performing together for years, and then you add the emotional weight of the songs they were performing? Beautiful.

"John wanted to get us all together to just go over what he has in mind and what we have and see what you think," Calum explained, bringing Magnolia a bottle of water.

Everyone moved to the living room to sit down, and John broke into his spiel right away. "Okay, so we're doing a ten track acoustic album. Two new songs, eight from Sounds Good Feels Good. We're keeping Jet Black Heart, Catch Fire, Vapor, Waste the Night, Castaway, Fly Away, Airplanes, and San Francisco. Before you say San Francisco is already on the softer side, know that we've really changed it up. The additional songs are called Distance, which Luke and Calum wrote, and Shooting Stars, which Michael and Ashton wrote. Shooting Stars should definitely be the group with solos because there are multiple perspectives within the piece. And I was thinking Distance would be like Invisible, where it's vocally heavy and soulful, and I'd like Luke and Magnolia to sing it as a duet. Any questions?" John sat with his hands on his knees, leaning forward, with a big smile on his face, talking a mile a minute. He's really excited about this project.

Luke and Magnolia just looked at each other with half-hearted smiles.