Runaway [cake au] ✔

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"C7 goes more with the song's theme than just C or Cm. Try it out," Calum said into the microphone on the mixer, releasing the button that sent the sound through as we listened to Steve trying his best to play a C7 chord. When it proved to be too difficult, Calum got out of his chair and into the recording studio, showing him the chord on the blue Telecaster resting on his thigh.

I couldn't help but grin. It was like watching him teach his own kid or something, and I'd always seen a more fatherly side to him, even in the past. Hey, maybe he had kids now, like Ashton? Maybe that's why he left! Because the mother refused to look after the kids by herself... wait, but he was with me at the time, so that was really unlikely... unless...

"Luke you need to stop zoning out," he snapped, suddenly up close to my face. Flustered as I might've been, I kept calm and cleared my throat, announcing that we were going to record it one more time.

We managed to get everything finished by around 4pm, giving us time for a drink before we had to head home. I was planning on telling Harper about Calum this evening, and hopefully persuade her to let him stay. I wouldn't tell her about the money though – she'd never agree to it if she knew about this little agreement. $10,000 wasn't just any sort of money, it was big money and needed to be earned.

On the way out of the building, Michael stopped us with a massive smile and took his sunglasses off to say, "Hey guys I've just remembered! Ashton is touring with his band in the US right now, we can give him a call and ask him to come down to NYC for a few days to catch up. What do you think?"

Calum didn't know how to respond, but I knew it wasn't gonna be the best idea because when Calum left, Ashton had been the angriest one. He'd actually ignored Michael and I for about three months before we both mentioned moving to New York. It was around that time that he apologised for being a dick, but even then he still hadn't forgiven Calum until he was declared dead.

We eventually moved around seven years ago. Ashton started another band in Australia but they were massive in America so he purchased a house in LA (unfortunately that was the complete other side of America so we didn't have many opportunities to see each other) and he also got married, had two kids and bought a dog.

Michael was still a bachelor, and I think that was mainly because he had a crush on Ashton for pretty much our whole time being a band. When he got married, Michael was hit pretty hard because all this hopes went down the drain just like that.

I on the other hand met Harper and we announced our engagement around eight months ago. The pregnancy hadn't necessarily been planned – however, it was still early stages and if she did get past three months, we decided we'd get married really quickly. She'd spent a long time designing everything already, so that wasn't technically an issue.

"Yeah, go ahead! I'd love to hear what he's been getting up to," Calum replied before I could even open my mouth, crossing his arms and shifting his feet to a more comfortable position.

"I don't think-"

My objection was futile though, because Calum seemed pretty intent.

"I say we call him," Calum said indifferently, shoving his hands in his black jean pockets. "What's the worst that could happen? A reunion tour?"

He was joking, but I'd been hoping that 5 Seconds of Summer would come back to life someday. Obviously now, it was a bit unrealistic since we were all reaching our thirties, however it wasn't impossible.

Michael dialled Ashton's US number from his phone. "Hey buddy, where you at? Michigan? Cool. Listen, Calum came back. I know, I know... calm down. No this isn't a joke! When is your next show? Next week? You wanna come over to New York for a couple days then? Yeah, let us know. Okay, bye." He hung up and smiled at us. "He just needs to check with his bandmates but he said it should be fine."