Too Late? (5SOS)

Chapter 19

*Luke's POV*

I wasn't really interested about attending the press conference.

I mean, it's been a long day full of rehearsals and performances and singing. I just want to crash on the couch and freaking sleep, man. But, no. Management insisted, so we have no choice but to agree.

The moment the four of us enter the conference room, the press erupts in cheers and the cameras start flashing, taking photos of our every movement.

"Luke, look here!" one ordered.

"Calum, give me a good smile!" another one shouted.

We all took our respective seats behind the long table where our glasses of water and microphones were conveniently placed. After a few moments of adjusting the audio and stuff, the paps were firing questions at us one after the other.

Well, just at me.

They asked the other boys a safe three questions each, before they went along with the flavor of the month: my relationship with Tiana. Of course, I was pretty much prepared for this. Yeah, I had girlfriends then, but I wasn't this known yet.

"Luke, every single member of the 5SOSFAM wants to know...what is the status of your relationship with Tiana Knowles?" a female reporter asked me, furiously jotting down notes on her spiral notebook.

"Yeah, like I said a while ago in the concert, Tiana is sort of my girlfriend," I replied. Shocks came from the members of the press, and they were all arguing about who got to ask me the next question.

"When did you meet, Luke?"

"When did you think of the lyric change in the concert a while back?"

"What does Management think of this?"

"Is your fanbase okay with Tiana being around?"

I kept on hearing questions from every side of the room, which nearly made me deaf. Fortunately, Ashton got the microphone for me and said, "If you all wanna ask questions, we'd appreciate it if you spoke one by one, thanks."

They decided to let a stocky man in a tight suit ask me a question first. "Luke, when did you first meet Tiana?"

"We've been best friends ever since we were five. I don't know how, but I realized that...she was just more than a friend to me, you know?" I replied, which was true. It wasn't so hard to answer, because all my answers were real.

"But, wasn't she the girl who screamed at you from last Friday's meet and greet?" the same man questioned. "Were you already together then?"

Holy shit, why haven't I thought of any possible alibis to this question? I never really was good at on the spot questions, damn it.

"U-uh, it was just...uh," I stammer out. Oh yeah, I'm really convincing them with my tone, lol.

"They were fighting." Michael filled in. For the first time in what seemed like years, I felt glad he was a butthead. "They had gotten into a major fight. She needed something before the concert, and Luke sort of blew her off. See, she even needed to sneak in the meet and greet just to get noticed by the dude!"

He looked me in the eye with a look that sort of read: "You better thank me for covering up your ass." The paps bought it, and were finally asking other questions already. Thank goodness for Michael's big mouth.

"Do the other boys like her? Or at least approve of her?" another voice asked from the back. "Calum, what do you think about her?"

Calum smiles a bit, and waves to the interviewer from the back. "Finally! Someone acknowledged our existence. Haha, kidding aside: we all think Tiana is a great, great girl. We haven't known her for very long, but we sort of gel together."