Broken || a. i.

Chapter 7: Soundcheck

Hi guys! I know it's been almost a week since I last updated but here's a new chapter! I hope you like it. Vote and comment after please!

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Emily:

Ashton showed me around the arena. He showed me the tour bus, the instrument room (where they keep and tune all of the instruments until show time), and backstage. We ran into their opening act, Snowstorm (idk if this is a real band or not I just made it up lol) and they were all super nice.

"Bye guys!" Ashton called as they walked away from the stage.

"Nice to meet you!" I shouted. An echo bounced off the high hallway walls.

"You too!" I heard the 4 New Zealand boys yell back. Then they turned a corner and were gone.

"They seem nice enough." I said to Ashton.

"Yeah. They're fun. They're super young though. The youngest one is like, 15." He said. "I mean, they're no One Direction." He shrugged.

"Yeah. But, Ashton," I said realising something. "I'm only 15. And you said you liked me."

"Are you sure you're 15? you look more like 16 or 17." He asked.

"Well, my birthday was about a month ago. I'm pretty positive I'm 15." I laughed.

"Girls are a lot more mature than guys, though." He said. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"Yeah. I mean, I bet I'm a million times more mature than you!" I teased.

"Maybe not me, but defiantly more mature than Cal or Mikey." He said as he laughed.

"I'm probably more mature than the both of them combined!" We started laughing at our assumption, knowing it was true. We kept laughing until I was out of breath.

"Ready for the last stop on the tour?" he asked once we calmed down.

I nodded.

"Close your eyes. No peeking!" He said. He placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around.

"Okay. Walk forward." He directed. I began to walk. He turned my shoulders a little to the right. And then a little to the left. I felt a sudden light through my eyelids. Aston stopped me and faced me almost directly to the light.

"Can I open my eyes now?" I asked impatiently.

"Hold on. Alright. You can open them on three. One... Two... Three!"

I pulled my hands off of my eyes and gasped. In front of me was the stands. The Comcast Center held 19,900 people. It was hard to imagine that Ashton and the boys could play shows like this every night.

The sun, which was the light I felt through my eyelids, reflected off the seats. The lawn, which felt like it was a million miles back, was just being mowed. It was insane and so beautiful.

"Wow." I mumbled. i realised Ashton couldn't hear me an spoke up. "Wow, Ashton, it's so beautiful. How do you do it?"

"Do what, exactly?" he asked.

"Perform in front of all of these people?" I was in awe. I didn't know what to do so I walked the length of the stage and then back to Ashton. He took my hand and sighed.

"I just try to be myself. I mean. As much of my self as I can be with management's restrictions." He chuckled without humour and rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean 'with management's restrictions?'" I asked.

"Like, no talking about relationships, no swearing, no controversial comments, etcetera. It's total bullshit." He laughed and rolled his eyes again.

"We do stuff anyway." He pointed out.

I laughed.

"Well, yeah. I mean you break the no swearing rule a hundred times a show. And the relationship stuff you save for interviews..." I let my thought trail off.

It was silent except for the stage mangers putting the background together.

"We have to get back for soundcheck. You coming?" He held out his hand. I took it and he lead me back through the maze of hallways to the dressing room. When we were within 50 feet of the dressing room we could hear laughter and screaming. We opened the door and walked into a mess.

There was popcorn and candy and chips all over the floor. Luke wouldn't sit still for hair. Calum was already done and Michael had a plastic hairnet around his head- he had dyed his head, again.

"Hi guys!" Calum yelled from behind an upturned couch. Various snacks flew across the room. It looked like a war- girls versus the boys.

Just then Al walked in.

Uh-oh.

"What the hell!?" he yelled as he looked around.

"I saw Ash and Emily walk in. They're off the hook. The other 5 of you- fix the couches. Then get your butts to soundcheck." Though Al's face was mad, his eyes were laughing.

The boys laughed and began to clean up. When the girls- myself included- went to help Calum shooed us away.

"Our idea, we'll clean it up." He said.

Before we had time to protest all of the couches and chairs were upright and in place. Ashton held out his hand again and I took it. We lead the rest of the group to the stage for soundcheck.

Once we reached the stage Ashton let go of my hand.

"Go sit front row. Just don't post anything. On Instagram, or Twitter, I mean. I don't want people making assumptions." He told me. I frowned. I thought we could have been something.

Seeing the expression on my face, he laughed.

"Yet." He chuckled and kissed me on the cheek. I heard various forms of "ooooo" and "awww" in the background. I felt the heat rise in my cheeks. I stepped to the side so I could see Calum, Luke, and Michael. I stuck my tongue and they laughed. I laughed with them, realising how childish I was.

Ashton kissed my cheek again and I went to sit with Lindsey and Kate.

The boys did a few acoustic performances and they tested the instruments they were going to use that night. They tested their earbuds and mics.

Time was flying. Though we had gotten to the concert early, there was only one hour until show time. Ashton hopped down from the stage and went to sit next to me. Calum went to get some water with Luke and Michael went to go and rinse out his dye. Ashton sat in the seat next to me.

"How was it?" he asked.

"Great. You guys are so much better than I remember you from last year's Take Me Home tour. You've really improved." I said.

"Thanks. It means a lot. Really." He said.

I looked down as I heard Calum and Luke approaching. Then I heard a thump and my head shot up. I looked at Ashton who had a water bottle in his hands.

I turned to see Calum and Luke jump off the stage. They walked over to Kate and Lindsey.

"Are you going to come see me after the show?" Ashton said. He sounded hopeful.

"If you want. We have front row tickets. Maybe Al could come and get us or something..." I suggested.

"That's great! I'll have him meet you at one of the stands. Here." Ashton took three of his bracelets off of his wrist. He had told me that he wore them to cover up his scars.

"One for each of you," he said as he placed the first bracelet on my wrist. "So Al knows who to find." The bracelet had a leather tag, you could say. The tag said "love" on it.

"Thanks," I said smiling at it. I got up and went over to Kate, Lindsey, Calum, and Luke. I handed a bracelet to each of girls and explained the idea.

They nodded in understanding.

The boys stood up.

"We have to go but we'll see you after." Luke said. Him and Calum waved goodbye and headed towards the stage. Ashton grabbed my hand and pulled me to the side.

"I'll see you after." Ashton kissed my nose and went after his friends, waving as he went.

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Ok so MERRY CHRISTMAS.

I'm so excited.

So

80 votes and 20 comments?

For Christmas?

Please?

Emily xx 💕