Unpredictable (A Lashton Fanfic)

Chapter Seventeen - Vacation.

*Ashton’s POV*

The first thing I did when I stepped off the stage was look for Luke. He had walked off a few minutes before me, obviously eager to get out of the spotlight for some reason I didn’t understand. He had killed it out there; his vocals were flawless and he was flawless. Of course, he is Luke Hemmings after all. He’s always flawless.

            After five minutes of searching for him backstage I found him in the dressing room, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. “Lukey, what’s wrong?” I asked as I walked in and closed the door behind me. Thankfully Calum and Michael had went back into the audience to watch the rest of the performers, so we had the room to ourselves.

            “I screwed up out there, Ash,” Luke whispered, his voice barely audible. “I completely screwed up.”

            “What are you talking about?” I asked him in confusion, sitting down beside him. “You did amazing out there. You always do amazing. Why do you think you screwed up?”

            Luke sighed. “I sounded terrible, so don’t lie to me and say I didn’t. I let my nerves get the best of me and I completely ruined our first television performance.”

            “You didn’t ruin anything,” I reassured him. “and you sounded absolutely perfect.”

            Luke shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I’ve never sounded as bad as I did tonight. I’m sorry, Ash.”

            I rolled my eyes. “You can be so stubborn sometimes, Lukey. Trust me when I say you sounded amazing. Completely, utterly, and totally amazing.”

            “You’re only saying that because you love me,” Luke replied quietly. “If you weren’t my boyfriend and you had to say it, you’d realize that I sounded terrible.”

            I tilted his face up so I could look him in those beautiful blue eyes of his. “Yes, I do love you, but I didn’t say it just because of that reason. I said it because it’s the truth. Ask anyone, they’ll tell you the same thing.”

            When Luke only shrugged and continued staring down at the carpet, I decided it was time to change the subject. “Where and when is our next show?”

            “It’s in Ireland but it’s not for another week and a half,” Luke replied. “Why?”

            I took a deep breath before saying, “Let’s go somewhere. Just me and you, away from the other guys and the publicity. It’ll take your mind off of the awards tonight and Ariana and whatever else you’re worried about.”

*Luke’s POV*

I looked up at him in disbelief. Was he serious? Did he really think we could just leave the other boys—again—right before one of the biggest shows of our career? “That’s a nice thought, Ash, but you know as well as I do we can’t do that. We have tons of interviews and things before the actual concert.” I finally said after a few moments.

            Ashton rolled his eyes. “So? Michael and Calum can go to the interviews. They’ll be perfectly fine on their own for a week.”

            I rubbed my eyes with my hands. A week alone with Ashton sounded absolutely amazing, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe we would be able to go somewhere with no publicity, especially since our band’s popularity was growing every day. “I don’t know, Ash,” I said reluctantly. “You know as well as I do we’re not going to be able to escape the paparazzi. They’re going to follow us no matter where we go.”

            “Even on an island?” Ashton asked hopefully, and I couldn’t help but smile. Being alone with him on an island sounded like paradise, and even though I tried to bring myself to think of all the bad things that could happen, it was impossible. “Alright,” I replied. “You’ve convinced me.” I watched as he excitedly jumped up and pulled out his phone. “Great. I’m going to go call the airport right now.”

            I nodded and leaned back in my seat, staring up at the ceiling. The more serious, businesslike side of me was saying I needed to stay with Michael and Calum, but the fun-loving side of me was saying I’d much rather be on a beach with the person I loved the most than spending my days in a cramped room with pushy interviewers.

            After a few seconds the door reopened and Ashton walked back in, the smile on his face even wider than before. “Great news, Lukey. There’s a flight that leaves in two hours and goes straight to the Bahamas. Doesn’t that sound perfect?”

            I started laughing. “Of course it does, Ash, but how in the world are we going to get to the airport in two hours?”

            “Like this,” Ashton said, dangling a set of car keys in front of me. “I stole the keys to our Range Rover from Michael’s pocket earlier, so if we leave now we can get to the airport in plenty of time.”

            “Aren’t you going to tell them where we’re going?” I asked as I stood up and grabbed my sunglasses.

            Ashton shrugged. “Why should we? The less they know the better. Now come on.” I was about to say something, but stopped when he grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me out of the nearest door that led to the parking lot. We hadn’t even driven the Range Rover to the arena, but somehow it was sitting in a small parking space underneath a street lamp. “How in the world did this get here?” I asked Ashton, who smiled mysteriously. “I don’t know.”

            I shook my head and climbed inside, where Ashton quickly started the vehicle and sped away towards the interstate. McCarren International was only ten minutes or so from the arena, so it wasn’t long before I found myself following behind Ashton as we made our way into the airport. We got through security fairly quickly because neither one of us had any luggage—apparently we didn’t even have time to go back to the hotel and get our things—and soon we were sitting inside of a small private jet.

            By this time my eyes had started to close, and so I leaned my head on Ashton’s shoulder as we left the runway. “Are you tired, Lukey?” Ashton asked me quietly, and I nodded sleepily. “Of course I am. Today’s been an extremely busy and extremely tiresome day.”

            “You better get some sleep, then,” Ashton whispered. “because tomorrow’s going to be absolutely amazing.”

             I looked up at him and smiled before taking his hand and closing my eyes.