Uneasy ➢ smash au

xxii. Hazy Screens & Late Night Skype Calls

Months have passed, Ashton and his family quickly adjusting to the Perth atmosphere. He continues to type aimlessly on his laptop, admiring the view of the city through his window. The ray of sun shines through the window, illuminating the white pristine room. Next to him lays an unmade bed by his brother, Ashton rolling his eyes at the sight.

"I can't believe your don't with school," his mother says as she walks in, putting down the laundry basket on Luke's bed. "now you and your brother are off to university."

"Yeah."

"It's gonna be lonely without you boys here at home to accompany me."

"We'll always visit when we can." Ashton states. "I'm pretty sure I'm not going to a university out of Australia."

"Well it's fine if you do," she tells him. "I want you to go and see the world, I don't want you to be all cooped up here in Australia."

"Maybe I could stay here for the first two years, then go travel abroad." He suggested. Ashton's mum shoots him a sincere smile prior to folding the laundry.

"Do whatever makes you happy Ashton," she tells him. He takes in his mother's words, but in his mind he knows he can't do whatever makes him happy. He has to do what is easier for the family as well as his mother. As what his mother said, he's the father figure in the family and he must keep it that way.

Once she finishes, she leaves the folded clothes on Luke's bed -- which is now made before exiting the room in a swiftly manner. Ashton continues to stare at his computer screen, checking his messages on Myspace, a notification from Michael popping up.

"Can't believe we're on Youtube, that's sick!" Ashton read aloud, confused by Michael's post. Ash moves his cursor over to Michael's notification, clicking on his profile, a picture of his newly dyed 'inverted zebra' hair replacing his old profile picture. He looks into the post more, a screen shot of a youtube video posted, their performance from the Sydney Locals festival being the video. At first Ashton was shocked, "why would anyone want to post a video of us on the internet?" ran through his mind. He scroll through some of the comments, some from classmates, other some 'fans' from the festival who saw their performance live.

"That's wicked! Congrats, you guys will go far!" commented Valerie Tompkins -- aka Luke's little 'girlfriend' he never told Ashton about. He laughs at the comments Luke and Calum made, both of them surprised as well.

"I nearly shit my pants when I saw this, can't believe this is seriously on the internet." Calum added.

"Ew, didn't need to know that. Anyway, nice performance guys." Diana Withers commented. Along with all the positive comments followed by a couple likes on the post, causing Ash to smile. With Michael's post, he links the video which Ashton clicks sending him to the youtube video. He watches the video the whole way through, the crowd's perspective making the video ten times louder due to all the cheers and some screams. The user whom uploaded the video even cheered themselves, more smiles brought to Ashton's face. After the video ends, he reads all the comments and counts all the likes, thinking about making it big along with his brother and his close friends. He quickly logins to his own personal youtube account before liking the video, adding it to favorites, and subscribing to the up loader. Along with that he adds a little thank you comment, thanking them for uploading the video, people slowly finding out about '5 Seconds of Summer'. He quickly checks the user's name, a familiar face popping up once he reads the name. Emery.

It made him smile to think that she still talks to him -- let alone support him as well as the band. He exits out of Youtube and opens up his Skype, seeing that she's online, sending her a invite to chat. By this time it is near nightfall, Luke's clothes removed from his bed, and messily thrown into his dresser drawers. Her face pops onto the monitor, her eyes hazed with slumber and her hair messy as always.

"Hello!" she manages to say, trying her best to sound chirpy and awake. "How's Perth? Is it nice over there? Have you guys adjusted yet?"

"Hey," he responds. "Perth is fine, still missing Sydney though. Not a lot of tourists here, and yes the weather is nice over here. And my family and I seemed to have adjusted quickly to the Perth atmosphere."

"Well that's good," she says. "it's nice we still get a chance to talk."

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that." he tells her. "How we still keep in contact after everything that had happened in the past year." She nods in response, Ashton carrying out the small conversation by asking about her home life and such. This conversation goes on for a bit longer, both Emery and Ashton tells random stories from when they were both younger, both bursting out into fits of laughter after every story told. "I jus wanted to thank you,"

"And why is that?" she asks, her eyebrow raised in confusion.

"For the video you uploaded to Youtube, thanks for that. That was really nice of you," he continues.

"Well it's no problem," she replies. "I want to see you guys progress in your career as musicians. Plus it's like memorabilia for when you guys become famous. Something to look back on."

"I didn't know you attended the festival," he commented.

"Well I overheard Aspen talking about it once during lunch and I decided to go along and watch you guys, you were really amazing." she beams. She continues to talk about how they'll be discovered soon, Ashton giving comments every here and there on what he thinks will happen in the future. "You guys will be like, celebrities." she said pausing on the word 'celebrities'.

"Calum doesn't considered ourselves 'celebrities', the same goes for the rest of the guys. Same thing with us and 'famous', we don't think we are." he informs her. "But I guess some people see us as that." he chuckles at the thought of the four boys becoming 'celebrities' and 'famous' the actual thought never striking him.

"Um, Ashton? Can I tell you something?" Emery pipes up, Ashton telling something important is on her mind. Ashton gives her a nod, his attention focused on anything but her. "Okay, so first thing, I just wanted to make this clear that I've wanted to tell you this for the longest time, but I never knew how to tell you." she takes in a deep breath before she continues to speak, the split second of silence making Ash eager to know what she's about to say to him. She exhales sharply, a smile forming on her face. "Ashton, you make me happy." Silence falls among them, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. He opens his mouth slightly, only to be cut off by Emery once more. "Here, let me make this a little more clearer. When I was younger, I spent most of my life at an adoption center before being adopted by my parents. Unlike most kids at the center, I wasn't as playful, talkative, or active as them. I was an introvert basically. My only friend or 'companion' was one of my care takers. The day I was adopted, she was the only one I said goodbye too. Right before I left, she told me a very important message I should remember for the rest of my life. She told me, 'if you find someone that makes you happy, hold on to them and never let them go'. So the main point of the story is that Ashton, you truly make me happy, and I've wanted to let you know that for the longest tme now." Tears began to brim her eyes as she spoke, Ashton giving her a smile.

"I think what your care taker told you was a very important message as well, and I'm glad I make you happy. To be honest, something told me as I walked out of your house that day I found you in your room surrounded by shattered glass, that this wouldn't be the last time I heard or saw your face. And all that time I spent with Aspen trying to move on, you were always in the back on my mind, I always thought about you and couldn't let you go. Emery, you are the only person that can make me happy and probably the only person that will every make me that happy." Ashton confesses, a massive smile taking place of Emery's face, her hands covering her smile whilst tears continue to pour. "One day, I hope to come back to Sydney and hold you in my arms, never wanting to let go of you." And with that they say their goodbyes, Ashton closing his laptop and placing it on his desk. He turns of his beside light and drifts asleep on his bed, knowing that once again everything seems right.

♡

Hello everyone! So as sad as I am to say this, unfortunatly Uneasy is now over. I had so much fun writing this story and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And I'm sure to add an epilogue after this, so I guess this really isn't the end is it? Once again, thanks so much for all the comments, favorites, and for taking time to read every chapter. This means a lot more than you'd think it does to me.

xx. LostThenFound (Ebony)