Want You Back

3.

"Miss Davis, Miss Chambers, 5 Seconds of Summer are here to see you. Shall I send them in?"

Audrey glanced at me as she answered, her voice cautious. "Yes, thank-you, Irene."

We both stood up, and turned to face the door. I sucked in a breath, feeling my shoulders tense up. This was it - this was the moment I had been dreading all week.

The four of them entered the room, making the office seem to shrink. They were talking in hushed voices, hints of laughter evident in their jolly tones. The Aussie accents bounced across the walls, filling the suddenly small space with the voices that were once so dear to me. I felt sick. I had no idea how I was supposed to say anything, let alone look any of them in the eye.

Luckily Audrey had no such reservations.

"Boys, nice to finally meet you. I trust your manager will be in shortly, then our meeting can officially begin?" She inquired, all business.

The boys shared a look and Ashton spoke up, his smile easy and unchanged; my heart clenched. "Seeing our history with Jazz, we figured this would be an informal meeting." He explained, my nickname rolling off his tongue like second nature - like how it used to be.

Audrey stiffened while I tried my best to not collapse and continue breathing regularly. "I believe my client would prefer it if you used formal titles when referring to her. As for the intent of this meeting, it is strictly professional and will remain that way unless my client specifies. Please, sit."

The boys glanced at Luke, who merely shrugged and sat on the couch, the other three squeezing in beside him. Audrey nodded at me and I followed suit, folding my body into the armchair at the side, fingers wringing my wrists.

Audrey took immediate control over the conversation, her eyes hard and voice firm. "Now, without your manager here I'm afraid things cannot be finalized, however my client and I would like to discuss recent activity by your band in relation to her." She started.

"Is your 'client' going to speak at all during this meeting?" Luke interrupted, his baby blue eyes suddenly focussed on me, as if staring into my soul.

I shifted my gaze to my lap, hating the sudden attention. Luke could always read me like a book; I could not afford to be weak right now, not after three years.

"I will be speaking on behalf of Miss Chambers, if you please, Mr. Hemmings," Audrey said sharply.

Luke returned his intense gaze to my agent, his smile slow and lazy, almost feline. "My apologies. Please," he gestured to her, "continue."

Audrey smiled, "as I was sa-"

"Miss Davis?" Irene popped her head back into the room, "there's a phone call for you. It's urgent."

Audrey bit her lip and glanced between her assistant and myself. "Alright, Irene. Excuse me, this shouldn't take more than a minute." She explained, getting up and exiting the room.

Leaving me alone with the boys, like a doe surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves.

I busied myself with picking at the skin around my fingernails, doing essentially anything in my power to avoid looking at them.

Nobody said a word.

Nobody even moved a muscle, nay flinch when Irene popped back into the room, an apology on her lips. "Miss Davis has informed me that she will not be able to return anytime soon - some personal matters have popped up. She advises that continuing the conversation without her will suffice until another meeting can be arranged. She apologizes." Then with her message delivered, Irene spun on her heel and exited Audrey's office, leaving the five of us alone once more.

The silence was deafening.

"So," the dark-haired one, Calum, spoke up, breaking the silence. "How've you been, Jazz?"

"Don't call me that." I snapped, staring him down. The way he said my name, like he was entitled to call me by my nickname when he was a stranger to me now - how fucking dare he.

Calum recoiled and held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry," he mumbled.

The boys all seemed shocked by my outburst, their eyes wide. Luke, unsurprising, was the first to respond. "So why are we even here, huh, Princess?" He asked, a vicious smirk curling his lips.

The fourth boy, Michael, who had yet to speak, shoved Luke, glaring at his blond friend. "Shut the fuck up, dude. She's clearly uncomfortable."

I felt tears well up in my eyes at him defending me, just like he used to. Michael always looked out for me where Luke was concerned; it made losing him in the aftermath of the breakup all the more painful.

Yet I said nothing, knowing if I thanked Michael the tears would fall.

Instead, I cleared my throat and sat up, doing my best to mask my emotions. I needed to pretend that I was in front of a camera; I needed to become a character. I was an actress - it was my job to portray different characters, I could do this.

"I arranged this meeting as a follow-up of sorts to the release of your newest single," I explained, voice strong and clear, hiding my internal discomfort.

Luke chuckled and leaned back into the couch, ankles and arms crossed. "You heard it, huh? Liked what you heard?"

I grit my teeth but ignored him, keeping my gaze on the spot directly above the couch - above all of them. "My agent and I have reason to believe the song is about me. I'm not saying it is, however it is uncanny how some of the lyrics are very," my eyes flitted to Luke. "Familiar."

The band said nothing, eyes trained on me.

"Whatever the case, in any future interviews you may have regarding your latest single, I wish for you to clarify that it is not about me - should my name come up. I have spent the last three years building my career, and I don't want you four doing anything to tarnish my reputation."

"Of course," Luke sneered, "it's always about your career."

"Do you have something you'd like to say to me?" I asked him through clenched teeth.

He leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees. "Actually, yes, I do."

"Well too bad; I don't care what you have to say to me. You don't get to comment on how I live my life. Now, back to your song..." I trailed off, feeling proud at how I'd managed to stand up for myself without Audrey to protect me.

"I want to talk about this though," Luke snapped.

Michael placed a hand on his bandmates shoulder. "Luke, chill, bro."

Luke shrugged him off, and stood up, towering over me. "We're done here," he all but snarled, stalking out of the office.

Everybody froze, the air sucked out of the room at Luke's harshness. Ashton was the first to recover; he stood as well, the other two following suit and he held out a hand to me. I merely stared at it, firmly planted in the armchair, waiting. Ashton exhaled loudly through his mouth and retracted his hand, seeming conflicted. "We'll talk to Luke - we won't mention you in an interview again," he assured me.

He turned and left after that, Calum going with him, yet Michael stayed behind, appearing to be lost in thought. Michael moved so that he was directly in front of me, and he offered me his hand, yet this time, for some reason, I took it, letting him pull me to my feet. Michael held my hand for four heartbeats more, before promptly releasing my fingers, our hands dropping to the side.

He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "You look good, Jasmine," he complimented, green eyes surveying me.

I bit my lip. "I'll see you around," the lie tasted bitter on my tongue.

"Yeah." Michael smiled sadly, understanding and acknowledging that I was lying.

Then he turned and disappeared out the door, the lie between us stretching paper thin.