for anyone who is wondering, the pictures aren't coming from paps. it's just one person, a naughty person.
"New ones?" Ashton asked slowly.
Calum was aware they were standing in the middle of the crowded sidewalk. He wasn't distracted like Ashton, so he was able to avoid people with ease. Ashton was knocked into a couple times but only reacted with a slight flinch as he listened to Luke's voice on the other end of the call worriedly. Calum tried not to growl defensively at rude passersby as he pulled Ashton out of harm's way and into an alley.
"We haven't seen anyone weird!" Ashton exclaimed, throwing his arm up in frustration.
"What's happening?" Calum asked.
Ashton held a finger to his lips for a moment to silence Calum and stared at the wall across from him in concentration. Calum sighed and calmed his erratically beating heart. He had a feeling he knew what was going on. More pictures. Of them. He went on Twitter. Sure enough, three new pictures of Calum and Ashton were being talked about wildly.
One was of them eating breakfast together. He noticed with a sense of relief that they weren't doing anything couple-y, like playing footsie under the table or holding hands romantically. The second one was them walking in the street, which couldn't have been taken more than fifteen minutes ago. Calum swallowed nervously, looking at the last. This one was from a couple hours ago when they first got off the bus. Luckily it was after they had stopped holding hands, but who knows. The person behind the camera could have seen them.
Ashton hung up his phone and groaned, rubbing his face. Calum didn't say anything, just handed Ashton his phone so he could see the photos. His expression was emotionless, which fretted Calum. "We need to look for whoever is taking these pictures."
Calum nodded in agreement, staring out at the mass of people on the streets. It wouldn't be easy. Nothing ever was.
"And we need to be careful. We've been lucky so far," Calum said cautiously. He took his phone back from Ashton. The look on the other's face made Calum want to kiss away his anxiety, which he could not do. For one, they couldn't kiss in public. Not yet. And secondly, they couldn't just ignore the situation they were hopelessly stuck in. They needed to stay alert at all times. Plus that wasn't something you could get rid of so quickly.
For the rest of the day, they were on edge and kept a fair distance between each other wherever they went.
•
Once the sun had fallen below the distant horizon, Calum and Ashton made their way to the hotel they would be staying overnight.
Luke met them in the lobby.
"Security already lugged your stuff up to the room."
"You make it sound much worse than it actually is, Luke," Calum said, punching the tall blond on the shoulder playfully. "What did you do today?"
Ashton trailed behind the two, quiet as he had been since the incident that morning. He was anxious and skittish most of the time, always looking over his shoulder. No other pictures had been posted or tweeted. That was the only bright side of things. Otherwise, Calum was put through a whole lot of stress watching Ashton act the way he did, and still is. Being in somewhat of a safe place didn't make it any better. Calum tried not to think too much about the fact that he hadn't touched Ashton at all for hours.
"Mostly just wandered around Target and listened to Michael complain about Crystal," Luke said to Calum. He dropped his voice and whispered, nodding behind them, "What's with Ashton?"
Calum bit his lip and sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Everything is chewing at him, poor thing. He wouldn't stop looking over his shoulder. And," Calum explained, sounding especially concerned as he continued, "every time I tried to touch him and calm him down he just moved away."
Luke shuddered. "You're okay, though?"
"Not really, I just hide it better."
They crowded into the elevator. Calum was surprised to watch Ashton stand so close to him that their shoulders were touching. He even grabbed Calum's hand from between them. Luke gave Calum a look of confusion, which the Maori shrugged in reply to.
"Andy took some videos of Michael and I while we were at Target," Luke spoke up once more. "We could distract people's attentions off you guys for a while."
Calum breathed deeply, providing a look of relief and gratefulness Luke's way. "That would be great."
Once the elevator had brought them to the correct floor, they flooded out and down the hall until they reached the two rooms of which they would be staying in. Michael happened to open the door just as they arrived and watched as Ashton unlocked the one next door with a key card Luke gave him seconds before.
"Hey, guys."
"Hey Mike," Calum said.
Ashton remained silent. Michael stared at him weirdly. Usually, the hazel-eyed boy was extremely animated and smiling at everything, especially when Calum was within hugging distance. He just looked downright sad, exhausted, and twitchy.
Michael watched, without an explanation, as Calum followed Ashton sluggishly into their room. The door closed seconds later.
"What's wrong with them?" Michael asked Luke minutes later from the confines of their hotel room.
"You know."
Michael frowned.
"We have to post our stupid Target videos and hope that it takes the attention off of them," Luke added with a sigh.
Michael groaned and pouted his lips. "But those are stupid!"
"I just said that," Luke laughed, reaching between his bottom and the couch cushion to wiggle his phone free from his pocket. "They're going on Instagram and Twitter whether you like it or not." Luke texted Andy about the recent news and soon the Target videos were online. The two guitarists, including the bassist from one room over, replied to some fans. The whole thing worked, just not for long. People noticed fast that Calum was tweeting fans and took the chance to throw questions at him about Ashton left and right.
Luke watched as the mess grew messier right before his eyes.
ugh i get so many ideas for this book all at once and i try writing them down but some are gone in the blink of an eye. it's so frustrating.
