Swear || a.i [editing in progress]

Three

I woke up to the bright sunlight seeping through the seams of the window of the hotel room.

It took me awhile to register the fact that I was in Chicago, not my comfy bed in Australia.

I looked over at the clock and realized it was already two in the afternoon.

What was I supposed to do today? Oh right, tell the father of my baby that he is the father of my child.

Nausea kicked in, and I rushed to the bathroom to regurgitate nothing at all.

I hated this.

I knew I was late. If I wanted to meet Ashton, I should have left the house eons ago. I wiped my mouth and brushed it clean of any excess puke. Ew, dragon breath.

I put on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, put on some makeup and left the room again.
Was I nervous? Definitely.

I got to the venue and crowd of ardent; hardcore fans greeted me. By some miracle, I managed to squeeze my way through to the front of the crowd. They should have already finished their radio show.

I waited for them to come out. After half an hour, they were still nowhere to be seen. These girls waited patiently for their idols. I, on the other hand...

I was about to turn and leave in defeat when the crowd erupted in ear-deafening screams. I saw them walk out one by one.

The blonde guy with a quiff.

The lilac-haired guy

Dark haired.

Ashton.

He looked so different from the way I remembered. He was taller, his arms looked more muscular, and he looked way more charming than he did the last time I saw him. His smile was still the same. Brighter than the sun. 

"Ashton!" I mustered up whatever breath I had left in my lungs and screamed, but the girls' voices overlapped it. That was a dumb move. There were at least thirty other girls screaming his name too, and louder than I was. 

"Ashton!" The girl beside me screamed, her shrilly voice made my ear ring. I was angry, annoyed, impatient. Arguably the worst trinity of all emotions. The more sweaty bodies stuck onto my skin, the more agitated I became. Defeated, I pushed my way out of the crowd with nothing but two scratches and a bruise. Ugh. 

I walked a little farther up the street where the crowd died down and called an Uber, about to return to my hotel when from the corner of my eye, the band entered a small van. I eyed the van for a moment before tapping the Uber driver on the shoulders. That was my chance.

"Follow the van."

Tailgating 5 Seconds of Summer was harder than it looks. Thankfully, I had experience stalking bands who wanted no business with me. Ahem, McFly. It oddly felt like all those crazy fan girl days were leading up to this very moment. I gripped both seats in front of me, bracing myself for some Fast and Furious crap about to go down.

They took the weirdest turns and twist and detours as if to shake off stalkers. Luckily, my driver was sharper.

"Ma'am, I gotta ask. Why are we chasing them?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the road. I guessed that he was concerned about getting a speeding ticket. 

"Sir, the father of my child is in that van but he doesn't know yet." I glared at him like I was giving him the mission of a lifetime in a superhero movie. He muttered something about absent fathers and put the pedal to the metal. I felt like The Flash if he was in a vehicle instead of legs. I made a mental note to give this guy a hefty tip and a review that puts New York Times' Critics to shame. 

We arrived at a fancy hotel ten minutes later. I watched in despair as the van entered a prohibited area. 

"Sorry sir, you can't go through here." A security guard stopped us when we attempted to enter.

"Sorry, Ma'am. I hope you find your man." I could tell he was out of breath from how tiring the drive was. 

"Thank you." I smiled as sweetly as I could before exiting the car. I looked for an entrance of some sort. After walking a full round around the hotel, I found the main entrance and once again, screaming hormonal teenage girls. I even recognised some of them from the radio show earlier. How did they get here quicker than I did? 

I stood at the back and waited. Then again, they emerged. It was exactly like what happened before. I was screaming as loud as I could, they were smiling and chatting amongst themselves, giving us a wave once in a while. Ashton looked dashing, like he didn't have a care in the world. He scanned the crowd with an aura of confidence and pride. Just as his sight landed on me, he did a double take. His big grin faded and he stopped in his tracks for a moment before their security nudged him forward. He picked up his pace and went into the lift where the barrier between us only thickened. The screaming died down but I wasn't going to let this chance slip through my fingers. 

I screamed and pushed my way through the crowd. People stared at me strangely. Some disgruntled murmurs and gasps echoed but I was too busy to pay attention to any of them. 

"You can't go through here! Hey, get the hell back!" I heard footsteps thumping loudly at my tail, but all I could do was chase Ashton. I needed to tell him. The adrenaline pushed me forward and I managed to squeeze through the closing doors of a lift, half a second before it was too late. 

Through the full length glass windows of the lift, I saw them enter a room, laughing. I ran up as fast as I could to the door and pounded on it with my fist. The security guards were right behind me. When the door opened, I pushed my way through.

"I'm sorry, sir!" The security shouted as he pulled me by my arm, about to drag me away.

"Bay." Ashton mouthed. He remembered.

"Babe, who is it?" A girl walked out of the bathroom and flung her arm around Ashton.

Of course, he had a girlfriend.