Becoming Us || l.h

Chapter 13

I lay on the couch in the recording booth, listening to the boys record a new song. I had given up watching the mixer about half an hour ago, a little bored. I look up the tour schedule, looking at the Europe dates, trying to figure out how many days we were at each location. I hear a mic squeal, making me look up as all sound stop. 

Luke groans, slumping in front of the mic. He runs a hand through his hair, frustrated. "Why isn't this working?" He asks, stressed. "I don't think it sounds that bad," Cal says, putting his bass down. I think, trying to run through what Luke has been singing, trying to figure out why it sounds off because he is right, something is off.

I tap the mixer on the shoulder, pointing to the mic. He nods, pressing a button. "Try going up an octave then down instead of staying the same then going down." I offer Luke trying it out without music. He smiles as he hears it, everyone else smiling too. He nods, giving me a grateful look. "Thanks, Dylan." I give him a thumbs-up, going back to the couch. "I'll let you practice it real fast, then we can try recording." The mixer says, turning to me. "You know music?" He asks, giving me a smile. "A little, I know instruments better than singing but yeah. With a brother in the industry, you learn a lot quickly." I shrug, putting my phone in my lap. 

"Blake Ryan's your brother, right?" I nod, watching Luke walk out of the recording studio, leaving the room. I watch him for a second before turning back to the mixer. "I've worked with Blake a bit, he's pretty good. Great lyrics." "Thank you, I helped write some." "What songs?" "Puppet, Heaven, A Million Lives, to name a few." "Great songs, I mixed Heaven, I really liked that one." "Thank you." Luke comes back in, downing a water bottle. "Ready?" The mixer asks, looking to Luke. He nods, going back in to record.

They run through the song a few times, the boys come out, collapsing on the couch with me. "Tired?" I ask, chuckling. "You have no idea," Ashton mutters, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Hey, one more week till London though, that's exciting right?" They all groan, making me frown. "Guys! It's London! You've been looking forward to it for ages!" They groan again, shaking their heads. 

"We need sleep, a break, anything." "Well, I mean you have the rest of this week to relax! Then we get to go have fun in London!" "Dyl, I love you, but we literally don't want to do anything, and going on a long flight to another country and continuing the tour is the last thing we want to do," Luke mutters, his arm thrown over his eyes. I stare at him, unmoving, Ashton had opened his eyes and stared at Luke, and Cal and Mikey were both sitting upright staring at Luke.

Luke tenses suddenly, realizing what he said. He bites his lip, not moving his arm from his eyes. "I love you too," I say suddenly, realizing that I did love him. He was my person, I loved him. I smile, watching him slowly pull his arm from his eyes, staring at me, smiling. "Aww," Michael says, all of us turning to him. "Took ya'll long enough." He says, standing. "Now, I'm hungry so let's go get food to celebrate." He continues, walking toward the door. Luke pulls me up from the couch, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we walk out of the booth. He kisses my temple, both of us following the guys to a restaurant, Luke removing his arm before we step outside, giving me a small smile.

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I jolt upright as the boys walk into my room, screaming that we were going to London. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Ashton yells at me, "We're going to London!" Luke shouts at me, grinning. I fall back in my bed, pulling my comforter over my face. "No," I mutter, trying to go back to bed. A body lands on me suddenly, taking the air out of me. I slowly pull the comforter back, Michael giving me a grin. "That hurt, fuck." I mutter, pulling my comforter back over my head. "C'mon, you've been wanting to go to London all week! Let's go!" Luke says, my bed shifting. I shake my head, curling up in a ball. Mother Nature decided to surprise me yesterday so flying for many hours is not something I want to do today.