Laconic » a.i

3.5

//ashton//

"Should we leave?" I asked but it sounded more like a statement because I knew we had to leave. At least Cooper and I did because her and I were the main reasons we were all being hunted down.

"Leave?" Michael, Luke, and Calum repeated.

"What do you mean?" Cooper whispered.

I took her face in my hands and bent to be level with her, "Bridge, we need to leave. We could go anywhere; somewhere they'd never find us. They want us, they don't care much about them."

She shook her head but put her smaller hands on top of mine, "We can't leave them, they're our friends. I don't want to leave them, Ashton."

"But if it keeps all of us safe, you should go." Luke cut in.

Bridgette's blue eyes began to fill with tears, "We can't leave them."

"Bridge, baby, we'll see them again," I assured her, wiping the few tears that escaped the corners of her eyes, "We're not leaving forever, just until this blows over."

"And who knows how long that'll take," she sniffed. "Why can't they just come with us?"

"I need to bring Mali back to our mom." Calum said gesturing to his sister that he'd laid on the couch of our little house.

"And I'm staying with Calum." Noel stated, putting an arm around his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head, wrapping both of his arms around her.

"And Annie needs the Hoods' help right now," he said, motioning with his head to the blonde girl that was still limp at his side. "She's hardly standing up right now. She hasn't even said a word."

"Jeremy?" she wondered.

"Someone needs to go explain where we've been to mom and dad." he shrugged with an apologetic look on his face.

"Luke?" she asked quietly, looking to him desperately.

He bit his lip, moving his lip ring around as he thought it over. Finally, he just shrugged, "I don't know, Bridge. These guys are going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble for what they did and they'll need help getting out of it."

"Ella?" she asked.

"Ella should be getting back home," Noel cut in. Ella turned to give an annoyed look at her but didn't protest. "You're in way over your head and it would be a lot safer if you got back to your family. No doubt they're worried sick."

She turned back around, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

"And I should probably go my own way," Aurora added, wiping some leftover tears from her eyes. "I don't belong with you guys and apparently, I was better off on my own."

Cooper let her head fall and she hiccuped back little sobs. God, I felt like a monster tearing her away from what had become her family for the past year but I needed to keep her safe. I pulled her to my chest and just let her cry her soundless sobs while I continued to make plans to leave.

"Once Mali-Koa's awake and you've talked to her, I want you to call me," I told Calum, knowing he wouldn't do it just because I told him to. "Tell me what the plan is for her. Once Annie's feeling better, let me know too, please. It shouldn't take long for Jeremy to get to their parents so once everything's taken care of, tell me. We'll meet up in England and go from there."

"Is that where you two will be?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, in Mayfair." I confirmed. My family and I had visited there before and we'd stayed at this flat that was there. They were nice but they didn't get much business so I was sure we could rent one. Plus, I still had all of my money from my family and what I'd stolen from Mali-Koa.

"Alright, we'll keep in touch." Calum nodded.

Cooper finally turned away from me and found her brother's arms first, "Be careful, okay?"

"I will," he said, hugging her tighter. "I love you, Bridgette."

"I love you too," she mumbled into him before pulling away and going for the next closest person: Calum. "Please don't let your sister try to kill me again." she deadpanned.

"No promises," he let out a strangled laugh. "Love you, Bridge."

And she went around the room hugging everyone -- except Annie since she was incoherent, and Mali-Koa for obvious reasons. She even met Aurora and Emily with tight embraces and goodbyes and stay safes. But she completely broke down when she hugged Luke. Although they'd been completely resentful of each other lately, it was obvious they still cared deeply for each other.

She stepped away from everyone, sniffling and wiping at her eyes. I put an arm around her waist and looked down at her, "Ready?"

She shrugged, "As I'll ever be."

"Wait!" Luke called, with a look of realization on his face. He stepped toward her and put her friendship necklace back around her neck, which he apparently had been keeping in his pocket.

With that, I nodded goodbye and flashed to the airport. We ended up in the place of the airport in Sydney that I knew best: the gift shop. We were in the back behind a large display of stuffed animals, so luckily, no one could see us. I took her hand and stepped out from behind it as she got rid of the few other tears that escaped. I couldn't focus on her being upset right now because I needed to get us on the next plane to London.

"We need to get to the flight board," I told her as we weaved through the store and into the open and crowded space of the airport. "We'll find the next flight for London and sneak on easily."

"H-how?" she asked.

I smiled down at her, "We're special, remember? Invisibility is a gift that not everyone has for a reason."

She cracked a smile at that and I felt slightly better about myself. I was hoping she didn't hate me too much.

"Ashton," she asked quietly. I looked down at her while she stared at her shoes while we walked, "What's with you and Oreos?"

That caught me off guard. How did she know about that? I hadn't had Oreos in at least a year.

"How do you-"

"Luke told me," she said, peeking through her lashes to look at me. "When we were trapped together, he compared him and Emily to you and Oreos. I just thought it was kind of cute, I guess, and I wanted to ask about it."

I shrugged, paying more attention to where we were going now, "Well then you know the story. I just haven't had them since my mom...you know."

She nodded and didn't say anything after that. We reached the board and I saw the next flight to London left in 5 minutes. We could get on and wait in the back until we found empty seats. If we didn't we could just hide out in the bathroom. I practically sprinted to the terminal since it was at the other end of the airport.

"Wait," Cooper said at a normal tone but it sounded loud to me since she'd been speaking so softly. I stopped and let her bring me back to a little snack counter. She asked for some money before walking up to the man and buying what she wanted. When she returned she handed me the change with one hand, the other behind held behind her back. "I got you something."

She held out a four pack of Oreos with a small smile on her face. I was beaming, I knew I was. She tore open the pack and took out two Oreos, giving me one and taking the other for herself. I watched as she split her cookie in half, licking the creme, before looking at me expectantly. I giggled -- actually giggled -- and did the same with mine. She took the bare half of her cookie and stuck it onto the creme of mine before I did the same. And then we both took a bite.