never letting go || lrh

Long Flight.

*Ashton’s POV*

The girls got back with our food, they weren’t talking.They seemed kind of tense when they were around each other. Oh well, it’s none of my business. They handed out the sandwiches, and Maddie plopped down next to me, sighing.

«Is everyhting alright babe?» I asked her. I loved calling her ‘babe’, it showed that now we were officialy together, and that she was mine to claim. She looked at me.

«Yeah, I guess so. I’m still surprised about that Reese chick.» She said quietly, so only I could hear. I sighed as well and leant in.

«I’m here if you wanna talk about stuff.» I didn’t exactly know what I meant about that, but I wanted her to know I would always be there for her, through thick and thin.

«I know, thanks.» She said and she sealed the kiss. Our lips danced together in perfect harmony.

«Get a room.» I heard Mike say. I pointed my middle finger up at him and kept kissing Maddie. Butterflies were doing a happy dance in my stomach, and I loved the feeling. Her hand tugged at my hair, pushing my bandana down onto my eyes. I chuckled and broke the kiss to pull it back up.

«I’m sorry» She said, laughing and helping me put it back into place.

We all ate our sandwiches, and as I was going to put my papers in the bin, we were called to board our flight. We showed our tickets and passports one last time as we were walking onto the plane, over-enthusiastic attendants greeting us. I was sat on one side next to Maddie, and Luke and Reese and Calum were sat in the middle section. In front of us were Mike and Rita. We got settled in, and waited for the plane to take off.

«We're supposed to be leaving soon." I said, looking at my watch. It was 7.30pm, and it the plane was supposed to be taking off in 4 minutes.

«I’m scared.» Maddie told me, staring at the seat in front of her.

«Why’s that?» I said, taking hold of her hand. 

«I’ve never taken the plane before. And we’re going to fucking London. That’s on another continent, Ashton. And that means we have to cross the ocean.» She looked at me, panick in her eyes.

«Babe, it’s okay, it’ll be okay, I promise.» I said, stroking her thigh and kissing the back off her hand. When I looked back up, a tear was running down her cheek. «Maddie, why are you crying?» I said, concerned and surprised. I wiped the tear off with the back of my sleeve.

«It’s all just too much at once.» She said, pulling her knees to her chest and burrying her face in between.

«What do you mean?» I wasn’t good at this sort of thing.

«I mean, I just got in a relationship with a guy I really like, but I didn’t know it would involve getting mobbed, and travelling, and being recognised!» She said, flowing in tears. People were starting to stare, and Mike and Rita turned around. I shook my hand at them so they wouldn’t look, so they turned around once again and went back to their phones.

«Babe, I’m sorry if dating me is bringing you so much trouble but I-» I was cut off by the plane engine starting. Maddie’s head shot up and her eyes popped open. I took her hand once again and placed small kisses on it, then down her wrist and back up her hand. She seemed to relax a little, but not completely. The plane started moving faster and faster and Maddie looked more and more anxious by the second. Her breathing was becoming irregular, I could see it by the way her chest rose up and down irregularly. Oh no, another panick attack.

«Babe, breath in and out, slowly. In... Out... In... Out...» I said, as she obeid and breathed as I told her. She was calming down and about to say something when the plane took off, and we rose quickly into the air. For a moment, I thought she had stopped breathing, but then she looked out the window, as we were getting higher and higher. She looked absolutely amazed, and she placed a hand against the window. I smiled at her, even though she wasn’t looking at me. She smiled widely at me as she turned around. 

«This is beautiful.» She told me, completely forgetting about the panick attack. I sighed in relief and bent over her to look at the view myself.

«It is, isn’t it?» I said and took my place back.

«Thanks for this opportunity.» She smiled up at me and nuzzled her head in my neck.

«Thanks for coming.» I said and kissed the top of her head. It was getting late, and after a tiring day, she fell asleep then and there.

For the rest of the flight, I kept thinking about what she had told me about dating me. Was she trying to break up? I had no clue, but I would have to find out.

************

The flight went past very slowly at the beginning, as Maddie was sleeping on my shoulder, but when she shifted, I was able to move. 

After that an attendant came over with meals, and Maddie woke up to eat. A couple hours into the flight, everyone was asleep, and after that, there was about 5 hours left, the total flight being 21 hours. Maddie and I were watching a movie, and we played random games on the screen and talked about what we would do for our couple days in London. Overall, the whole time wasn’t too bad.

We landed in Heathrow at 11am local time. We were completely jet lagged after a long flight, but we knew we couldn’t rest quite yet. We had to put on our biggest smiles and go meet fans, then go back to the hotel, get settled in, and then we had a meal with our British manager tonight. It’s hard keeping up, sometimes, but that’s what being in a band comes with.

«I would do fucking anything not to be mobbed again.» Maddie muttered as we were waiting for our luggage. I couldn’t promise that, so I had to think of a solution.

«Why don’t you go out another way with Rita and Reese with Max and we’ll be there as soon as possible?» I told her, pointing to our British security guard that would be taking care of us. 

«That’d be great.» She said and pecked me on the lips. I smiled at her, and we took our suitcases.

«Okay, Maddie, Reese and Rita, you girls come with me.» Max said. «We’ll be taking another way out so the boys can be alone with the fans.» All the girls nodded and went to follow Max. 

«Hey, Maddie.» I said, grabbing her wrist.

«Yeah?» She turned around and smiled.

«Be careful, okay? We’ll be in the van soon.» I said and kissed her.

«I will.» She said and pecked me again before joining the girls and Max who were a bit further down the corridor.

Once the girls were gone we waited for instructions from another security guard.

«Okay guys. We have time, so if you want to take time with the fans that’s fine. Just don’t get into any trouble. We will have to leave in half and hour max though.» He said, and we nodded. Another security guy came over, and we walked towards the main exit. As soon as they saw us, girls started screaming and pushing. There were about as many as in Sydney, but they seemed a little calmer (which wasn’t very hard to be honest.) One of the guards pushed the doors open and started walking through the crowd. When we walked next to them, they calmed down. We were able to chat to a few, take photos and have a laugh. It was so much nicer when they weren’t crazy. Of course, there are always the over-emotional ones who start crying, but hey, it’s always nice to see.

We were half way through the crowd when I caught a glimpse of Maddie walking into the black SUV. She gave me a thumbs up and I blew her a kiss. How cheesy, right?

After we were done with the fans (we couldn’t get to all of them unfortunately), we walked towards the van saying our last ‘thank you’ and hopped in.

«Well, that went so much better than back home!» Luke said, resting his head on the head-rest.

«Agreed.» Mike said, looking over to Rita, who was chatting with Maddie. Man, he had it bad.

«So, when are we getting to the hotel?» I asked Max, who was driving.

«We should be there in about 20 minutes.» He said, concentrating on the busy London roads. I sighed and closed my eyes. I only wanted one thing : go to sleep. But the day was only getting started.