Wasted Opportunities

Chapter 19

Luke's POV

We soon arrived in Lisbon, and although we tried to get to our hotel inconspicuously, we were met with a crowd of fans. I glanced anxiously at the girls; they hadn't experienced this before, and we hadn't really given them any advice.

“Stick with me,” I told Emily. “I don't want you to get hurt.”

“I'd be safer if I stayed away,” she pointed out. “They'd leave me alone then.”

“Yeah, but I want to know that you're okay...”

“I'll be fine, stop worrying!” She smiled and jumped down from the bus, heading towards the compartment where our bags were stored. Some of the fans looked at her curiously, but they mainly waited eagerly with their eyes on the door. I took a deep breath and walked out. I loved meeting fans, obviously, but when they mobbed us, it was kind of scary, and I wanted the girls to be okay. As soon as the crowd spotted me, they screamed in delight, and I waved at them.

“Hi everyone, thanks for coming!” I called, following Emily to the side of the bus.

“We're going to bring in your bags separately,” said Chris, who had appeared out of nowhere and was now holding an arm in front of us to stop us going in any further. “We don't want to risk any of your luggage getting lost or damaged.” I nodded, and gently steered Emily through the crowd. Immediately I was asked by girls on all sides of me to sign things, give them hugs and take photos with them.

“Do you mind if I...?” I gestured to the fans.

“Go ahead!” she said. “I'll meet you inside, I'm sure I can manage on my own.” I reluctantly let her go on by herself, and took lots of photos with fans. The other boys behind me were doing the same, but Ashton had kept Maddy firmly by his side. I saw some fans asking her questions, and taking pictures of them together, and I hoped they were being nice to her. I looked ahead to see that Emily and Jojo were standing right outside the hotel, talking to a few fans who were too far away at the moment to be able to talk to us. I tried my best to move through the crowd whilst speaking to as many people as possible, however I could see the security guards coming from the bus and trying to move us to the hotel quicker.

“We'll come back later if you're still here,” promised Ash as he said goodbye to the fans. Most of them moved out of our way respectfully, but some of them crowded us closer, begging for pictures, and autographs, or twitter follows. I was used to the noise and the madness, but I could see Emily looking worried; as we had spread nearer to the hotel, the fans were beginning to be pushed backwards, surrounding the girls.

“It's okay,” I called, trying to walk over to her. I reached out my arm towards her, but soon realised this was a bad idea as people began to grab my sleeve, pulling at it. She saw what I was trying to do, and gently pushed her way through the crowd, eventually ending up next to me. I put my arm around her protectively, ignoring the shouts from fans wanting to know if we were dating. She huddled closer into my side as we got past the last of the crowd and entered the hotel.

“Is it like this everywhere you go?” asked Emily, still looking shocked.

“Some places it's better, some it's worse,” I shrugged. “You get used to it after a while, but it's scary the first few times.” She was still standing close to me, so close I could smell a gentle raspberry scent on her skin. Realising I was still holding on tight to her, I lifted my arm, and she moved away.

“Thanks for looking after me,” she said quietly.

“It's okay,” I replied. “I'm just glad you're all right. I would never have forgiven myself if you had got hurt.”

“It wouldn't have been your fault,” she said, a small smile creeping onto her face.

“We brought you into this, and it's our responsibility to keep you safe,” I argued.

“5sos? Responsible? Never!” she laughed, and went to collect her bag, which security was just bringing in.

We didn't spend very long in the hotel before heading to the venue, which luckily was within walking distance from the back entrance of the hotel, so we managed to avoid being mobbed. We had been given a big dressing room, with sofas, makeup and hair tables and racks for clothes, and also a large empty room to rehearse in. Since the girls had never been backstage in a venue like this before, Ashton suggested that some of us take them on a tour. Unfortunately, Michael agreed to go with him before I could even speak, so Calum and I agreed to set up the instruments. Almost as soon as we had finished, they returned.

“Where's Maddy?” I asked.

“Oh, she just went to the toilet I think,” said Jojo, shrugging.

“We'd better wait for her before we start,” I said. The others wanted to tune their guitars and warm up, so when Maddy hadn't returned after ten minutes, I was the one who volunteered to go and get her. I wandered down the corridor looking for the nearest toilet, and soon found one. I could hear faint sobbing sounds coming from inside, so although it was a girls' toilet, I walked in. Maddy was sitting with her head leant back against a wall, crying.

A/N

Sorry this is short, there will probably be more tomorrow :)