thin white lines | l. hemmings

05

"Do you think he's looking for us now, then?" Calum asked the group as he fished around in a black duffle bag.

"If he's not a fucking idiot he is," Ashton said with a shake of his head and a small smirk. "And stop that, it's all organized in there and you're messing it up."

"Do we even need all of it? It's literally a house." Calum pulled a rag out of it and contorted his face in confusion before dropping it back into the bag. Micheal reached over from the driver's seat and grabbed the bag from him, putting it gently on his lap where Calum wouldn't touch it.

"And do you remember what we're doing and whose house it is, Cal?" Micheal said to him. "Someone like that isn't just gonna leave the doors open."

"We won't need all of it. We might need any of it though," Ashton clarified to them.

"Don't be so cocky, though Ash. We don't even know he heard the music or took any interest in it or us," Michael said.

"Yes, we do. Because if we don't then we're fucked," Ashton shot back with a smile.

"We'll be fine," Luke chimed in, his jaw unclenching after a while to speak. "Whether or not he heard the music, the numbers still on the album in their house and when he looks for her he'll find that and the number on it and look into it. We'll be fine. We've got plenty of things planted for him to find."

The entire group nodded and sat with only the sounds of the passing road after Luke spoke. The silence was only interrupted by Ashton trying to hold back laughter and failing.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" Calum asked, ready to be let into the joke after laughing at Ashton's chuckling before even hearing the joke.

"Well, wouldn't it be funny if her dad just didn't care?" His laughter grew after speaking it aloud. None of them wanted to laugh at it, but Michael gave in after Calum immediately burst, and Luke even snickered from the passenger seat. But his eyes stayed fixed on the tinted car windshield.

Michael let out a breath and squinted at a forest-green house somewhat hidden behind some trees. "I think that's it isn't it?"

"Yeah, looks like it," Ashton agreed.

"Good, haven't done this in a while. You get tired of the music thing," Luke leaned forward in his seat, stretching out his body as much as he could while contained to his seat.

"How could you be tired of it?" Ashton asked with furrowed brows, genuinely confused by his angst.

"It's boring, Ashton. Singing gets boring. The little concerts are boring and all the girls can just get annoying," Luke explained as if he were exhausted by the limited work, leaning his head back to face the sky out of the convertible car.

"Yeah, all the girls you sleep with you mean?" Calum called him out.

"No," Luke smirked, eyeing Calum. "Not those ones."

"Shut up, you guys," Michael told them as he slowed the car down. The rest all turned to each other as much as possible in the car and Luke nodded to them. Each of them grabbed what they needed and shifted in their seats, ready to get out at a moment's notice.

The house was large and crowded by trees, hidden from the outskirts. The walls were littered with large windows on both floors.

Michael put the car in park and turned to all of the boys. "You ready?"

"Of course we're ready, it's an easy job," Ashton said with extreme confidence and a bright smile. Michael responded by smacking him at the back of his head and jumping out of the convertible without opening the door. The others followed his lead, except for Calum, who opened the door completely and casually walked out.