simmer down // a.i. [ON HOLD]

[41] aisle 25

personal instagram (follow for free cookies): @eeema4eva

READ MY LUKE FAN FIC!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

‘You know,’ Ciara popped another grape into her mouth and swung back on her chair, ‘Calum didn’t ever strike me as one to lash out. Even in the worst case scenario.’

Luke leant over and gently pushed her chair forward again to stop her from falling.

‘He’s not. I don’t know why it affected him so much, like, we’ve never had to deal with this sort of thing before.’

We sat back in silence, thinking about it. The fan signing had continued but Calum was too teary to come back out and see the rest of the line. Ciara and I had stuck around for another half an hour to make sure he was okay, but we saw a lot of disappointed girls and guys come out of the bookstore with only 3 signatures. Luckily, the boys’ management was right on the ball, and any photos or videos were taken down pretty quickly, but Twitter was already buzzing. Calum only made one tweet -

@Calum5SOS: I’m so sorry.

For the rest of the work day, I sat at the reception desk, unable to concentrate on my job properly because I kept seeing Piper’s hurt face and Calum’s tears. What a shit way to meet your idols for the first time.

‘Em? Did you hear me?’

I blinked, and focused on Luke and Ciara, staring at me expectantly.

‘Sorry, what?’

‘Ashton’s on the phone.’

Luke handed me the hotel landline and I blushed, standing up and taking it into the kitchen.

‘Hello?’

‘Hey, how are you?’

‘I’m doing okay, I guess. Is everything okay with you? Is Calum doing a bit better?’

‘He’s still holed up in his room, but Michael is talking to him now. I decided to leave them alone for a bit. And yeah, I’m alright.’ He sighed. ‘Do you want to do something?’

I spun the chuppa chupp stand on the counter and watched the lollipops whirl around and around.

‘Yes, please. Ashton, I feel so helpless and sorry for the girl, and Calum...’

His voice was reassuring.

‘Emma, it’s not your fault. You shouldn’t be worrying. Look, I - I’ll help you get your mind of it. How about you get into some comfy clothes and come down to our room in 10 minutes?’

I smiled.

‘Ashton, are we going on a date?’

He chuckled into the receiver and I got tingles down my spine.

‘Maybe.’

‘Our first proper date?’

‘It is, isn’t it?’

‘An official date with Ashton Irwin,’ I giggled, and heard him huff on the other end.

‘Are you just going to repeat it back to me all evening, or are we actually going to go?’

‘Okay, okay, I’ll see you soon then.’

‘Bye, Princess.’

An official date. I grinned chuppa chupp stand and spun it one more time - just for good luck.