Long Way Home

Chapter 35

November 2017

The afternoon after the Halloween party, after the brunch, showers, and movie, Ashton and Luke talked in the kitchen once everyone had left. It was Ashton's idea once he heard Spencer tell Natalia that she had agreed to a date with the both of them.

"So you're taking Spence out tomorrow?" Ashton leaned on the counter, watching his bandmate fill a cup with water at the fridge. The younger of the two turned to look at him, nodding lightly. "Okay, obviously we both like her."

"No shit, Ash." Luke rolled his eyes, taking a drink of his water, but moving to stand on the other side of the counter from Ashton. "What's your point?"

"We both have different history with her, and I was just–"

"History? Besides being friends and fucking my ex-girlfriend you think you have history with her?" Luke stared at his older friend before laughing lightly and shaking his head. "No, no. I have history with her. We dated for two years and I'm finally getting my chance to actually treat her like my girlfriend."

"Jesus fuck, Luke." Ashton rolled his eyes, standing up straight. "I want her to be happy, and if she wants you, then she wants you. That's fine as long as she's happy." he took a small breath. "But I want this to be fair. I want to set rules for our dates."

"What kind of rules?" He sighed, growing annoyed with the conversation.

"Just dinner, nothing special afterward except like a walk or going somewhere for dessert or something." Ashton explained. "And maybe Calum and Michael have to agree to the restaurants so one of us isn't trying to outdo the other."

Luke nodded along, taking another sip of water. "I guess that makes sense. But isn't your date tonight?"

"We rescheduled for a couple days from now because she started feeling sick after the ice cream." Ashton explained, pulling his phone out and facetiming their two other bandmates. "The hangover is hitting her a lot harder than she's been letting on all morning."

Calum was the first to answer the call, his face entirely too close to the camera. "Hey Ash, what's up?"

"Just needed to talk as a band–" The oldest started as Michael answered, both him and Crystal in the shot.

"Hey, I can't talk for long. Crystal has a surprise for me apparently, we're driving there now." Michael smiled widely, turning the phone to face his girlfriend more, who then waved.

"No way, is this the thing we talked about, Crystal?" Calum asked excitedly, and everyone heard Crystal laugh as she nodded at the camera. "Oh my god, you guys are going to have so much fun."

"Let's get to the point." Luke spoke up, walking to the side of the counter Ashton was on so he was in frame too.

"Wait, Nat wants to say hi to Crystal." Calum laughed, handing his phone to his girlfriend, who then waved and had her own short conversation with Crystal. Once the dark haired boy had his phone back, Ashton had to ask.

"Cal, you at Spence and Nat's or–" He waited for an answer.

"Yeah I'm at their place, but I'm heading out in a few minutes. Nat said she has work and Spencer is passed the fuck out on the couch." He turned the camera around, showing the blonde sleeping with an eye mask on, an icepack balancing on the side of her head, and a stuffed animal tucked under her arm. Ashton smiled, thinking about when he and the girl were cuddled up on that couch, her head on his chest, snoring quietly. He needed to experience that again. "She looked like she was in so much pain from her headache when we got back here. I felt terrible."