Bad Girl's Secret // c.h

e l e v e n

We were back on the bus at twelve, just for a few minutes as we drove to the venue. I used the time to sort out my case, chucking dirty clothes in a bag and tidying the clean ones. God knows how I was going to live like this for a whole month. We reached the stadium and it was same old, same old. It was only my third time doing this and I knew exactly what to do. Collect passes, follow the director down to the dressing room while smiling and answering questions like, 'how is your tour? How is new music coming along?' But with a strong Italian accent so we struggled to understand.

Sadly, this dressing room lacked a slush machine. There was a coffee machine though, which Ashton enjoyed very much. The boys didn't have sound check for another bit, so I wandered off along the corridor and up the stairs towards the stage while they mucked about. No one was around, so I poked my head onto the stage. The whole place was so silent, I could almost hear the blood running through my veins. I stepped out onto the stage and sat down next to Michael's guitar. I was going to pick it up, but then decided that if I so much as touched one of the strings, the sound would echo around the whole building. A brown acoustic was propped up in the wings, so I ran to get that and sat down on the edge of the stage, my legs swinging as I looked out to the thousands of empty seats. I racked my brain for the songs the boys did an acoustic version of. There was Don't Stop, Good Girls and Long Way Home. Long Way Home was the only one I could play, so I found the notes and strummed the first few. I dragged out the intro longer than it should be, because I wasn't sure how loud it would be if I sung. No one would hear if I did it quietly, I said to myself. I finished off the last notes, and quietly set the guitar back in the wing, before walking across the stage to the opposite wing where I had come from.

I sat bored, eight hours later while the boys were on stage. My chin rested on my hand as the four of them bounced about the stage violently, playing Permanent Vacation. I decided to go down to the dressing room and make myself some coffee. The noise wasn't much different in there than right beside the stage, just muffled a little. I downed the hot drink a few minutes before the boys came off stage, and then decided to find the toilet. If I went before interval, then I wouldn't have to wait for the four of them to do their business until I could go.

But, geography is not one of my strong points and I ended up very lost. I turned left from the dressing room and went down some stairs. Then I took a few lefts and rights, went up some stairs, down some stairs and landed up in a cleaning corridor. I sighed, turning back and trying to remember what way I came. It was eerily quiet down there, far away from the stage. I was actually enjoying myself. It was like a maze, but I knew if I took enough turns and went up enough stairs I would find everyone again. In some corridors, the lights were out and I didn't want to feel for a switch in case I accidentally flicked the fire alarm or something. In my mind, that made it all the more fun. I had been walking through dark corridors for a few minutes and I thought I could hear people nearby. I strolled around a corner, thinking I would come face to face with the dressing room, but I stumbled and crashed right into someone's torso.

"Sasha!"

"Cal, what are you doing?" I laughed when I realized it was him.

"Luke was stressing about where you were, and he was about to come looking for you but I was worried you'd gone off for a Macca's again so I said I'd go," He told me.

My eyes watched Calum's plump lips as he laughed. Then everything went quiet and before I knew it, I was pinned right up against the wall, Calum's body on mine. His breath was hot and minty on my face. The promise we made together just a few hours before was totally meaningless to us now. He pressed his lips to my own and circled his tongue around my pointy pink one. He bit my lip harshly and I decided to join in, placing both hands on his bum and squeezing.

"Want to play that game?" He said, pulling away and smiling. Biting his own lip, Calum's hips swayed and pressed down on mine and my breath hitched. Here I was, in a dark corridor with Calum Hood, someone I've known since I was not even a teenager. And we were grinding. "Oh, and by the way, you're hot as shit when you sing," he breathed. I smiled, not realizing he was watching me. I squeezed his bum again and attacked his lips as he carried on grinding.

"Sasha? Calum?" Someone called. Calum and I recognized the voice, jumping back as fast as we could and running towards where the voice was coming from. Luke was standing at the top of the nearest stairs, not wanting to venture down into the dark corridors.

"Found her!" Calum yelled.

"Come on then, mate, we're back on in two minutes!"

Luke turned back up the corridor and the two of us sprinted up the stairs and followed my brother back to the dressing room. I stayed on the couch as the four boys ran back to the stage. As soon as they were gone, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in.