Forced | cake au ✓

Chapter NINETEEN

Edited - 7/30/19

Calum

Waking up to loud pounding on my bedroom door at five in the morning was probably the sign that today was going to be a rather sucky one.

I stumbled through the darkness of my room, blindly reaching for the doorknob. Michael was outside wearing dark jeans and a top with sleeves ending past his knuckles. His hair, which he had dyed blue the other day, looked professionally styled while mine probably looked like a bird's nest.

"Did you forget to set an alarm or?"

"What?" I was barely awake and was blinking rapidly at the sudden brightness coming from the hallway lights.

"Cal, did you forget? We have a meeting in an hour, the driver will be here any minute," Michael said. "You should get ready, Patricia's going to kill us if we're late."

A large yawn escaped from my mouth. "Waking up at this sort of time for a meeting should be illegal."

"I know," Michael sighed. "I had to down a whole mug of coffee just to start functioning. I'll make you a cup, just get ready" Michael walked off, leaving me to fight off the urge to bang my head against the wall.

I flicked open the lights to my room before closing the door. Knowing my room like the back of my hand made walking towards my closet with my eyes closed a piece of cake. I changed into a more presentable attire then got to work on my unruly hair. After brushing my teeth and grabbing my phone, wallet and keys, I tugged on a beanie and waked to the kitchen where Ashton was sipping from a mug and Michael was munching on a Snickers bar. "Isn't it a little early for chocolate?" I asked.

Ashton nodded, unsurprisingly. "I know. I told him he'd get diabetes, he said he doesn't care."

"It's for energy," Michael retorted. He pointed at a steaming mug a few inches away from him. "I made you your coffee, Cal."

"Thanks." I plopped down beside Ashton who was wearing a beanie as well. He turned to me, assessing me head to toe before raising an eyebrow. "What time did you sleep?"

"Around one," I replied. The mere reminded of having less than four hours of sleep had me groaning as I closed my eyes. "Why does it have to be so damn early?"

"Told you you shouldn't have drank those energy drinks. Didn't listen to me, did you?" I ignored Ashton's yapping and took a sip of my still too hot coffee. I didn't reallycare that my tongue was getting burnt.

It's been five days since I returned from L.A. Ashton and Michael arrived the day after I got back. We've all been a little stressed out and sleep-deprived lately, but that was expected. So far we've had four interviews all for promoting the tour, photoshoots, days at the studio, meetings, and we even started to rehearse last night, a few days earlier than originally planned. We were still at the studio at around ten p.m. and I was feeling tired so I drank not one, not two, but five energy drinks.

Michael spoke up after finishing his chocolate. "What do we have scheduled after the meeting?"

"Press conference," Ashton answered. "We'll probably be done with everything by four."

"Don't we get breakfast at least?" Michael asked. Ashton shook his head. "Not yet. If we want to be on time we'll have to get food after the meeting. Or at least hope there'll be food there."

Ashton's phone chimed with a new message. The driver was now waiting for us outside the building. I chugged half of the coffee down even though it was still piping hot and we all headed to the elevator. We got into the black van and said good morning to Ray, our thirty year-old driver. Ashton was the first to sit down. I sat next to him, Michael sat on his other side. I stretched my arms, yawning. "There are tons of space in this vehicle. We could all have our own rows, you know." Ashton pointed out before moving his face away so that my arms didn't hit him.