The Only Reason

Chapter 2

I blinked, waking up slowly. The bones in my neck cracked and I stretched, my blanket falling off my knees and onto the ground.

"Here." Calum picked it up and handed it to me.

"Thanks." I tucked it into my backpack. "How much longer do we have until we land?"

"Um, my guess would be... Michael?"

Michael leaned over Luke, who he was sitting next to in the row next to ours. "Ten more hours. It's about three o'clock in the afternoon."

"Thanks." Calum told him, "Like I said, my guess is ten more hours."

"Shit. At first I was excited because I thought I would be able to sleep, but I'm done sleeping. Now I'm just bored." I threw a look over my shoulder and saw Ashton and Mallory making out in the row behind us. "Make sure you use protection...!" I whispered teasingly.

Ashton kicked the back of my seat and Luke bit his lip to keep from laughing. Calum grinned at me.

"Are you going to be like this for the rest of the flight?" Ash asked, pretending to be exasperated.

"Yes."

"Crap. I can't deal with ten hours of that!"

Everyone laughed, even Mallory, though it was fake laughter. She shot me a look from where she was sitting.

I tensed and turned away, falling silent. My fingertips picked at one of my bracelets, which had Falling in Reverse written on it in creepy font. Why did Mallory hate me so much? I had never said anything rude to her in my life, even when she started putting me down.

But I must have screwed up somewhere. That had to be the only logical explanation. Maybe I had accidentally said something rude without realizing it, or had otherwise made an inconsiderate comment. That had to be it. Whatever I had done, she had had every reason to dislike me.

"You guys should sing for me." Mallory said sweetly.

"Okay, babe. Guys? You down?"

"Yep." Luke said, and the others nodded. "Which song?"

"I like Long Way Home  the best."

"Nice. Okay, one, two, three- " Ashton started.

"Take me back to the middle of nowhere

Back to the place only you and I share
Remember all the memories
The fireflies and make believe

Kicking back at the old school yard
Singing songs on our guitars
This is our reality
Crazy stupid you and me

We know this is the way it's supposed to be

So we're taking the long way home
'Cause I don't wanna be wasting my time alone
I wanna get lost and drive forever with you
Talkin' about nothing yeah forever baby

So we're taking the long way home... "

I closed my eyes and listened to them sing. There weren't any instruments, duh, but the thing about their voices is that they don't really need them to sound good. Luke, Calum, Michael, and Ashton had voices like freaking angels.

They sang the rest of the song and at the end, Mallory squealed and clapped her hands, beaming. This was the side of her that no one ever suspected of being rude or cold. Even my first impression of her had been a sweet, sugary girl who I had hoped to be friends with.

However, she could flip the bitch switch in half a second. 

As the hours ticked by, the boys sang more songs, we ate a lot of nasty airplane food, and we teased each other and laughed a lot. At one point, Luke and Calum raced up and down the first class isle until they were told to stop, but started again as soon as the flight attendants went back to hand drinks to everyone in second class. We were also chastised for being too loud.