***READ UPDATED VERSION NOT THIS VERSION of Love Squared

Chapter3~Ashlynn

"Ok good, Hazel. Now, Ashlynn, sing something." Mark Redder, our tech guy, was distributing our microphones and we were in the middle of testing them out.

"Take me back to that night. Take me where we've been. Dancing in the starlight. Yea take me there agaaaaain." I sang out the lyrics to the song "Take Me There Again", which I had written with Hunter. It was by far my favorite song out of all of them on our album.

"Whooooooooooooo, yeaaaa!!!" I turned around and saw my band members clapping and cheering for me. They are so supportive and I love them so much.

"Oh, stop. I just got over a cold and sound like a frog."

"Well, that's the best sounding frog I've ever heard." Shawn laughed, causing us all to laugh.

"Hunter," Mark called. "You're next. Come get your mic."

I watched as Mark gave him his microphone and microphone box. Then I realized Mark was looking at me and waving his hands.

"Earth to Ashhhhlynn! Helloooooo?! I need the mic back. I have to have Mack fix it; there was a lot of feedback."

"Oh sorry I was just...uh...distracted. I was...erm...thinking about tonight's show." I said trying to cover up the reason behind my daydreaming.

"Whatever." He chuckled.

I handed the microphone, along with the microphone box back to him. Then he walked over to the tech booth and started talking to Mack.

Just then, Hunter walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulders (sadly, in a friendly way).

"What's up?" I asked, tilting my head up to look him in the eyes. He was so intimidating.

He met my eyes. "You look a little down. Is your headache back again?"

I didn't even notice that I wasn't smiling until he said that. I normally am always smiling, so it's easy to tell when I'm upset.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Really. Thanks." I said. To prove it, I plastered a smile across my face.

But I wasn't fooling him.

"I don't believe you for a second. I can tell that's not your real smile."

"What do you mean? This IS my real smile." I insisted.

"No. I can tell the difference between your fake smile and real smile. Your REAL smile reaches your eyes and makes them sparkle. Your fake one doesn't."

I was caught off guard for a few seconds. 'He pays attention to the details of my smiles? Wow.' It made this "just friends" situation even more painful, which I didn't even know was possible until then.

I didn't really know how to reply to that, so I lowered my head slightly and looked at my shoes. I felt my cheeks burning.

"Now just how does a guy turn a fake smile into a real one?" He asked aloud, but by the way he was tapping his chin and smirking, I knew he knew how to.

The next thing I knew, he was tickling me and I was close to tears from laughing so hard.

"Hunt..." I gasped. "Please...
stop...ahhhhhahaha!"

"You look so cute when you laugh." The second the words left his lips, I stiffened (unintentionally, of course). He immediately stopped tickling me. 'Did he just say what I've always wanted to hear him say? And why did I stiffen up? Now I've made things awkward.'

After I was finished mentally scolding myself, I looked up at him. He was gazing down at me, green eyes searching my face as if looking for a sign that he had really just said that out loud. I felt his heartbeat, keeping time with mine. I felt comfortable in his arms, although I wanted to move before the rest of the band saw. It felt like someone had taken a metal baseball bat and hit me square in the forehead. The singing voices of Shawn, Hazel, and Eric blended into a muffled mess. I was just about to say something when I was cut off.

"Heyyyy, Hunty!!" Said a voice so sugary sweet it made me feel sick.

I identified the voice to its owner immediately, and simultaneously, I leapt out of Hunter's arms. It was Marissa. We were standing on the catwalk part of the stage and she was on the ground next to us.

"Why were you holding her?" She asked, adding in a look of disgust as she said "her".

"We were just practicing for...the...uhhh...next music video. Yea...it's...it's a theatrical one and we can't seem to get this one dance part right." He bit his lip, looking as hot as ever.

"Oh... Well, aren't you happy to see me? I flew all the way from St. Louis to LA for you. I thought you'd at least be surprised."

"Oh, um, of course I am!!" He changed his look of awkwardness into happiness in a nanosecond. 'He's not the only one who can scope out fake smiles.' I thought.

He hopped off the catwalk, stood next to her, and leaned in for a hug. She got the wrong idea and she kissed him. I suddenly realized how awkward it was to be standing there watching them. I don't know what got into me but all I knew was that I needed to run. Sure, Rachael will get mad when she finds out I ditched mic checks. But I didn't care.

I started running down the catwalk, back towards the main stage. At first it was a light jog, but then I started running as fast as my legs would carry me. I ran past my band members, past Mark and Mack, off of the stage, and back into the twisting tunnels that made up the inside of the arena. I hadn't even noticed that someone was chasing after me. I kept on running and dodging people until I found a bathroom, and once I was inside of it, I locked the door.

I decided to glance in the mirror, and I barely recognized the girl staring back. The girl was crying, her hair was messed up, and beads of sweat had started to form on her forehead. I had been completely unaware of anything except for the thought of "I have to get out of here" causing me to not even realize the hot, salty tears streaming from my eyes.

It was a silent cry, not one of those big, dramatic, sobbing-like-crazy sort of cries. 'Why am I even crying?' I asked myself in my head, although I knew the answer. I grabbed a paper towel and blotted my cheeks dry.

     Just then, there was a knock on the door. I frantically started to finger-comb my hair and wipe off any left over tears.

"Ash, you in there?"

Hunter.

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(A/N)

Hey people what's up?! Thanks for reading my story!! What do u think of it so far? Please let me know if I've made a grammatical error so I can fix it.😊 If you leave a comment, please make sure it isn't rude. Thanks!!
Au revoir!!
-T