That Voice

Chapter 11

Luke’s P.O.V.

Sage started to squirm uncomfortably after a little while, so I put her back on her feet.  She immediately broke out into a fit of giggles and laughed harder after she tapped one of her feet on the floor.  

I raised one eyebrow and grinned at her as she was laughing, and seeing my confusion, she managed to say, “Pins and needles! I can’t even walk right now…it tickles!”

I rolled my eyes and grinned at her as she breathed out a sigh and we went back to look for Ash.

After Sage and I found Ashton hiding between a pillar and one of the windows overlooking Times Square, we dragged him to a waiting Calum protesting and struggling.  Calum rubbed his hands together evilly and proceeded to put Ashton into a bear hug and squeeze the life out of him as Ashton giggled and wheezed.  Sage covered her mouth because she was laughing so hard and as I looked at her, I began to grin like an idiot as I watched her display her innocent nature once again.

When Calum was done “killing” Ashton, Michael ran up out of nowhere and snatched the plastic bags from Ash, “Gimme those.” He clucked his tongue in disapproval and placed the bags back in their rightful spots for the rest of the people.     

Calum and I had to forcefully pull Michael from the store so we could go back to our hotel room, but ended up picking him up and carrying him anyways.  Sage was laughing at us the whole time because of Michael’s will for food making him super hard to control.

As we hailed a cab to get back to the hotel, I thought about how quickly Sage and the rest of the guys have bonded.  She is just one of those easygoing people that are easy to like.  The old cab pulled up to the curb and the we looked at it as we contemplated how we were all going to fit in there.  Then, I had an idea.  Probably one that was going to get me in trouble later.

I grabbed Sage’s arm and pulled her with me into the cab.  When she took the seat next to me, I protested and pulled her to sit on top of me as the rest of the guys piled into the cab with Ashton in the front seat.  “It’s okay, Sage.  You trust me to not let you die if we get in a crash right?”

She thought that over for a minute, shrugged, and said jokingly, “No. Not really. But…human seatbelt…safe enough…right?”

I chuckled at her and waved my hand in a more or less way and she lightly hit my arm with her hand which made me laugh harder, and made Calum grin at me and wiggle his eyebrows again.

We were at a stoplight and Sage began to shift on my lap uncomfortably.  When I asked her what was wrong, she laughs and replies, “You’re so bony!”  The boys start to chuckle and Michael coughs into his hand, “That’s what she said!” and we laugh harder.  

“Aww…okay.  I’ll try to be less bony.” I bounce her up and down like a baby on my knee as she giggle and says, “Wheee!” When we lurch forward again, I’m not prepared to brace her again so she falls backward to slide with her back flush against my chest and our heads next to each other.  Sage relaxes and puts all of her weight on me to try to make me uncomfortable, but she’s really not that heavy, so all she ends up doing is pressing into me further.  This actually feels nice.  Wait…what am I thinking?