Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter fifty eight

"Are you okay?" Anne Marie purses her lips at her eldest son as they all sit down for lunch, this week Ashton's family had come into the city rather than Ashton and Calum heading out.
"I mean, we went out last night and I had a few drinks?" Ashton replies confusedly.
"No, you seem very on edge." She replies.
"Well," Ashton glances to his dom for reassurance. "I have some news but I wanted to wait until we were all sitting down."
"I wanna knowww." Lauren drags out as she flops into a dining chair.
"How about we all get food on our plates first?" Anne Marie replies to her daughter, not leaving room for negotiation despite it being phrased as a question.

Lauren looks like she's about to burst with questions and curiosity whilst everyone is dishing their lunch but, to her credit, she manages to keep it in.
"Do you wanna start?" Calum asks Ashton gently, sparing a glance of pity to Lauren across the table.
"You go, I wanna hear what you'll say." Ashton replies, always interested in whatever Calum has to say. It's sickeningly sweet really.
"This was only officially decided yesterday, but Ashton got offered a job and he's decided to take it." Calum chooses his words carefully, wanting to let Ashton to be the one to properly break the news.
"That's so exciting!" Ashton's mother beams, already immensely proud of her son.
"What's the job? What's the job?" Lauren rushes out excitedly.

"The job is, um, modelling. Really unexpected, for me as well, but I went to a photo shoot earlier in the week and did my own yesterday. And I think I'm really gonna like it." Ashton answers nervously, wincing a little in anticipation of something.
"Modelling?!" Lauren lets out an ear piercing squeal that causes everyone to flinch.
"Yeah?" Ashton says unsurely.
"That's wonderful, I'm so proud of you." His mother smiles warmly.
"Sounds cool." Harry shrugs; which, admittedly, is more of a reaction than usual.

"Is it just after school and weekends? How does it fit around your school?" Anne Marie queries, as motherly as ever.
"The hours are very flexible and not necessarily after school and weekends, but my school work is also flexible." Ashton tries to reassure her.
"And how is school going?" She presses further.
"Good. I'm getting through things really quickly because I don't have distractions, but it also doesn't feel rushed. I like it. I think I'll be really prepared for my exams."
"I told you how much I value education and I stand by that, I'm doing everything I can to ensure he does his best -whilst maintaining a healthy balance between that and life." Calum interjects to save his sub.

An ever so slightly uncomfortable silence falls over the five of them but they keep eating and ignoring it.
"How's school going?" Ashton gently asks his younger siblings.
"It's boring." Harry shrugs.
"I like it." Lauren adds indignantly.
"What makes it boring? What makes you like it?" Ashton prompts, looking to fuel the conversation.
"School is just work." Harry replies flatly.
"But it's interesting work." Lauren rolls her eyes, causing Harry to mutter a response.
"No it's not."

As they were standing up from the table and getting ready to move into the lounge room, Calum's phone starts ringing. Calum and Ashton both know it's Maggie's ringtone but that makes them even more confused, she never called on a weekend unless it was urgent. If she did need to pass on a message she would just text.
"What is it?" Calum asks frantically into the phone as he runs up the stairs with an apologetic smile.

"That's his assistant, Maggie. She doesn't call on weekends so it's probably urgent, hopefully nothing too serious though." Ashton explains, trying to reassure his family but likely doing the opposite.
"Aren't things that are urgent always serious?" Lauren ponders.
"Not necessarily," Ashton laughs awkwardly. He quickly suggests a game of Uno to get everyone's mind off it.

"I'm so sorry to run off but unfortunately I have to go into work. Thank you so much for coming and my biggest apologies. Please don't hesitate to stay as long as you'd like." Calum speeds down the stairs and into the living room in such a flurry everyone else feels the breeze.
"Is everything alright?" Ashton frowns, standing up and approaching his dom who was in the process of putting his jacket on.
"Sort of. We need to do a safety recall but no one's been affected yet and it's definitely not the worst. Nothing for anyone to worry about." Calum says quickly.
"Okay, go keep everyone safe. I love you." Ashton leans in to kiss his dom as he finishes talking.
"Love you too. Either Maggie or I will call with an update in a few hours and we'll work out dinner plans then." With that, Calum flees out of the house in the direction of his office.

Calum gets to the building in under twenty minutes, the traffic being thankfully quiet. Maggie is already there along with a few staff from multiple departments.
"Thank god," Maggie says frantically when she sees Calum step out of the lift.
"What's going on? Who's doing what?" He replies, equally as quickly.
"Liaison are contacting the road departments of each state so they can have a list of everyone to be contacted ASAP, PR are writing the customer letter and a public statement. Safety and engineering are analysing what went wrong and finding a solution." Maggie explains.

"So what do we know so far?"
"We know that any car made in a six month period last year had a lower quality rubber in the tyre, that wears out abnormally quickly."
"Wait- every car?" Calum groans.
"They're still trying to work that out for sure, it's a possibility." Maggie says regretfully.

Calum and Maggie take the divide and conquer approach. Maggie goes to work with liaison and PR whilst Calum goes to the others to help analyse and fix the issue. This goes on for hours, time getting away from them as they work frantically, until Calum hears his phone buzz with Ashton's tone just after 6pm.

Ashton - Calum: Fam left a little while ago but how it's going? Do you want me to organise dinner? Are there others there? Do they need dinner too?

Calum - Ashton: Still working away, are you sure you don't mind finding dinner?

Ashton - Calum: Of course not, you're busy saving the world ❤️

Calum - Ashton: Just fixing a problem that's our fault but thanks for the vote of confidence darling xo

Calum - Maggie: Ashton will get dinner for everyone, how many are you with?

Maggie - Calum: Total 8 here, thanks

Calum - Ashton: Dinner for 19, plus you. Maybe get Carla to pick you up and then get dinner together? She'll understand and you don't drive in the city

Ashton - Calum: Okay, see you soon. Love you xoxo

Calum - Ashton: Love you too xoxoxo

A/N: hello all! I don't remember when Luke's back but I promise it's soon. Just wanna leave him on the side a litttttttle longer. Love you all I'll see you on Thursday with more :)

-Grace Williams xo