The Bodyguard [Lashton AU]

Chapter 26

AN: Oh, dear... this chapter.

I fucking love you guys, by the way. So. Fucking. Much.

Guys, listen. A song.

Dedication: malumwhatever [I forgot about the covers, but here they are now c:]

It was now a little bit past six, it was dark out, and Michael was waiting for me and Luke in front of the hotel suite. He had this happy expression on his face, but it looked a bit forced to me. He was telling me to hurry and get to the car so we could leave right away.

But on our way to wherever the hell we were going, I couldn't get Calum's voicemails out of my mind. I didn't bring them up at all to either Luke or Michael, because I wasn't sure how to. Michael was going to freak out if he found out something happened to Calum, but he was going to find out sooner or later, wasn't he? Yet, no matter how hard I tried to get myself to say anything about what I just heard through my phone, I couldn't form any words.

Speaking of my phone, even though Calum told me to get rid of it, I was clutching the device in my left hand. I just got it back today, and now he wanted me to just throw it away? I don't think anyone in their right mind would just simply toss away their phone. It's like their precious baby. I was separated from mine for days, but even though I was back with it, I didn't have a strong urge to use it as often as I used to before.

Michael was on his phone, looking through stuff and Luke was staring out the window. I just kept flipping my phone around in my hand, not sure what else to do with it. I could do what Calum wanted me to do, but what could possibly be wrong with my phone that I had to dispose of it?

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Luke snort. "I don't know which is brighter," he said, breaking the silence in the car, "your phone screen or Ashton's future."

My manager looked up at him and said, "This is on its lowest brightness."

"Oh. Now I know which is brighter."

I threw one leg over Luke's lap and purposely jabbed the heel of my shoe into his thigh. He didn't flinch though, and I was disappointed with the results.

"My future is very bright!" I snapped, my defensive side resurfacing. "Look where I am now!"

"You're in a car yelling at me," Luke deadpanned.

I groaned and glared out the window. I really didn't feel like dealing with Luke's stupid games at the moment.

The area we were in was unfamiliar. We were on this highway and I was staring into darkness that had small specks of lights shining in the distance. I turned to Luke and asked, "Where are we and what am I looking at?"

"You're looking at me in a car," Luke said, grinning at his response.

Michael started laughing and I glared at my bodyguard before yelling, "No, stupid! What city?! And what's out the window?!"

"We're in a city called Huntington Beach and out the window is the beach and the Pacific Ocean."

"Why?"

The whole car was silent and both Michael and Luke were looking at me, like the answer was going to hit me any moment--oh.

"Wait, the party?! That's today?!" I exclaimed. "What the hell, Mikey! Why didn't you tell me anything?!"

"I did. I told you to dress appropriately, and you did."

"What if I wore something else and ended up standing out because I didn't dress like everyone else?!"

"Yeah," Luke chimed in. "Like, what if he showed up with a fluffy pink dress with a tiara on top of his head a pair of princess gauntlet gloves on his arms?"