The Most Unexpected Faces

ASHLEY’S POV

~

The morning came too soon for my liking and after what only felt like a few minutes of sleep I found myself being nudged awake by Andy, who looked as bright and perky as ever.

“Come on, Ashley! Wakey wakey!” he cooed into my ear.

“Gowayfivmourmintspaysheceishiskeyyndy” I mumbled into my pillow, not caring that my words probably came out as a string of unintelligible nonsense.

“What did you say?” the blue eyed man asked, pressing himself against my side so that his ear was practically touching my mouth. I propped myself up with my arm slightly and blinked my eyes open.

“I said ‘go away, five more minutes. Patience is key, Andy’” I repeated, smiling lazily at him as my eyes focused on his cute little nose just centimetres away from my face.

“Ah, well you can’t have five more minutes. And before you ask why it’s because I said so. Also, C.C is looking for you and I’m pretty sure he’s on the edge of imploding and dying so yeah if I don’t wake you up he’ll probably kill me” he concluded.

“Why didn’t C.C just wake me up?” Andy chuckled.

“Because he was scared that if he woke the princess up from her nap he would be killed”. I pouted at him for lack of better response.

“Don’t pout baby. Besides, Jinxx and Sammi made breakfast and I smell bacon so move your ass before Jake and C.C eat it all” he started to nudge me gently towards the curtain with his hand when I didn’t start moving immediately. Reluctantly, I climbed down from the bunk in my black pyjama bottoms and Hello Kitty top and headed towards the kitchen where the promised bacon was.

I walked in to a chorus of ‘good morning’s from C.C, Jake and Sammi and a ‘well look who’s finally awake!’ from Jinxx.

“Good morning’s to you” I smiled at C.C, Jake and Sammi, “and a ‘fuck you’ for you” I said cheerfully to Jinxx.

“Be nice or I won’t give you bacon!” he threatened jokingly, turning over the stuff frying in the pan he was holding with a spatula.

“You wouldn’t dare deprive me of such wonderful food! And also, I am being nice. My second act of niceness will be to give you the honour of making me coffee” I said as I flopped down into one of the available seats.

“Yeah, you can piss off” he laughed. “Actually, since Sammi and I made breakfast can you and C.C make us all coffee?” he asked over his shoulder, trying not to let his eyes stray from the pan for too long. After all, Jinxx is actually a pretty good cook but safety isn’t really his forte. I could bring up numerous minor kitchen fire incidents including the boiled egg story, which I tell to as many people as I can just to embarrass Jinxx. Seriously, who would’ve though egg yolk could be so slippery…

“Yeah sure, where has C.C gone by the way?” I asked when I looked around the small area and noticed him no longer around.

“I sent him to see where the ketchup bottle went; I’m pretty sure the last place we had it was in the lounge last night when we were eating takeout” Sammi piped in with a smile as she reached for some plates in one of the cupboards overhead.

“Awesome, thanks” I smiled before moving down the bus towards the lounge where I came across C.C sitting in the sofa, fiddling with a ketchup bottle in his hands. He looked up as I entered and beckoned me over when he saw it was me.

“Morning C. You alright? Andy said you were looking for me earlier” I said, taking a seat next to him.

“Yeah, I just wanted your advice on something. I’m going to talk to Jake today about you-know and I was wondering whether I should do it earlier in the day or tonight after the show. What do you think?”

I took a second to think before answering.

“To be honest C.C you can’t plan something like this precisely. You’ll know when the moment’s right and sometime today you’ll have an opportunity to tell him. It’s all about finding the opportunities and making the best of them.”

“Have you been watching Derren Brown: Fear and Faith again?” he asked after taking in what I’d said, causing me to chuckle.

“Well… maybe… but the man makes a good point” I conceded and we both laughed.

“Have you guys found that ketchup yet?” we heard Sammi call through from the kitchen. Followed by
“yeah, we want our coffee!” from Andy.

I rolled my eyes at his impatience and stood up, extending my hand out to C.C to pull him up after me once I did.

We walked back into the kitchen with the beloved ketchup and C.C placed it on the table triumphantly.

“Ta-da!” he exclaimed.

“Oh wow, you found common condiments. Way to go C.C!” Jinxx said in a sarcastic monotone and added a slow fist pump at the end.

“Shut it Jinxxy, if I hadn’t have gone on the perilous journey for the ketchup you would have whined about not having it. I saved the day!”

“Sure you did C” Jake grinned.

“Hello? I’m STILL waiting for my coffee!” Andy called out with fake exasperation.

Finally deciding to give Andy and the others their much craved hot beverages, me and C.C started to make the drinks while Jinxx and Sammi served the food up onto plates. Once everyone had a drink and a plate full of hot food we all wandered into the lounge and sat down in there since the kitchen wasn’t big enough for us all.

Jinxx and Sammi did a good job with the food and before long there was a stack of 6 empty plates in the middle of the table and 6 people reluctant to wash them looking around at each other.

“Well Jinxx and I aren’t doing it; we made breakfast” Sammi said no one offered to do it.

“I’m not either, I made coffee with C.C” I said, following in Sammi’s footsteps and taking myself of the list of people who would possibly have to do it.

“I had to wake sleeping beauty over there up!” Andy said and pointed at me when everyone looked at Jake and him.

“Fine then, I’ll do it. Thank you all so much for your kind offers of help” Jake said sarcastically and grinned as he reached for the plates in the centre of the table.

I turned to C.C who was sitting next to me and opened my eyes wide at him before tilting my head slightly towards the doorway Jake was walking towards with the plates. He looked confused for a second before understanding lit up his face.

“Seize the opportunities given!” he whispered to me and I nodded.

“I’ll help you, Jake” C.C offered.

Jake turned around and smiled at him, “see, C.C knows how to be a gentlemen!” he said, causing C.C to flush a faded scarlet colour.

The pair headed off towards the kitchen with 3 plates each in their hands.

As they went off to clean up, the remaining 4 of us started talking about out plans for the day ahead. We had our first show of the tour tonight and we were all super psyched about it and a little bit nervous if I’m honest. We had never played to this big an audience before. We talked about our set list and various other details of the show for about 25 minutes before Andy asked what the hell was taking Jake and C.C so long. I didn’t want any of them to go check on them, if they were having a moment or C.C was admitting how he felt I didn’t want anyone interrupting them; it took a lot of courage for C.C to do this. To avoid any of them disturbing them I told them that C.C wanted to talk to Jake about something but didn’t mention what. After all, it’s C.C’s feelings and he should choose who knows what about them.
Another 10 minutes came and went before Jake re-entered the room followed by a beaming C.C.

“Hey” I greeted them, feeling hopeful because of C.C’s expression.

“How was your talk?” I mentally slapped myself. That was not the right thing to say Jinxx! Thankfully they both just smiled at us and each other before Jake replied.

“Very good actually. Though there wasn’t much talking involved” he said with a sly smile.

“What do you mean?” I asked knowingly, wanting full on proof that what I was hoping had happened in the kitchen.

“He means that we didn’t get all that much talking done as we were too busy doing this” C.C answered for him and to Andy, Jinxx and Sammi’s surprise pushed his lips to Jake’s and put his hands on the taller male’s hips.

When they pulled apart C.C caught my eye and we shared a grin. I’m so glad C.C told Jake; they look so happy together!

“So, are you two together now?” Andy asked.

“Yeah, we are” Jake confirmed.

“Well fucking finally!” Jinxx exclaimed, voicing what all of us were thinking.

Jake resumed his previous seat but this time he pulled C.C onto his lap with him, making Andy ‘aw!’.

“So, first show of tour tonight and a new happy couple. I think today is going to be pretty damn good!” I remarked.

Everyone else smiled and cheered as we relaxed into our seats. This tour was already going great. I know that nothing is ever completely perfect but right now is pretty damn close; the only dent in the surface is that tonight me and Andy can’t act like a couple, at least not on stage. Yeah, we haven’t told the fans yet.

I don’t think I’m ready for everyone to know about my relationship like that. I know Andy doesn’t like hiding it but right now I’m just not comfortable with telling the world. Hell, they don’t even know I’m gay let alone dating the lead singer of our band! One day we’ll tell them, of course we will. But right now just doesn’t seem like the appropriate time. I’m so lucky that Andy accepts this, it makes me really happy that he tries so hard to make me happy. What he needs to remember though and what I need to remind him of more often is that all I really need to make me happy is him. With that thought I reached my hand out to the side and entangled my fingers with Andy’s. He leant towards me and kissed me on the cheek and then my lips.

I looked around the room and smiled to myself. 3 happy couples.