Not What I Expected

It was an ordinary day at work, I had worked at the pet store for about two weeks now and started to get comfortable. I had some good routines and got along with both Steph and Brian. Tomorrow was the day that Luke would come here, it was Wednesday. Brian had granted me a week of work so that I could travel to Australia with Luke. We were going on Saturday and be away for a whole week, which was going to be amazing.

“So, what do you have for me today?” I asked Brian as I had but on my working clothes and walked out of the store.
“I have a new order of dog food coming in any second, can you place it on the shelves?” he asked me and I nodded and walked in to supply room. A couple of minutes later a truck backed up and I helped the driver to unload the food.

It took the morning to get all the food out, we had a lot of different kinds of dog food. And it was all from two kilos to twenty kilos. And everything had to come out in the store and to the right shelves. I started to get a great routine with the food, I knew where everything belonged and I went faster every time a new load of food or other stuff arrived to the store.

I was exhausted at lunch and walked in to the lunch room. Neither Brian nor Steph where there so I placed myself at the table and ate my salad that I brought today for lunch. I sat in silence and ate as I felt two hands covering my eyes.

“Who’s there?” I asked shocked and scared. The person behind me embraced me from behind.
“Surprise,” I heard him say, it was Luke.

I flew up from my seat and hugged him. He hugged me back and I had the biggest grin on my face. I kissed him as I released him from my hard embrace and he kissed me back, I felt so many feelings at once and tears ran down my cheeks.

“Why are you crying?” Luke asked me with worry in his voice. I couldn’t stop crying, I was so happy.
“I’ve missed you so much, I don’t think that you have any idea of how hard it have been without you. And you weren’t supposed to be here today, but you’re here and yeah, you’re here,” I rambled.
“Hush baby, I’m here,” he kissed me on my forehead.
“Ashley, are you here?” Steph asked me and walked in to the lunch room.
“Yes, I’m here,” I said to here and dried my wet cheeks.
“Have you eaten?” She asked me and froze when she saw me and Luke. I just smiled at her and it looked like she needed to puke.
“Yeah, I ate a salad. Is something wrong?” I asked her and she shook her head.
“Can I talk to you for a minute,” she asked me and I nodded at her.
“You can sit here and wait,” I told Luke and followed Steph out of the lunch room, “so what’s up?”
“Is that your boyfriend?” She asked me.
“Uhm, yeah,” I said.
“You know who he is, right?” she asked another question.
“Of course I know who he is, he is my boyfriend. It is not like he could hide such a secret,” I laughed at her, “I don’t like it, but it is what it is.”
“What do you mean ‘you don’t like it’?” She asked confused.
“The fame and the fact that he is a star and have to travel all the time, I don’t really like their music. Or that’s the wrong word, their music is great, it’s not my style though,” I shrugged.
“You’re not a fan girl?” She laughed at me.
“No definitely not,” I told her and I could see a blue haired man walk in to the room, “oh my God Michael, when did you dye your hair? I have missed you!”
“I did it yesterday,” he shrugged and I jumped at him, giving him a hard hug.
“You have to help me dye my hair someday,” I said and he smiled at me, “I want it the same color as you. But only a dip dye.”
“We can do it in Australia,” he smiled at me. And I heard Steph clear her throat.
“Oh, Michael, this is my colleague Steph. Steph, this is my best friend Michael,” I introduced them.
“Nice to meet you,” she said and shook his hand.

Michael threw me over his shoulder and I laughed at him.

“Your boyfriend misses you, I have to deliver you to him,” he said and we walked back to the lunch room.
“Finally, I started to wonder where you were!” Luke tried to sound serious but cracked a smile when he saw me laughing.
“I have to go back to work, but can we meet up later?” I asked Luke.
“Dinner, when you’re done?” He answered my question with another question.
“Yeah sure, what hotel do you stay at?”
“The one around the corner, but I can pick you up after work,” he said, “When do you stop working?”
“Five, be here then,” I smiled and Luke kissed me fast on my lips. They walked out then, leaving me with Steph.

Steph fangirled a lot when the guys had left and I had to answer incredible many questions about them. Apparently she was a fan and had been it for a while. I just laughed at her intensity and energy when she talked to me. I had to leave her after a little while to go out in the store and handle the checkout.

We had pretty much customers this day and it was nice to always have something to do, not just standing or trying to find something to do, and I had the checkout pretty much the whole afternoon. At five I walked over to the dressing room and got changed. Luke stood outside and waited for me. He had a black t-shirt on, and a red and black checkered shirt around his hips. His black jeans were ripped at the knees. He smiled when he saw me and took of his black ray bans. I kissed him fast and he took my hand as we walked down the street to a nearby restaurant.

Luke had already booked a table for us and we had a booth that gave us some privacy. We sat down and got a menu. I looked through it and decided that I wanted a hamburger.

“You know what you want?” Luke asked me.
“Yep! You?”
“I think that I want the lasagna, but I’m not sure,” he pondered.
“That sounds good, but I’m going for the hamburger,” I told him and he smiled at me.

The waitress came up to us again and took our orders. The waitress walked of as fast as she came up to us.

“So, Michael wants us to meet up with them later. Is that okay?” He asked me.
“Yeah, of course,” I smiled at him and tilted my head in amaze.
“You know what he wants to do,” Luke sighed and I had my notions.
“I guess that he wants to go out and drink alcohol, dance and just have a nice time?” I asked him and raised an eyebrow.
“Jackpot,” he smiled and I laughed at him.
“That sounds nice though, so let’s do that later,” I said.

The waitress came up with our food. I was starving after a hard day at work. Both I and Luke started to eat as fast as the waitress had left us. It did not take long before we had cleared our plates.

“That was so good,” Luke said and I nodded in agreement.
“It was incredible,” I smiled.
“Are you ready to leave?” He asked me and I said yes and we got up from our spots. Luke paid for the food and we went to their hotel.
“Aren’t you tired of living in different hotels continuously?” I asked Luke as we walked.
“Yes I am, it will be nice to go home and sleep in my own bed for once,” he smiled at me.
“I understand that,” I stated.

We walked in to the hotel and up a couple of floors to their room. Luke shared room with Ashton and he greeted us as we merged in to the room.

“Hello Ash, are you following out tonight?” I asked Ashton.
“Yeah, of course,” he said and got up from the bed to hug me. I hugged him back and smiled at his kindness, “how are you?”
“I’m fine, how are you?”
“Great!” He smiled and released me from his strong grip.
“I’ll go and tell Michael that we’re ready to go out,” I told Luke and walked the room next to theirs.

I knocked at the door and Calum opened, he smiled as he saw me and kissed me on my cheek. I gave him a hug and walked in to their room. Michael sat in the bed and played on his phone.

“Hey mate,” I said to him and he looked up from his phone.
“Hello gorgeous, what do you have on your heart?” He asked me.
“Do you want to go out?” I asked him and he grinned.
“You know that I want it,” he was still grinning.
“Then get ready so that we can go,” I told him and he nodded at me and got up.

I waited in Calum and Michael’s room while they got ready. They changed and did their hair and I just sat in Michael’s bed and looked at them as they ran around in the room. I heard a knock on the door and walked up to open and Luke stood there.

“Handsome, that is what you are,” I said as I saw him and he kissed me.
“Are the others ready?” He asked me.
“I don’t know, they are running around like chickens here,” I laughed and opened the door more for him to see what they were up to.
“Ey guys, are you ready?” Luke yelled to them.
“Yes mate,” Michael answered and they walked out of the room, I followed and we locked the door behind us.

When walking Ashton took a photo, as usual. He was a real internet freak. We found a night club that was open at this time and day and ordered some drinks, beers and shots and placed ourselves around a table.

“I can’t believe that you’re here,” I smiled at the guys.
“Cheers for being here,” Calum said and raised a shot. We all took one shot each and drank it.

It was sad that I lived so far away from these guys, it would have been easier living with them. Always smiling, laughing and feeling wanted was the things that the guys made me feel. They were the best.

“I need to go out for a second, do anyone want to follow me?” I asked the guys.
“Yeah sure, I’ll follow you,” Michael said and we got up and out.

I lit a cigarette and inhaled the nicotine.

“You shouldn’t smoke,” Michael told me and shook his head.
“I know, I know,” I told him.
“Well well, who do we got here,” I heard a familiar voice and froze.

I saw Michael tie his fist as he saw Joey come closer.

“Didn’t I tell you to get the fuck out?” Michael said and Joey punched him in the face, getting him of guard. He threw me over his shoulder and started to run, I saw Michael trying to get his sight back and when he saw what happened he panicked. Then he was gone and I was getting kidnapped.