Even If You Don't

Calum’s POV

The next day

“Okay, guys!” Joe, my band’s photographer for the tour, announced, “I need to get some promo shots, so let’s get this done!”

“Didn’t we already do a promo shoot for this tour?” Michael whined, but followed everyone outside anyway.

“That was with the other bands, Mike,” he shook his head, “There’s a new band on the tour now.”

“Better tell the homecoming queen to hold onto her crown, or she’s gonna lose it to the new girl in town,” Mari sang. We all stared at her and she cocked an eyebrow. “Hairspray? No one, really? Y’all disappoint me.”

“Nobody knows what you’re talking about, Mari,” Kaylynn stated.

“That is not true and you know it,” she replied, “I’ve made you all watch it before.”

“Was that that movie you made us watch with you just because you thought we’d like it since Zac Efron is in it?” Vanessa asked.

“Tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”

“We didn’t enjoy it,” the girls replied in unison.

“Wait, so is that an American thing because I’ve never even heard of it,” Ashton commented. Mari’s eyes widened and she grabbed his shoulders.

“I’m going to fix you, Ashton Irwin,” she said with a serious tone.

“You do that, Mari Duncan,” he chuckled confusedly as she released him. Interrupting Mari and Ashton’s moment, Joe stopped us when we reached a brick wall tagged with graffiti.

“Perfect!” he said, “Everyone line up against the wall.”

“It’s a shame we don’t have those things you hold when you take mug shots,” Vanessa commented.

“The mug shot thing has already been overdone,” Kaylynn shook her head.

“Hey!” Michael exclaimed, “We’ve done it before!”

“Exactly,” she replied, shoving his shoulder. I caught Mari smiling as she was leaning up against the brick, but she didn’t make any additional commentary, so I decided to go over to her.

“Be careful, Mari,” I told her, “Standing over here alone makes you look like you’re trying to sing Good Girls without anyone hearing you.”

“Well, not anymore,” she scoffed, playfully rolling her eyes. I grinned, leaning back next to her, trying to ignore the fact that she’d scooted closer so our arms were touching.

“Okay,” Joe went on, “Everyone stand with their own band.” We all did and took a few photos before he asked if we had any ideas of our own.

“Awkward prom photos!” Kenzie cheered.

“What?” Luke laughed.

“You know,” Mari said, “Photos that look like this.” She grabbed Kaylynn and pulled her in front of her, wrapping her arms around her waist. The two could barely hold in their laughter before Mari let go.

“It’s less awkward when you’re looking at a photo, but seeing it in person is just uncomfortable,” Ashton shook his head.

“Exactly!” Kenzie squeaked.

“Now, girls,” Kaylynn cocked an eyebrow, “The real question is who would we take to prom?”

“I wanna go with Mari!” Michael shouted, grabbing her hand and bringing her to him.

“Why’s that, Clifford?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist, “Am I the only one willing to go with such a video game geek?”

“I don’t wanna take Mari anymore,” he frowned, “She only abuses me.”

“I do it out of love, Mikey,” she giggled, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I’d take Vanessa,” Luke shrugged.

“Really?” she replied skeptically.

“Look at this pairing and tell me we wouldn’t be voted cutest couple,” he challenged, going over to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“To be fair, anyone with Nessa is going to be voted cutest couple,” Mari replied with a wink. Vanessa simply rolled her eyes.

“Well, I’ve got my eye on Kay,” Ashton teased, “She’s the only one of you out-of-shape losers who can keep up with me when we’re out for a run.”

“Damn right,” Kaylynn smirked, high-fiving the drummer.

“Guess that means you’re stuck with me,” I shrugged, smiling shyly at Kenzie.

“Don’t worry, Cal,” she giggled, “All these idiots are gonna be jealous when they see how good you look in a tux.”

“The day you get Calum Hood in a tux is the day I stop playing video games forever,” Michael rolled his eyes.

“Calum, you have to wear a tux!” Kaylynn exclaimed, “I’m so tired of hearing those stupid games when I’m trying to sleep!”

“Just put your headphones on and listen to music,” I shrugged, “That’s what I do.”

We stood in our awkward poses, barely able to contain our laughter at how dumb we were sure we looked, but Joe said he was able to get a couple good shots. He asked for any other suggestions before we had to get back to the venue, and Mari spoke up that time.

“You guys remember that shoot you did where you were on each other’s backs?” she asked the boys and I, “We should do that!”

“What if we were the ones carrying them?” Vanessa snickered.

“They’re like twigs; This’ll be easy,” Kaylynn commented.

“Alright, well, that’s a little not true,” Michael replied.

“Still looking as hot as ever though,” Mari winked, making him roll his eyes.

Since Joe wanted to get the photos ready sometime today, he interjected into the conversation again. He had everyone go with their respective instruments in the band – Kenzie and Luke, Vanessa and Michael, Mari and Ashton, and Kaylynn and myself. Along with being able to hold their own as musicians, they were actually quite strong as well. The boys and I were surprised they were able to hold us up without wobbling even a little bit – then again, these girls were full of surprises.

~

That night

“Lost and Found!” their manager, Gabrielle, hollered, “You’re on in two minutes!”

“Oh my God,” Kenzie’s eyes widened, “Oh my God, this is actually happening right now.”

“Guys,” Mari said, wrapping her arms around Kenzie and squeezing, “We’ve got nothing to worry about! We could play these songs in our sleep!”

“Mar’s right,” Vanessa chirped, “We wrote these songs. We’ll have no problems!”

“Yeah, but Calum forgets his lyrics all the time,” Kenzie said. I didn’t say anything – I just rolled my eyes.

Suddenly, the arena erupted into screams and it was clear that the 60 second countdown for the girls’ set had started. We could hear the video they recorded as their introduction playing and they started bouncing on their feet.

“No matter what happens out there tonight, we’re going to put on the best damn show we’ve ever had,” Mari said, looking at her band mates, “And we’re going to leave this arena with more fans than we had when we walked in. So let’s show these people that we know what the hell we’re doing out there.”

“Alright, Kenz!” Gabrielle said, “Go!”

Kenzie immediately started playing the guitar hanging on her shoulder, hearing the crowd scream even louder than before. She smiled widely and it was like everyone could see her nerves leave her body. Vanessa and Kaylynn joined in with their instruments as well while Mari crouched down and snuck up to her drums. The stage was dark apart from the flashing lights coming from the lighting booth. With her sticks gripped tightly in one hand, Mari’s other hand went to the pedal on her bass drum, hitting it in sync with the lights. The other girls waited for a couple moments before Gabrielle signaled for them to go onstage. The energy in the room was undeniable – and it was that much more impressive since they hadn’t even started playing the first song on their set list yet.

Mari’s POV

“Thank you guys so much for singing along!” Kenzie beamed when we finished our second song, “For those of you who don’t know us, we are Lost and Found! I’m Kenzie, that’s Vanessa, there’s Kaylynn, and Mari’s back there by herself,” she giggled as she motioned to each member as she introduced them.

“I mean, it’s fine,” I spoke into her mic, “Everyone knows all the cool kids sit in the back anyway.” Everyone laughed at the comment as Kaylynn went on.

“So we have a few more songs to play for you guys tonight, is that cool?” she asked, obviously earning applause from the crowd. “Okay, good,” she nodded, “Because you really don’t have a choice.”

“Yeah, sorry if you hate us,” Vanessa shrugged, “But you have to push through the opener to get to who you really came to see tonight.”

“I only came on this tour to see Ketchup,” I sighed dramatically, “And then I found out he’s not even here tonight. I feel so cheated. But 5SOS is okay, I guess.” I could faintly hear the boys sigh, making me snort softly.

We then played three more songs before going into another talking bit.

“For our cover song tonight, we wanted to do something a little special,” Kenzie announced, “We met a fan of ours at the airport the other day and asked her which 5SOS song that was not on their set list tonight she wanted to hear and she picked this song. She’s somewhere in the audience right now, so wherever you are, Madison, this one is for you.”

“It’s not Wherever You Are, just saying,” Vanessa giggled.

“It’s not Just Saying either,” I snickered, earning a playful glare from the guitarist.

The crowd laughed at our banter as Kaylynn went on, “It ended up being perfect since this is our first show of the tour and we’re in England and 75% of this band is English and-“

“USA! USA! USA!” I chanted, bouncing in my seat, making everyone laugh again.

“Mari!” Kaylynn groaned jokingly, “Stop it with your American superiority or you can’t sing the second verse!”

“I mean, you could take the solo from me, but I’m just gonna sing it anyway, so,” I shrugged.

“Can we just play the song now?” Kenzie laughed.

“Sorry if I kinda suck at this song,” I pouted, “I just really want to be Ashton Irwin, but they only gave me six minutes to learn how to play this one and Ash wouldn’t let me borrow a bandana.”

I looked over to the side of the stage where the boys were standing, finding Ashton rolling his eyes and laughing at my comment. He pulled something out from behind his back, holding up a red bandana. I motioned for him to come onstage and he shook his head, but I stuck my bottom lip out, making him cave.

“Ashton Irwin, everybody!” I exclaimed into my mic, making the crowd scream as loudly as they could when he stepped into view. “Whatchya doing out here, Ash?” I smiled innocently. Ashton chuckled, leaning on my back as he spoke into my microphone.

“Giving you a bandana, you big baby,” he teased.

“Ashton!” I pouted again while he just stood back upright and tied the bandana around my forehead. He playfully kissed my cheek when he was done, causing me to fake disgust. “Ew, cooties!” I squealed, making everyone laugh. Ashton waved to the audience as he walked back offstage.

“Are we ready now, Ashton?” Kaylynn snickered, looking back at me.

“I believe we are, Kaylynn!” I spoke in the best Australian accent I could.

I started playing my drums, Kaylynn joined in with bass, Vanessa with guitar, and Kenzie got the crowd clapping before she started singing. The boys quickly caught onto what song we were playing, and they all watched with impressed smiles at how perfectly we played and sang. I delivered the 'Every single step had me begging for the next.' line with a suggestive roll of my hips despite the fact that I was sitting down. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the three boys looked at Calum and snickered quietly.

“Pick your jaw up, Cal,” Michael teased him.

“Shut up,” Calum grumbled, shoving Michael’s arm as he finally looked away from me.

And I couldn’t help but blush.