Catch Fire (Luke Hemmings Fanfiction)

Mrs. All American

LUKE'S POV:

"No-one understand the chemistry we have and it came out of nowhere, yeah

It's not like we planned it, it's getting out of hand and now we're gonna go there

Walk my way, Mrs. All American, say my name, no need to pretend

Don't be shy, Mrs. All American, I'll show you why you're not gonna walk away"

I yawn and let my head fall on Ashton's shoulder, and he pushes me away with a giggle.

"Shouldn't have stayed up all night," he whispers.

"I wasn't exactly up."

"Too much information," he chuckles.

Zoe clears her throat and we look up expectantly. She summoned us to her office this morning but none of us actually know what this is about.

"Hey guys, so your schedule over the next few months has been changed. People up there," she waves her hand as if to show that they're very important and unattainable, "have finally listened to me and decided to give you a break. Sorta."

We look at her carefully, unsure as to how good news this is.

"Basically, they're giving you half-time off. Instead of sending you to Malibu or some shit so that you can solely work on the album, they're giving you a duplex here in LA, a few streets down the recording studios. I managed to give you two months more in exchange, so you have four months to get an album ready instead of two, so you have less pressure on you and more time to get your creative juices flowing," she says with a smile. "The catch is you're still required to do some radio appearances and shows, and of course we can't really get the paps off your back. But that's the best I could do for you guys."

"Sorry, but what exactly changed here? Weren't we supposed to do something like that anyway?" Ashton asks.

"Oh yes, that's the other disadvantage. Or advantage, depends how you look at it. Basically Capitol Records have a new artist as of yesterday, and since you also share the same management team, it's been decided that you should share the duplex with her."

There's a few moments of silence, and then:

"What?" Calum exclaims, a grimace on his face.

"Awesome!" Michael grins and I shoot him a what-the-fuck glance before focusing back on Zoe.

"But why?"

"They think it might do you guys some good to be around other people, relieve some of the tension."

"What tension?" Mike asks but Zoe doesn't take note of this and just keeps talking.

"Apparently it might also be good for your creativity. She'll be working on her first album and she seems to share a lot of her influences with you, even though she's going in a different direction with it. Maybe you can inspire and learn from each other."

"But...like...what?" Calum splutters, and I agree very strongly with him.

It's always been just the four of us, and I just don't see us sharing a place with a new random artist.

"Calm down," Zoe rolls her eyes. "Worst case scenario the apartment is big, you don't even need to see each other all the time. I personally suspect that they want to do some budget cuts, but you know," she shrugs.

"Eh, could be cool," Ashton says, ever the optimist. "Who is she?"

"Some former YouTuber, Lou Watson. I heard a few of her songs, she's really talented."