Chapter 5:

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"Congratulations, Mr. Irwin. You are now a foster parent." The lady behind the desk says, handing him a folder of papers.

"Thank you very much." He turns to me, beaming. I look over his shoulder to see the boys also smiling as wide as possible. We all file out of the office and into the elevator, unable to wipe the smiles off our faces. I turn to look at them all.

"Thank you guys. I mean it." I say, eyes brimming with tears.

"We couldn't picture it any other way, Kelsea." Luke says and in the blink of an eye were all in a giant group hug in the middle of the elevator. We stay like this until the elevator stops, luckily being in the lobby.

"Tag! You're it!" Michael calls, tagging me on the shoulder before running out into the lobby.

"What?" I laugh.

"You better go get him!" Calum smiles. "He's a competitive one."

"Or I could just do this." I tag him and back away. "Now youre it!" Ashton and Luke both bolt out of the elevator after me, all of us running in opposite directions.

"Oh, Come on!" I hear Calum yell as he exits the elevator. He starts chasing after Luke, so I take this as my opportunity to follow Michael out of the building before we get kicked out.

I burst out of the doors, finding Michael leaning on one of the pillars by the front door.

"Who's it now?" He asks, watching me try to catch my breath, watching it cloud in the chilly air around me.

"Calum was it when I was coming out here. He was going after Luke." I explain. He nods. Soon enough, Calum and Luke burst out of the doors, Ashton hot on their heels.

"Ash is it." Luke gasps, practically flying down the stairs and down the sidewalk. Calum and I follow him suit, while Michael stays leaning against the pole.

"Is he trying to get tagged?" I ask once we're down by the car, about a block away from the courthouse.

"Its Michael. He has a plan of some sort." Calum fights a smile off his face. I look to Luke to see him smiling as well.

"What do you guys know that I don't?!?" I ask, looking between the two of them.

"That the whole Michael thing was just a distraction." Ashtons voice says from behind me. I turn around just in time to see him bolt towards me, scooping me up and tossing me around in his arms. I cant help but scream, not expecting this at all.

"Put me down!" I laugh, trying to push him away from me.

"Not gonna happen, sweetie." Ashton smirks and starts bouncing down the sidewalk away from the car.

"Where are we going? The car was right there?!" I ask.

"Times like these deserve a celebration." Ashton states. We walk another couple blocks, Ashton refusing to put me down or tell me where were going. Eventually we end up outside a cute little shop on a busy corner in downtown NYC.

"What is this place?" I ask as Ashton finally sets me down.

"CUPCAKES!!" All four boys yell in unison, effectively scaring me so bad, I fall back into a nearby bush.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" Michael asks, I look up to see all the boys worried and coming to help me up. Immediately I start laughing. This only worries them more.

"Whats wrong? What hurts?" Ashton worries.

"N-nothing!" I say between laughs. "I just fell into a bush!" I bend over, my sides aching from laughing so hard. Soon enough the boys all join in laughing. We are now getting very strange looks from everyone inside.

After we finish our laughing fit, we walk into the shop, the odd looks continuing. As soon as you walk in, the smell of cupcakes hits you like a sack of bricks. Everything in here is pink, and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. The floors are checkerboard light and dark pink, the walls are painted pastel pink with magenta swirls and polkadots. The tables all are pink as well as the counter tops. It literally looks like that cupcake shop from Despicable Me 2.

We walk up to the line, looking at all the immaculant cupcakes lined up in the display case. Just looking at them makes my mouth water.

"Which one do you want?" Ashton turns to me as the line moves up, leaving only one person in front of us.

" I have no sweet clue! I haven't had dessert in months, though, so I better make it a good choice!" I joke, although my statement was true. I haven't had dessert since my parents were here.

"Please tell me you're kidding." Calum gasps. I look to him, a serious look on my face, and shake my head.

"That's insane!" Michael exclaims. "How have you survived?!?" I just shrug, still trying to make my decision. There are easily 20 different types of cupcakes in that display case. The line moves up and I quickly decide on one to order, waiting for my turn as Michael, Luke, and Calum all say which one they want. The worker quickly boxes theirs up and hands it to them, turning to me for my order.

"Um, Id like the—"

"We'll take two dozen, with one of each please." Ashton cuts me off, paying and moving out of the way to wait for the cupcakes.

"Ashton, wha—"

"You couldn't decide, and you haven't had dessert in months." He cuts me off again. "This way we can all try them all." He shrugs, taking our now full boxes of cupcakes from the worker. We thank them before heading back out into the sharp winter air.

"Thank you," I say as we walk back to the car.

"Its not a problem, sweets. We all love cupcakes anyway." He laughs.

"No, I mean, for everything." I correct, not caring how cliche it sounds. "Without you guys I honestly have no idea where I'd be right now- I just know it wouldn't be good."

"Kelsea, you don't have to thank me." Ashton says, stopping and pulling me into a hug. The rest of the boys, oblivious, keep walking ahead of us. We quickly catch up and hop in the car, getting a few weird looks as we're out if breath from running to catch up. Ashton turns on the car, smiling at me in the mirror as we pull out of the parking spot and head back to the house.

—-

So this is it. I am so sorry it took so long! Thank y'all for continuing to read and put up with me! I'm so glad y'all like it. I might do a sequel, but probably not. Im sorry its so short, but I've completely run out of motivation and it is stressing me out far to much for what its worth. Please don't hate me. Thank you so much for actually reading!

Xoxoxo

-Cait

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