All Hidden Away

Luke’s POV

“… you know what. This is getting us nowhere. Just call Claire.” Says Harry looking at me, he was being reasonable… But I still wish that Mikey hadn’t brought it up. We had been discussing tour for close to half an hour. The pro’s and con’s to having Tasha on each bus. During the discussions, Lou arrived with Lux and ran upstairs to get Tasha ready. To be honest, I don’t understand why they were making this such a big deal for her for tonight and why she couldn’t just go in jeans and a nice jacket. It’s not like she’s not good looking and it’s what most of us would be wearing.
I nod and pull out my phone before calling Claire. It rings twice before she picks up.
“If her bruises are showing and they cannot conceal them then she’ll just have to wear another dress and deal with it.” She says without saying hello.
“Hi. Uh, this is actually a question from Harry.” I say before putting her on speaker and leaning forward and looking at Hazz who nods and smiles.
“Hello, Claire. Its Harry here. I was just wondering for tour itself, is Tasha on the 5SOS bus or with us on the 1D bus?” he asks slowly and clearly. I see him play with his lip nervously and Tommo’s legs are jiggling nervously. Surprisingly, I find myself wanting Claire to say the 5SOS bus. Tasha would make it so much more fun than it already is going to be.
“Well, she’s dating Luke remember? So I’m going to have to say the 5SOS bus.” She says. Harry smiles and is about to say something but Louis cuts across her.
“Well, what if Niall is just very over protective of her and won’t have his cousin sleeping with her boyfriend?” he asks leaning into Harry the slightest bit.
“Well, I’m not.” Says Niall laughing and looking confused. I bite back a laugh as Louis shoots the poor Irish lad a death glare of note.
“Uhm… well yeah… Sorry Louis. Just accept it.” She says almost regretfully. He sighs and nods.
“Okay, thank you, Claire. Are you coming around before the show?” asks Harry, not really paying attention anymore and looking at his nails.
“Yes. Just before four when you all leave. Look dashing, lads.” She says before hanging up.
“Well, one thing is for sure. Our bus is going to be hella fun!” says Cal smiling. I lean over and high five him as we smile along and even Tommo begins to chuckle.
“You lot are full of it.” He says shaking his head. We nod and all sit around laughing for a bit until Lou sticks her head down the stairs.
“Eh, sorry to interrupt… but we need some help, Lux isn’t letting me get Tasha ready.” she says looking at Hazz. He sighs heavily and stands up.
“And let me guess, she won’t even hold her.” He says making Tommo, Niall and Lou laugh manically while he walks upstairs following Lou.
“What?” asks Cal looking at Tommo Who is still smiling.
“Tasha doesn’t like kids.” He says smiling.
“When she met Theo, I tried passing him to her and she just kinda stood there holding this baby out at arm’s length.” Says Niall demonstrating for us while laughing.
“There is this joke we had that if we hand her a kid she’ll just say ‘oh… no thank you.’, place the kid on the ground and walk away.” louis says shaking his head and smiling.
“But why? Kids are so cute!” says Ashton giggling. I smile thinking of her freaking out around kids.
“I don’t know, it’s like she’s scared of dropping them or something.” He says shrugging.
“Ask Hazz. He’ll know.” Says Louis before turning to Niall. “Niall, lad? What are we wearing tonight?” he asks leaning back into the sofa.
“Erh… I don’t know. It depends what Mr Styles is wearing…OH MY GOD! I’m brilliant!” he says laughing making Ash giggle. “God I need to write that one down.” He says still chuckling. I frown.
“Luke… styles… as in style… clothing.” Says Mikey when I don’t laugh. I want to face palm myself for not getting it and shake my head.
“Shut up, Mikey. Well, Tasha said he wasn’t allowed to wear a floral suit.” I say shrugging.
“Oh no.” Says Liam quietly. I look to him in confusion.
“What?” I ask leaning forwards.
“That means Tommo here gets to wear his favourite shirt.” He says smiling. “Which will break the internet.” Niall laughs and looks over at Lou.
“Shut up, Liam.” Says Louis blushing slightly. “I’m sure Lou will have strict instructions from the top.”
He says making Niall and Liam nod.
“Louis!” Screams Hazz from upstairs. “Come play with Lux and me!” Louis smiles and just about half runs upstairs.
“Lux has you all wrapped around her little finger.” Points out Cal. Liam and Ni nod and smile.
“She’s cute. And practically grew up with us… she’s adorable.” Says Niall smiling. “So is Leo though. Cute little tyke.” He says smiling fondly. I start to zone out of the conversation and start to think about tonight. Tomorrow is Tasha’s last day with us before she goes back to varsity till next week Friday. A week without her bubbly personality… why does that make me a bit sad? Maybe we should all do something fun… I can’t imagine university is much fun… Maybe we should all catch a movie together? That would be cool. I look and see that Niall is leaving the room with Liam leading him upstairs. I turn to Ash who is seated next to me.
“Tomorrow is Tasha’s last day, let’s go watch a movie or something?” I suggest looking around at the boys. Cal nods excitedly and Mikey smiles.
“We can also take her out tonight if she wants. Party it up properly.” Says Cal.
“Let’s just get through tonight, and hope she doesn’t battle with everything.” Says Ash giggling. We nod and sit back in our chairs and wait until we need to get changed and prepared for tonight.

“All right, lads, ready to go?” asks Louis walking down stairs in a maroon button up and black suite. We all look up from our phones and stand up.
“Where is the rest of your band?” asks Ash walking in from the kitchen with a bottle of water. Louis looks up the stairs and smiles before looking back at us.
“Tasha… well she had a bit of a fight with Lou over her dress, and shoes, and hair… so Niall took it upon himself to be the peace keeper as always… Harry just stood there and laughed with Lux and Liam, Liam just took Lou’s side. They should be coming down any minute now.” he says smiling evilly and rubbing his hands together.
“And you look so smug, why?” asks Cal standing up and grabbing the bottle of water from Ash before chugging some of it.
“Because, Hazz looks dashing even if he’s not in a floral suit so, I get twenty bucks.” He says smiling before Hazz walks down the stairs in a black shirt and black suit holding Lux over his shoulder. Wow… I would have thought he would have been responsible and Lou would be reckless… He turns and looks at me directly.
“You. You’re lucky she’s leaving the house looking like this.” He says before laughing and walking over to Louis. He and Lux both give him a hug. “What was this about me?” he asks as he places Lux on the floor and she runs back up the stairs. “Lux? Aggg… she has so much energy…” He says before turning back to Louis.
“Simply a complement, Harold.” Says Louis smiling. This makes Harry grin from ear to ear and he stands and walks over to the stairs.
“Well, come on then, Tasha. We haven’t got all night!” he says screaming upstairs.
“Give her a break, H. She’s scared.” Says Liam walking down the stairs in a fancy looking suit.
“Yeah. Give her a break, Harry.” Says Louis laughing making Hazz pull a tongue at him.
“You lot are all acting so strange tonight.” Says Mikey looking at everyone smiling.
“We looking forward to tonight, sorry.” Says Louis blushing slightly before pushing his hair out of his face.
“This is the first I’m going in public with my sister. It’s exciting.” Hazz says explaining and turning to the steps as we hear someone walking down. Lou sticks her head out and looks around. Lux holding her hand and looking around at all of us.
“Well, aren’t we all looking dashing.” She says smiling. “She should be coming now. Having a bit of a pep talk with Niall.” She says walking over and leaning on Harry’s shoulder while Lux grips onto his legs. I turn back to Ash about to ask for some water when his eyes begin to pop out of his head and his mouth opens. I turn to see the most beautiful girl walking down the stairs looking down. My heart skips a beat and I feel butterflies in my stomach. My hands instantly begin to feel sweaty.
“Woah…” I hear Cal say. I turn to see him and the others just as taken aback as I am. I look back at Tasha and see her sigh before looking at me. I smile a huge smile and actually make her blush slightly before she returns the smile. Her dark hair was hanging down her back in her natural curls with the touches of purple showing through. Her eyes shone bright green against the dark fabric of her dress which barley covered her bruised thigh, but even that looked pretty. She was walking in a pair of high heels that made her super tall and her legs look like heaven itself.
“You look… wow.” I say shaking my head trying to get my tongue to work. She looks down, smiles and shakes her head.
“Thanks. You don’t look to bad yourself.” She replies not looking at me.
“Whem you smile at de gwound it aint hawd to tell… you don know- oh oh, you don know you’re beautifuw.” Sings Lux with her thumb in her mouth. Hazz, Lou and Tommo all awe as Tasha bends down to Lux’s height. Lux wraps her arms around her neck and Tasha wraps hers around Lux’s little back in what looks like a little bit stiff,
“Thank you, Lux. You’re also very pretty.” Lux lets go and buries herself into her mum’s leg as Tash stands and flattens out her dress.
“We were just told you don’t like kids?” says Michael pointing at her with his hand still in her denim jacket, too lazy to remove it from his pocket. We are all wearing nice cloths but look like slobs compared to the other boys or Tasha… well other than Ashton. He always cleans up so well. Other than Mikey’s denim, none of us are wearing jackets. Just the usual skinny blacks and button up tops.
“Yeah… well. I don’t like babies or toddlers normally. Kids I know are fine.” She says shrugging with a smile. “Especially if they’re as cute as Lux.” I notice you can see the bruises quite obviously and I just hope like hell no one asks about them.
“You didn’t like Theo.” Says Niall pouting at her accusingly. She laughs and flicks her hair over her shoulder exposing the purple clearly.
“I did! Well… He was wriggling everywhere and you didn’t give me a choice about holding him or not.” She says shaking her head and blushing slightly. “Now I seem like a monster. What kind of a person doesn’t like kids… Thanks guys.” She says rolling her eyes and throwing her arms down to her sides and stepping towards me ever so slightly. I realise I’m staring at her.
“Aren’t you going to need a jacket?” Asks Louis walking over before looking at her tall shoes. “And are those really necessary?” he asks rolling his eyes sassily. She smiles and stands up straight, now being a good couple of centimetres above him.
“I’m fine, Louis.” She says laughing. “And I don’t get a choice with the shoes…” She says shooting Lou a glare. She shrugs.
“I would let you wear sneakers if it weren’t for Claire.” She says picking up little Lux and holding her on her hip.
“Mummy… Claire scares me.” We all hear Lux try to whisper to her mum. Tasha walks over and places an arm around Lou and Lux.
“She scares us too.” She says before Lux turns around and asks Tasha to hold her. She hesitates but takes Lux in her arms and smiles as Lux plays with her hair.
“Your hair like Hally’s.” says Lux making Tasha smile a huge grin.
“Thanks, Lux. We’ll play later, okay?” she says handing Lux back to Lou and walking over to me and Ash. Lou looks at us and smiles.
“You lot look dashing. Luke? May I suggest you take a jacket in case your girlfriend gets cold?” she says winking at me. I smile and nod before heading upstairs to grab an appropriate one. Nervously I choose my favourite leather jacket that both goes well with my white button up and Tasha’s dress.
When I get downstairs I find Claire talking to everyone. Tasha keeps liking her lips nervously and shuffling uncomfortably until I realise Claire is talking about the photograph stages of tonight and the issues with the bruises.
“So just don’t get in the way of band photographs. I don’t think Luke will take pictures by himself but if they ask you to do so as a couple you don’t really have a choice. Stand so the bruises aren’t visible and if anyone asks tell them the truth about how clumsy you can be. Let Luke and the boys answer all the questions, and don’t talk to anyone you don’t need to talk to…” She says. I see Harry and Louis look at each other and do something with their hands… it looked like sign language? Maybe I could ask Niall or Liam later.
“Are we ready to go?” I ask stepping off the last step. I look at Claire and she fake smiles before nodding. Everyone says goodbye to Lou and Lux and start heading off following behind Paul and Mick, who was helping us out tonight. I think another guy named Shaun was also going to be around but I haven’t seen him. John had called Ash earlier. Harry pulls Tasha into a hug and I’m standing close by and hear him say to her to be careful and to call if there are any problems.
“Luke? A word.” Says Claire as I follow Mikey into the car. I step back and smile at Claire.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t do anything stupid. If she starts feeling sick or whatever just send her home. Don’t leave the venue.” She says looking at me like I was an idiot.
“I’ll be a good ‘boyfriend’ and make sure my ‘girlfriend’ is fine… but thanks for the heads up.” I say hiding my anger as I walk away towards the car. Tasha was waiting outside. She smiles at me gently, like she was scared of something.
“Would you mind if I road with Harry?” She asks quietly. I look down and see her hands shaking slightly and that she is a tad paler than before. I smile back and place a comforting hand on her arm.
“Not at all… Just stay calm, okay? We can go crash a nice little park or something if you get too nervous.” I say smiling. She nods her head and pulls me into a hug. Her arms wrap around my waist and her head rests on my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her back, find her head fitting perfectly just below my slightly raised chin and squeeze her gently. I have a sudden urge to kiss the top of her head that I push away and put down to nerves about tonight. But I can’t help feeling sad when she pulls away and walks over to the 1D car where Paul is holding the door open for her.

Notes