She's a Little Bit Country, He's a Little Bit Rock N' Roll

The sun shone bright through the curtains and lit up everything around me. I picked up my phone and read the time. It was only 8:30 in the morning…how am I awake on my own right now?

We didn’t go to sleep until almost four in the morning. We talked about everything we could manage while she was trying to sober up. What I did learn about her made me interested in her all the more.

Her favorite color was yellow. She said in the first grade when her teacher asked her why it was yellow, she said “Yellow is the color of sunshine, and sunshine makes people happy. I like making people happy.”

Apart from that being the cutest fucking thing ever, she made me happier than I’ve ever felt in just the few short hours we spent together. Now I get a whole day with her and I have big plans.

I looked through my phone to see twelve unread text messages, eighteen missed calls, and five voicemails.

All from Valary.

After skimming through the messages of hate and reading “I never want to see you again” about fifteen times, I decided to clear all of my messages and throw them out of the back of my mind.

Did I feel like a complete asshole? Sure I did. I was with her since middle school and we were set to be married in five months. But I never felt this happy with Val as I do with Ivy, and that was the biggest signal in the world to me. It’s the one I’ve been searching for most of my life.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I couldn’t pick new girls like flowers in a garden. They basically threw themselves on me at my shows or if I went out to bars with the guys. That was just the lifestyle and it couldn’t be halted. Valary hated it, but she dealt with it knowing it came with the territory.

I never wanted any of them, though. After any fight with Val that I threatened to leave her, she said such derogatory things about me and told me I would never find someone that could love me like she did. I listened to that for so long that I started to believe it. Maybe I wouldn’t find a girl who cared about me for who I was and not for what I did or how much money I made.

Valary however…Valary never really cared. She was settling. She won’t admit it, but we had been together so long that we both got to a point where we didn’t think we could turn back or move on. We knew each other like the back of our hands, and it just went that way. That was our life. It was always supposed to be “Matt and Val forever” to all of our friends and family. My best friends are the only ones that ever told me I deserved better. There would be times after a show where I would have to go to a bar and drink myself unconscious to deal with the shit I was taking from Val. They used to tell me she was toxic, I just never listened.

She wasn’t all bad…it just got to a point where the bad started outweighing the good. I just couldn’t handle it. I used to lay awake at night in the tour bus and hope in every sense of the world that someone would walk into my life and save me…then I saw Ivy. Something about her just sent a signal to my brain that said “There she is. This is it.”

Nothing happened last night…sexually, I mean. I’m not that kind of guy. The one kiss she gave me was enough to hold me over for weeks, at any rate. Her lips were so soft and they moved with mine so rhythmically that it intrigued me. Of course I want to do it more, but right now I’m testing these waters to see where they lead me. I’ve only known her for one day. It was the longest and most eventful day of my life, but only one day nonetheless. I had no doubts that things were only going to go up from here, and I couldn’t wait to see what our future held…our
future…I like that.

I carefully slid out of bed, being careful not to wake her in the process. She was sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to disrupt it. I walked into her kitchen and studied my surroundings in the process. She had photos of her and Pixie from when they were kids, photos of her and her parents, and tons of artwork posted around the living room that was beautifully done. I noticed a small signature painted on every corner of the canvases that said “I.S”. Ivy Scott…she was more and more impressive by the second.

I opened her pantry and grabbed what I could to make a decent breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice it is.

I began cooking as quietly as possible. Everything took such a short time to cook that before I knew it I was putting everything on a plate and walking into her room to wake her up. As soon as the smell of bacon filled the air of her room, her eyes fluttered open slowly.

She carefully sat up rubbing her headache from her surely terrible hangover.

“Good morning, gorgeous. Breakfast?” I smirked setting the plate in front of her.

She looked at the food and back up at me at least five times before her eyes widened.

“You’re telling me I didn’t just imagine this whole thing? You actually stayed the night? I wasn’t hallucinating from possible alcohol poisoning…” She asked confused looking around her room.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at how cute she was with her messy hair and smudged makeup.

“No you weren’t hallucinating. I just wanted to make sure you were okay through the night. You
got pretty sick last night.” I frowned.

“You mean I puked all over the place right? Yeah…I was hoping I surely imagined that part.”
She sighed drinking some of the orange juice.

“You got any meds around here? You’re going to need some for that headache once we step out of this apartment soon. It’s a beautiful sunny day and once that sun hits your eyes, you may die slowly.” I grinned.

She hit my arm and directed me to the medicine cabinet in her bathroom. I put three of the small pain pills in my hand and gave them to her to take after she got some sustenance in her stomach.

“Can you grab my phone and check my texts? It’s on your side of the bed. I want to know if
Pixie made it back okay, I never heard from her last night.” She frowned.

I grabbed her phone while she shoveled the bacon into her mouth and opened her messages.

“Uh…Pixie texted you at seven this morning saying ‘Sorry I never told you last night but we got home safe!’….we?” I chuckled, knowing Zacky must have slept at her apartment last night.

Although I’m sure they did more than sleep.

“You also got a text from your mom…it says ‘you looked beautiful last night baby girl. Your father and I were bragging about you all night. That gentleman we met couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of you. He’s so handsome’ with a winking face.” I chuckled.

She put her face in her hands and mumbled ‘Jesus Mom’ while I laughed more.

“So your mom thinks I’m handsome? At least I’ve already made a good first impression on your parents so the hard part is out of the way.” I grinned.

“Yes, except for the fact that you were introduced to them as Valary’s fiancé.” I groaned.

“That’s not an event that is possible in my future anymore, so don’t beat yourself up over it. Not sure if you remember much of last night but we went over that a million times as you apologized. I assure you, it was a long time coming. You helped me discover that I deserved more.”

I sat next to her and let her finish eating as I picked off bites from the plate. I wasn’t hungry enough to make myself a whole plate.

“So what’s on the agenda today?” She smiled chugging her orange juice.

“It’s a surprise. Get showered and alive, I’m going to drive to my place to grab a few things while Valary is at Michelle’s. I actually had a question and you could tell me no if you want to…” I bit my lip.

“Yeah? What’s up?” She asked giving me her full attention.

“With the whole break up I don’t want to take Val away from her home. That was her house too. I want her to have her own personal space to deal with everything. I could stay with one of the guys, but I’d go insane. And I could stay in a hotel but that would—“

“Are you going to ask if you can stay here? You don’t even have to. Do you know how lonely I get sometimes? I mean, I have Pixie that lives three doors down but her and I know everything about each other. It’s a relief to have someone that I can get to know from scratch. It doesn’t hurt that you’re handsome.” She chuckled.

Was I crazy to ask? Was this too fast paced? Maybe I shouldn’t stay with her this soon…

“Stop overthinking it. It’s fine. My space is completely open to you. There’s plenty of room in my
closet for your clothes, and there is a ton of space in my bathroom for your toiletries. You say I saved you, but you helped me too, Matt. My dumb ass would have probably tried to drive home last night and I wouldn’t be here eating delicious food right now. So my home is now your home for however long you need it.”

“I promise whatever boundaries you make I won’t cross them. This is only temporary until I find a new place. I’ll sleep on the couch and I won’t take up a lot of space and I—“

She pulled me to her and kissed me. All over again I felt that rush that I felt last night. My stomach sank to the floor and my heart started racing.

“Matthew…shut up. It’s fine. I have no boundaries set, and like I said last night that couch is terrible to sleep on. You can leave anything you want wherever you want. I’m not picky about my living space, as long as you do your dishes.” She chuckled eating her last piece of bacon.

I couldn’t even respond to her rant. She sat there so nonchalant like the kiss didn’t happen. She wasn’t drunk this time. That was done with a completely sober, albeit hungover, mindset. She kissed me to shut me up…and I loved every second of it. That’s what I’ve been looking for in life.

“Um…thank you…it means a lot to me. I promise you won’t regret this.” I smiled.

“Cook me breakfast like this often and I promise I won’t either.” She chuckled.

“Do you mind if I take your car to the house to pick up some stuff? I won’t be long. I don’t live too far from here and it’ll give you time to get ready.”

She grabbed the keys from her desk and threw them my way.

“She’s all yours. Take it easy, that’s my baby out there.” She chuckled.

“I promise she’s safe with me.” I grinned.

I slid on the pants and button down from my tux due to that being the only articles of clothing in my current possession and headed out. Driving to the house I couldn’t help but think about the past day’s events. This was entirely insane how this has just happened. This practically fell into my lap out of the fucking heavens and I don’t know what to do with myself.

I did the only thing I could think of. I cranked up the radio, rolled down the window to smell the salty sea air, and I smiled. I smiled an honest to God smile for the first time in…I don’t know how long.

My stomach sank slightly while I walked up the stairs to the house. It used to be my home and now it felt foreign to me. When I walked in there was stuff everywhere. Photos of Val and I smashed and thrown carelessly. Broken glass was scattered all over the floor. Hurricane Val hit hard here last night, and I don’t blame her. I cleaned up as much as I could before entering the room and packing as much clothing as I could. I managed a whole suitcase of clothes and a separate bag for other items I’d need. Anything I forgot I would just buy when I realized I didn’t have it.

I threw everything in the trunk of Ivy’s car and left as quickly as I could. I didn’t look back because I couldn’t. There was no looking back at this point. Everything moving forward was going to make my life easier and make me happier. Regardless if this works out with Ivy or not, I am moving onto a better future for myself.

I’ll attain the life I’ve always wanted someday. A beautiful wedding, a wonderful wife, a steady
career, and a beautiful family. Currently I’m on the right track, I just don’t want to get derailed soon.

I’m soaking up this happiness and it’s everything I’ve ever dreamt of.

Notes

Hey guys!

I know I said I would update yesterday but I was so exhausted from the past work week and I'm a piece of shit and I didn't and I'm so sorry! This chapter was obviously a filler, but it was still important to the story. I'm off tomorrow though so I WILL be updating twice. This is a promise to you guys. If you don't see two new chapters by tomorrow afternoon, you can all unsubscribe and I wouldn't blame you. I hate making people wait! I do hope you're enjoying the story so far. Also, welcome to my new subscribers! Make yourselves at home. Remember, comments keep me updating more often! I like knowing how I'm doing. Thank for being here, guys!

xxoo, Leagh