Unconditionally

Chapter Twelve

"Because that's thing with music: when it hits, you feel no pain."

Nashville, Tennessee is strikingly beautiful. I've always thought of Nashville being one big wood land with country singers everywhere. That theory is somewhat true. Everywhere I look, people sit on the sidewalks or against the walls playing a guitar with their case sitting openly in front of them, waiting for by passers to drop money.

People come here to have their dreams fulfilled. Some are lucky while others just get crushed. I wonder how hard it would be to have a music company notice you. Working from the bottom and climbing your way up. Having to rent a tiny apartment and playing music on sidewalks, waiting for the closest bar to call you back so you're able to perform, performing on that small stage, and then they notice you.

They want you to perform more often. They want to you sign the contact, go to the studio for tedious recordings, have the photo shoot, change your attire, maybe then seem like a bitch to the cameras but a sweetheart while on stage. You change to a person you thought you'd never be. So if that's the case, then why try when the world is just going to change you for the worse?

Someone taps my shoulder and I shake my head away from my thoughts. Ashton smiles at me.

"Back in your thoughts?" He asks me without his smile faltering.

I smile back. "I guess. Never been to Nashville, so seeing this city is completely different." Ashton nods his head.

"I should take you to California." Ashton tells me. My smile becomes forced. That's the thing when you road trip with your friends. Unwanted topics get brought up. Okay, not all of them. But the main one has been: college. Where everyone is going, who they're going to miss most, what their major is. Everything.

I probably sound jealous right now. Hell, I kind of am. But do the majority of our conversations have to be about college or the future? I can't go to a community college even if I tried. I'm stuck in a small town at the bottom of Arkansas.

"Sure. I would enjoy that."

Ashton's smile widens and his dimple appears on his cheeks. I look out of my window to see people walking in the entrance of a large park. Instead of there being swings and slides, there's a large white tent with smaller ones here-and-there. I raise an eyebrow and look at Haze.

"What are we doing here?" I ask her.

Haze seems to have everything planned to the last second. She knows where we're already going, motels we'll be staying at, and how long the drives will usually be without traffic. She smiles and turns left to a packed parking lot.

"Music festival."

"It's pretty much like Coachella?" Drawls out Carter.

Haze rolls her eyes and hits him on his shoulder. "Doesn't matter if it is. It'll be fun and an experience." For a few minutes, we drive in circles trying to find a parking spot. I rest my head against the window, waiting for a parking space that Haze can snatch up.

"Fucking bitch!" Yells out Haze as she hits the horn repeatedly. Ashton, Carter, and I burst out laughing as Haze grinds her teeth and hits the horn one last time.

"She fucking took my parking space!"

I sit up to see a perfect blonde wearing a flower crown come out of her expensive car. The boys immediately snap their necks, watching the blonde put on her sun glasses. I roll my eyes and scoff. The blonde smirks and locks her car when she sees Ashton's Jeep. Haze says a few more curse words and gives her the bird.

"I'd do her." Mumbles Carter as he watches the blonde walk away like a hawk.

Haze shakes her head and keeps on searching for a parking space. Finally one comes and we all get out. As I we wait for Carter to fix his hair, Ashton walks up beside me and adjust his UCLA baseball hat. When he wears it you can't fully see his green eyes. I like his green eyes.