Ashleys POV
As I exit the stage I can hear the crowd start to roar.
"ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!" They cheer, and I know exactly which song they are asking for. I grab my acoustic guitar and quickly look in the full length mirror in front of me. I'm wearing tight dark blue skinny jeans, a black tank top that clings to my fit stomach, and an open grey vest that flows just past my hips. My long, dark brown hair is straight with my bangs clipped to the top of my head.
I dab the sweat off of my face with a towel that the stage-assistant has handed me, making sure i don't mess up my smokey eye makeup, and adjust the guitar strap on my shoulder. Its my favourite guitar. My father gave it to me the day that he passed away.
I cringe at the rememberance of that day, and try to shake the thoughts from my mind. Turning around, I walk back on stage and the crowd is going wild. I can't help but smile at them, and push thoughts of my father from my head.
Turning to my band I nod, signaling them to start the song.
As the first few chords are played, the crowd recognizes the song immediately and starts roaring again. I walk to the stool that is at center stage and sit down. I place the guitar in position and strum along. As i bring my lips to the mic, fans start singing along to the words.
Last night I told ya I loved ya
Woke up blamed it on the Vodka
I genuinely thought I was dyin'
And I could see that smile you were hiding
Last night I told ya I need ya
That's the last time I drink tequila
Super lemon and his sidekick salt kid
I start cryin' and verbally assaulting
Last night I asked you to marry me
That's when I remembered the brandy
I wake up and claim I didn't say it
Screwed if I ever wake up in Vegas
Wish I could stop and I'm not joking
Drinking too much and socially smoking
Wish I could stop, start to behave and
Wake up in the morning and never miss a day again
Last night police had to frisk me
In the cells thanks to bells fine whiskey
Whoops, I think I said too much like
Do you like my bracelets
Oh wait, they're handcuffs
Last night I called you a loser
I think that was after flamin' Sambuca
I shouted at you "do me a favour"
And that's when I fell off the pavement
Wish I could stop and I'm not joking
Drinking too much and socially smoking
Wish I could stop, start to behave and
Then wake up in the morning and never miss a day again
'Cause I'd love to learn when to shut my mouth
Wake up in the morning and be in my own house
Do one last shot and know when to stop
No more photos on Facebook of me doing the robot
Know when to leave and when to lock my front door
Start waking up and cheesing in a bed full of people
Sitting in a cupboard with my weird best friend
But I'm only young so I'm not gonna pretend
I wish I could stop 'cause I'm not joking
I love drinking too much and socially smoking
I don't really want to learn to behave amen
And I, hey, just missed another day again
"Thank you London!" I shout and take a bow.
Once i'm in my dressing room I immedaitely make a vodka-cranberry and sit down on the couch. I grab my iPhone off of the table and see i have 6 new messages. 2 are from my mom.
"Ashley, once you're done your little show tonight, please make sure you talk to your manager about the photoshoot i emailed you about."
"Also if you could please stop telling reporters that you're an orphan i would greatly appreciate it."
"Ha." I say outloud. I guess she finally decided to watch one of my interviews. I'm tempted to text her back to point out that my 'little show' was actually a sold out arena concert with 22,000 people watching me, but decide it wouldn't make much of a difference.
3 of the other text messages are from my sister, saying she was sorry she couldn't make it, to call her later, and that she had some exciting news.
I'm about to call her when i notice who the last message is from. Smiling, I open it up.
"Hey Ash, so proud of you for selling the show out! We'll have to celebrate some time soon. I really want you to meet my girlfriend, you're gonna love her."
I text him back immediately.
"Hey Aid, thank you! Yes for sure, I'm home for two weeks in September. I'm excited to meet her!"
Setting my phone down I knock the rest of my drink back and make another. London was my fourth show of my tour, and I still had 2 left before I head back to North America. I play four shows in Canada, and another 6 in the US. The next three months were going to be exhausting.
xxxxx
I stare at the envelope, paralyzed with fear. What if I didn't get in? What if I get rejected? I don't have a back-up plan. Sure, I applied to other schools, but none of them have a program like UCLA does.
I start to pace the floor of my bedroom, wondering if I should open it by myself or if I should call Aiden. After a few moments, I choose the ladder and grab my phone.
"Hey babe!" He says excitedly, but before I can tell him to come over, he starts talking again.
"Oh Spence! Ash text me tonight and said she's gonna be back in September and wants to meet you!"
"Thats great Aiden, I can't wait, but can you please come over? I got my letter from UCLA and I'm freaking the fuck out over here!" I half yell in the phone while still pacing my room.
"Oh shit, yeah i'll be right there!" He says, hanging up.
After ten minutes, which felt more like ten hours, I hear a knock at the door. I let him in and we sit down on the couch in the living room, both of us now staring at the envelope in my hands.
"...did you want me to open it?" He says, now looking me in the eye.
"N-no, I'll do it." I stutter out, looking back down at the letter.
With shakey hands I tear it open slowly, half scared and half excited. I unfold the letter and close my eyes, trying to build up the courage to look down.
After a few moments, Aiden nudges my shoulder lightly, and I open my eyes.
"Dear Spencer,
We are excited to inform you that your application to the University of California's Film and Television program has been accepted."
My mouth hangs open, and I turn to the boy next to me in shock. He looks at me concerned, waiting for me to say something. After a few seconds, he grabs the letter from my hands and reads the first line for himself. Immediately he jumps up.
"YESSSS SPENCE HOLY SHIT YOU GOT IN! YOU GOT IN!" He shouts while jumping up and down. This knocks me out of my trance and I get up and join him.
"I GOT IN!" I repeat, as we both start doing a victory dance. Right then the front door opens and in walks my mother and father, both of whom are staring at us like we've gone insane.
"Do you think they're dancing to make it seem like they weren't probably just on the couch making out?" Pauala whispers to Arthur, who is just looking at us amused.
"MOM I GOT IN! I GOT IN!" I practically scream at her, continuing my dance. She looks at me confused, but then realization spreads over her face.
"TO UCLA?!" She shreaks, looking from me to my father.
I just nod, feeling quite out of breath from the physical activity, grinning back at both of my parents.
"Oh Spence, thats amazing! I'm so proud of you!" My dad beams at me, pulling my now sweaty body in for a hug.
"We knew you could do it sweetie." My mom says, joining in on the hug.
After a few seconds Aiden speaks, "I think i'm going to head home Spence," he says as we break from the hug, "I'm sure you want some family time to celebrate. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay." I say, walking toward him. I give him a hug and quick kiss before he grabs his keys and makes his way to the door.
"It was nice seeing you," He says to my parents, smiling, "you should be very proud of her."
"We are." They both say in unision, smiling back at the boy.
"Would you like to come by for dinner tomorrow, Aiden?" My mother asks, still beaming.
"I would love to Paula." He replied before looking at me. "Bye Spence, I'll call you tomorrow."
As he shuts the door behind him I turn to my parents, who are both still grinning at me.
"I'm gonna go upstairs and call Glen!" I say, before I bound up the stairs two at a time. Glen is my older brother. My family and I are originally from Ohio, but we moved to LA almost a year ago because of my Mom's job. We were supposed to move here two years ago, but my parents wanted Glen to spend his senior year with his friends and with his basketball team. He was the schools star basketball player and the coach lost it when he heard my parents were planning to move. The coach gave them some speech about how changing schools now could 'hurt his chances of a scholarship' and that he had 'scouts from all over coming to see him'. So, they waited a year. Glen got a full scholarship to UCLA. My brother and I are very close, although since he decided he wanted to take advantage of the full scholarship and live in campus dorms, we had grown apart slightly.
Once in my room, I flopped down on my bed and pulled my phone out of my pocket. Searching through the contacts, I hit the call button.
"Hey Spence!" He says and I can hear the smile in his voice.
"Bro, guess what!" I practically shout, but before giving him a chance to answer i continue, "I got in to UCLA!"
"WHAT? SERIOUSLY! oh my god Spence thats so awesome, you should totally come up here once you graduate and i'll show you around! And you can meet my roomate! He's kind of weird but his girlfriends pretty cool, also its kind of weird that this weird guy gets a pretty cool girlfriend when I can't even get a girlfriend at all, not like I'd have time for one anyway with classes and basketball and parties and all that crap oh speaking of weird guys are you still with Aiden cause if you are I think you shuld seriously reconsider your options I mean Aidens an alright guy but you could totally do better and..." Glen continues to ramble, a thing he does when he's excited and a habit we both have.
"I mean honestly Spence you're a catch and you shouldn't be focusing on boys right now with your New York intership coming up and.."
"GLEN!" I shout over his rambling.
"What?" He asks, catching his breath.
"Ummmmm.." I say awkwardly, hanging my head.
"Spencer..." He says in his stern, older brother voice.
"Spencer!" He says again when I don't reply, "You haven't told him yet?!"
"Not exactly.." I mumble, shaking my head.
"Spence! You have to tell him. You're going to be gone all summer! Its an awesome oppurtunity, I'm sure he'll understand."
"Yeah I guess." I say, not quite convinced. I had gotten an internship at MTV in New York City for the summer. I had met a women named Lily when I first moved to LA, she worked for MTV and was shooting a documentary on teen violence in high schools. There was a drive-by shooting at the highschool I now attended in LA, three months before we moved here. It always freaked me out to think about what could have happened if we had moved when we were supposed to. Anyway, Lily had managed to hook me up with the head office for MTV in New York. It was an unpaid internship, but it would be an amazing experience. I hadn't told Aiden yet because he was so excited to spend the summer with me. I didn't know how he was going to react.
"I gotta go Spence, I have practice in the morning." Glen says, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Okay, I'll see you next week at gradutation."
"Wouldn't miss it. Love ya sis."
"Love you too bro." I say before hanging up.
I looked at the clock on my night stand. 11:47pm. It was a Monday night and I still had this week of school left before gradution next Wednesday. I got out of my bed and slipped off my clothes, putting on a pair of boxers and a white beater. I turned off the light and crawled under my covers. As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn't shake the feeling that going to New York was going to change everything.