Hey all, I know, I'm late. Things have been crazy and I haven't been able to write, but lately I've been feeling okay so I was able to give you what's 15 pages according to Word. I have the next chapter ready to go, it just needs some tweaking and love. This chapter is for anyone who's still hanging in there with me. Thank you. Let me know what you think.

Freshman Year (Spring)

It starts with Open Mic.

She shows up two hours early determined with a slightly battered guitar. She chooses to sit at the table that's closest to where they set up the stage. Her younger sister, Kyla, who she has banned from coming tonight, suggested that it might help with her stage freight. Attention is not something that Ashley Davies thrives in, regardless of who her parents are… were. But her parents are the reason that she's attempted this for the last six weeks. Her parents, who aren't around anymore to do things as trivial as open mic night even though they favored karaoke.

She has to do this for them. She's done letting them down.

She places the guitar on her lap and begins to tune it. It's old, the same one her father played in college, but it was his favorite. Now it's hers.

"I think tonight's the night," an unexpected voice says from nearby. She's unsure if the voice is speaking to her, but she looks up regardless. It's then that she locks on ocean eyes. A blonde waitress in a black crop top that represents the bar tilts her head to the side. The blonde's face is unguarded, the intrigue clear as day on her face.

Ashley would love to say something… anything to this beautiful girl, but apparently she goes mute around beautiful girls. She's sure she must look ridiculous. Ashley can taste the staleness in the air which makes her realize that her mouth must be open. Great.

"My mom used to say that's how you catch flies." The confusion must be evident on Ashley's face because the blonde gestures to her own lips. The signal works because soon the brunette is closing her mouth. "Ashley Davies, tell me something… am I free next Friday?"

"W-what? I-I don't… how would I know?" The stutter is new… even to her. She's sure her cheeks are red hot from embarrassment. It's only a moment later when a thought comes to her. "How do you know my name?"

The mysterious blonde gives her the most devious smile she's ever seen. The blonde's eyes dance with secrets that Ashley desperately wants to know.

"You've been signing up for over a month and I admit that I checked for your name today." The mystery girl goes back to wiping tables, moving effortlessly around the room. "After all, I've been betting on you. Hence the question. Will I be sacrificing another Friday night for you?" She tosses a wink in Ashley's direction and it feels like thunderbolts on the brunette's skin.

"You've bet on me?" The girl merely nods in response, eyes back to focusing on wiping down the tables. She gracefully moves from table to table until she's wiping the one next to Ashley.

"What did you bet?"

"It's funny that you asked." The girl finally stops her task and moves to take a seat at Ashley's table. "You see, after your first disappearing act, I just knew you were going to get it right the second time. So much so, that I bet my coworkers that your voice would be just as beautiful as you are." The slight compliment is not missed by Ashley, who fights down another blush. "I offered to cover any shift they wanted if I was wrong, but then you left again. So, they decided I lost by default. Then, I made the same bet again and again and now here we are."

"Why did you keep betting on me?" Ashley's not a gambler. If she were in this girl's shoes, she would have cut her losses.

"I know a winning hand when I see it." The blonde crosses her jean clad legs in a way that's unfairly sexy. She props her elbow on the table and leans her head onto her open palm.

She's forced to tighten her grip on her guitar to keep from doing something stupid like touching this very intriguing waitress. The silence stretches between them until Ashley speaks again.

"My parents are dead." The first time she said that phrase was after Detective Dennison stated it. Aiden Dennison was the only one who knew her parents' true identity. When the burning building Purple Venom was saving people from collapsed, Aiden was the only one who knew that it was really Raife and Christine Davies who perished. She had never seen the detective cry before and it took her repeating the phrase to believe any part of it.

"That fucking sucks." She doesn't mean to snort out a laugh at the blonde's response, but it's the first time she's heard such a different response. The blonde's eyes don't change so the pity Ashley's expecting never comes.

"Before they would go… to work," she covers lamely. "My dad would sing this song. So, we would know he would always come back from wherever he was."

I will always come back to you and your sister, Houdini. Wild horses, kiddo, Wild horses.

"Every night he would have to be apart from us. Even when we got too cool for it, got too old. He would make us hear this song… make us listen to his love for us." She swallows hard, forcing her sadness down deep into the pit of her stomach. "I haven't heard that song in four months and it's just made it harder to breathe… to sleep." It's true, she feels like she hasn't slept in weeks. She's tried everything until six weeks ago Kyla, her sister, pointed out that it's been hard to sleep without their dad's song. " It's why I started coming here. It's why I'm here now."

"So, the song is for them or you?"

"Both."

"Can I hear it?" The blonde questions. She's somehow moved closer and Ashley can smell her perfume. It's sweet, but warm. "After all, I haven't seen a weekend night in a long time because of my commitment to you," she jokes.

She shouldn't be surprised at the request. This is a girl who has probably sacrificed sleep and a social life for her. Of course, she'd want to hear Ashley sing. Ashley observes this girl, tries to see if there is any reason to deny the request, but she can't find any. There is no one else here except them and at least this way she can say she passed on a bit of her dad to one other person. Kept his legacy alive.

This girl seems to sense her agreement because she leans back into her chair and watches patiently.

Well shit… now she's nervous.

She focuses on the chords, on the memories of her father's strong fingers moving so flawlessly over his beloved strings. She doesn't look up at her audience. This mysterious blonde has a way of staring at Ashley in a way that a key would a lock. It makes Ashley want to drop all of her barriers and just let the floodgate of emotions free.

"Childhood living
Is easy to do
The things you wanted
I bought them for you."

As she's singing, she can see him so clearly. Bleached dyed ringlets hanging from his face as he watched her in adoration.

"Graceless lady
You know who I am
You know I can't let you
Slide through my hands
Wild horses
Couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses
Couldn't drag me away."

She's unable to prevent the tears that cascade down her cheek, spilling onto the neck of her father's guitar. She knows the song won't sound very good soon as the tension in her throat grows. She keeps going though, for him.

"I've watched you suffer
A dull aching pain
Now, you decided
To show me the same
No sweeping exits
Or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter
Or treat you unkind."

She doesn't expect the blonde's gentle voice to join in, but she's grateful for it. The burden of the song forcing her to focus purely on her own movements across the fret. If this girl has a problem taking over, she doesn't voice it. She continues to sing while Ashley wonders how her father was able to do this for her every night.

"Rolling Stones are pure gold, Houdini. I could sing this song forever. I could sing to you and your sister forever."

She believed it too. The way he sang it, she believed every line out of his mouth. The thought causes her to slip mid strum and it comes out wonky, but the mystery girl doesn't stop singing. By the time Ashley joins in, the song is almost over.

"Faith has been broken
Tears must be cried
Let's do some living
After we die."

The blonde just smiles warmly through the words and soon they're singing the final lines together.

"Wild horses couldn't drag me away

Wild, wild horses we'll ride them someday."

The song ends andAshley's guitar echoes in the quiet room. The mystery girl begins to clap with the broadest smile Ashley's ever seen on her face.

"I just knew you had a beautiful voice, Ashley Davies."

/

Spencer Carlin is the most interesting girl she's ever met.

She curses a lot, even at inanimate objects. She sleeps all day long and treats 5pm like it's 5am. Spencer will say good morning by 6pm and goodnight at 7am. They don't share any classes due to the fact that Spencer only takes night classes and she's a computer science major. Spencer goes grocery shopping at midnight and she'll drag Ashley along too. She lives in an off campus apartment that's swankier than anything that Ashley's ever stayed in. She's a night owl so all of her classes start after 7pm.

All night, Ashley will receive random texts complaining about class or begging her to come over or pictures of people she's never seen before. Spencer is peculiar in a way which draws her in entirely.

And then there's the sparks.

They will be in the middle of the hottest makeout session Ashley's had the pleasure of being a part of and it will feel like hot lava inside of her blood. There are sparks, honest to god, sparks. Spencer tells her she's being ridiculous, but one time they got hot and heavy with Spencer on the kitchen counter and the power in the kitchen went out at the exact moment Spencer came.

Shit was crazy.

"Don't be ridiculous, it's probably just the breaker," her girlfriend sighed when Ashley brought it up after round three.

"Just the kitchen, Spence? I'm telling you. It's something else."

Spencer then went down on her to shut her up so it's safe to say that discussion went nowhere.

But regardless, Spencer is without a doubt the best thing to ever happen to her. It's only been three months, but Ashley is positive that she loves Spencer.

But she knows that Spencer has secrets.

There are mysterious bruises and late-night phone calls that has her girlfriend leaving no matter the circumstances. Spencer is a computer science major, but doesn't own a computer. She does all of her assignments on an iPad that Ashley's sure doesn't have the software. Then, there's the fact that Spencer's class schedule doesn't seem to be consistent. Spencer tells Ashley not to worry whenever Ashley says she'll walk her to class. Spencer tries to make it subtle, but the suggestion is firmly turned down every time.

Spencer's hiding something.

She can feel it sometimes, how much it hurts Spencer to keep her secrets. It's always a lip bite and a look of indecision with each phone call. Whatever Spencer is keeping from her is hurting her.

So, Ashley does everything in her power to ease her love's pain.

Spencer cancels dinner reservations? No big deal. In a single blink, Ashley is home in bed. Mysterious bruises? Ashley kisses them before taking care of them. She tells Spencer a ridiculous antidote so her girlfriend doesn't wonder if she's mad. The phone rings in the middle of their makeout session? She kisses her extra hard and makes dirty promises for the next time.

These compromises are easy. There is nothing she wouldn't compromise for Spencer… which makes it harder to keep her powers hidden away. Spencer will talk about going to Greece and Ashley wants to just whisk her away. Spencer leaves twenty minutes early for work and Ashley wants to tell her she only needs one. Then, there is the fact that Ashley just knows that telling her secret will help Spencer feel comfortable unburdening hers too.

But how do you tell your girlfriend that you have the ability to go anywhere with the blink of an eye?

"I should get going," Spencer attempts to pull out of Ashley's hold. They've been cuddled up in Ashley's dorm room watching Twilight Zone reruns. Ashley just tightens her hold in response.

"Or… here's a crazy idea…" She turns them so girlfriend is beneath her, long blonde hair splayed out across her pillow. "You can stay and I can make good on some promises."

Ten different emotions flash across Spencer's face before she settles into a smirk. Spencer's fingers trail up Ashley's bare arms before sliding into the hole of her sleeveless shirt. Ashley shivers involuntarily at her girlfriend's nails lightly scratching down her back. If this was a month ago, Ashley would think this was a surrender, but she knows her girlfriend well enough. Spencer always touches her best before she leaves.

"I have class" her girlfriend offers apologetically.

"So, skip, you barely go as is. Plus, I have a laptop. You can work from here,"

"Ashley."

"Spencer." She replies with a little more aggression than planned. It throws them both off and she's unexpectedly tossed to the side of the bed. Spencer jumps up without apology and starts to gather her things. "Spence… babe… you know I understand-"

"-No, you pretend to understand." Spencer begins zooming around the room and it takes Ashley to register that she's gathering all of her belongings from Ashley's dorm room.

"What are you doing?" She jumps up too and attempts to get in between Spencer and her dresser, stopping the blonde from taking anything else out of her drawer.

"Spencer, what the fuck?"

The fury that greets her when Spencer spares her a glance is shocking to say the least. They've never fought. She's made sure of it. She's gone out of her way to make sure Spencer doesn't look at her in the way she is now.

"I'm taking my stuff. I knew this couldn't work. This was stupid."

There is so much to unpack in that sentence that Ashley doesn't know where to start.

"What's stupid? Us? Because if that's where you're going with this then you're stupid." Okay, so she could have come up with something better, but at least it causes some of the heat to leave Spencer's features.

"I'm stupid?"

"Yes." She decides resolutely.

"You have to know that's not the best way to get a girl to stay." The quirk of the blonde's eyebrow tells Ashley that she just bought some time. "I mean, you must have seen enough movies to come up with something better than that."

"You're being stupid so I called it like I saw it." She feels some unexpected confidence. "Spencer, babe, I have been so damn understanding and I'm not saying that to win some girlfriend of the year award. I'm saying that because if you would have honestly said you can't stay, I would have said okay. I always say okay."

"I know," her girlfriend confirms guiltily.

"So, what the fuck? You don't get to try to take off and end things when I'm being a wonderful girlfriend." She's trying really hard to be pissed, but the crack of smile from Spencer is easily melting any anger away.

"Toot your own horn much?" The sparkle is back in her girlfriend's eyes so she takes that as a cue to unpack Spencer's stuff.

"There are very few instances in this relationship when I'm right so I have to take advantage when I can." She folds all of her girlfriend's things and puts them back neatly in their place. Spencer watches, but says nothing. Once she's settled Spencer back into her life, she takes her girlfriend's hands and pulls her back to the bed.

"Sometimes, I think you're going to get sick of this…. Of me and my secrets." Spencer's grip on her hand tightens. "I am so scared of losing you. I usually do what I do and I never have to think about anyone, but I can't stop thinking about you. I know it's dramatic, but if you left me… fuck Ashley… I would burn this world to the ground. I just love you so much and I-"

"-I LOVE YOU TOO!" Her volume scares both of them and Spencer just shakes her head with a small smile. "I'm sorry. I've just been holding that in for a while. I didn't want to miss my moment."

A look of disbelief crosses Spencer's features and another flood of embarrassment hits Ashley. "Ashley Davies, I already know you love me. You talk in your sleep."

This does nothing to tamper her embarrassment.

"I hope you didn't think you were keeping that secret. Plus, I didn't get into this relationship to not fall in love with you. A future with you has always been in my cards." Spencer gently pushes Ashley until the brunette flops onto the bed. "I'm sorry I tried to throw that away."

"I wouldn't have let you." Spencer climbs on top of her, straddling her in a way that causes heat to build in her stomach.

"Let me, huh?" The teasing in her voice lets Ashley know she is joking.

"I didn't get into this to not spend the rest of my life with you," she jokes in return. "God, Spence, all that time spent before you? I never want another moment without you in my life."

"Is it inappropriate that what you just said made me incredibly wet?"

She's sure her cheeks are a deep red from her girlfriend's comment. Spencer has never been shy about her physical reactions to Ashley. The blonde is bold in her desires and Ashley isn't surprised when her girlfriend slides Ashley's hand into her panties to provide evidence for her statement.

"You're going to be the death of me, Spencer Carlin." She whispers in the space between them. They mutually lean in, Spencer's lips so close.

"God, I hope so," Spencer breathes before closing the distance between them.

So, yeah… she's in love.