A new chapter? YAY! Well this is the big one...big as in dramatic and also because this thing ended up being over 8,000 words. CRAZY! I don't think I have ever written so much for a chapter, but it was definitely necessary for this one. I hope everyone really enjoys this as much as I enjoyed thinking about all I wanted to be included in this.
Also a HUGE shoutout to my new Nashville friend Taylor who has been the biggest supporter of this story and has been encouraging me for weeks to work on this chapter. She has just been the absolute best! Ily so much Taylor, I hope you love it!
*I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS*
"Hey," said Avery upon entering the front door of his house, technically his new house. He had finally moved out of the small apartment he and Cadence had been living in and into a spacious new home.
"Hey," said Savannah. "How did it go?"
"It was good," Avery nodded.
"Just good? Like are you guys going to have a second date? Like that kind of good or you're not going to see her again but it was nice to get out."
He softly chuckled at his sister as he moved between moving boxes to get to the living room like an obstacle course. "I mean…we both said we would go out on another date."
"Well then that's really good," she said. "I'm glad to see you finally dating again."
"You don't think it's too overwhelming for Cadence do you? Just moving into a new place, me dating again."
"She's doing fine Avery. She's six now, she would tell you if she was upset."
Avery nodded, "How was she tonight? Did she go to bed on time?"
"Well she missed you a lot and wanted to stay up until you got home," said Savannah. "But she listened and did what I asked her to do. No problems."
"Good," he said. "I better go up and check on her but thank you so much Savannah."
"Yeah of course," she said as she exchanged a hug with her brother. "Whenever your next date is, let me know and I'll watch her again."
"Thank you," he said as Savannah grabbed her things and started to leave.
"Bye," she said, opening the door and closing it behind her.
"Bye," Avery said back before letting out a tired sigh. Before heading to bed, he wanted to say goodnight to his daughter. Loosening his tie, he headed upstairs and went to the bedroom where the door was slightly cracked open, seeing a warm yellow glow coming from Cadence's nightlight. He quietly started to open the door so he wouldn't wake his daughter. Avery then heard soft shuffling on the floor and the ruffling of covers.
"Cadence?" he asked as he opened the door. The light from the hallway entered the room, illuminating the little girl's face. She had her eyes closed tight as the light hit her face, pretending to be asleep.
"No, no, no, I heard you Cadence," he said walking further.
She then pulled the covers over her head and started to giggle, trying to hide from her dad. Avery got closer and sat at the end of her bed, "Come on silly girl, what are you doing up so late?"
"Waiting for you to come home," said Cadence in a tired tone, uncovering herself so she could see him.
"But it's late sweetie."
"I couldn't sleep Daddy! My new room is scary, I was trying to find more of my stuffed animals in the boxes."
Avery couldn't complain, Cadence was always a good sleeper so he understood her reasons for still being awake. "Well who were you trying to find?"
"My bunny and my elephant."
Avery stood up and went over to the boxes on the side of the room."I think I remember putting them in this box," he said as he lifted one box to get to the one he was talking about.
"How was your date Daddy?"
"It was good, she was very nice," Avery said as he continued to search in the box.
"Was she pretty?"
Avery chuckled softly, "Yes she was."
"Am I going to see her?"
Avery pulled out the bunny and the elephant Cadence wanted and walked back over to her bed. "You are worse than Aunt Savannah," he said after handing her the stuffed animals. Cadence giggled and smiled excitedly as she took her two stuffed animals and gave them a tight hug.
"And I don't know yet, we need to go on a few more dates before anything like that can happen."
"Why?" she asked further.
"Because I don't want anyone less than perfect to meet you and to be in your life the way she would be," Avery said as he leaned down and pressed a kiss on Cadence's forehead. "You need to get some sleep now."
"But Daddy! I have another question."
Avery sighed, "Yes?"
"You said your date was pretty but what about my mommy, was she pretty? She had to be because you liked her right?"
Avery started to get choked up at the question. It was the first time Cadence had really asked about Juliette.
"Yes she is," said Avery, speaking of Juliette in the present tense. "You look just like your mommy."
"I do?" the six year old questioned.
Avery nodded and started to smile a little, "You both have the same nose, the same hair…you remind me of her."
Cadence smiled, "That means I'm just as pretty, right?"
"You are the most beautiful girl in my life and you always will be," said Avery, giving Cadence a kiss on the cheek.
The blonde then wrapped her arms around Avery's neck for a hug, "I love you Daddy."
Avery smiled and was happy that Cadence didn't ask anymore questions, "I love you too Cadence," he said before giving the tired little girl one last kiss before tucking her in.
"Goodnight," said Avery as she stood up from the bed and left the room quietly, closing the door behind him. He ran his hand through his brown hair, concerned that he now couldn't stop thinking about Juliette.
Cadence had eventually gone up to her room that night and had planned to not leave her room until she had to, but her stomach had other plans. She hadn't eaten since she had lunch with Drew the previous day so by now, she was starving.
She left the room quietly and quickly headed downstairs and into the kitchen to see if she could make something fast and bring it back to her room before Juliette would see her. The blonde's stomach grumbled again making her sigh, she was hoping there would be something to eat.
Cadence entered the kitchen and started searching for food. She found a box of instant mac and cheese in the cabinet and a bag of lettuce for a salad in the fridge among other food items she was finding. The selection was much better than when she first got there. While looking around she peered over into the living room where she saw a few bottles of alcohol on the coffee table that weren't there the previous night. The blonde stopped searching for something to eat and entered the living room, only to find Juliette sprawled out on the couch.
A wave of concern immediately went over Cadence at the sight of her mother, but then she remembered all of the anger she caused. But in that moment the concern outweighed the anger and Cadence got closer to Juliette to see if she was okay. She picked up the bottle of vodka and saw that it was completely empty, as well as the other bottles sitting on the coffee table.
The teen knelt down by Juliette's head and started to shake her shoulder, "Juliette get up," she said angrily as she shook.
"Hey!" she said louder, hoping an increase in her voice would help, but nothing. Cadence never had to experience trying to get a passed out person to wake up, and she never thought thought that person would be her own mother. Seeing Juliette in the state she was currently in made her realize just exactly why her dad didn't want her near Juliette growing up.
Cadence continued to shout and shake Juliette, trying to get her to get up. "MOM GET UP!" she yelled before stopping to run back into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water as fast as she could, careful not to spill it as she made her way back to where Juliette laid still. Cadence tearfully threw the water onto Juliette to see if she would move.
The water hit Juliette and soon she started to move and groan. Cadence sighed with relief and waited for Juliette to fully realize her current state.
"Cadence…"
"I can't do this with you," said the sixteen year old as a tear rolled down her cheek. She slammed the empty class on the coffee table next to the empty bottles of alcohol.
The front door opened and Glenn and Emily walked in the middle of the moment as Cadence started to leave the living room to head upstairs again.
"What the hell happened?" Glenn asked, trying to figure out what had happened between the mother and daughter.
Cadence wiped away the tears from her face and looked at both Glenn and Emily, "Ask her," she said dryly before leaving the three adults to discuss what happened.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It had been a few hours since Cadence found Juliette in the living room and left Emily and Glenn to deal with the mess. Since then she had locked herself in the guest room, wanting to be left alone.
"Me coming here was a huge mistake," Cadence said to Peyton as she cried over the phone. She threw some of her clothes into her suitcase that was laid out on the bed. Cadence walked over to the nightstand and grabbed the snow globe she had found the previous night and carefully tucked it in between her clothes so that it was protected for the flight home.
"No it wasn't Cadence, you…"
"Yes it was! We have gotten no where in our relationship, the only thing she cares about is herself, and to top it all off I found her completely passed out this morning after our fight last night."
"Jesus christ are you serious?"
"Yeah I am. My dad keeps texting me and I've just been sending him quick replies back saying I'm fine. He'll never forgive me if he finds out I did this, especially now since nothing good has come out of me meeting her."
Peyton sighed into the phone, she didn't know what else she could say to her friend. "Well since you're heading home early, you can stay at my place. You know where we keep our spare key."
"Thanks…" said Cadence as she heard a knock on the door. She put her cell phone down slightly to hear who it was.
"Cadence, it's me," said Emily from the other side.
"Peyton I have to go. I'll text you later okay?"
"Okay, keep me updated on what's going on. I'm here for you."
"Thanks, bye," said Cadence before she hung up. She tossed her phone on the bed and walked over to the door to unlock it.
"Hey," Emily said in a comforting tone when she saw the sixteen year old.
Cadence gave her a weak smile in return. She wanted to be more happy to see Emily but there was too much anger and sadness in her to do so.
"Can we talk?"
"If you're going to try and convince me to stay you can't. My plane leaves in a few hours."
"Well can I help you finish packing then?"
Cadence nodded as she walked towards the dresser and continued to remove her clothes and placed them in the suitcase. "Thank you for everything you did for me while I was here Emily, and Glenn too," the blonde added.
"Of course, we're basically family after all."
"Yeah," Cadence reluctantly agreed. It was hard for her to feel a sense of family unity at the moment but she knew Emily was coming from a good place.
"I'm sorry you had to see Juliette like that," said Emily. "It's something that you should've never seen."
"Does that happen a lot with her?"
"No, she hasn't done that in a really long time. The fight you two had last night was probably why she drank so much."
"Wait so it's my fault?"
"That's not what I'm saying at all Cadence. Glenn and I were just talking to her downstairs and she told us what happened, everything, she feels horrible."
"Good, she should," Cadence said coldly.
Emily placed a few of Cadence's items into the suitcase, "Glenn and I didn't agree with what she said at the radio station. We have always wanted her to tell the truth. But to tell the truth she has to think about your dad and what he wants to be told. Both of them need to talk to each other."
"That will never happen," said Cadence.
"It's the only way I think she'll tell the truth. She doesn't want to do anything without your dad's involvement," Emily explained. "I also think there was a miscommunication on your part too."
Cadence looked at Emily, "What?"
"In order for your dad not to know you have been here, you couldn't be seen in the public eye. Part of why she said what she said at the radio station was because of what you wanted. None of this is because she is ashamed of you. She's not ashamed of you in the least."
Cadence sat down on the bed and looked at Emily, "I'm sure she told you to say that."
"Yes and no," Emily smiled as she sat down next to Cadence. "All day yesterday she kept talking about you. I had to keep reminding her what to say for the interviews and where we were going next. It was all about how talented and how incredible you are. If anything she is proud of you and the young woman you've become."
"Really?"
Emily nodded, "Really."
"I guess part of it was my fault," the blonde sighed. "But I'm not ready to forgive her for everything."
"That's completely understandable, and she knows that," said Emily. "Well it looks like you're just about packed, is there anything else you need from me?"
"Yeah, can you get me a new plane ticket for tomorrow?" she asked. "I think I want to stay for the party. Not just for Juliette, I don't think I'm ready to leave Nashville just yet."
Emily smiled, "Of course."
Cadence opened her arms and hugged Emily. "Thank you," she said simply.
"You're welcome sweetie," said Emily. "Do you need help getting ready?"
Cadence looked over at the royal blue Burberry dress hanging on the closet door, "Yeah I do."
Back in Ohio, Avery was in his car, just about to head to his store before he felt his phone buzz. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Scarlett calling.
"Hey Scarlett," he answered. "Everything okay?" He only asked because it was odd for her to call him for anything so early in the day.
"Where's Cadence?" she asked immediately.
"Um she's down in Florida with her friend Peyton, why are you asking?"
'I'm only asking to make sure I'm not imagining things on the internet. I just sent you the link."
Avery pulled the phone away from his ear and opened his messages to access the link Scarlett just sent him. As soon as it opened, several pictures of Cadence with Juliette came up with the headline Juliette Barnes Spends Time with her Daughter in Nashville. Avery didn't care for the rest of the article, he studied the images for a moment and it all started to make sense. Cadence lied to him about the whole trip.
He held his phone tighter as anger grew in him. "She lied to me," he said to Scarlett through the phone.
"Avery calm down," said Scarlett.
"No I'm not going to calm down. She deliberately ignored everything I have said to her and she goes and does this!"
"What are you going to do?" Scarlett asked worriedly.
Avery put his key in the ignition and turned it to start, "I'm going to Nashville to get my daughter."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hours had passed and it was almost six o'clock. Downstairs, Juliette just finished getting ready for the party. Her wardrobe assistant and stylist were doing their finishing touches.
"Emily has been up there with Cadence for hours," Juliette asked. All day she felt horrible for everything that happened in the past twenty four hours. She knew Cadence was supposed to head home earlier but she assumed she changed her mind, but it was unknown if she was going to the party or not.
"Well I take it as a good sign," said Glenn. "You look great."
Juliette observed herself in the mirror at her emerald colored party dress, she knew she looked best in the color. Her hair flowed down her shoulder, all off to the one side. She grabbed her clutch and started leaving her room with Glenn following behind.
They made their way into the living room where they saw both Emily and Cadence, dressed and waiting for them.
"Ready to go?" Emily asked.
"Yeah we're ready," said Glenn.
Juliette's eyes were focused on Cadence, she could tell she wasn't fully into going, especially for her. She walked closer to the teen, "You look stunning Cadence." The royal blue color of the dress complimented her eyes perfectly, her hair was in a low, off to the side "messy"bun, and the nude heels she was wearing gave her a little more height.
"Thanks," she said. "Emily helped a lot."
Juliette looked over at Emily and gave her an acknowledging look. Emily nodded before speaking up, "Why don't Glenn and I head out to the car."
"Yeah we'll be there in a minute," said Juliette, who waited until Emily and Glenn had left so she could talk to Cadence. Glenn stopped by Cadence and gave her a quick, comforting hug before he headed out the door with Emily.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to," she said.
"I'm not going for you, I'm going because I wasn't ready to leave just yet. Rayna, Deacon, Maddie, and Daphne are going to be there, and Drew is too. I want to see them one last time before I leave. I'm not ready to forgive you yet."
Juliette nodded understandingly, "I don't expect you to, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything sweetheart. I never wanted…"
"I know, you never wanted any of this to happen. But it did Juliette, no matter what you try to do, you can't change the past."
Juliette became saddened over Cadence's change of heart. She was so optimistic a week ago, but now her outlook towards Juliette was nothing but negativity and horrible memories.
"We better go," said Cadence as she made her way to the door.
"Yeah," Juliette agreed in a somber tone. She was heading to a party to celebrate a huge achievement in her career, one that she couldn't be happy about to attend.
They arrived at the venue soon after they left and had to wait in the car for a few minutes before entering. Glenn had to let the security know that Juliette was there. Cadence looked at her dead phone in her hand, clicking the circle button at the bottom just to see if it would turn on, still knowing that it wouldn't.
"Emily do you have a phone charger?" the teen asked, easily ignoring Juliette's presence.
"No I'm sorry I don't," she said as she looked in her bag to double check. "You don't have one on you by any chance Juliette?"
Juliette noticed how passive Cadence was being, "No I don't."
"Do you think I can just go through the back or something? Drew is probably here already and I can't text him to let him know I'm here."
"No you have to stay here. I'm not letting you go out there by yourself. There's press all around this place and you don't need them hounding you."
Cadence held back a few smart remarks she could have made, but decided to pick her battles.
"I could go with her," said Emily. "It really isn't a problem, plus you already have Glenn with you."
"Perfect, let's go Emily," said Cadence as she opened the back passenger door to get out of the car.
"Glad to see you and my daughter are getting along," Juliette said to Emily once Cadence wasn't able to hear.
"Juliette…"
"Oh no it's fine, just go," Juliette ordered.
Emily let out a sigh as she got out of the car and stood with Cadence. They were on the opposite side of the car from where the press and the entrance to the party were. Glenn then saw them and asked what they were doing.
"I'm taking Cadence to the back so she can get in there," said Emily.
"I just don't want to do all of the pictures and questions," the blonde added.
"Totally understandable," Glenn smiled. "Follow me and I'll make sure a security guard goes with you two." The three of them went around the car and Glenn talked to one of the security guards. He then led Emily and Cadence to the back of the venue safely without any problems.
Glenn opened the car door for Juliette to get out. Her upset face instantly turned into her famous bright smile once she was being seen by fans and photographed by the press. She had to hide every emotion she was feeling that had the ability to be seen through her face. Fans off to the side were screaming and the press called her out by name to get her attention. Juliette smiled and waved just as she knew how.
"Everything okay?" Glenn whispered in her ear.
"Of course," said Juliette. "Everything is great."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I'm glad you feel better since last night. My mom was actually excited to see me dress nice for something," said Drew. They were now about an hour and a half into the party.
"Yeah," Cadence agreed. "Just an overnight stomach bug."
After her previous decision to not attend the party, she had told Drew not to go since she wasn't going, telling him she wasn't feeling well. But after changing her mind, she told him she had been feeling better.
"Especially your mom, it would suck if you weren't able to come on your last day here."
"I don't know," said Cadence as they stood more towards the corner of the room, watching others pass by and talk. She looked over and saw Juliette talking to some people who Cadence assumed were in the business. "She has other priorities to worry about than just me tonight."
"Well I have to congratulate her at some point, she did let me come after all," said Drew.
"Yeah I guess," said Cadence, showing off a small smile.
"How about I get us something to drink?"
"Sure, I'll just have a water."
"You sure?"
"Yeah it's fine, thanks."
"I'll be right back," said Drew before he left.
Cadence watched him leave as she caught eyes with Maddie and Daphne through the crowd. "Hey!" said Cadence once she saw the sisters' faces brighten upon seeing her.
"Hey!" said Daphne, being the first to give the teen a hug. "You look amazing Cadence."
"Yeah that dress is so gorgeous," Maddie agreed as she gave Cadence a hug as well.
"Thanks you guys," said Cadence before taking notice of something sparkling on Daphne's left hand. "Wait…that wasn't there a few days ago."
"Oh yeah, I'm engaged," Daphne beamed at her new ring, showing it off to Cadence.
"That's great, congrats!" said the sixteen year old. "What's his name?"
"It's actually her, her name is Kelsey," said Daphne.
"Oh I'm sorry," Cadence apologized. "I shouldn't have just assumed. But that's so great, I'm so happy for you!"
The two blondes hugged once more, "Hopefully you'll be able to come back for the wedding."
"Yeah I don't know," Cadence said sadly. "But hopefully I can." The teen tried to be hopeful, but she knew she wouldn't be able to come back.
"It's a shame that you're leaving tomorrow," said Maddie. "I wish the three of us could have spent more time together."
"I know me too," said Cadence just as Drew came back with their drinks.
"Here you go," he said, handing the drink to her.
"Drew you remember Maddie and Daphne right?"
"Yeah of course," he said as he shook both of their hands. "Last time we saw each other I was close to getting fired."
Maddie and Daphne laughed as well as Cadence. "Well I wouldn't have put it past Juliette to do that," said Daphne.
"But you and Cadence are friends so I think you're in the clear," said Maddie.
"Oh no it's the exact opposite actually. I have a feeling she still doesn't like me," said Drew.
"Well you were able to come tonight right?" Maddie asked. "So you're fine."
"I hope so."
"Well we'll leave you two alone," said Daphne. "There's a few people here we've been meaning to talk to."
"Yeah that's fine," said Cadence. "It was good seeing you two again before I had to leave."
"Of course Cadence," said Maddie as the two sisters gave the teen one more hug goodbye.
"It was great meeting you," said Daphne. "We'll have to arrange for you to come to one of our shows."
"That would be amazing, thanks you guys."
"Yeah no problem," said Maddie as she and Daphne walked away and into the crowd of people.
Soft noises of commotion came from the other side of the room where Cadence watched as Juliette stepped onto the small stage setup. "Looks like your mom is going to speak, want to get closer to the stage?" Drew suggested.
"No, here is fine," said Cadence. She started to hate the idea of attending the party more and more. A party celebrating the career Juliette chose over her. She looked around at the large, single cover art work that were hung up on the walls, twenty of them that overwhelmed her. While she was proud of what Juliette accomplished and one day aspired to do the same, it was still a hard visual to swallow.
"Hello everyone, thank you so much for coming tonight," Juliette started off saying into the microphone she was holding. "I'm going to try and keep this as short as I can, I just want to thank everyone who have been with me and have been a part of my career from the beginning. My incredible team and everyone at Highway 65, Rayna you've been so supportive of everything I have done since we decided working together, thank you."
Rayna who was standing off to the side with Deacon, smiled at Juliette and humbly accepted the loud applause from the crowd.
"My assistant Emily and my manager Glenn, my career wouldn't be where it is today without the both of you. You guys are my family now and I can't thank you both enough for what you do for me day after day," Juliette added as she focused her attention on Emily and Glenn who accepted their praises, letting the crowd applaud them as well.
"I would like to also thank one more person before I step off stage," said Juliette. "My daughter, Cadence."
Cadence looked at Juliette and focused on her. "I don't know where exactly she is right now, but she is here tonight. She is the most incredible person I have ever known and in the past week, she has taught me so much about what is most important in life," said Juliette as she held back her tears. "Thank you all again for coming, enjoy tonight." Everyone clapped one last time as Juliette stepped off the stage.
Emily and Glenn met up with the blonde. "I need you to get me in touch with Avery," said Juliette. "I can't keep doing this and neither can Cadence. I want joint custody, it's not too late."
"Well what you said up there was a step in the right direction," said Glenn. "I'll do everything I can."
"Thank you," said Juliette.
"You think Avery will agree to that?"
"I don't know, but I'm tired of not fighting for my daughter."
Cadence wasn't expecting a mention in the least. It made her have a little more faith in Juliette's intentions, not to mention how happy it made her feel to hear such things coming from her mother.
"Cadence, are you okay?" Drew asked, then putting a hand on her shoulder as if he was trying to get her out of a trance.
"Oh sorry," she apologized. "I'm good."
"Okay, 'cus for a second there it looked like you were in a trance or something," he added, still noticing that she wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. She was looking through the crowd, towards the main entrance of the party.
Cadence noticed some security getting involved with someone trying to enter. Through the crowd she recognized the person trying to get in and her eyes widened. "Oh my god," she said, seeing that it was her dad.
"What? What's wrong?" Drew asked with concern.
"Um..nothing, I'll be right back. Just stay here."
She left her friend to help her dad. As she pushed through the party attendees, she tried to prepare herself for what was to come. She knew he wouldn't be able to trust her for a long time, let alone never be allowed to go anywhere. She was expecting the worst out of all of this.
"Excuse me," she kept saying until she got up to the entrance.
"I'm sorry Miss, but you can't leave. Right now we're trying to remove an uninvited guest."
"No that's the problem, he's my dad. You need to let him in," she said. Even though part of her regretted what she just said, the other part knew that if she didn't do anything, there would be an even bigger punishment. It was over, she just wanted the whole thing to be done with.
"But he is still not on the list for this event."
"My daughter is in there!" Cadence heard her dad shout as security was escorting him away from the building.
"What's going on?" Glenn asked as he approached the scene.
"My dad is here…"
"Avery is here?"
Cadence nodded, "Yeah I saw him trying to get in."
Glenn sighed, not knowing what to do, then looking at Cadence, "What do you want to do?"
"It's over Glenn, he knows I'm here. The three of us need to talk about a lot, but not here."
Glenn sighed, knowing previously what Juliette had requested, "Let me go out there and talk to him first."
Cadence nodded and watched as security let Glenn through so he could talk to Avery. Once out of the building, he saw Avery outside pacing around, "Avery…"
"Where the hell is Cadence, Glenn!" he yelled.
"Avery it's okay, she's inside," Glenn raised his voice.
"No it's not okay! My daughter lied to me and ran off to see Juliette who doesn't care for her. I haven't been in contact with her for days!"
"A lot has happened that you don't know about Avery. You wouldn't know that Juliette has been better for years because you haven't communicated with her."
"You know that Juliette has not even tried to reach out to me!"
Glenn sighed, "Look, I didn't come out here to argue with you Avery. Cadence knows you're here and she wanted to see you. Juliette also wanted me to get in contact with you to talk to you. Now you're here so that's half the battle."
Avery ran his hand over his mouth, "So I can come in?"
"As long as you don't make a scene," said Glenn. "Come on."
Avery walked behind Glenn on the sidewalk and entered the building. After now being allowed in, Avery immediately spotted Cadence not too far from where he was.
She walked over to him, somewhat reluctantly, "Dad I'm so-." Cadence was going to finish but instead was pulled into her dad's arms. There was no hesitation with holding onto him just as tight as he was holding her. It would be wrong for Cadence to say she didn't miss him, she did. After feeling conflicted with everything for the past week, all she wanted was to talk to her dad but for him also to really listen and understand her.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said,
"Yeah Dad I'm fine," said Cadence as the two pulled away. "But I thought you would be more mad at me…why aren't you?"
"Oh no I am, I'm furious Cadence but right now I'm just glad you're okay."
The blonde sighed, "So, we have to talk…the three of us."
Avery looked up from Cadence and over her to see Juliette standing behind at a short distance. Cadence followed his stare and turned around to see Juliette as well. Neither of them had thought this would ever happen.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Emily was able to find a private room in the back so that Juliette, Avery, and Cadence could have a moment for themselves. She and Glenn had been listening in from outside the door, luckily for them it was mostly Juliette and Avery shouting at each other so it was easy to hear.
Inside, Cadence sat on a couch with her head in her hands, listening to her parents have it out with one another.
"I didn't know where you were Avery!" Juliette yelled.
"Bullshit Juliette, where did you honestly think I went?" he yelled back.
"Can the both of you please just shut up and stop yelling at each other?" Cadence then stood up, yelling over them as they bickered. "This isn't a conversation it's yelling."
She sat back down and took in their silence, "If this is what it would have been like if you two were still together, then I'm glad I didn't have to experience it all my life. You both certainly saved me from having hearing loss."
Both Juliette and Avery sighed as they looked over at their clearly upset daughter. "Okay you want to know the truth as to why I didn't make more of an effort after I went to rehab?" Juliette asked in a more relaxed tone.
"Oh so you haven't been telling us the truth so far?"
She looked at him and was ready to give up, "Alright you know what forget it."
"No please tell us, I'm sure you would like to tell us both why."
"I already told her! I assumed you two were better off without me. You both have clearly moved on, especially you now that you're engaged."
"If you came to me and told me you had gotten help, maybe we could have had a chance still."
"You wouldn't have believed me Avery," said Juliette. "Not for a second. You're the one who sent me the divorce papers, remember?"
"Wait what?" Cadence spoke up, looking at her dad directly. "You're the one that wanted the divorce?"
Avery was quiet, not knowing what to say. Juliette became just as surprised as Cadence, "You made it seem to her that I was the one who got the divorce? Did you even tell her about me signing away my parental rights?"
"No Juliette, you were more than willing to sign away your parental rights."
"You wanted me to Avery! It was when I didn't have the right state of mind."
Cadence let out a breath as tears started to form in her eyes, "This whole time I thought it was her who ended everything. You were the one that wanted the divorce."
"Cadence please understand.."
"No, right now you're starting to have caused as much damage as she
has."
"I haven't caused any damage, you have no idea what you're talking about. I have given up everything for you, my life in Nashville, my career!"
"He hasn't Cadence," said Juliette, trying to ease the rising tension. "Nowhere near as much as I have."
The teen's breath shook as she looked between the two of them, "I need to leave, I can't take this anymore between the both of you."
Cadence stood up again to leave, looking at Juliette. "You didn't try to be in my life," she said, then switching focus to her dad. "And now with you apparently I have been a burden for the past sixteen years. I'm sorry I ruined your life and briefly interrupting yours." She looked directly at Juliette again for what she said last.
"We're not finished Cadence," said Avery, not knowing what else to say. He was more than hurt with what Cadence had said. It wasn't meant to come across the way she took it.
She was about to turn the door knob to leave but she turned around and back to face her parents. "Whatever this is between us three can't and will never work and I'm just realizing this now. And I was an idiot to even think for a second that the two of you could…" Cadence looked at the two of them, both with hopeless and defeated faces, she couldn't finish what she was going to say.
"Forget it," she said before turning the doorknob to leave. She started to walk fast down the hallway, past Glenn and Emily and into the main party room.
She kicked her heels off and held them before working her way through the crowd to find Drew. "There you are!" said Drew, finding her first. "Where the hell have you been for like the past hour? Why are you crying?"
"I'll explain later, we have to get out of here though."
"Wait why?"
"Please stop asking questions! You drove here right?"
"Yeah I did," he said as he and Cadence started to make their way out. She looked back towards the hallway and saw her parents walking in her direction with Glenn and Emily. "I didn't park too far," she heard Drew say.
"Okay good, I have to get out of here."
Once out of the building, the two friends started to pick up their pace along the sidewalk, "Why are you trying to leave? Did something happen?"
"Kind of," said Cadence.
"You know what Cadence I'm tired of you not telling me what's going on! You have been so shady these past couple of days and now you're using me to get out of something you're obviously involved in!" he said loudly.
"I know Drew! Okay, I haven't been myself and right now I just need to be anywhere but here. Please just help me and I'll explain once we're in the car and driving away."
"Alright," he sighed. "Come on."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"She isn't here?" Juliette asked. The party was close to ending and Juliette requested the security to find Cadence after her, Avery, Glenn, and Emily couldn't find her themselves.
"No she isn't anywhere in the building Miss. Barnes. We searched everywhere, I'm sorry."
"Thank you," said Glenn.
"This isn't like her," said Avery.
"Wait wasn't she with that boy tonight?" Emily asked. "Maybe she's with him."
"You mean Drew?" Juliette asked further.
"Yeah, she's been hanging out with him a lot this week. I wouldn't be surprised if she was with him."
"Cadence has a boyfriend now? What else has she done while under your care and influence for the past week?"
"Will you please calm the hell down for a minute Avery," Juliette said to him. "And he isn't her boyfriend, he's just a friend. Trust me, I don't like the kid too much to begin with."
"But you still allow him to be around her? Okay yeah, great parenting."
"Will the both of you act mature for a second please?" Glenn said in an annoyed tone. "Cadence left on the count of both of you not being able to handle the circumstances of a situation that, in the end, both of you caused. She just needs some time right now to think."
"Okay but I want to know where she is. She hasn't been answering any of my texts," said Avery.
"Her phone has been dead since early this morning," said Emily. "You're not going to be able to get in contact with her."
"Then I'll just have to go out there and look for her," said Avery as he pulled out his keys.
"Wait I'm coming with you then," said Juliette.
"No you're not," Avery refused.
"Avery you can't stop me from coming. She's my daughter too," said Juliette.
"Fine," he said as he started walking away.
"Glenn you can finish the party right? If anyone asks where I am, just say there was an emergency."
"Yeah I've got it," said Glenn.
"Everything's going to be fine," Emily assured her friend before she left to follow Avery.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Wow."
"Yeah…"
Drew had driven Cadence to an out of the way spot, one that overlooked the city of Nashville. She had told Drew the truth about everything, why she was there, her relationship with Juliette, and why she was in a rush to leave the party.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Well I normally don't start friendships with sharing my life story."
"Cadence that's some heavy stuff," said Drew.
"Yeah, try living it," she said as she looked on at the beautiful city lit up at night. It started to rain a few minutes prior, causing the view to become dreamlike, looking through the wet, un-wiped glass.
"I said the worst things to them Drew, especially to my dad. I was just upset and angry and I just lashed out on him. My mom was actually trying to make the whole thing better and I still freaked out on her too. I'm the worst daughter, none of this is me."
"You've just had a lot to deal with, especially in the past few days. And you're probably not acting like yourself because things are changing in your life and you don't know how to react to it. You're in a new place, trying to build a relationship with Juliette…you're changing your life right now."
Cadence smiled at him, "You know you're a lot easier to talk to when I don't have to lie."
"Well just don't lie anymore and I can give you real advice," he said. "So how long did you want to stay here?"
"Not too long I guess," said Cadence. "I can't exactly stay here forever."
"Well let me know and I'll take you home, okay," he said to her. Drew watched as she started to close her eyes and started to get closer to her. Cadence could feel Drew close to her face, his lips started to grace hers just as she opened her eyes and pulled away.
"Drew what the hell?" she asked aloud. He pulled himself away and sat back in his seat again, pissed at himself.
"I thought you…"
"You thought I had feelings for you? Drew I see you as a friend and a friend only, I'm sorry."
"No it's fine."
"No you're not fine, you're pissed," said Cadence. "Even if I did have feelings for you, I'm not in the mood right now for that."
"Look I'm sorry, I thought us hanging out and singing together meant something," said Drew.
"It didn't and I'm sorry if I…led you on. Plus you're eighteen and I just turned sixteen, we can't…"
"Wait do you see those guys behind us?" he asked, changing the subject, looking through his side and rear view mirrors.
"Drew I'm serious right now!"
"No really Cadence, they're holding cameras."
She looked through the mirrors to see what Drew was talking about. "Are you kidding me? How did they find me?"
"They must have followed us here from the party," said Drew, starting his engine.
"Please just take me home now," said Cadence. Once the engine started, the paparazzi ran up to their car, careful that Drew wouldn't run them over when he quickly backed out. They were quick to take the pictures they could despite the car moving. The multiple camera flashes made both Cadence and Drew close their eyes, Drew trying his best to still drive.
He pulled out of the area quickly, passing by the paparazzi cars that were parked, some actually ready to take off and to follow them. "There had to be like six cars just there," said Drew as he drove along the dark, rainy road.
Meanwhile, Juliette and Avery had been driving round Nashville for the past thirty minuets trying to find Cadence. "Avery this is pointless, we're not going to find her just driving around here."
"So you're giving up?"
"No, I'm just saying she might've been at my house the whole time. She doesn't know that many places in the city."
"You think you know Cadence after only being with her for a week? For all you know she could be with this Drew kid."
"You know what Avery, I get that you hate me and you don't want Cadence having anything to do with me, but you don't have to dismiss me like everything I say is irrelevant. I know I screwed up, but I'm trying to do better. And I have actually gotten know Cadence a decent amount during her time with me. I can tell she can be impatient at times because one morning I was making pancakes, she couldn't wait longer so she ended up eating a majority of the strawberries I had for the pancakes. She plays guitar, piano, ukulele, banjo, and can write amazing songs. Hell she's probably better than either of us. Her two favorite tv shows are Grey's Anatomy and Friends, she loves how opposite they are to one another. Her favorite thing to order from Chinese is sweet and sour chicken, and she loves old black and white movies," Juliette said to him. "I may not know all of the more personal stuff about her but I gathered what I could from the past week."
There was a silence between the two as Avery continued to drive. "She probably is back at your place," he eventually spoke before letting the silence take over again.
Drew and Cadence were still driving around, trying to get away from the paparazzi who continued to follow them. Drew had tried to lose them by going off on backroads and back onto main roads. He went back on a back road once again and started to pick up speed.
"Drew you're going really fast," Cadence said worriedly, seeing that he was going eighty in a forty-five.
"You want me to get rid of these guys?"
"At this point I'd rather just have them take their shot of me because getting killed in a car accident isn't worth it!"
"We're not going to get killed okay? Don't say that!"
The blonde looked out the passenger side mirror again and saw the car right up on Drew's back bumper, "Stop the car."
"No I'm not Cadence."
"Stop the car Drew I want to get out!"
"Are you crazy Cadence?"
"If crazy means me standing in the rain all night and walking home, NOT dead then call me the queen of crazy!"
Drew just continued to speed along the back road, ignoring Cadence. She was able to quickly catch the sight of a stop sign, then looking on her right, seeing the beginning of headlights coming in her direction. Her eyes went wide at what she realized was about to happen.
"DREW STOP!" she screamed as he ran through the stop, causing a SUV to ram right into Cadence's side of the car. The paparazzi cars going just as fast behind them went right into one another once as Dew's car was hit. Another impact on the car, only to cause more damage.
A passerby pulled over and went over to the scene of the accident. She was a middle aged woman who went over to Drew's car first. She observed him worriedly, "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah," Drew breathed heavily, slowly opening his eyes. He started to cry and panic over what he caused. He was afraid to look over at Cadence.
"How's my friend, next to me. How does she look?"
The woman looked past Drew and over to Cadence in the passenger seat, she looked lifeless, a good majority of her face and upper body was covered in blood from the shattered glass hitting her skin. She looked beat up and bruised due to being tossed around in the car. Not to mention that her seatbelt hadn't been on. "She doesn't look good but I'm going to call 911 now and I'm sure she's going to be fine."
Drew looked over at Cadence and started to cry harder, "No, no, no, Cadence! Get up!"
"Calm down, it's going to be okay," said the woman. "You're pretty banged up too. I"m going to check on the other cars okay?"
"Okay," said Drew. "But please tell the paramedics when they get here, to take care of my friend first. I did this to her and she doesn't deserve this to happen to her."
The woman looked at him sympathetically, "I will."
Juliette and Avery arrived at her home and quickly rushed in. "I haven't seen Cadence all night," said Lance, following them in. "I would know if she came by but she didn't."
"Damn it," said Juliette as her and Avery stood in the foyer.
"Well like you said, she has to come back here at some point right?" Avery hoped. Juliette was relieved that Avery didn't try to prove her wrong, but actually supported her.
Juliette's phone then started to ring. She opened her clutch and took out her phone, she didn't recognize the number but it was a Nashville area code. Avery got closer to her, anxious to know if it was Cadence.
"Hello?" Juliette answered.
Avery watched Juliette's expression quickly change into a concerned one, noticing tears starting to form in her eyes. "Wait what?" she spoke into the phone.
"What is it?" Avery asked worriedly.
"I'll..I mean we'll be right there," she said before hanging up and looking up at Avery. "Cadence was in a car accident, sh-she's in the hospital."
POOR CADENCE! Next chapter you'll get to see what happens to her and Drew...I don't want to give too much away ;)
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thank you all so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews so far. It means a lot!
