"Why is it that the hottest girls always fuckin talk to you Taylor?" Kyle spat as he returned to the table. "Hell those girls I was talking to at that table couldn't stop talking about you, how talented you are, how sweet you are, how hot you are. It makes me sick, they fuckin look straight but they're all about you. I don't get it, you're nothing special, you just play background for me. I'm the front man."

"You forgot I also write most of our music, have our rehearsal space, have a recording studio and with the help of these guys help save your ass from completely sucking every night!: she spat right back at him.

"Whatever. Your daddy's money helps fund this bands progression, big deal."

"Come on man lay off her already. Girls talk to her cause she's hot and she has a likeable personality. Her ego can actually fit inside the building." Eric said.

"Ok this little school boy crush you've had on Taylor since like diapers is getting really old. She's a lesbian, you know she likes girls, remember. That means she is our competition for the hot girls! Don't forget straight chicks are curious too." Kyle snaps back.

Noticing the growing tension Ryan warns, "Look you two give it a rest. This shit is not worth fighting over. We all agreed a while ago that our friendship is more important that any girl." All the guys and Taylor nodded in agreement except Kyle.

"That's easy for you guys to say I doubt you've ever gotten any, but I for one am tired of losing my girls to Taylor." Kyle angrily stated.

"Well at least you do lose some. The ones who actually use their brain go for Taylor. At least some girls have sense." Eric shot back.

"Guys? You do remember I am still sitting here right?" Taylor said feeling she should put her two cents into the conversation about herself. "And for the record I may talk to a girl who approaches me but I don't actively pursue any of them like some people. And I sure as hell don't take them home and fuck them."

"Oh what noble lies Ty. I had my eye on that chick with Aiden all night, you knew it and…"

"Yeah that's exactly why I told her to walk up to me and introduce herself. You dumb asshole, she came to ask me musical advice, to help her out, not to fuck her in the bathroom."

"Wow score one for Taylor. Why don't you cut him down to size more often girl. Maybe then his ego would fit through the door more easily." Chris said sending everyone except Kyle into hysterical laughter.

"Not funny dude, we're supposed to stick together us guys." Kyle pleaded.

"Sorry man she burned you." Ryan said. ""Relax, why are you getting all bent outta shape over this chick, you had zero chance."

"You don't know that." Kyle pouted.

"Dude she's Ashley Davies." Ryan said. Seeing the confusion on Kyle's face he continued, "That girl has been bedding chicks since before you ever got laid. My cousin Madison went to school with her. Ashley's had more girls than all of us put together. You had no chance of getting with her."

"Whatever. I had a shot but Ty here threw that right out the window."

"Ok if you want to remain delusional that's your deal. When you're ready to come back, we'll be here in a place I like to call reality." Chris joked.

Before more verbal venom could fly across the table Taylor spoke up. "Alright guys lets all chill, this has gone way too far. Let's just get another round of beers and relax. We had a great show lets not end the night with another pointless fight." Taylor pleaded.

"Oh how witty Ty always the poet. Look I've been putting up with this shit long enough. I'm tired of you guys holding me back. Go find yourselves a new lead singer cause I QUIT!!!" And with that Kyle stormed out of Grey and hopefully out of their lives.

"Well finally. And we didn't really have to do much." Chris said with a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah now all we gotta do is find a new lead singer. That should be easy enough, right?" Taylor said sarcastically.

"Come on our fans don't come to see that ass anyways. They come to hear us and a good number come to see you." Eric said.

Ryan added, "We can find someone to compliment our sound instead of compete against it. It'll be great."

"True but we're gonna have to cancel some shows until we find someone. I need another week at least for my voice to be good enough to sing lead for a bit. Are you guys cool with that?" She said feeling guilty because the guys relied on the income more than she did.

"Hey I've got an idea Ty. Why don't you ask Ashley to sing with us next weekend?" Chris proposed.

"Yeah. We know she's got vocals and she's hot. The crowd will love it. Maybe we as a band could help start her come back." Ryan said.

"Dose everyone agree, this must be a unanimous decision?" Taylor asked.

"Hell yeah!" was the enthusiastic answer from the table.

"Ok then. I'll ask her tomorrow. For now though I'm wiped so I'll see you guys tomorrow night and let you know what she says."

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When she got home Taylor did her usual post show routine; check messages, feed and walk Scout the dog then veg out in front of the TV. She turned on one of her favorite shows CSI or was it Law and Order, either way one of the varieties of either shows was always on for her to enjoy. But instead of being sucked into the storyline like usual she found her mind wandering back to the show, or more specifically Ashley Davies.

Through her mom, Taylor had become a fan of Raif Davies music. When she heard about the tribute album his daughters were involved with she was intrigued. This was how she learned that Ashley had inherited her dad's musical talent. But after the disastrous TV performance with her lip singing sister the album fell apart. Taylor was surprised that Ashley hadn't resurfaced on her own. She definitely had a unique vocal ability and was incredibly attractive, she would sell a lot of records for some record company given the chance. Maybe if her senior project went well she could be that lucky record label owner. Why hadn't she been picked up? Why was she only writing songs not sing them? Maybe the rumored difficult diva attitude was what had really ruined Ashley's career. Now Taylor had the opportunity to help her, interesting turn of events.

After a couple of hours of trying to watch TV Taylor decided to give up. She was feeling pretty drained from fighting with Kyle. He was a handful and a half to deal with and now o longer her problem thankfully.

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After Aiden dropped her off, Ashley was too keyed up to sleep. She may have her second chance at her dream and considering a lot of people never got a first chance she knew she was extremely fortunate. She was also determined not to blow this opportunity.

Feeling inspired she decided to work on a new song. She figured this was the first time in months she had felt truly happy about anything.

Choices in our lives

We make them to survive

Many of them may cause pain

But we must not hold them in vain

Happiness is within our grasp

We will find it along our path

The choices that we make

Can make happiness our fate

Life takes many twists and turns

But I find my heart still urns

For that one blissful moment

That I am with you again

To hold you in my arms

It's right where you belong

Though life may take us apart

You always have a home with me

Obviously Spencer was on her mind, as always. The lyrics were a bit rough but she liked where it was going. Musically she felt a kind of Alone by Heart feel to it, it had potential.

Before heading to bed Ashley decided to get on the computer. Since Spencer went to Boston Ashley kept up on Spence through Facebook. Spencer was addicted to it and constantly updated her status and posted lots of pictures. Ashley wasn't as obsessed with it but she loved this small window into Spencer's Boston life.

After logging in, Ashley smiled when she saw her girl didn't disappoint. She was at a party and posted some pictures. Spence looked so happy with her friends, arms around each other laughing. Ashley felt mixed emotions, she was glad for Spence but sad that she wasn't the cause of this happiness. But next weekend she would be because Spencer was visiting for the weekend. Ash wanted to take Spence to see Tabula Rasa and meet Taylor. The rest of the weekend, minus a couple hours with the Carlins, they would stay in bed making love and just being close. The perfect weekend!

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"Aunty Taylor, wake up!!" a little voice whispered in her ear.

"What?!" Taylor bolted up knocking both Scout and her nephew to the floor.

She quickly looked from one side of her room to the other wondering if she had been dreaming until she heard her nephew start crying. She jumped out of bed, scaring her dog again, and scooped up 3 year old James. She looked him over for any obvious injuries, satisfied that she saw no blood she pulled him into a big hug assuring him everything was fine. She also thanked god she wore clothes to bed last night.

"Buddy you know better than to wake me up like that. I'm sorry I scared you but you scared me too. Are we ok?"

"Yea," he said between sniffles, "I'm sorry TyTy."

Her smile grew at the us of his personal nickname for her. Then she said looking into his tear filled baby blues., " It's all good little man. Now Jay why are you over here waking me up?" Taylor also wondered what her brother was doing that he lost track of his son.

"TyTy you said we could have breakfast and watch Transformers. Daddy was busy with Lynnie so I just came over, the doors weren't locked. You promised me yesterday." Jay innocently replied with a hint of a pout.

She couldn't stay mad at him. It was hard being the oldest with a new baby around, she remembered. "Alright let's go get some McDonalds them watch two episodes of Transformers. I have a meeting later so no all day marathons ok?"

"Ok!" he said with a smile then giggled cause sensing excitement Scout jumped up and licked his face. "So get dressed TyTy cause I wanna go! Soon please!"

Five minutes later they were off. She loved spending time with Jay she just wished her brother felt the same way.

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After breakfast and three episodes of Transformers (yeah she's a softy), Jay was safely back with his dad. Taylor looked at the clock and figured 9am was late enough to call Ashley. She felt a little nervous about calling her but she had agreed to the meeting so nerves be damned.

__________________________________________________________________________________

It was 9 in the morning and Ashley had already been awake for 3 hours. She was nervous that Taylor wouldn't call, and truthfully she was nervous she would call too. Taylor was an incredibly talented person but there was more to her. Ashley wanted to impress her both musically and personally.

She had been attempting to calm her nerves by looking at Spencer's Facebook profile which had worked until her phone rang.

__________________________________________________________________________________

"Hello" Ashley said

"Hey it's Taylor from last night."

"Hi. I was hoping you'd call. You still have time to meet up today?"

"Yeah of course, " she said trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, weird. "Ah, do you wanna meet at The Brew right by campus?"

"That sound great Taylor. Is 10 too soon?"

"No that's fine. See you in an hour."

The sooner the better she thought, gives me less time to think about how nervous I feel.

Usually she had no problems meeting with other musicians and giving advice. Although she wasn't an expert her schooling did give her a wide range of musical knowledge both in performance and business. She felt comfortable helping artists develop which was good because that's the job she wanted whenever she decided to grow up.

There was something about Ashley that Taylor felt drawn towards. Maybe she was a little star struck, it could happen. She'd just have to ride this out and see where it goes.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Ashley was ready to go within 5 minutes of getting off the phone. She was totally nervous which was strange for her. She was always so confident about everything until Spencer left. But this nervousness had nothing to do with Spence. Taylor seemed to have everything figured out and was totally in control. This made Ashley nervous. Taylor no doubt had heard rumors about her diva like attitude, this isn't the Ashley she wanted Taylor to know. She wanted Taylor to know the real Ashley Davies, the one Spencer had brought out or her.

One look in the mirror, a couple deep breathes and Ashley walked out the door. I really hope Taylor like the real me. Moody diva Ashley is dead!!