Disclaimer: I do not own Nashville or any of its music, characters, and dialogue.

Nashville's Sweetheart

3

Over the next few weeks, Rayna found herself thinking more and more about Deacon Claybourne. The night she met him, she had gone to bed and actually dreamed of him. She couldn't recall what had happened in the dream, but she remembered seeing his pearly white smile twinkle over at her, his eyes just as bright and just as beautiful.

Rayna knew that it wasn't very prudent, though. She was just a sophomore in high school, and this guy could be graduated already! She didn't know that for sure and a part of her seriously doubted it, but still, Rayna knew that she had to be careful. She could only imagine what Tandy would say if she knew about this, so she tried not to think about that. She had enough to worry about with her cringe-worthy algebra grade and her song set, so she really didn't need to be thinking about Deacon Claybourne.

At school one day as Rayna was unpacking her lunch in the cafeteria, she overheard some girls talking at a nearby table.

"There's this really cute guy who just moved to town," one was saying, pausing for the group to erupt into a bunch of high-pitched giggles. "He lives over on the other side of the city and is simply gorgeous."

Were they talking about Deacon? In spite of herself, Rayna leaned closer and craned her ears in their direction, trying to figure out if it was indeed Deacon. She took a bite of her banana and sipped her water, her attention focused to the table on her left.

"He's not from Tennessee, but I know he's from the south."

"Where in the south?"

"I don't know. The south-south, I guess. But he's got a cute accent and an even cuter butt, and my sister's friend's neighbor goes to high school with him."

For some reason, this made Rayna doubt that they were indeed talking about Deacon, but she listened on anyway, just in case. She didn't know that he graduated high school already, but she just had a feeling that he wasn't in school. He didn't give off that vibe.

"What's his name, anyway?" one of the girls finally asked. "You didn't say."

"Billy something," one responded, and Rayna felt her heart sink. She hadn't realized how much she had been thinking about him until just then. Her heart had started beating and her mind had been racing just at the mere mention of a new guy in town! Of course there would be dozens of new people in town since it was Nashville, so Rayna wasn't being rational. She felt quite stupid, actually.

"Are you ready to go, Rayna?" Tandy was standing by the table, tapping her foot as she stared down at her watch, and Rayna sighed lightly, throwing her uneaten tuna sandwich back into her lunchbox and following her sister wordlessly.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Are you excited, Rayna?" She was back in Watty's Audi Quattro, and they were going back to the place where she'd first seen Deacon. Of course she was excited, but it wasn't just because of the music – deep down, Rayna was hoping that Deacon would be there again, and if he was, she would be brave and ask him more about his life.

She had spent even more time than usual on her makeup that evening, making sure her eyeliner was lined up perfectly on her upper lids and taking care not to smudge her mascara. People always complimented her eyes, and tonight, she wanted them to look perfect in case Deacon was there.

Why she wanted to look perfect, though, was still a bit hard for Rayna to fully understand. Did she like Deacon? She'd only just met him! Certainly there was some physical attraction there, but as Rayna was learning in her young life, there would always be some sort of physical attraction out there. It was simply a matter of hormones, but even as she settled on that, Rayna had the distinct feeling that there was something else going on with Deacon – something more profound.

Sure enough, when they entered the bar at fifteen minutes before Rayna was set to go on, he was there, sitting at that same table.

"Hey!" His face lit up as he came over to them, and Rayna returned the smile and felt her cheeks heat up again. She felt uncomfortable because Watty was there, and she prayed that he wouldn't give up her secret. Though he didn't even know what her secret was. "I was hopin' that I'd see you here again." It'd been three weeks, and Rayna was glad to know that he had been thinking of her, too. "Been busy with work or somethin', huh?"

"Hi Deacon," she said softly, tilting her head to the side. "It's nice to see you again."

"Yeah. You, too." They were smiling at each other now, and Rayna felt her heart skip another beat. There it was again – that connection. She felt nervous and excited and eager and breathless, and it was almost as if there was electricity swirling between them, its current powerful enough to sweep them both away.

"Well," said Watty, clearing his throat, "Rayna's about to go up now, so we'll talk to you later, son."

"Break a leg out there," Deacon said to her, reaching over and putting a hand on her shoulder. He squeezed it lightly but then quickly let go, his eyes glancing up at Watty, who cleared his throat again and then urged Rayna toward the stage. His touch had felt so warm and so gentle, and all Rayna could do was smile at him before walking over to the stage, feeling those butterflies flutter in her stomach all over again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Somehow after that second performance, Watty had arranged it so that Rayna could sing at that bar every Monday night for the next six weeks straight, which would spill right into the Christmas season. It was a bit tricky to coordinate with her other gigs (and to handle since she was technically under age), but they could make it work. Rayna did get paid for these gigs, but it was abysmal – she got a share of the tips collected during her performances, but she had to share that with the band members, too. In the end, she could sometimes make as much as ten bucks, which wasn't too bad for a sixteen-year old (minimum wage was $3.35, so she was ahead, actually). Even though Rayna's father was the richest man in Nashville, Rayna had never been too taken with money. She'd never needed much to be happy, which suited the lifestyle of a low-key performer.

Another great thing about the weekly Monday gig was that Rayna would be able to see Deacon every week, assuming that he'd be there, of course. After spending time with him the past few weeks, Rayna had become intrigued by him. He was so mysterious yet so open. It was the strangest sort of contrast, and every week, they played the same sort of game – talking before and after her set, each vague about that they did elsewhere, but still bonding intensely over music. Mondays quickly became Rayna's favorite day of the week.

A few Mondays into her recurring gig, though, Rayna ran into a small snag: her grandmother was in from out of town, and whenever that happened, she and Tandy were watched like hawks. Perhaps that's where Rayna's father got it from. Genevieve Wyatt was a nosey sixty seven year-old woman with batty eyes and a slightly hunched back, and ever since the girls' mother had died, she'd felt the urge to assess their upbringing, fearing they weren't faring well without direct maternal influence.

"What is your grade point average, Tandy?"

"4.0, ma'am."

"And what subjects have you taken thus far?"

"All of the required ones and then an extra statistics sequence. My elective this quarter is accounting, and when I finish my PE requirement, I'm going to pick up another science class."

Grandma Wyatt would never tell them that she approved of what they were doing; instead, she would simply stare at them for a solid ten seconds before moving onto the next child, like she did now with Rayna. "And what about you, Rayna? What is your GPA?"

It was embarrassing, really, to not be as smart as Tandy. They both went to the best private school in Tennessee stocked with the finest teachers and practically unlimited funding (thanks to generous donations from Wyatt Industries, no doubt), but Tandy did better in that kind of atmosphere than Rayna did. Rayna felt trapped and contained in that school, and she had never told anyone this before, but a part of her secretly wanted to drop out and just get her GED. She could use all that extra time to focus on her music and to possibly write some material, but since she had to go to school, she felt like she was just wasting her time. But what else could she do under the tight grip of Lamar Wyatt?

Grandma Wyatt's rebuke had been as harsh as ever ("you're going to amount to nothing, young lady! Are you hearing me? Do you understand the severity of this situation?"), but when it was finally over, Rayna feigned a yawn and stretched her arms out. "Well, y'all, I'm really tied. I'm gonna go to bed now. G'nigjt."

When she was sure that no one had followed her and that no one was coming, though, Rayna changed into her favorite pair of ripped jeans and her favorite leather jacket before moving to her stashed curling iron to work on her hair, wondering what Deacon would be wearing tonight. Though they'd talked plenty about music and about their future ambitions, tonight, Rayna wanted to take it a little further and talk more about their lives and about their present.