Meet My Dedication, Inspiration

Austin woke up before me and had been incredibly quiet in the room for about 30 minutes. I only woke up because the room service knocked on the door.

"Hey you, good morning." He said after the cart was rolled in. He sat on the bed next to me and rubbed my back.

"Good morning." I smiled. "I wasn't snoring, was I?"

He shook his head. I sat up and stretched then got off the bed and walked over to scope out the breakfast he'd ordered. "Not bad." I said while chewing on a piece of bacon.

I turned to him. He was still sitting on the bed, propped up on his elbows. "You look damn good in my shirt."

I turned around and shook my ass a little. "Why thank you."

I opted for half a bagel with some bacon and a couple of classes of OJ. Austin had a omlette, OJ, and some toast. We chatted about our school lives and in my case, college. After that, we discussed past relationships. I knew he had been married before, but I didn't know any details.

"You ever been married?"

"Nope. Came close once, but it fell through."

"Are you opposed to marriage?"

"Not if the right guy came along, absolutely not."

He smiled.

We had both made it really clear that we had some major trust issues. I tried working on mine but it was hard. After our showers, we got dressed while Adventure Time played in the background. Right after I finished my eyeshadow, he tossed a shirt at me.

"What's this?"

"Mine. But I want you to wear it."

I raised my eyebrow.

"Just trust me. This will help the roadies keep up with you."

I chuckled and pulled it on over my camisole. It was his Of Mice & Men shirt that was cut sort of like a modified tank top. We checked out of the hotel and loaded up the car.

I took a quick selfie and posted it on Instagram. Day 2 of OM&M tour, Nashville bound!

We stopped at every landmark we could, our last being Music Street in downtown Nashville. "Oooh, sushi." I cooed as we drove by a sushi bar.

"Let's go meet up with the guys and we'll all go out for sushi. Aaron's fiance flew out this morning, so you have a friend to hang with today while we're all busy with interviews. I think she can help you get the swing of things too."

I didn't know what I was to Austin, but it felt like we were geared straight for a relationship. I decided not to get my hopes up, "Sounds perfect."

I pulled in behind the buses at Rocketown. Jenn was already awaiting our arrival. "How long have you guys been here?" I asked as she walked up.

"Just a couple of hours. We slept a little late. How was your ride?"

"Awesome." Austin grinned. He kissed my cheek before running his bags over to the bus.
"That...was the cutest thing I've ever seen!"

"You don't even know the half of it, dude. He's so precious." I leaned against the car and sighed happily.

"Hey Jess?" Alan leaned out of the bus and yelled for me.

"What's up?" I jogged up and asked.

"Austin wants you to ride on the bus with us for the remainder of the time you'll be here. We're gonna hitch up your car at bus call tonight."

"Where am I gonna sleep?"

"In my bunk with me, silly." Austin came down behind him on the stairs.

"Oh, okay." I smiled. "That's fine with me."

"I figured it would be. You guys all ready to go for sushi?" He called back to the guys.

"I want to take Jess to meet Monte and Robert, if that's okay... just real quick."

Austin held out his hand and nodded, "Sure, we can wait."

Jenn and I walked to the other bus and went right in. TJ and Craig were sitting on the couch playing video games and Monte and Robert were watching. "This is my friend I was telling you guys about, Jess. She's the one who made this all possible." Jenn smiled when she introduced me.

They stood up to give me a couple hugs. "We're glad you got her to us. I don't think we'll ever let her leave now. She makes Craig too damn happy."

I saw exactly what he meant. Craig had already made Jenn sit beside him and was sneaking in kisses every few seconds. Their smiles were genuine. Maybe one day Austin and I would be like that. "It was no question that I had to take her to as many shows as I could. That's her man there, she deserves to see him."

Jenn had loved Craig for as long as I could remember, and each time they met, they got closer and closer. I guess this was the tipping point for the two of them. I was beyond happy for her.

"Go get sushi with your guys, we'll catch up sooner or later." She smiled at me.

"Alright, you guys have a good one." I waved goodbye and headed back off the bus. I ran right into Austin. He dangled my keys in front of my face. "Jeez, impatient!" I winked.

He yanked me close to him and kissed my temple, "Yeah, I am impatient. What of it?"

Austin POV

This morning and the drive had been fun. I learned more about Jess, and how compatible we were. Sure, I met tons of beautiful fans every single day, but she let me in. And not just in a physical way (Thanks Alan) but in a way that I hadn't connected with someone in such a long while. We'd both been hurt, that much was certain, but we both still had hope.

So even though they all called me on being too giddy or smiling 24/7, I wasn't going to deny that this girl is probably my next girlfriend.

"You alright?" Phil asked me, shaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah," I nodded, smiling, "I'm good."

"You kinda zoned out there for a few."

"Probably thinking about that Jess girl." Alan said, not looking away from the video game he was into.

"Man, Aus, you got it bad, don't you?" Tino chuckled.

I could feel my cheeks burning. I didn't get embarrassed so easily, especially around them.

"Just...stop giving me shit for it, okay? I actually like this girl."

"We're kidding! We want you to be happy. Just need to fuck around with you a little, that's all." Alan smacked my shoulder.

"Promise me you guys will be nice while we go have lunch?"

"Scout's honor."

I pulled myself up and walked out of the bus over toward ETF's bus. I paced back and forth, reading over the text conversation I had with Alan. I hadn't told any of the guys what we had done except him. He seemed to like Jess for me, but I was uncertain of the way she felt.

He reassured me that I was just being nervous and that maybe we'd work things out given some time.

She walked off the bus a couple of minutes later. I dangled the keys in her face.

"Jeez, impatient!" She jokingly called and winked.

"Yeah, I am impatient, what of it?" I pulled her over to me and kissed her temple.

"Oh, nothing." She smiled and looked up at me to give me a kiss.

Aaron stayed back in the bus while we all went back downtown to get sushi. We ordered over a hundred bucks worth of sushi rolls to split. Jessica was completely comfortable around the guys too, talking about video games, some jokes, and her love of Japanese anime.

"I'm a huge fucking geek, it's ridiculous." She laughed as she dipped what seemed to be her favorite of all the sushi into her soy sauce.

"Geek or not, you're badass." Alan smiled. "Besides, I'm willing to bet Austin will watch anime with you if you're down to watch Star Wars with him."

"Ohmygod," She held up a finger while she chewed up her sushi. When she swallowed, she continued, "At my mom's boyfriend's house, we had like seven lightsabers and my little step brother used to dress up as Darth Vader all the time. And then of course, we have little replicas of the USS Enterprise cause I was the Trekkie of the family. Live long and prosper." She held up her hand like Spock.

My eyes must have visibly lit up.

"So how would you feel about being a Carlile?" Tino laughed.

Her cheeks went red again and she covered her face. The guys all laughed and she just kept being herself even though she was clearly embarrassed.

We all started dishing about the Disney movies we loved and she admitted she was a child of Nickelodeon, still watching Spongebob on Saturday mornings when she got off work.

"But there is a dark side to you, right? It's not just Star Trek and Spongebob." Phil inquired.

"You're right. I'm mostly about the guts and gore and trying to be scared out of my wits. I've watched every episode of the Walking Dead three times and I once met the owners of Black Craft Cult and nearly bought our their store." She laughed, "I guess I really am that dark princess."

"Nothing wrong with that." I looked into her eyes, "Sometimes you need that darkness." She just smiled at me.

If she was trying to scare me away, it wouldn't work. The darkness in her was something I could get used to, and knowing her past, I know I wouldn't have to worry about her not handling herself.

After we finished eating and boxing up leftovers, we all went back to the venue. "Do you still do yoga? I saw that yoga pic on your Instagram and I think it would do me some good tonight before the show." Alan asked her while we were walking to the bus.

"Yeah, I do actually. I was gonna do a small set of stretches while I waited out today. You can join if you want."

"Do you, err, have a spare mat?"

"Of course I do. C'mon, let's go beside the buses there."

Well that's why she's so flexible then, I thought to myself as I watched her teach Alan some basic stretches. They stretched for fifteen to twenty minutes and afterwards, Alan said that he felt refreshed and "wiggly."

I walked off to the bus for a little while and got onto the laptop, searching for a date idea once we got back to Huntington. The only problem was getting Jess to come west coast for it.