An Unsung Melody

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Mackenzie: Your minions are getting restless. Are you hiding out tonight or making an appearance?

Mackenzie: Let them know soon.

Mackenzie: Please

***

After a nap and a shower, Ashley looked through her piles of clothes, trying to decide what to wear. Despite Logan's assurance that she wasn't being compared to Nichole, she felt the need to wear something besides the most comfortable thing she could find.

Her personal choice would be to sneak into Justin's room and reclaim her favorite sweatshirt from his closet. However, there was something about this being his house that made the idea feel more personal for some reason.

After digging through her suitcase, she found some light washed cropped denim jeans with strategic rips in them. Britney had sent them to her so she figured they were in fashion. Hopefully. Britney loved to send her things that Ashley had no idea how to style.

She topped off the jeans with a black and gold Wonder Woman t-shirt that she wasn't sure Britney would approve of, but it felt exactly like her mood at the moment. She cuffed the sleeves and shrugged at her reflection that stood in the corner of the room.

With what she considered a low-key outfit, she let herself spend a little extra time on her makeup and hair. She curled her hair into long, loose curls, wondering if she was letting her hair get too out of control.

She snapped a selfie and sent it to her sister. To her surprise, her phone buzzed with an incoming Facetime Video and she immediately answered.

"Should I cut my hair?" she demanded when Britney's face appeared on her screen.

"You should not cut it, I love it," Britney insisted. Then gave her a searching smile, "Who did you dress to impress?"

Just seeing Britney's face made her smile, "What if I just dressed up for myself?"

Britney rolled her eyes, "If you had your choice, you'd be in PJ's or some oversized sweatshirt or something."

"True," Ashley admitted as she flopped onto her stomach on the bed, holding the phone out in front of her.

"Where are you?" Britney questioned, setting her phone down on something on her end as she put both hands under her chin.

"I'm at Justin's place in Memphis. He's having a songwriting collaboration gathering...or whatever he wants to call it. There's a few people here, they've been coming and going all week." She paused for a moment, "I might be falling a little bit in love with songwriting."

Britney watched her closely for a long moment. "Who's Superman, Ashley?"

Taken back, Ashley paused. She hadn't told Britney anything about the Superman song she'd recorded. "What do you mean?"

Britney took a deep breath, then seemed to make a decision, "Justin sent a copy of your song over to me. With some pictures of you. He wanted me to know that you're doing okay. I loved the song, it's very you and I love that you're willing to put that out there."

"Yeah...well, that has yet to be determined." Ashley looked away from the phone, "I haven't sent it over to Lance yet. I'm not ready for him to judge me on it yet."

"So...what's going on with you and Justin?" Britney came right out with the question no one else had asked her so bluntly.

Ashley felt her face warm at the question and she quickly shook her head, "Nothing." But then she couldn't keep herself from asking, "You're not even here, why would you ask if there is something going on between me and Justin?"