5 years later I was sitting on the porch of my house looking back on my life as I waited for Melissa to come over so we could head off to our new home where we were going to college. We both had been accepted to Vanderbilt University in Nashville. We planned to leave here tonight and drive straight up there. We rented a u-haul and my dad and her dad were driving up there with us to help get us settled in. We decided to go shopping for a place up there before the new school year and found a cute apartment in the heart of Nashville. Both of our parents were helping us with the bills so we didn’t have to really work and we could just go to school full time. I couldn’t believe we were both almost 19 years old and going into college.

“You ready?” asked my mom.

“Yeah I guess,” I replied. “I’m gonna miss you so much.”
“I know I’m gonna miss you too,” my mom started. “But remember you’ll be home for the holidays and we’ll try and come up as many times as we can. I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said as we hugged and my mom kissed my check.

“Trucks all packed,” my dad interrupted.

“Thanks daddy,” I replied looking at him. “Melissa should be over any minute.”
“I’m here now,” Melissa spoke up as she walked up towards the house.

“You ready to hit the open road?” I asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she answered. “But we better get on the road before its too late.”

“Yeah I guess so,” I replied. “We’ll call you as soon as we get there mom. I love you. I’m gonna miss you.”

“I love you too,” my mom said as we both started to cry. “Don’t cry your gonna make me cry. Now get going and call me. I love you.”

“I love you too,” I replied as I got in the car and we drove off. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this can you?”

“No but its gonna be fun,” Melissa smiled.

“Yep,” I responded. Over the past few years with Nick losing touch with us Melissa and I, we became best friends. We did almost everything together even played on the girls football team at school. We were good too, we came in first in our district.

******

“Oh my gosh look at this place Taylor,” Melissa said as we walked in the front door of our apartment. “Can you believe this is ours?”

“I can’t look at this amazing view,” I replied as I looked over the balcony of our 10th floor place and shut my phone. I had just finished talking to my mom. “My mom said hi.”

“Oh tell her I said hi back next time you talk to her,” she spoke as she walked around.

“Ok Who gets what room?” I asked.

“I say their both about the same size so lets break a toothpick in half and the person with the bigger piece gets the better room in the back,” she suggested as she pulled out a toothpick. We both broke the toothpick and I ended up with the short piece but who cared they were both great rooms.

“I think we should paint the walls before we put everything in its permanent spot,” I said as I looked around my new room. I thought of great colors and a great way to do up my room. Both our parents had kept our beds and everything in Tampa while we brought only our clothes, books, and important stuff we really wanted to bring and couldn’t live without. Our parents saved up a couple thousand to let us get this place fixed up. We decided to sleep on a blow up mattress and the next day go buy paint and paint the place then go search for furniture. “So you think a hot pink and nice bright green would be cute for my room?”

“That sounds so cute,” she replied. “How about a cute light pink, light blue, and light yellow for my room?”

“That sounds too cute and what about the other rooms?” I asked.

“The living room needs to be something like a deep nice green with tan trim,” she answered. “With the bathroom a nice country theme since we are in Nashville.”

“Oh my gosh that sounds so cute,” I replied. “And the kitchen can have a cute light green, light yellow, white, and light blue to it. With cute bowls to match.”

“Oh my gosh that is perfect,” she responded. “What time is it?”

“10,” I replied. “Tomorrow we need to find the closest Home Depot or Lowe’s and get some paint and supplies and start right away at this place. But for right now I wanna get some shut eye cause I’m super tired.”

“Me too,” she agreed as we grabbed our small bag of a few clothes we pack to get to easily and pumped up our blow up bed. “Night.”

“Night,” I replied.

******

“Morning wanna go get some breakfast then go find some paint shop?” Melissa asked.

“Yeah just let me throw on a pair of pants and my shoes and I’ll be ready,” I answered.

“Ok,” she replied as I went off to get ready.

Once back I grabbed my purse out of the front room and we headed out.

We got down to the bottom of our apartment complex and walked out the door to see Downtown Nashville all around us. I looked to my left and then to my right and found my car and got in it and went riding around looking for a place to eat. We ended up at some local restaurant that looked so good and it was.

“Excuse me,” I said to our waitress.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Where is the closest and cheapest place we can find paint?” I asked.

“Umm there should be one not that far,” she replied as she told us how to get there.

“Thanks,” we both said at the same time as we paid and left to get some paint.

“Ok lets go get our paint cause I feel like painting right now,” Melissa spoke up as we drove out of the parking lot.

“Me too,” I agreed. “I so wanna get a cute bed spread that matches the walls.”

“I know,” she replied. “Today we’ll start on your room then go to my room and then the kitchen and then the bathroom and end in the living room with painting cause our rooms come first.”

“Yes they do,” I agreed. “I think the bathroom should be white and black since the bathtub is black and white already.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” she said as we drove onto the interstate. “We are gonna have a house with each room being completely different. I know I’m gonna probably change my mind on what color my room is gonna be once we get there.”

“Yep me too,” I agreed as we got off the interstate and saw the Home Depot in sight.

They found the store and once there went straight towards the paint. They found tons of great colors. The bathroom they got like they said they would black and white paint and for the living room they got a cute tan and deep green color. For the kitchen they went with light colors that they would get matching plates and bowls for later. Their rooms said a lot about them. Melissa’s room was gonna be like a country theme. She had brown, black, yellow, green, and bright blue all going onto her walls. My room on the other hand was gonna be just bright green and hot pink. We soon after putting our paint in to get made went and go supplies to start painting with. After that we got our paint and paid and left.

******

“This kiss this kiss,” I started to sing as I painted my room with the radio on loud enough for me to hear.

Melissa helping me paint my room as she began to sing with me, “This kiss this kiss.”

As the song ended so did we with my room. I took turned off the radio and placed it in Melissa’s room and plugged it in.

“Ready to start your room?” I asked.

“Yep I so want to get the house painted by the weekend at least,” she answered. It was Monday and we wanted to have the place painted all the way by the weekend so we could start shopping for furniture soon. We had just had pizza for lunch and were getting ready to start on Melissa’s room. My room looked awesome with hot pink walls and a bright green boarder. “Ok lets see I want my walls to be painted brown and then when it dries I wanna write Nashville on the biggest wall. Then I want to have a boarder in bright blue.”

“That sounds so cute,” I replied. “I’m so glad we got a small thing of green and yellow cause we don’t need a big one for this room when its different then the kitchen colors.”

“Yep,” she agreed as we started to paint the walls brown and the trim bright blue.

We had a great time painting the room but as it got later we got more hungry so just as we finished we cleaned up as much as we needed and ran out and picked up some McDonald’s and came back to the apartment. We had dinner and then finished any details we missed before we left and let it dry as we went to bed.

******

Before we both knew it the whole place was done with furniture and all. My room was so cute I had a canapé bed that had some netting coming down the sides of it. Melissa had a country style bed that matched her room so good. The whole place looked amazing. We had gotten our TV hooked up and our computer too.

School would start in a few weeks and we couldn’t be more excited. We were only blocks from the school so we just had to walk there.

“Taylor did you just see who is coming to town?” Melissa asked as I laid next to her on the couch trying to take a nap.

“No who?” I asked still half asleep.

“Nick,” she answered.

“No,” I replied with a shocked look on my face.

“Yeah they say they have a concert here,” she informed me.

“Wow,” I said thinking about Nick for the first time in months. “I don’t think we’re gonna see him. You know how famous he is now he probably completely forgot about me and you.”

“Your probably right but who knows,” she replied. “But then again we don’t have a chance in the world at running into him at all.”

“Yep,” I agreed. “Hey I’m gonna go to bed early I’m so tired I can’t stay up any longer.”

“Ok I’ll be in bed soon too I’m getting tired,” she yawned. “Night

“Night,” I replied as I walked into my room and put on my pajamas and crawled into my nice warm bed.

******

4 years later at Melissa and mine’s college graduation I looked at all the family that had shown up for us and a few of our close friends from Tampa too. I had followed my passion for entertainment and went into entertainment management while Melissa followed her dream and became a radio broadcaster at a local radio station. We remained living together all the years and were still best friends. Melissa had been dating a boy who went to school with us during our junior year. They were getting really serious, I predicted they’d be engaged soon and I’d be alone in my apartment with my dog, Lucy. I had a job already lined up for me as soon as I got out of school starting to co-manage a country group that had only been out for about 2 or so years. I couldn’t wait to meet them and get to see what their like. I was given their first CD and it was really good. I liked their sound and couldn’t wait to meet them.

But first things first I had to graduate first. Which I had just done less then an hour ago.

“My baby’s a college graduate,” my mom smiled as she hugged me. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks mom,” I smiled as I hugged her back.

“So Melissa you got any jobs lined up?” asked my dad.

“Yeah I interned at the local radio station and they decided to hire me full time to work the night shift from 7 to midnight,” Melissa answered.

“Great I’d love to hear it next time I’m in town and your on,” my mom added.

The day went on and we had a great time.

******

“Today’s my big day,” I said as I walked into the kitchen to get some breakfast dressed in a nice outfit. “I hope the guys are nice.”

“Well good luck I have to be in tonight,” Melissa replied. “Hey if you want you can have the guys stop by the station and I can let them have some air time if you want.”

“You can?” I asked.

“I don’t know but I mean their first single went to what like #3 so I think if they wanted they could just come on in,” she replied.

“Well I don’t know if we’d come in cause we have a huge meeting today,” I said as I looked down at my watch. “I’m gonna be late if I don’t head out now. Wish me good luck.”

“Good luck,” she responded.

“Thanks I’ll see ya later,” I ran out the house with my purse and folders I needed. I then got on the elevator and once off ran out to my car and off to work.

While in the car I turned on Melissa’s radio station because it always played good music and they had Keith Urban playing.

I soon drove up to the record label building for Lyric Street Records. I parked in the closest parking spot I could find and quickly looked at myself in the mirror to double check how I looked. I then got out and straightened my skirt and shirt and grabbed my purse and folders then headed inside.

“Hi Ms. Adams your wanted in the conference room as soon as you can get in there their all ready for the conference today earlier then expected,” the lady at the front desk informed me.

“Thanks,” I replied as I walked into my office and go ready then walked down to the conference room. “Morning.”

“Morning Taylor,” said my co-manager Steven Marshall. “This is Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, and Joe Don Rooney. Their Rascal Flatts.”

“Hi I’m Taylor Adams nice to meet you all,” I replied as I shook each of their hands. “So you ready to get down to work so we don’t have to stay too much longer then we need to be here.”

“Great,” replied Gary. “We have all these awards shows coming up this October through November and then in like February there’s a few more.”

“Great lets get to work on them,” I replied as I opened my planner.