Sadie Robertson as Daniella 'Dani' Hunt

Daniella is sitting in a small coffee shop in the heart of Knoxville as she works on her thesis for her Law in American Society class. She's sitting in a back corner with a textbook open and a highlighter in her hand. She decides to take a break and get some more coffee and maybe a cookie for working so damn hard. She hums along to the song playing on the radio, Luke Combs' She Got the Best of Me. After that track ends, the DJ introduces a 'brand new song' "this next one is a new one from an up and comin' artist, here's 7 Summers by Morgan Wallen."

Her heart stops as she stands in the middle of the shop with her mouth open. "Did she just say Morgan Wallen?" She asks the guy behind the counter, he nods in response. She stands there for the whole song, listening to the lyrics, they have to be about her. She had no idea that he could sing, he's never mentioned anything related to music before, besides singing in the church choir where his dad preaches.

"Whoever he wrote that about must've broke his heart." The DJ says, making Dani's cheeks heat up. "We have George Strait comin up after this."

Dani makes her way back to her table. There's no way that he wrote he wrote that about her, they haven't talked in years, not since that day she moved into her dorm. She just shakes it off and tries to go back to writing her paper, instead she zones out and starts thinking about her ex-boyfriend.

+++

"Hey Miss Dani." Michael Hardy, her closest friend, says, grabbing her shoulders to give them a playful squeeze. "What's up?" He sits across from her in the small cafe. Hardy is a musical prodigy, he's always had the gift of songwriting, something this town always needs.

"Just been chuggin' away on my thesis for law."

"That's awful."

"Hey, do you know Morgan Wallen?"

"Of course I do. He and I are buddies."

"Since when!?" She shouts, everyone in the shop looks at her.

"I dunno. We met at a party a couple years ago and hit it off." He shrugs. "How do you know him?"

"I don't."

"Yeah you do. If you didn't, you wouldn't have brought 'em up." She rolls her eyes. "Spill."

"We grew up together." She shrugs. "And dated for a while."

"Really? How come I never knew this?"

"I dunno. I guess I kinda just pushed him outta my head until I heard a song of his on the radio."

"Which one? He's gettin' time on the radio?"

"Somethin' about summers." Michael gives her a shit eating grin. "What?"

"He loves that one."

"How'd you know?"

"He told me, had me help him brainstorm and an old relationship came to his head. He said he misses what that was." She shakes her head. "Seriously." He digs around in his bag for a thick folder of papers.

"I have an extra binder if you need it, I also have those dividers too to organize yourself."

"I'm fine, darlin'." He says, filtering through the mess. "Just need the syllabus for Young, he said we have to write an original song for the final, said he assigned it on the first day."

"That's why I keep everything organized in a binder with dividers." She says quietly, giggling at a look he gives her. "Just sayin'."

"You're always just sayin'." His phone starts ringing, Morgan Wallen coming up on the screen. "Hey man...Nah, just hangin out with my friend while she's workin on shit... yeah she's cute..."

"You're gross." She comments.

"Yeah, you'd like her." Michael points to his phone. "She's definitely your type, little bit of a hell rasier." He winks at his friend. "I'll have to introduce the two of you when you're in town next."

"Fuck you, Hardy." She mutters.

"What's that? You'll be stoppin' in Knoxville next month? Perfect! Finals will be over and she'll be as free as a bird." She flips him off. "Alright, talk to you later." He hangs up and smirks at Dani. "He's looking forward to meeting you."

"You're a piece of shit, you know that? If you set us up together and he finds out you're messing with him you'll break his heart."

"Sounds like somebody still cares."

"He probably won't even remember me, too busy livin' that rock star life."

"'Cause country music is so rock and roll." The two chuckle and sit in the coffee shop for a little while longer before deciding to leave and head back to their shared apartment.

+++

Dani and Michael have been living together since they met in an off campus bar, Susie Q's. Hardy told her she was beautiful and asked if she wanted a drink, she said he could buy one for her it if she won in a pool game. They ended up talking for hours, becoming fast friends. He's up all hours of the night with random melodies he comes up with, tapping his keyboard or strumming his guitar while she's trying to study and prepare for law exams.

Tonight is one of those late nights.

Michael is up at two in the morning, using a pick against the metal strings of his acoustic, she's asked him plenty of times to use this thumb on his acoustic or a pick on his unplugged electric so he can still get sound but she can also sleep. "C'mon now." Dani grumbles as she gets out of her bed, pulling a big sweatshirt, it's probably one of Morgan's, on so she can knock on his door.

"Who is it?" He asks in a feminine voice, she can't help but chuckle as she opens the door. "What's up girly?"

"Can you not use a pick against -"

"Sorry, I forgot about that." He gives her an apologetic smile. "Now that you're up, what do you think about this?" He starts strumming a few cords, humming some melody along with it.

"That's real nice, Michael." She nods. "How long have you been up?"

"Since," he turns in his chair to look at the alarm clock, "six am."

"That was like twenty hours ago, Mike. You gotta sleep."

He waves her off. "I'll sleep when I'm dead. Go away, I'm creating."

"Creatin' my ass." She mutters, closing the door to his room before heading out to the kitchen. She's probably not going to back to sleep so might as well just stay up. She grabs a slice of pizza from the box kept in the oven then sits on the couch with her phone, scrolling through her Instagram page.

Morgan Wallen's account is in the 'For You' page, she bites her lip as she stalks through his account. It's nothing but pictures of him with his friends and family and a couple of him with a guitar. She stops at a picture of him smiling that goofy little smile of his, it makes her heart ache. He looks the same except for the mullet he's decided to have. She sighs to herself when she realizes he's living his life the way he wants to, single and free. She's kind of glad that he didn't go to college, if he did he probably wouldn't be living the way he is now, happy. Dani sighs again as she tosses her phone onto the coffee table, staring up at the dark ceiling, trying to drift back to sleep.

+++

"Daniella, you're gonna be late for your final!" Hardy shouts to her the following month as he's rushing around the apartment.

"Shit." She stands and dresses, pulling a pair of jeans on with her sneakers. She quickly brushes her teeth as she pulls her hair into a bun. She rinses her mouth, grabs her bag, then heads out the door to her last final of the semester.

After two hours, she finishes it up and walks around the campus for a little bit. She sits on the steps next to the university sign, putting her earbuds in to drown out the campus noise as she looks over her thesis paper for the last time. "Whatcha got there?" A male voice asks, she doesn't hear him. He taps her shoulder, scaring her. "Sorry, thought you heard me."

She tugs her earbuds out, "what?"

"Hey, I'm Ernest."

"Ernest?"

"Ernest. You look super familiar." He says, sitting next to her.

"Yeah, twenty two thousand students and I'm familiar?"

"You're just a stand out kinda girl."

She chuckles. "Are you flirtin' with me, Ernest?"

"Tryin' to." He smiles at her. "What's your name, darlin'?"

"I'm Dani." She holds her hand out for him to shake. "Nice meetin' you, Ernest." She says as she stands.

"Where ya off to?"

"Well, if you must know, the law building, I have a thesis to turn in."

"You're a law major?"

"I am. What're you?"

"Ag Science." She nods. "Are you sure we haven't met before? I've definitely seen you before."

"I've never met someone named Ernest before." She shrugs, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. "Don't know what to tell ya." She starts to walk away.

"I know where I've seen you!" He shouts after her but she has her earbuds pressed into her ears as she walks to the north side of campus.