The next morning, Dani wakes to an empty bed. She sighs as she gets up, pulling on an oversized Hank Williams Jr t-shirt before going out to the kitchen. "Mornin' darlin'." Morgan smiles at her as he makes breakfast. "Hungry?"

"Sure." She nods, going to the coffee maker. "Want some?"

"Oh yeah." He says, flipping a pancake. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good, you?" She leans against the counter, looking up at him.

"I think that's the best I slept in years." She wraps her arms around his waist, giving him a tight squeeze. "Do you usually have somethin' with these?" He asks.

"I'd fry up some bacon but we don't have any." Dani says as she reaches up to the top shelf in the cabinet, Hardy got drunk and moved all the mugs up there to mess with her. She swears under her breath as she kneels on the counter top, grabbing two mugs.

"Y'know, I though you'd keep everything on the bottom shelves since you're short."

"I'm not that short." She rolls her eyes. "Michael just likes to be a dick." She says as she fills the cups with coffee.

"So, are you comin' back home?" He asks as they sit at the table.

"I don't know." She shrugs. "Are you?"

"I have my own place a few miles away from my parents."

"Is it that big old house with the wrap around porch?" She asks, she's always wanted to buy that house because of the porch, the view, and the creek access behind it.

"Yeah, it is actually." He says around a mouthful of pancake. "Talked the seller down and bought it."

"That's so exciting! You're a homeowner!"

"Yes ma'am." He nods, sipping from his mug. "Workin those fifteen hour long days at the farm really helped out. You should come by, I'll give you a tour."

"Sure." She smiles, sitting back in her chair. "So now that you're a country music star, what're you up to?"

"Well, yknow, just writin' more songs. Hardy said he's gonna help me out with a couple of 'em."

"That sounds like fun! He's a genius when it comes to that kinda stuff." There's a jingle of keys in the hallway followed by the lock scraping. "Speak of the devil. Mornin, Mike."

"Dani," he looks up, "and Morgan." He waggles his eyebrows. "How was your guys night?"

"Shut up." She playfully shoves him. "You stink. You smell like a whore and a bar, go shower."

"Yes ma'am."

"We'll save you some breakfast, okay?"

"Thank you." He says from the bathroom.

"Are you guys... yknow..." Morgan asks quietly, pointing his two pointer fingers at each other.

"Together?" He nods. "Oh no, no we're not. We're just friends."

Morgan breathes out a sigh of relief. "Good."

"Hey Morgan, since you're here, wanna get started on the songwritin'?" Hardy asks as he returns to the kitchen, his dark hair soaking wet.

"Yeah sure, I gotta run down to my truck and grab my guitar and stuff." He stands and grabs his keys off the counter. "I'll be right back."

Hardy sits next to Dani. "Nice to see young love together again."

She rolls her eyes. "We were both drunk. I'm sure it meant nothin to him. I don't want to get my hopes up if he thinks this is just casual."

"Of course I know, but I mean he didn't leave, Y'know? He was here when you woke up."

"He used to always get breakfast for us if we spent the night together, could just be a habit."

"We'll see." He says, shoveling food into his mouth. "We'll see what he write about today."

She rolls her eyes. "My dad wants me to come home for the week so you'll be by yourself." He gives her a grin. "I'll be comin back so no finding another roommate."

"Damn." The door opens, Morgan steps in with a beat up guitar case and a mess of papers. "Hey, Dani's got some binders with dividers if you want to be more organized." He teases her.

"Shut up!" She whines, shaking her head. "I gotta get packin'."

"Where you going?" Morgan asks as he sets his guitar case against the couch.

"Her dad wants her home for the week." Hardy answers for her.

"I leave tomorrow." She sighs as she cleans the dishes in the sink.

"So I'm livin by myself for the week." Hardy smiles, standing. "C'mon I got everything set up in my room." The two boys leave the kitchen. "You okay?"

"Oh yeah. I'm actually going home tomorrow too, but if I tell her I'm leavin' too, she'll think I'm followin' her." He says, unlatching his case, pulling out his matte black acoustic Gibson. He blows any dust off it before setting it in his lap under his arm. "It's a coincidence, I swear."

"Of course, man." Hardy nods, sitting in his desk chair. "So do you have any ideas started for your next song?"

"Yeah actually. I have a whole bunch of little ideas but they don't really go together." He huffs, going through his stack of paper scraps and napkins with words scrawled on them. "I have stuff like," he pulls a napkin out, "'I love you more than a beer when you ain't twenty one yet' and," he looks over the back of a menu, "stuff about my hometown but it's just a mess tryna think it through..." He stops when he sees an old faded picture of him and Dani. It's them laying in the bed of his truck with a lot of blankets and sleeping bags, he's shirtless while she's wearing that thin strapped red sundress she usually wears after they go swimming in the river. She's kissing his cheek as he's smiling his big dopey grin. "I hated when she had to leave." He whispers, his thumb running over her face in the picture. "She wanted us to leave town and start a life somewhere else but I couldn't just runaway, y'know, like this is my hometown."

Hardy nods as he scribbling down stuff on a piece of notebook paper. "I get that." He starts humming as he picks up his guitar.

Dani is packing her old duffel bag, she reaches into it and touches something she thinks is a receipt but it's a polaroid of Morgan standing shirtless at the foot of the bed with a cowboy hat on and a beer in his hand with the other throwing up the hang loose symbol. He's wearing that same cross necklace and belt buckle he had on last night. She blushes at the memory, this was the first time they slept together. She slowly sinks down onto her bed as she looks at the picture and she can't help but smile. She holds the picture to her chest before sliding it into her wallet, continuing to pack.

It's turned one am and the guys are still up jamming. Dani sighs as she goes to the kitchen to cook a frozen pizza for them. She was raised to take care of who ever she's with, her momma told her no one would love her if she didn't take care of them. After about twenty minutes it's done cooking and she cuts a few pieces up for them, grabs a couple beers and goes back to Michael's room. She knocks on the door. "Who is it?"

"Who do you think it is." The door opens. "I heard y'all were still up so I made y'all pizza and brought some refreshments." She says as she sets the stuff down on his desk. "Late night jam sesh, huh?"

"You know it, baby." Hardy says, twisting the Pabst Blue Ribbon open. "Thanks darlin'."

"You're welcome." She smiles, messing with the hem of her t-shirt. "How's it going?" She asks as she sits on the foot of his bed.

"Well, we got him all organized with his notes and combined some blurbs he had." He points to Morgan. "He came up with a killer melody and now we're just messin' around with chords and titles."

"That sounds amazing. Can you play a little bit of what you have?" They shrug and start strumming a few chords. "You need some minor chords in there. It'll be taken more seriously with a little bit of a darker sound, like if you keep it major it sounds funny."

"Gee thanks, missy." Hardy says as he looks down at his chord chart. "Huh."

Morgan chuckles. "What have I been tellin' you, Hardy?"

"Nothin'!" His chuckles turn into his cute infectious giggles, making Dani laugh to herself. "God why didn't I see that before?"

"You're welcome, by the way. Be sure to thank me when this thing goes triple platinum." She says to Morgan, running her hand through his hair to mess it up. She leaves them alone, Morgan watches her go.

"She's a smart girl, isn't she?" Hardy says.

"That she is." Morgan mumbles, still looking at the door.

"So who's this one 'bout?" Michael asks as he scribbles down her suggestions.

"Hm?" He asks, looking back at his buddy.

"Who's this one 'bout?"

"I-I don't- it's just-" he's blushing hard.

"Her, got it." He nods, adjusting his glasses.

"God, she used to read those romantic books where the girl in it ends up with the guy and it was like a fairytale for her. Her folks weren't happy together and she always said she wanted to end up with her prince charmin' when we were younger. I told her we would get married one day and that I'd buy the house down the road." Hardy sits there in silence, listening to him. "And then she talked about movin' away, getting out of that small town, and here we are." He shakes his head. "God, I love her." He admits. "She just has that feelin' about her, y'know?"

"She's a stand out kinda girl." He agrees. "Is this grounds for another song?"

"Let's just finish this one so I can find somewhere to sleep tonight." He mutters.

"You're staying on the couch in the other room." Hardy says. "Problem solved."

"Thank you, man."

They strum a few more chords before something clicks in Michaels head. He rushes to Dani's room and bursts in, waking her up. "What?" She yawns.

"Listen to this. C'mon!" He grabs her arm and pulls her out of her bed before he sits her on his. "Close your eyes and listen, okay?" She nods, flopping on her back against the bed. The two start playing the song while Morgan starts singing the lyrics they had written, she finds herself moving her leg in time with the strums. Dani sits up and looks at Morgan, he's focused on the papers in front of him. Hardy looks at Dani, she has tears forming in her eyes. They stop strumming and sit in awkward silence. "Well?"

"It's good. It's really good." She nods, taking a deep breath. She knows that some of those lines are from their relationship, if not the whole damn thing. She stands then heads back to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Does this song mean that he's over her or that he's still in love with her?

There's a knock on her door. "Go away, Hardy."

The door opens and Morgan shyly peaks in. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah." She mumbles from under her bedsheets. "It's a pretty song, Morgan. I promise."

"I'm not worried about that darlin'." He sits behind her on her bed, folding his hands together. "I'm supposed to be heading home tomorrow, too." She sits up. "I swear it's a coincidence and I'm not followin' you." She chuckles. "I could give you a ride home, if you want since we're going to the same place."

"Well, same town."

"Sure. Think about it." He pats her thigh, she sighs in response. "Hey, once we get home and get to that river, you'll feel better."

"I'm fine now." He shrugs. "What?"

"You're not the Dani I dated all those years ago."

"Pfft!" She waves her hand. "City livin' changes people."

"You can take the girl outta Sneedville but you can't take Sneedville outta the girl."