Maggie's phone has been going off nonstop for the last couple hours. She keeps letting it go to voicemail, ignoring her fiancé's incessant calling. "You should really answer that." Morgan breathes out, gripping her hips as she presses her hands against his sweaty chest. "Riley-"

"Shut up about Riley." She orders, bringing his hands to her breasts as she starts picking up her pace, her head falling back. "Oh god..." Morgan's phone starts going off now. "What the-" She reaches over and grabs it for him.

"Hello?" He asks, biting his lip as he tries to steady his breathing. "Hardy, what's up?" He moans softly as his ex girlfriend starts rolling her hips again, her lips pressing against his neck and jaw, moving down his throat to his chest. "Uh no, haven't seen her. Maybe she's uh with her mom? I think she said somethin- fuck-" He bites his lip so hard that he could've drawn blood. "Somethin' 'bout seein' her the other day." That's a pretty good lie. "Huh? No I just, uh, stubbed my toe- goddammit- I gotta go." He rushes out before tossing his phone to the side. Morgan wraps his arm around Maggie's waist and flips them, bringing one of her ankles up to rest on his shoulder.

Soon, they've got each other totally exhausted, their chests heaving as they fight to catch their breaths. "I should probably get home." She mumbles, running her hand through her hair as she sits up.

"Or," Morgan runs his hand over her back. "You could stay here for a little longer since everyone thinks you're in North Carolina."

She glances back at him with tired eyes. "You're such a bad influence." She chuckles, flopping back against the messy sheets. He smiles as he lays with her, their legs dangling over the edge of the bed, his arm behind her head while she messes with his fingers.

This feels so wrong

But so fucking right.

=

Maggie caught her father in bed with another woman- awoman that isn't her mother. She's angry and hurt and disgusted. She runs to her car and speeds off to the baseball field; Morgan's been there since school let out.

She sits silently on the bleachers with a big ass tub of bubble gum in her lap. Morgan's been busy with pitching exercises since she's gotten there so he hasn't seen her yet.

The coach calls the team in to wrap up their practice and soon Morgan is on his way to the parking lot. "Hey." He nods to the girl leaning against his truck. "You okay?" He asks when he sees her flushed cheeks.

"I- Yeah, I'm fine. You looked good out there." She gives a smile as she drops the tailgate and hops on. "Real good."

"Thanks." He sighs. "What's up?"

"My dad's cheatin' on my momma." She shakes her head, quickly brushing tears away. "Fuckin' idiot."

"Holy- I'm so sorry, Gracie."

"And she's leavin' us. She's movin' to Asheville without me." Morgan's heart aches at those words. She's always been super close to her mom. "She said I gotta stay here and graduate and that's why she's not takin me." He says nothing as he wraps his tired arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry." She hops off the tailgate.

"Where're you goin'?"

"I don't know."

"You can stay at my house. Folks are outta town for a couple of weeks."

"Really?" He nods as he gets to his cleat covered feet. "You're too kind."

"C'mon, I'll help you get some of your stuff."

Morgan keeps an eye on his girlfriend for the next few days, making sure she's taking care of herself. So far, she's gotten probably four hours of sleep in the last three days but she keeps insisting she's fine. She's fine and doesn't need a 'goddamn babysitter'. She's been avoiding her dad, his mistress, her momma, and the chance to even have a conversation about this with Morgan.

She doesn't want to talk about it.

Maggie's been pretty much silent as she's been up all day and night, busy with writing down different melodies and lyrics, trying to create songs with the mess her brain puts out onto her notebook paper. Half of her words are smudged from her left hand rubbing over the wet ink of her favorite black pen. She rubs her eyes, groaning loudly as she lays on the floor of her boyfriends bedroom. Morgan's been busy working on some homework to keep his grades good for scholarship or whatever and she is bored out of her mind. She sneaks up behind him and runs her hands over his bare chest, leaning down to kiss his neck.

He hums and pulls away. "I- I gotta do..." Maggie spins his chair for him to look at her as she's wearing nothing but a pair of skimpy black lace panties. "Oh my-" She smirks as she backs herself to his bed, laying back against the sheets with him hovering above her, taking in every single inch of her body. She silently tugs on his sweats, pushing them down herself before stroking him a few times. He lets out a deep moan then grabs her thighs, pinning her knees to her chest as he slowly enters her.

Her boyfriend is balls deep in her; fucking her, but she can't stop thinking about they way her mom looked at her dad with pure heartbreak.

=

Maggie sighs as she looks at her fiancé asleep next to her. She had to bite the bullet and return home and she's incredibly unhappy now. She spent maybe three days with Morgan after his release and she loved it. They had that spark again; that spark they had in their teenage years. She actually enjoyed her time with Morgan and now that she's back home with Riley, that feeling is gone. The feeling that she doesn't have to chase with Morgan is gone when she's with Riley.

She shakes her head as she crawls out of bed and heads to the balcony with her pack of cigarettes. "I thought you said you quit smokin'." A deep sleepy voice says from the bedroom.

"It is what it is." She exhales, tapping the ash off against the railing.

"What's your problem?" He snaps, joining her on the balcony. "You've been in a mood since like last week."

"I'm fine."

"Bullshit." He rolls his eyes. "Talk to me."

"It's nothing, Riley." She sighs as she runs her hand through her hair. "It's probably just PMS."

"No, it's somethin' else."

Maggie huffs and shakes her head. "Just drop it." She flicks her cigarette butt out over the edge before standing straight.

"Wait." He stops her with a hand to the chest. "What's that?" Riley brushes her hair behind her shoulder before pulling the neck of her shirt down, his eyes going narrow at the sight of hickies and love bites that scatter her skin. "The fuck is that!?" She doesn't say anything as she pushes his hand away before she starts to walk away. Riley grabs her arm tightly, roughly. She spins and smacks him hard, her eyes going wide at what she just did.

Maggie takes a shaky breath in, running her hand through her hair. She looks over at her fuming fiancé with a bright red cheek as she sits down on the bed. "Who?" He demands, leaning against the dresser with his arms crossed.

There's no use in hiding it anymore.

"Morgan."

"Seriously? Seriously!?" He glares at the woman in front of him. "I knew- I knew somethin' was goin on when he called you when he was in jail." She's silent. "Have you guys messed around before?" She nods. "When!? Since we've been engaged!?"

"I think. I- I really don't remember. Maybe tour?"

"I can't believe this." Riley clenches his jaw as he shakes his head, looking away from her. "I cannot believe this!"

"It's not like I planned for it to happen! It just happened!"

"But it happened!" He shouts back, the vein in his neck popping out. "You let it happen! I knew somethin' bad was gonna happen-"

"Don't raise your voice at me."

"Get out." He says lowly after taking a deep breath. "Get out!"

"What-"

"Leave, Mags."

"Gladly." She scoffs as she grabs her purse then slams the front door shut behind her.

=

Morgan groans when he hears a heavy hand pounding on his door, hoping it's just a dream. He rolls over onto his side, mumbling something to himself as he drifts back to sleep.

Maggie huffs when there's no answer so she reaches beneath the welcome mat for the spare key and lets herself in. She lets out a frustrated huff as she drops her purse on the floor, climbing up on the counter to reach the liquor selection on top of the fridge. She grabs a cup from the cabinet and the carton of orange juice from the fridge to make herself a screwdriver. Mags grabs a bottle of whiskey in one hand and her drink in the other before sitting herself on the couch, kicking her feet up on the coffee table.

A couple hours later, Morgan rubs his eyes as he makes his way to the kitchen. "Mags?" He stops in his tracks as he looks over the mouth-breathing, sleeping girl on his couch. He smiles as he makes a pot of coffee.

She stirs, her empty cup falling to the floor. "Hey." She mumbles, stretching and groaning at her nasty headache. "Mornin'."

"Mornin'." He nods back, handing her a cup of coffee the way she likes it. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothin'."

"You're on my couch." He says, sitting in the recliner next to her.

"Riley and me got into a fight." She yawns, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Is it cool if I crash here for a couple days?"

"Oh yeah, absolutely." He nods, taking a sip of his coffee from his Hancock County Co-op mug.

"Oh!" She slowly gets up and heads to his music room to grab his guitar. "Listen to this!"

She clears her throat.

"There's all day thinkin' time, all night drinkin' time an' time to sing or time to find if rhyme has a reason..."

"Nice." He nods. "I like it."

The two sit and brainstorm some more blurbs of songs for a couple hours before Maggie suddenly breaks down crying, her head in her hands. "Hey, hey, hey-" Morgan puts his arm around her, pulling her close. "What- what's wrong?"

"God- it's nothin'." She clears her throat and shakes her head. "I gotta get some shit from home." Maggie grabs her shoes and purse before heading to her car. "You comin'?"

"Uh- Riley don't like me."

"Riley's at the studio. C'mon."

=

"Y'all stayin' together?" Michael asks from his spot at the table in the break room of the studio.

"I dunno." Maggie sighs, running her hand through her hair. "I love him, y'know?"

"Which one?"

She gives him a look before standing. "I gotta go." She grabs her purse and heads back home- to Riley's house.

Mags pushes the door open and sighs when she sees him. "Can we talk?"

"About what." He snaps back, crossing his strong arms across his strong chest.

"Us." She sits at the table across from him.

"You mean you cheatin' on me?" He says gruffly after taking a swig from his beer. "Or lyin' to me?"

She rolls her eyes. "I've been thinkin'-"

"Oh great."

"I can't marry you no more, not after what happened. It's not fair."

He scoffs. "You're not even gonna offer to work this out." He shakes his head. "Whatever. Just get your stuff and go." He stands, hitting his palms against the table.

"Riley-"

"Don't. Just go." Maggie's heart feels incredibly heavy as she starts to gather her things, sliding her cased guitars in her backseat beneath her keyboard, majority of her things packed up in her trunk. "See you 'round, I guess."

"I guess."

Maggie takes a deep breath as she sits in her car. She's got no where to go. She doesn't want to invite herself to live with Morgan. No, he's gotta ask her to move in so she decides to head to Asheville, North Carolina to see her mom for the first time in years.