=

"I'm bored." Maggie whines from her upside down position on the leather couch in the recording studio. Her curls are brushing against the carpet while her pink toes are against the wall.

"Do you have another song to record?" Gus asks, spinning his chair to look at her.

"I don't have my notebook." She huffs. "It's on the kitchen counter at home."

"That's a shame." Gus shakes his head, spinning back to his soundboard. "Do the chorus again. Pick up to measure twenty." He tells Morgan.

Michael bursts into the lounge with big eyes. "Dude- you." He sits next to Maggie. "Have you heard this song?"

She grabs his phone from his hand and hits play on the YouTube video that's cued up. "Is that-? That's Matt."

"But I've been from Savannah to Long Beach tryna keep your memory outta reach, but there you were in the Delta nights, the Santa Fe sun, Colorado sky. I could add another push pin to the map but that don't stop me from missin' you or lookin' back. Guess there's still one place I haven't gone, I've moved everywhere but on..."

Maggie sighs, pausing the video before sliding his phone onto the table in front of her. She stands and silently slips out the door. "What's that about?" Morgan asks as he comes from the booth.

"Matt Stell put out a song called 'Everywhere But On'." Michael fixes his Nuttin Fancy hat. "Sounds like it's 'bout her."

"Riley put out an album and thanked her for breakin' his heart."

"Don't get any ideas." He teases.

"Okay, fine! If those boys wanna play it that way, I'll fuckin play it that way, too." Maggie huffs, grabbing her keys off the table. "I'm going home to write some good ass songs and I'll be back when they're done to record 'em, okay? Gus?"

"Yeah sure. Just let me know and I'll be here."

"Awesome, thanks. See all y'all later." And with that, Magnolia is out the door to head home.

=

"No, no, no!" Mags shouts, throwing a pillow across the room. "That's fuckin stupid!" She drops herself on the floor and groans. She's been working since she got home over twelve hours ago. "Morgan! Would you stop makin' all that goddamn noise!?"

Morgan jumps with a mouthful of sandwich and wide eyes. "What?" He asks timidly.

"I can't get one fuckin minute of peace and quiet!" He shrinks back against the couch. "Holy shit!"

"Mags-"

"No! This ain't good enough! It's gotta really shit on 'em!" Her voice is shaky as she crumbles up a piece of paper. "God!"

"You need to take a break, baby." He says softly, squeezing her shoulder. "You can't force 'em words outta your head-"

"Leave me alone." She pulls away from him. "I gotta get this done!" Morgan sighs before grabbing her favorite pen out of her hand. "Hey!" He stays quiet as he throws her over his shoulder. "Put me down!" He does but drops her on the bed. "What the hell, man!?"

"You're taking a break." He says as he leans over her.

"No! I can't! I-" Morgan claps a hand over her mouth.

"Take a goddamn break!" He shouts back at her. He's raised his voice at her like this once before and it didn't go over well. "You're gonna drive yourself up the fuckin wall if you don't!" He feels her bottom lip trembling under his hand and sees tears in her eyes. "Understand!?"

"Fuck off!" She shoves him away. "Don't yell at me." Maggie climbs into her bed and tucks herself in. "I'm takin' a break because I wanna take a break, not because you're yellin' at me." Morgan silently leaves her alone to cry to herself.

=

A few hours after Morgan joins his sleeping girlfriend in bed, he stirs awake, stretching his arm out only to be met with warm, empty sheets. He groans to himself, standing. He finds Maggie sitting on the front porch steps in the pouring rain. "Mags? What are you doin!?" He shouts, his voice drowned out by the storm and a clap of thunder. She doesn't respond. "Magnolia!" She jumps, looking at him over her shoulder. "The hell are you doin'!? You're gonna get sick!" He manages to get her into the bathroom for a shower to warm herself up.

Maggie keeps her arms tight around his neck, crying against him. "Woah-what's wrong?" He asks, letting them sit on the floor of the tub. "Babe-?"

"Everyone hates me."

"No, no baby. Not at all." She sobs with her face against his chest. "Why do you say that?"

"Matt and- and Riley-"

"Shh." He stretches his legs out around her and rubs her back. "You're exhausted-"

"Don't tell me how I'm feelin!" She shouts, leaning back. "I spent most of the last ten years like that and I can't-"

"Hey." He gently pulls her down. "I think you just need to take a break, get some sleep, some food, take a bath." She whimpers and nods. "Okay."

He gets a bath started for her then grabs her clean clothes, helping her relax to get some creative juices flowing.

=

Morgan grunts as he picks his duffel bag up from the shotgun seat of his truck, wincing as he slings it over his tender shoulder. He hates himself with every step he takes toward that front door, kicking himself as he uses his key to let himself in to the house. "Morgan, what're you doin' home?" His old man asks, anger lacing with his words.

"Nothing." He responds, heading up to his bedroom to gather his things. He's too upset to have a conversation with his father about anything right now; he just found out that Maggie had left- broke her promise.

Two can play at that game.

It takes him just shy of two hours to get his things packed up and into the bed of his truck. "Where the hell're you goin', boy?"

"Anywhere but here."

=

"Okay. I started recording a song the other week but I just got the first verse and chorus." Maggie says, digging through her notes for it. "Here it is!" Michael takes it and sits across from her at the kitchen table.

"This is kinda sexy." He says, reading the smudged words. "This is good."

"Thanks." She lights a cigarette. "Help me with it?"

"Sure." He nods, using his t-shirt to clean the lenses of his glasses. "Okay, let's see.

Love the fall, watching college football with my granddad. I love to hear the rain beating on the roof of an old red barn. I love the way Ray Charles sings about Georgia but there ain't nothin like Sunday mornings when you're lying in my arms."

She grins and writes it down, humming along with it as she figures out some chords. "And then go back to the chorus," she nods to herself. "Then end with it, yeah that's good." She squeals as she sets the finished song to the side then grabs another sheet with a random chunk of chorus scribbled down.

Maggie hands her guest her notes before standing and heading to the kitchen to get the dinner she made for them out of the oven. "I hope you're hungry." She hums.

"You cooked?" He asks somewhat nervously.

"Hey! I'm a decent chef!" She shouts back, dropping a slab of casserole onto a plate. "I cooked for you when we lived together!"

He chuckles. "Where's Morgan?"

"I don't really know." She shrugs, setting the plate on the table before sitting back down. "So back to Riley and Matt."

"Mm." He nods. "This is good." He says, pointing at an index card.

"W-where did you get that?" Mags asks, snatching the notecard from her best friend. He shrugs. "That's not- that's so old."

"But it's good, man." Michael says. "You ain't worth the whiskey."

"You think so?"

"Hell yeah. C'mon." He nods to her guitar before handing it to her. "Play a G then a Dm and then a C...add9." She does as Michael writes it down. "Buh- buh- buh." He hums, tapping his pen against the table. "G, Cadd9, Em-" he pulls a face. "Em7, D." He hums the chords, clicking his tongue with a beat. "G, Cadd9, Am, Gadd4, Cadd9, G."

"Genius. Fuckin' genius." She mumbles.

"Capo on two. It'll be in your range." He winks. She moves her capo from the head of the guitar to the neck onto the second fret before she hits the chord progression. "Sounds good, Mags!"

She squeals in response, sliding her notepad in front of her hand. "Words. Words, words, words."

The two sit and brainstorm for a few hours before the front door swings open. "Hey y'all." Morgan says, keeping his head down. "What y'all workin on?"

"This kick ass song." Hardy smiles. "This'll be the second one we've done today."

"That's great!" He tosses his jacket onto the couch before heading into the kitchen. "What're they?"

"You'll have to listen to 'em when they're recorded." She beams, packing her notes up before Morgan starts snooping. "Where were you at?" She notices his head is still down. "What're you hidin'?" He turns his back to her as she steps toward him. "Morgan."

He huffs as he looks up. "Woah." Michael says as he gets glimpse of his best friend's battered face. "What the hell happened to you?" His eyes run over his busted lip, nearly swollen shut eye, and the dried blood that's chunked below his nose.

"Morgan!" She gasps, immediately going to the freezer for an ice pack that she wraps in a towel and shoves in his hand for him to hold against his bleeding face. "What- who-"

"I'm fine, baby." He mumbles. "See? I'm still upright and standin'." Morgan shrugs his way to the bedroom.

"Michael, honey, can I talk to Morgan alone?"

"Oh, I'm actually gon' head on home." He says then slips out the door with his things under his arm.

"What happened?" Maggie asks, leaning against the door frame.

"Ran into Riley." He admits, looking away. "Went to the bar with Gus after we recorded a couple songs and he was there."

"Are you serious?"

"Don't worry, babe, I handled it." He winces as he runs his fingers over his busted lips. "Asshole's got a mean right hook."

"He grew up workin' on a farm." She sighs, using the towel that was wrapped around the ice pack to clean up his nose. "I don't think it's broken, just bruised."

"Thank god." He locks eyes with her. "What?"

"You look so hot." She whispers, dropping her hands into her lap. "You okay?"

"I'm okay." He nods, taking a hold of her chin to bring her in for a kiss, wincing again when her nose bumps against his. Maggie pulls him down against her, her leg hooking over his hip.

"Fuck me." She breathes against lips, pulling on his blood spattered t-shirt. He peels it off and tosses it to the side, revealing his bruising ribs, her tank top following.

=

They're in between takes of a couple of her songs. Morgan has his head in her lap as Gus plays around with a couple tracks. Maggie is mindlessly playing with his growing hair while she's sings along with her voice that fills the speakers. "This is a good song, baby." Morgan mumbles, his eyes closed.

"I'm glad you think so." She whispers back, brushing her thumb across his cheek. He hums and relaxes further against the leather couch. "It's 'bout you."

His eyes slowly open. "Me? This is about me?" She nods. "Wow."

"Good shit, Mags." Christian says, poking his head into the room. "Is this in, uh, response to 'em songs that Matt and Riley put out?" She nods again. "Nice. Kinda like, what do em kids call it? Revenge?"

She snorts. "Somethin' like that."

"This'll go great on your second record."

"You're doin a second record?" Morgan asks as he sits up.

She grins and nods. "I'm kinda more nervous for this one than my first one."

"With how good your first one did, I wouldn't even sweat this one." Gus says, taking a sip from his big ass coffee mug. "It's a full length album, right?"

"Yeah, so you need like twelve songs, give or take a couple." Christian nods, his hands in the pockets of his slacks. "That won't be a problem, will it?"

"Absolutely not." Maggie nods. "I'll have 'em done as soon as possible."

"Great. Keep up the good work, Mags." Christian says before excusing himself from the room.

"I think that's enough pickin' today. We can keep goin tomorrow." Gus smiles, gathering his things up before leaving the couple.

"Twelve songs is a lot, Mags."

"Oh fuck off. I've written more than twelve songs for-"

"These are your songs, babe. Not songs for someone else."

"I know that." She sighs as she stands. "I've already got some good ideas." Maggie says as she heads out the door, Morgan scrambling behind her to catch up.