It's near midnight when Lottie bursts into Riley's bedroom. Christian had told her she's on the path to putting out her debut album so she's got to kick it into gear. She's been working on different songs since she got back from her meeting, that was at ten this morning. Riley was helping her brainstorm but he got tired and went to bed early like the old man he is.

"Wake up!" She says, flicking the bedside lamp. Riley groans and pulls the sheets over his head. Lottie huffs and suddenly tickles the bottom of his foot. He jerks from her touch and gives her a half asleep dirty look.

"What- what time is it?" He slurs out in a deep voice that makes Lottie's body heat up.

"Check this out!" She pulls him into a sitting position by his hand then shoves the sheet music at him. "What do you think?"

"I can't- I can't hear this, baby."

"N- duh! The words, though?"

"Yeah sure, it's good." He yawns, handing her the paper back before dropping his head onto his pillow.

"Riley!" She whines, running her fingers over his face then through his hair. "C'mon, I need your help." He lets out fake snores, the corner of his lips tugging at a smile.

Lottie huffs and straddles him, her legs on either side of his hips and her hands heavy on his chest. He cracks an eye open when he feels blood rush down south. He bites his lip, blushing bright red in the pale lamp light at the fact that his best friend is getting him hard so he wraps an arm around her waist and moves her to the side. She squeals and laughs, taking a mental note of the way her legs are hooked over his hips, the way her hands are pinned above her head and the way that his now unbelievably rock-hard cock is pressed right up against her barely covered pussy.

She's kind of into it.

She giggles quietly and bites her bottom lip. Riley moves a hand to her cheek, using his thumb to free her pretty pink lip from its entrapment between her teeth. His eyes linger for a second before he comes to his senses and pulls back.

Lottie's still giggling to herself as she sits up, ignoring the way the shirt she's wearing is bunched up over her hips and how the neckline slipped off her shoulder. Riley catches a glimpse at how beautiful yet fucking sexy she looks- effortlessly sexy and he clears his throat roughly.

The tension is suffocatingly thick.

Lottie hasn't talked to Morgan since that night he left her and Riley came to her rescue. She hasn't seen him either. She's been assuming that they broke up but she also doesn't want to talk to him again. She wasted two years of her life on him.

"I'm gonna go write some- some more." She says, standing and fixing her shirt. Riley nods, his eyes trailing down her back to her partially exposed ass, watching her walk out. He flops back against the mattress and exhales heavily, running his hand through his hair.

Lottie smiles shyly to herself as she sits on the couch, her legs criss-crossed with her guitar in her arms. She pulls the coffee table towards her, kicks her feet up and starts messing with some recording app she has on her laptop. She picks up her pen and starts writing down words that are swirling in her mind.

"Riley!" She shouts, standing and heading to the kitchen. "Ri!"

"Goddamn- what!?" He yells back as he makes his way to the heart of the home.

"Here." She hands him a beer and a rather large cup of what's probably whiskey then heads to the living room. "Just listen to this." Riley sighs as he sits next to her, kicking his feet up on the too-close coffee table after knocking his knees against the edge.

She picks up her guitar and presses the space bar on her laptop.

"'Round here, fast is how the grass grows. Lost is what you find on a back road. Proof's in the whiskey, red's in the dirt. And hard work stops at the fence row. We stand for the flag, and if you don't like it, we don't care 'cause we do things a little different 'round here..."

"That's nice but-"

"But what?"

"It ain't your vibe, Lot."

She rolls her lips into her mouth as she looks over what she's written then over at Riley. "What's my vibe then?"

"I dunno, a country Janis Joplin?" Lottie sighs as she shuts her laptop and pushes it away from her, her guitar leaning against the end table. "It's definitely a real good song, though."

They sit in a comfortable silence while she diddles around with the song. "You take it."

"Huh?"

"You take it." She repeats, shifting to face him with her legs still crossed. "Yeah, it screams Riley Green."

"Lot-"

"No, I can transpose it to fit your range and stuff." She nods to herself. "Yeah, this is definitely a boy country song."

"I can't just take-"

"Oh my god, Ri." Lottie huffs playfully. "Just take the damn song and credit me! That's it!" His jaw goes slack before a small ornery smile makes it way to lips. "What?"

"That was cute." Red colors her face from her neck to her ears. "Are you- are you blushin'?"

"Shut up." She mumbles, looking away. Riley's made her blush before but never this hard. "I- I-" She's stuttering over her own words. "I'm supposed to meet with a couple guys at Big Loud for some writin' thing in the mornin' and I'm kinda stressin' 'bout it."

"Why's that?"

"I've only ever written with you. It's gonna be weird writin' with other people."

"Sure but they can teach you stuff that you can share with me." He says, his arm behind her on the back of the couch. "What time?"

"One, I think."

"You should get some sleep." He rubs her shoulders. "C'mon."

"No, I can't sleep. I've got too much to do." She says, leaning forward to shuffle through her mess of sheet music. "I'm stressed."

"Just take a quick nap then."

"No."

"Lottie," She looks over again him with dark, tired eyes. "You gotta get some sleep." She starts to shake her head but it's short lived when Riley suddenly grabs her and tosses her over his shoulder.

"Riley!" She shrieks, gripping the back of his shirt. "Dude, what the hell!?"

Lottie grabs the back hem of his shirt and pulls it with her when he drops her on her back. She laughs, throwing the article of clothing back at him. Her deep blue eyes trail from his face down his exposed, toned upper body and she smirks.

"Get some sleep, Lot." He says, smirking back before disappearing down the hallway.

Lottie groans quietly, rubbing her face with her hands. She can't be getting these... tingly-in-the-pants feelings for her best friend, her rock.

+++

Lottie's sitting on the couch in a lounge by herself, she's ten minutes early for her jam sesh. Riley has been on her mind ever since last night, sexy and romantic situations actually. She's got some good song ideas from it though and she's ready to tackle them with a new crew.

She's reading over some ideas she scrawled down throughout her sleepless night, trying to tie them together into one song. She lifts her head when the door opens. "Oh hey." She says, smiling at a guy she's been wanting to get to know better.

"Michael Hardy." He says, offering his hand for a polite shake. "Lottie Cross?"

"That's me." She smiles. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah, you too." He returns the warm smile. "Who's all comin'?"

"I honestly have no idea." She laughs, tucking her notes into her folder. "Didn't even know you was comin'."

The door opens again and in walks Morgan fuckin' Wallen in all his heartbreaker glory.

Lottie's heart sinks and her cheeks warm up when they make eye contact. She picks at her lip as he sits on the couch next to her. "Charlotte." He says, kicking his boot clad over his knee. "Nice to see you again."

"Yeah." She mumbles back, taking a deep breath. Her heart is beating so hard in her chest that she can feel it in her head. "So, uh," She scratches the side of her head. "How does these thing work?"

"Well, I'm expectin' this time to be more progressive than the last time. We were writin' with Ern and he got too stoned to focus." Michael laughs. "We just kinda winged it."

Lottie smiles and she can start to feel herself relax. Sure she's stuck with her asshole of an ex-boyfriend but she's willing to put their history aside to move on in her music career.

They sit and talk for a few hours before ideas start flowing. "Y'all done finished a song in a few minutes." Lottie says, rubbing her eyes. "But this ain't my vibe." She reads over the title scrawled on the top of the page then over at her ex boyfriend. "It's yours."

"Huh?" Morgan takes the paper from her. "Whiskey Glasses, you're just givin' it to me?"

"Not just handin' it over. I want somethin' in return."

Michael snorts.

"What-" Morgan scoffs. "What do you want then?"

"I dunno yet." She gives him a smug look that has Michael laughing. "But when I figure it out, I'll let you know." Morgan rolls his eyes but there's a small smile on his face. "I need a break." She stands and stretches, her shirt riding up and exposing her midriff. She smirks when she catches Morgan looking.

"Y'all wanna get a drink?" Michael asks, leaning forward with elbows on his knees. "There's a half-price happy hour at Losers for another hour."

"Hell yeah." Lottie says, picking up her purse.

+++

The trio never made it back to the studio in time to finish their writing session. Michael talked Lottie into singing a few songs up on the stage at the bar and Morgan joined her for a few songs.

Those two are bad news together while they're both drunk.

Right now, they're both slurring their way through Islands in the Stream, the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers song and Michael cannot contain his laughter. Morgan's been dancing with Lottie while they sing and he spins her around, giggling when he stumbles slightly.

"Alright, alright!" The bouncer stands at the corner of the stage. "C'mon down. Y'all're outta here."

"W-what?" Lottie asks, her drunk smile fading. "Are you serious?"

"Y'all're over served. You gotta go."

"C'mon man." Morgan says, his arm resting on her shoulder. "Can't you just let us slide?"

"Out, let's go."

The bouncer grabs Lottie by the waist and lifts her off the stage. "Hey!" She gasps.

"Dude, what the hell!?" Morgan shouts, practically tearing Lottie away from the bouncer.

"Morgan!" Michael pushes Lottie behind him as Morgan swings at the guy throwing them out of the bar. "Hey!" He grabs his arm and pulls him back. "We're goin', okay? We're leavin'."

Morgan glares at the bouncer as he grabs Lottie's hand, his arm going around her shoulders to keep her anchored at his side.

They're both too fuckin drunk for this.

"Y'all okay?" Michael asks.

"I think I broke my finger." Morgan grumbles as he looks down at his swollen knuckles. "You okay, Lottie?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." She cups Morgan's cheek and brushes her thumb across his skin. "You're a dumbass."

"A dumbass who loves you." He responds, still mostly drunk.

Michael shakes his head as he corrals the two back to the studio. "Lottie, Lemme give you a ride home."

"Nah, just drop me off at Morgan's." The smile she shoots at her ex turns dirty when he gives her a once over.

"You sure?"

"Yep."

+++

After a night of... ferocious love making and even more alcohol, Lottie is passed the fuck out with her head on Morgan's chest. He's somehow still awake after three rounds as he's running his hand over her bare back. He smirks to himself knowing that he's the one to get to see this girl like this, not Riley. He knows that Riley has a thing for her, it's totally obvious to everyone that isn't Lottie.

Okay, maybe he did this to get back in her pants. She's the best he's ever had and he's had a lot so that's saying something fierce.

And maybe he posted something to his Instagram story of their bare legs and feet with messy sheets just to piss Riley off.

And that did the job.

Lottie stirs, her body and mind aching as she turns on her back. "What time is it?" She asks through a body trembling stretch.

"Almost one." He whispers back, rolling on his side to face her. His hand rests innocently on her belly, his thumb brushing across her flushed skin, sheet imprinted skin.

"I gotta get home."

"Nah, you can stay here."

Lottie chuckles sleepily, looking over at him. "We never really worked 'em songs, did we?"

"No we didn't." He smiles back. "But, I've got a feelin' Michael's got a bucketful of ideas." She turns on her side to face him. "C'mere." Morgan wraps an arm around her back, the pads of his fingers ghosting across her freckles and she hums contently, actually feeling safe and loved in Morgan's arms.

Maybe that's drunk Lottie thinking.

Or maybe things have changed.

+++