"The only love affair I have ever had was with music." 

– Maurice Ravel

Asher POV

"THAT'S A WRAP, WELL DONE EVERYONE!"

I sigh out happily and the new kid from set runs up to me as I put my guitar down with a towel and bottle of water in their hands. "Here you go, Mr. Reed." He says to me happily.

"Cheers Mikey." I say taking the bottle and towel. "Hey man, you seen my phone?" I ask the beaming kid and he nods his head.

"It's in your dressing room." He says and I smile appropriately, before I go I pick up the guitar I used for the music video and hint to the kid to follow me.

I'm tired as fuck.

The whole video took longer than expected and I'm furious, I was supposed to ring Hailey an hour ago, it's been two hours now because the director thought it would be better to change some shit up during recording, which took over an hour to do, meaning I couldn't phone her.

She was upset last night, I don't know why or who the fuck upset her but the thought of someone bothering her bothered me, more than it should, she's right, I don't know her but I want to know her, that's why I'm trying to do everything in my power to finish in London early so I can fly out and see her, maybe even fly her somewhere and we can go somewhere quiet, the possibilities are endless, as long as it involves her I don't care where I go.

I make it to my dressing room and the new kid is still following behind me like a lost puppy, I can't blame the young guy, if I was in his shoes I would be reacting the same way at his age, especially since it was a dream of mine to be involved in making music.

Going over to my dresser, theirs a marker next to some posters I need to sign, instead I sit down on the sofa and bring the guitar and marker with me, I always do this for the new guy, it's no secret I have my fair share of guitars already so it's become a tradition for me to sign my guitar and give it to someone on set, or in the crowd.

I sign the guitar and hand it to a very speechless kid. "Here you are man, well done today."

The kid takes the guitar from me with trembling hands. "W-Woah r-really? This is insane, my friends are going to freak! Thank you so much!" He says excitedly as he admires the guitar.

Smiling I get up from the sofa and pat him on the back and walk him to the door. "No problem but yeah I got to make a call, can you make sure no one disturbs me?" I ask and the kid nods his head.

"Of course, anything you want, Mr. Reed!" He says beaming and I laugh and shut the door after I thank him.

I walk straight over to my phone and unlock it, I already had our chat up on my phone ready to call her since I went on set, I've been dying to talk to her since then, it's currently late here but it should be fairly early where she is, I'm hoping anyway.

The call rings and I pace my room as I listen for her to pick up.

"Hello, Asher?"

I relax instantly from her voice so I sit down in front of the vanity. "Hey."  I breathe out. "Sorry, I just finished on set, are you free to talk?" 

She hums. "Yeah.. I just got in actually, I'm staying with a friend for a while."

A friend? A guy? "Why's that?" I ask as I stare at myself in the mirror and notice dark circles  forming.

There's a long pause until she breathes out. "Remember my Ex-boyfriend?" 

I snort. "Yeah, what about him?"

She sighs heavily. "He found out where my dorm was and sent me a letter.. it.. it worried me so just, for now, I'm staying at a friend's place, just until I figure out what to do." She says, a hint of sadness in her voice.

I'm seething, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? "What did he want from you in the letter?" I pause. "Wait, is that why you were crying last night?" I hiss out, feeling my anger come out.

This guy, whoever the fuck he is, just wait till he meets me, I will make sure he never lays his eyes on her again or I'll break his god damn legs.

"Just..." She sighs. "I really don't want to talk about him, please.. I'm safe with Ivan, and no.. yes.. I- can we change the subject?" She pauses. "How was set? You said it was a music video right?"

I sigh out and smile, she's being stubborn and now she's changing the subject just like that? I have even more questions than I had before now, like who the fuck is Ivan and why the hell is she not staying with I don't know, another girl? 

"Fine, but you know I care right? You can talk to me about anything."

There's a pause but then she giggles softly. "I do now.. thank you, Asher.. It's nice to have a friend again." She pauses. "Um, you know.. someone to talk to kind of friend.. not.. friend.. cause you know.." She says mumbling, no doubt her cheeks are pink.

I lean back in my chair and laugh. "I'm happy you think that way Hailey." I say smiling. 

"Maybe someday I can be more than a friend to you." I say seriously.

She goes completely quiet and I laugh to break the tension I seemed to have caused.

"Set went well, to answer your previous question, sorry for calling late, the director kept us an hour extra, insisting it would make me more 'pop icon' and not 'gang signs'." I say with a snort.

Hailey laughs and I lean back smiling at the sound. "Gang signs? Oh wow, let me guess, because of your tattoos?" She asks humorously.

Smirking I nod my head. "Guess he doesn't like the bad boy vibe I give off, but whatever, I just wanted it to be over as soon as possible so I can phone you and relax." I tell her truthfully and she hums.

She clears her throat nervously and I bite back a grin. "Um.. so, what now? More work? Music videos? I don't really know what musicians do every day if I'm honest." She says shyly and I laugh.

"Honestly I do fuck all most of the time, I write when I'm inspired, apart from that it's tours, interviews, and photoshoots." I groan out. "I'm done with the tour so me and my band are on a big break for a few months until Coachella then it's back to work." 

"Coachella?" She pauses. "Seriously? I had no idea!" She says surprised and I shrug with a grin.

"Oh, that's because no one knows yet, it's not public." I say and she gasps.

"Oh my god, you shouldn't have told me, will you get in trouble?" She asks worriedly and I snort.

"No, I trust you-"

There's a knock at my door and a head pops in, I see my bandmate Chris, out of costume and in his regular clothes. "Oh, you not fapping." He says opening the door.

I roll my eyes and hold my middle finger up to him. "Hailey, just a second." I say apologetically.

"What's up?" I ask annoyed, putting the phone on mute.

Chris stares at me amused holding both his hands up in surrender. "Woah, just came to ask if you down for the club tonight, it's going to be mental!" He says with a grin as he looks at me.

Glaring at him I shake my head. "No, now piss off, my girls on the phone."

He laughs out then nods his head and makes his way out. "Your loss Ashy, laters, text me when you down yeah?"

"Yeah yeah, have a good one." I say back as he closes the door, I get up and lock the door as I unmute Hailey.

"Sorry, I'm here." I sigh out and run my fingers through my perfectly styled hair. 

"Welcome back Mr. Popular." She teases and I relax to the sound of her voice.

Shit, how the fuck does she do that? 

"Not as popular as you." I joke. 

She laughs and I smile. "You have 96 million followers on Instagram! I have... 256, I think you're the popular one." 

I hum. Does she have Instagram? I want it. "How about 257?" I tease and she laughs.

"Smooth, real smooth Asher, but sure you can have mine if you want to see how much I suck at taking a selfie." She giggles.

I laugh out and shake my head. "I think you should send me one, just so I can be the judge of that." 

She snorts then laughs. "How about this, you send me one and I will give it all my all to take a good one." She suggests and I sit up straight on the chair suddenly interested.

A selfie for a selfie? She makes this almost too easy to get what I want, and what I really want is a photo of her, ever since the last time I saw her, I can't help but wonder what she looked like currently, as I was thinking about her.

"Sure, hold on." I say before lowering the chat and bringing up my camera.

I take a quick selfie, still in costume, and open our chat to send it to her.

"Done, now a deals a deal." I say smugly as I sit and wait patiently to see her beautiful face once again.

She groans out and I hear her moving around. "Ugh, why do you always look good and I look like Ivans smoked fish steak." She mutters out quietly and I grin.

Smoked fish steak? What the fuck is that? Whatever it is, she is definitely not that.

My phone pings that Hailey just send me a photo, without hesitating I click on it and my mouth go dry. She's fucking perfect, her long hair is down around her face, and like usual, she doesn't have a single bit of makeup on yet she looks unbelievable, she's in a plain baggy hoody and for odd reasons, it's doing fucking wonders for me, and I don't even see any skin.

Jesus Christ, this fucking girl.

I clear my throat. "Hmm, I might need more, just to fully test your selfie skills." I half-joke and Hailey laughs.

"No way! I might break your phone with my face." She jokes and I frown.

"You could never, you're beautiful Hailey." 

She goes quiet again and there's another knock at the door. 

I stand up and sigh out. "I need to go change and head out, but I'll ring you later if you're free?" I ask, hoping she says yes.

"I'm eating with Ivan tonight but I can tomorrow?" She says and I frown, who the fuck is Ivan?

I don't know why but I don't want her spending time with other guys. "Who is Ivan? You didn't say." 

I tap my foot and wait while whoever is at my dressing room door keeps knocking.

"OH, my old boss, he's like a dad to me, he lives above the restaurant where I worked before.. you know, moving universities..." She pauses. "Is there someone at your door?" She asks and I sigh out annoyed.

So he's an old guy? Thank fuck for that, I feel less irritated now at the fact she's staying with another man.

"Oh that.. yeah, I have to go love, but it was nice hearing from you, I actually missed you." I sigh out, annoyed that I have to hang up so soon, I've only been talking to her for ten minutes.

"It was nice.. thank you, Asher, you.. you actually always seem to make my shitty days less... well.. shitty." She laughs softly and I smile.

"Same." I pause. "Speak to you soon Hailey." 

"Sure, bye Asher." She says sweetly and then hangs up.

Soon can't come fast enough, I already miss her voice.

I sigh out and go to the door and answer it, my manager stands there and walks into my dressing room and instantly starts talking about everything I can't be arsed about right no, I block her out and nod my head as I begin to change out of the clothes I wore for the music video behind the changing mirror, my thoughts instantly focusing on Hailey and how much I enjoy speaking to her.

She's so real, unlike most people around me she jokes with me and calls out the bullshit, it's so fucking freeing to talk to someone and not have to be this famous guy everyone expects me to be, it's getting old and I'm growing tired of the people and this life.

All I wanted was to do my music, nothing else like girls, money, or parties mattered to me, I've always wanted to have someone to go home to and spend my time with, without pretending to be someone I'm not, I just want to be myself around someone I trust.

The more I think about my future, the more I think about Hailey and the possibility of her being a part of it.