"Where words fail, music speaks."

- Hans Christian Anderson

Asher POV

Twenty minutes ago

I turn the TV off.

My tired muscles from last nights show are aching and I have the worst hangover considering I barely drank half a bottle, which means someone must've spiked my drink again last night, I barely had half a bottle before I crashed hard last night, I don't remember a single thing other than trying to take a piss in the toilet at the club.

"Hey man, you good?" My drummer and friend Chris asks loudly.

I wince at his tone and hold my head. "What's it look like?" I say sarcastically. "I don't remember a single fucking thing."

Chris laughs. "Probably a good thing, after you crashed it got pretty wild last night."

I nod my head uninterested and lean back with a cold can of Redbull against my forehead. "Someone fucking spiked me man, I don't remember shit." 

"Shit, again? You good?"

I nod my head and drop the subject. "How far till we get to the hotel?"

"EY Robs how long till we get to the hotel?" Chris yells out to the driver Robby and I groan out as my head splits from the sudden loudness of his voice.

"Not long, five minutes." Robby calls back and I am literally counting down the fucking seconds until I can get off this bus and sleep in a real bed.

After months on tour and sleeping on the tour bus, I have been waiting for this day for quite some time, tour has been a blast, I've sold out venues all over America with thousands of fans buying tickets the moment they came available, every show was memorable to me and a dream come true, but halfway through the tour I just couldn't wait until it stopped.

Everything had been fucking wild, every night after a concert we would party till late, it was mental until the drugging kept happening, I got real tired of partying after that, after all, who fucking enjoys being spiked and have clingy fangirls try to fuck you at every stop, that shit got old real fast for me once that shit started happening, to just sleep with girls is not why I got into music, a younger me would eat this shit up but I'm slowly beginning to think about my future, I don't want to stay on the road my entire life.

I got into music because of my mum, she is larger than life and always pushed me to follow my dream of becoming a singer, I thought she was fucking nuts to think I could make it, but before I  had all this, the screaming fans and money, I just had my mum and that is all that mattered to me, just making her proud one day at a time, because without her I wouldn't have been so interested in music.

My mum worked in a bar in London her whole life, one of those shit ones with a karaoke machine, it was just the two of us so we had no money for nice things like all my friends who got whatever they asked for. Anyways, the money she did make, she would buy albums once a month without fail and together we would sit in our shit rundown flat in London and sing through all the songs together, my mum was a brilliant singer, if not for that, I wouldn't have been remotely interested in music.

Eventually, over time, who knew I could fucking sing good, it had always just been me and my mum until she pushed me to perform one night when I was sixteen, turns out I wasn't half-decent, it was honestly one of the most thrilling experiences I ever had and it was the first time I sang in front of someone other than my mum.

Since then it's all been a blur, I was scouted by a big music company and the rest is history, the first album I recorded was a massive hit around the world, it all happened overnight and so fast that one minute I was working in a sandwich shop then a day later I was on the road, people knew who I suddenly was, it was like getting whiplash, I was an overnight fucking sensation.

Now my mum lives in some highrise penthouse in London that I had gifted her from my first ever paycheck from singing, now she doesn't have to work, nor will she for the rest of her life if I have a say about it. I make so much money I refuse to let her fight me on something as stupid as buying her a nice place to live and look after her, after all, she did the exact same for me as a single parent until I turned 16.

The tour bus stops and I open my eyes and look outside the window, we're outside of the hotel my manager put us up at in Portland and I haven't been so fucking happy to see the sign 'The Nines' in my life, the only thing I want to do right now is to sleep until it's time for tonights show, my last show of the tour, I can't fucking wait.

After tonight's show, I'm definitely going to be sleeping for a full month, that I assure you.

Getting off the tour bus and walking into the Hotel, not bothering to wait for the rest of the guys, knowing we all got different rooms I head straight for the front desk and say my name, not needing to show ID or pay for shit, they hand me my card with my room number and I'm off, not wanting to wait around until someone spots me, even with the cap you'd be surprised how many times someone connected the dots and cornered me just to sign their forehead.

I head straight for the elevator without stopping, I'm focusing solely on getting to my room and kicking my boots off then passing out on an actual bed, it's all I want, I'm definitely not going to miss sleeping on the tour bus tonight, that I fucking promise.

The elevator doors begin to close so I make a run for it and make it just in time to stick my hand in and stop the doors from closing, I'm wasting no time, not waiting to wait for another lift and get spotted by some rich kid in this hotel.

There's only one girl in the elevator and she pays me no mind, she only looked slightly annoyed that I stopped the doors from closing and came on at the last minute.

From what I saw, she doesn't look like some rich kid living off her daddy's money, looks can be deceiving though, that much I have learned from traveling across America. 

She looks young, no older than twenty one I guess, I also noticed from looking at her for a mere second that she hasn't got an ounce of makeup on, not a single bit of it, she is naturally beautiful despite those dark rings under her eyes, but I'm betting mine look worse considering every time before a show I have someone putting makeup on me before I go out on stage.

I press the top floor and wait, the pounding in my head has died down and I no longer feel sick, just incredibly fucking tired and sleep-deprived, these long nights full of shows and partying are fun in the beginning until they're sucking the life from you and you can't even operate properly during the day without a Xanax and a few Redbulls, it's fine and fucking dandy until that shit wears off and the caffeine hits you hard at 3 AM in the morning in the club.

I wouldn't recommend mixing that shit.

I didn't even realize that the elevator had stopped until the girl behind me spoke out, her soft voice had me instantly like her voice, it somewhat relaxed me, even though she sounded completely panicked, yet I only seemed to focus on how sweet and nice her voice sounded to me.

"You have got to be kidding me right now." The young woman says beside me as I see her move forward and press the button five a few times, resulting in nothing happening, considering she was pressing them like all she wanted to do was escape being in here with me.

I can sense her panic when she starts stabbing the button for 'help' with my small finger repeatably, again with nothing happening, if anything the lights started to flicker on and off.

I'll admit, the girl is on to something, this can't be fucking happening right now, this is the last shit that I needed to be happening today, I was about to tell the girl to calm down but then the elevator makes a sound and then the lights flicker a few more times before they go completely and we are stood in complete darkness, trapped.

A blackout? Shouldn't the hotel generator kick in right about now? 

I go into my pocks for my phone and I can't believe how fucking stupid I am, I didn't bring it and I left it on the tour bus, I was so focused on checking in that I forgot my fucking bag, I put my hand on the elevator wall and turn to my right to the woman, she has to have a phone, girls love those things.

"Do you have a phone with you?" I ask her.

I can't see a fucking thing, it's pitch black and I don't want to reach out and scare the poor girl, I probably look like a freak the way I'm dressed, I wouldn't blame the girl if she called me a pervert or some shit.

"No, i-i don't have one with me, shit, this can't be happening." She says, her voice shaking slightly with panic.

A girl without a phone? Now I know this is just my fucking lucky day. "Great, just fucking wonderful." I mutter to myself.

I slide to the floor and rest my head against the cold steel wall of the elevator, I can't see the girl but I can hear her breathing heavily, which is starting to worry me a little, is she having a fucking panic attack?

"Hey, you ok?" 

I hear her snort. "Of course I'm not! We're trapped in a metal box." She snaps out.

"Oh god, I can't believe this, this just had to happen to me." She mutters to herself and I can't help but laugh,

"Sit down, it will help, we might be in here a while." 

The girl says nothing after a while, her heavy breathing is the only thing I can hear in the darkness, I can tell she's not exactly enjoying this from her lack of enthusiasm and how short her temper is.

"What's your name?" I ask her curiously, wanting to hear the sound of her voice more, also to keep her talking if she has a fear of enclosed spaces, talking does help, right? Ah well, I hope so, I don't want this girl going stir crazy on me in here, not when I'm this fucking tired.

"Hailey." She eventually says. "What's yours?"

Hailey, it suits her, it's pretty and innocent, exactly how she looks.

"Asher." 

She doesn't say anything more and I crack open the can of Redbull I brought with me from the bus, slightly regretting not bringing a food truck in here with me as I'm starving and if this shit is a blackout, we might be in here for hours before the generator pops on, who knows, this has never happened to me before.

I take a drink and look to where the girl is probably standing, still in the corner of the elevator. "Want a drink?" I ask her.

When she doesn't say anything I speak again and ease the tension in here. "Promise I don't have germs." I say jokingly.

"Okay.. um, where are you? I can't see.."

Oh right, I stand up and put my hand out in front of me, trying to find her in the dark steel box, when I finally move around like an idiot trying to find her and not bang into anything, until her small and soft delicate hand touches mine slightly.

"Thank you." She says when I give her the can of Redbull.

I clear my throat and back away. "Your welcome." 

The room grows silent again so I slide back down to the floor, the silence is killing me more than the headache I woke up with, besides I'm intrigued by this woman, who didn't even get a little bit excited by hearing me say my name, girls usually freak out by hearing my first name alone.

"What brings you to Portland?" I ask.

I hear her bag hit the floor and then the sound of her sighing out. "It's a long story." She says quietly.

"What about you?" She asks.

She's either a very good liar or has no idea who I actually am. "Work, I got a concert tonight." 

She hums. "A concert? You must be good at holding a note." She says jokingly and I laugh.

"You'd have to ask the 20,000 thousand screaming fans just to be sure," I joke back.

She laughs. "Damn, I'll have to pass on that, thank you though." She says humorously. "So you must be someone big to play for so many people." 

I shrug. "Maybe, perhaps you've heard some of my stuff." 

"Um, maybe.. I don't really listen to a lot of music unless you count whatever is playing on the radio counts?" She chuckles.

"Seriously?" I laugh out. "So you have no idea who I am?"

I can't see her but I can tell she's shaking her head. "Nope, sorry."

Well, this is new and surprisingly I don't hate it, when was the last time I encountered such a rare person that I was interested in and didn't know who I was, I begin to relax completely at the fact she's not a fan, don't know why but damn if I don't start enjoying talking to her now knowing she's got no interest in me for my music, money, and fame, I can relax knowing she's not going to go 'fan' on me.

I hear her go into her bag and take something out. "Um, are you hungry? I got a sandwich from the airport shop." She says.

I raise my eyebrows. "Starving, but I can't take your food from you."

"I promise I don't have germs." She says jokingly, using my own words against me. "It's turkey and really good, it's really no problem, you did let me have your drink."

My stomach growls and I feel so fucking lame, if the guys saw me now, I would never live this shit down. "Okay.. but I get to repay you once we get out of here." 

"Deal, three-course meal here I come." She says jokingly and I laugh, loving her quick-witted comebacks and sense of humor, it's so fucking refreshing talking to someone who isn't screaming at me or wanting to get something out of me.

"Deal."

I scoot closer to her on the floor until I feel my side hit hers. "Shit, my bad." 

She chuckles. "No problem, um.. where's your hand?"

I move my arm out to where she is until I accidentally touch something that definitely was not her hand, but most likely her face by the sound of her saying 'woah' out of surprise from me most likely almost poking her eye out.

"I swear I'm not doing this on purpose." I cringe out.

She laughs and I feel her fingers touch my hand in the dark, her hand only lightly touches mie as she gives me half of her sandwich, I can practically smell every single thing in this sandwich without even taking a fucking bite, that's how hungry I am.

"Bon appetite." She says beside me and I dig into the sandwich next to her.

I'm enjoying the silence as I eat beside this young woman that I don't know a single thing about, but that fact alone bothers the hell out of me, I want to know more about this girl and fuck me if I don't use this time in here to figure out how the hell I haven't met her before, but shit, this has to be fate, because she's already ticking all the boxes on being the perfect woman.

She's so easy to talk to and I haven't enjoyed talking to anyone like this in a long time, she's made me completely forget about who I am, I'm just a normal guy right now, I don't have to be 'Asher Reed' with her.

After this, I just know I won't be able to let her just walk away from me without seeing her again.

Not if I can help it.