Beside You

10 - muse

"That's crazy!" Grace calls from my bedroom as I search for an outfit for tonight. "At least he got the pictures of Aria taken down." Ellie adds.

"It wasn't his fault. Just happened I guess. But I'd rather have myself on the news over my daughter." I shout out from the closet. Tonight is Trent's concert, and I wanted to make sure I looked nice. Definitely not for him. At all.

I settle with a royal blue silk cowl neck tank top, tucked into some black pants which clung to my body perfectly. We were told that we'd go out afterwards, so I wanted to dress the part since Ellie offered to take Aria home with her as she was busy tomorrow afternoon and didn't want to go out.

I slip on a pair of black heels and head out into my bedroom. "Damn!" Grace whistles as I walk out. I twirl as we all laugh. "Someone's dressed to kill!" She adds as there is a knock on the bedroom door.

"You decent?" Hudson calls from the hallway. After confirming everyone was indeed dressed, he swung open the door, walking in holding Aria's hand. He picked out her outfit; a white shirt tucked into a black skirt. She truly looked adorable.

"Momma look! Uncle Hudson picked out my outfit!" Aria giggled, jumping up and down. "bellissima (beautiful)" I smile down at her as she runs out.

"You don't look too bad, Grace." He smirked at her as she touched up her lipstick quickly. "Don't fool yourself, Hudson. We all know you want to rip this black jumpsuit off." She laughed, dramatically running her fingers over the sheer lace corset top of it.

We all know that those two have had a thing. And by 'a thing' I mean they have had a few nights of fun. Let's just say that.

"Not in front of the children!" He joked, pointing at me as Ellie went to check on Aria. "Hey! I'm the most adult out of all of us here, don't lie to yourself!" I chuckle, admiring my reflection as I fix a few curls.

After a few minutes of joking, Ellie shouts up that our ride was here. Trent truly did take care of it all, because two white rolls royces pulled up outside my house. I rode in one with Aria and Hudson, Grace and Ellie climbing into the second as we drove to Dallas. It was about twenty five minutes before we got into the heart of Dallas.

Approaching the stadium where Trent was playing tonight, my jaw dropped at the sights of the thousands and thousands of people queueing up to see him.

"He's a big deal, Gio." Hudson chuckled as Aria gasped in awe of the lights shining around the stadium. The cars we were in pulled around back, the drivers holding open the doors as I unbuckled Aria from her child seat.

"Come on princess.." Hudson said, lifting her out the car. "Let's go find Trent, shall we?" He said as she excitedly jumped. I followed closely behind the group as we walked backstage, watching Aria say hi to literally every single person we walked past. Although it was nice to see their very busy faces still take a minute to show adoration for the three year old running through their stadium.

"Trent!" She squealed, sprinting towards the stage as Trent finishes up his sound checks. "There's my little cowgirl!" He calls back, picking her up as they spin round. I watch him greet everyone before his eyes land on me at the back of the group.

"Gee, you look beautiful." Trent speaks deeply, pulling me into a hug, one in which neither of us were really wanting to step back from.

But, I do step back as he looks at Aria in his arms. "See right there? That little section right in the middle of the floor here?" He says to her, pointing to a fenced off area in the middle of the standing area. "That's where you're all going to be when I'm singing. Best seats in the house for my favourite girl." He says as she vocalises her excitement.

"There's going to be lots of very loud people though. But I do have some ear plugs you put on like headphones..just in case." He reassured her as he introduced us all to his band. He truly was in his element. He was happy. And watching him share that happiness with us made my heart swell. I missed this.

"Ms. Romano." A deep voice spoke from behind me. One I recognised. I span around and saw a middle aged man walking towards me, arms open for a hug as he beamed a bright smile towards me. "Andrew." I greeted Trent's manager as we briefly hugged, the others not paying attention to us.

"I want to thank you.." he begins, his hands resting on my upper arms. "He's back to the person I met eight years ago. And that's down to you, that much is clear. I can tell in the way he's written some of his new songs. You're his muse, even if no one else wants to admit it." He smiles at me, making my heart flutter.

"Thankyou. That's kind of you to say." I reply as he waves a hand at Trent. "Doors opening. Let's clear the stage people, Thankyou!" Andrew called out as everyone began walking backstage.

Hudson walked Aria out with the rest of them as Trent walked over to me. "Thanks for coming tonight. Even if you've never listened to my stuff." He chuckled, draping one arm over my shoulders as we both walk off the stage. "I've listened to one song." I say, mimicking him from the conversation we had the other night. This makes the both of us laugh more as we head to his dressing room before the show.

He does his pre-show rituals for twenty minutes, making sure he included Aria in every one of them, which was just the cutest thing ever! He told her that she'd have to find her own rituals when she became a big star, which only made her giggle harder.

A small knock at Trent's dressing room door signalled that it was time for us to head to our section in the crowd.

A few very muscular men escorted the group of us out, through the crowd as we got into our section. There were a few people there. Some people I didn't recognise. But it didn't matter much to me.

Hudson lifted Aria onto his shoulders as the lights dimmed.

Showtime I guess.

First show!
Also, I might be bias but I just love the instant connection between Trent and Aria.
Leave your feedback and predictions in the comments!