Life With Trent Harmon

Part 21: The After Party

"And for the last time from this stage. Goodnight." Ryan's says and the red light on the camera goes off, and the crowd erupts again, but all you can do is sit and stare at the guy on the stage, shaking every person's hand and talking like they are the only ones in the room. Clay elbows your side and you look over at him and Ashley and he says "wow." Over the crowd.
You all stand up and you look at them again and say "he just killed that song."
"I swear he gets more amazing every week!" Ashley says and shakes her head. The crowd starts to thin out and the three of you make your way to the stage and find Mrs. Cindy. She is talking to Dalton's mom and when she sees you, she smiles and motions you over.
"This is (y/n). She's Trent's girlfriend." she says and smiles at you. "And this is clay and Ashley, some old family friends!"
"Hi, I'm Kiva! Dalton's mom!" She smiles and shakes Each of your hands and then focuses on you, "I think I saw Trent face timing you a few times... And at times you were all he would talk about."
You feel the heat rush to your cheeks and you look down at the ground. Before you can respond, RK walks up and hugs you.
"We pulled it off. He was really surprised"
You hug her back and laugh "that was the longest 5 days of my life. I don't like keeping secrets from him. I was so afraid I was gonna accidentally say something."
"Well we did it!!!" She laughs and then pulls you to the middle of the stage "let's go meet Ryan Seacrest."

After Randi Kathryn forces you to go bother all of the judges and Ryan for a picture, Mrs. Cindy walks up to y'all and says "okay the after party is in the banquet hall here, but the press conference is going on in there right now." She stops and looks at RK's hands and then says "RANDI KATHRYN WHERE IS YOUR ALL ACCESS PASS?"
RK looks down at her hands and then feels for it around her neck. A panicked look crosses her face and she runs over to her chair.
She looks around and the bends down to the floor and holds up a laminated peice of paper. She comes running back over and says "here it is." Then, she slips it into her purse and smiles at Mrs. Cindy who is shaking her head at her.
You laugh and get your pass out of your purse and hold it up when Mrs. Cindy looks at you. She smiles, trying to hold back her laugh and then she walks over to Ashley and clay to make sure they have their passes.
After a few minutes, Mike, the camera guy that came to Amory, walks up and tells you all to follow him. He leads you to the banquet hall where the press conference is ending. You all stand next to the wall as the room is transformed.
You watch Trent walk off the stage and head toward y'all. When he gets halfway there, a curly headed guy steps in front of him and says something, and Trent motions toward your group. The guy turns and looks at y'all and then they both head your way.
When they walk up, Trent motions to his parents and says "Mr. Scott, this is my mom and dad, Cindy and Randy. And this is my sister" he says pointing to Randi Kathryn. He passes by you and says "these are my friends Ashley and Clay." And then he comes back and steps closer to you and looks into your eyes and smiles for a second and then turns back to the guy "this is my girl, (y/n)."
"Guys, this is Mr. Scott Borchetta!"
For a half a second, you flash back to the beach and the phone call that stopped the fun, and you look at him, but then you remember what the rest of the night held and you smile at him and stick out your hand. He shakes your hand tand says "I feel like I already know you. This guy never stops talking about you."
You feel the heat back on your cheeks and you see the red in Trent's cheeks too as everybody laughs.
"Mr. Scott is over Big Machine.. If I win, he's gonna be who signs me, hopefully!"
"Boy," mr. Scott says as he glances at Trent "you might get signed either way." And then looks back at Trent's parents "didn't he kill those songs tonight? I don't know how they could have gotten much better." The adults get lost in conversation and Trent takes your hand and pulls you to the other side of the room and out the door.
When you get down the hallway, he pulls you into his dressing room and you say "Trent. You're gonna get in trouble."
"Nah" he whispers and puts his hands on your waist. "I have my walkie talkie. They will call when they need me." As he finishes his sentence, his lips touch yours and a mix of fire and chill bumps spread like wildfire through your body. He wraps his arms around your waist as the kiss grows and you put your arms around his neck and run your Fingers through the hair on the back of his head.
When he pulls back, he is out of breath and he puts his forehead on yours.
You stare into his eyes for a minute and slowly a smile spreads across his face. You touch your lips to his again quickly and then he whispers "I love you."
"I love you more." You whisper back and link your fingers behind his neck and lean back so you can see him better.
"Dang you look good, boy." You wink and smile at him.
"Hey thank my wardrobe team for that." He laughs and then motions to his suit with one hand and then places it back on your hip. "They always make me look good."
You put one hand on his cheek and look at him for a second. When you move your hand, you notice it is covered in sweat and makeup. "Nice make up too" you say looking at your hand and making a face..
"Yeah.." He says when a little color rushes to his face and he looks at you again  and makes a face "they say I gotta have it..."
You laugh and take a step back from him, lacing your fingers with his. When you step back, a pain shoots through your ankle and you wince.
When he notices, he looks down at your foot and then back at you and says "HEY NO CRUTCHES!!!"
You laugh and say "yeah he let me off of them Monday when I went to my appointment."
He steps toward you and moves a hair out of your face and runs his fingers through your hair "does it still hurt a lot?"
"Only when I stand a lot, or I walk a lot.."
"Do you wanna sit down?" He asks, looking into your eyes and sliding his fingertips down your arm.
You shake your head and then he says "how much longer do you have to wear the boot?" As he slides his fingers between yours.
"He said that if by Friday, I am not hurting consistently,  I can go without it unless I'm going to be walking a lot or standing a lot. I have an appointment the Tuesday after the finale."
"Don't over do it, babe. Rest when you need to." He says.
"I will." You say as you move closer to him. He touches his lips to yours slowly as he releases your hand and touches your cheek. "Thank you for coming out here" he says quietly when he pulls back again.
"I wouldn't miss it." You say and wrap your arms around his waist. "I love you."
You say as he rests his forehead on yours and smiles as he looks into your eyes.
"I love you." He whispers back. A smile works its way across your face and he inches his lips toward yours and as they make contact again, a voice cuts through the room, making you jump.
"Trent. We need you in the main room in 3."
He pulls the walkie talkie out of his pocket and hits the button.
"10-4, buddy. I'll be there in two."
You laugh as he slips the walkie talkie back into his pocket and then he touches your cheek again.
"Can you hang out? After the party?"
"Um of course."
He responds by kissing you slowly again and then says "okay, you go out there now, and then I'll come in in a minute, so all the press doesn't jump in our faces.
You nod and walk back to the banquet hall and look around. You see Trent's family being interviewed and RK smiles at you across the room and then you walk over to Clay and Ashley.
Clay looks at you and says "where have you been?"
You shrug your shoulder and smile, and clay watches Trent walk in over your shoulder and then smirks at you and says "oh. THAT's where you've been."
The heat rushes to your cheeks and Clay stands up as his phone starts to ring and he holds up a hand and says "I need to answer this. I'm gonna go out front and looks at Ashley, who smiles at him and then he walks out and puts the phone to his ear.
As he walks out, you look at ash and say "I'm gonna run to the restroom. Do you need to go?" She shakes her head and you walk out of the room and down the hallway.
When you come back in the room, you look around to find Ashley and don't see her right away. Finally, you spot her leaned up against the wall, talking to a blonde headed guy. He turns slightly and you realize that it's Dalton, and you smile. You head over to introduce yourself but you notice that they aren't having a normal conversation.
You step closer and hear Dalton say "wow. You have the prettiest eyes..."
She blushes and looks down and then back at him.
"Thank you, Dalton. But I have a boy friend" she says and with every word, relief floods through your veins but the worry rushes back when you hear Dalton say "oh well he isn't here right now.. Is he?" Dalton says and the laughs and says "sorry about that. But your eyes are really pretty"
"Thanks.." Ashley says quietly.
You walk up and stand next to Ashley and smile at Dalton. "Hi. I'm (y/n)." And stick out your hand. Ashley looks at you and smiles sheepishly and Dalton shakes your hand. "I'm Dalton!..." He looks at you for a second and then says "oh your Trent's girl!!"
You nod and say "yeah! I am!"
Clay walks in and sees you and Ashley standing with Dalton and comes over. He stands behind Ashley and wraps his arms around Her waist. She smiles at him over her shoulder and you look at Dalton. Even in the dark room, you can see the red on his cheeks. He says "I'll see y'all around!"
"Who called?" You ask clay.
He smiles and says "a talent agent in Nashville. He saw me playing with Trent on idol the other night.. We will talk about it later." He says and Ashley turns around and wraps her arms around clay's neck.
"THATS SO AWESOME BABY." She says and he smiles uncomfortably and hugs her back before stepping away.
Before anything else can be said, Trent's family comes walking over and Trent steps onto the stage with Laporsha and Dalton.
They each give a small speech about how thankful they are to be there. During Trent's he talks about having mono and how he thought he wasn't gonna make it, but the judges showed him grace, and he wrapped it back around to how God shows us grace everyday and when he gets done speaking, you feel the tears on your cheeks. You wipe them away quickly and smile as they walk off the stage and Trent comes walking over to y'all.
You all take turns taking pictures together, and then Trent turns toward his family and you stand next to him with your head on his arm. You expect him to pull away because of the press in the room but instead He slides his arm around your waist and pulls you over to him.
"We have a full day tomorrow. We have to do arrangements for two songs and record our coronation songs for iTunes, so I probably won't get to see y'all until tomorrow night. You feel a sinking in your chest but remind yourself that you knew he wouldn't get to spend time with you when you came out here.
"We have Saturday night off, so I figured we could all hang out then, and then we can go to the church out here Sunday morning. After that though, the week is going to be crazy."
"You do whatever you need to do." Mrs Cindy says to him and smiles. "We aren't here to distract you. Besides, we have tourist things we want to do." everybody laughs and talks amongst themselves.
Trent looks down at you and says "so I can't hang out tonight. I have to be up at 5 in the morning for radio interviews. I'm sorry."
"Babe. It's fine" you say as you step in front of him and face him. "Don't worry about me. Do your job, I don't want to distract you."
He smiles down at you and touches your cheek quickly. "Thank you for being so awesome about all of this."
You smile and kiss his cheek and then you hear Mrs Cindy say "press."
You take a step back and so does Trent.
"I'll talk to y'all later. I love y'all." He says as he hugs Mrs. Cindy.
RK bends down and picks up Charli Kate , who has been running around your feet, and you all walk toward the door.

When you climb in bed that night, you check your phone and see you have a new message from Trent.
"Hey baby. I have no words. No way to say thank you enough. But I'll try. For the rest of my life. I love you. If I fall asleep now, I will get exactly 3 hours and 6 minutes of sleep... So, I'll text you in the morning. Have fun tomorrow. I love you. Thank you."
You type back "no need to say thank you to me. Thank your mama, she's the one who made it possible for me to come out here, and talked my parents into it. My family is flying here on Wednesday to be here for the finale, and it's all Katie and Kyle can talk about. They are so proud of you. And so am I. I love you, Trenton William. Work your butt off tomorrow. And i'll see you soon."
You hit send and the open your Instagram tab. You select "post picture" and then find the picture from the party earlier where you and Trent are standing side by side and Ashley is next to Trent and clay is next to you, and in the caption box, you type "#TeamTrent #onlocation we are in the top 3! So proud of you Trenton! I love you." You tag everyone and then hit post.
You lock your phone and lay it next to you.

As you close your eyes to go to sleep, you can't help but see those blue eyes. The way they looked in the dressing room during the banquet. You fall asleep praying and thanking God for the opportunity that Trent is getting to live his dream, and asking Him to make sure that you get yours- to live Trent's dream by his side, forever.