Without Reason (Colton Dixon and Sam Woolf Fanfiction )

Chapter Two •• May

I stared ahead, keeping my eyes on the road. The black pavement rushed under the car, and Paramore's Brick By Boring Brick blared through the speakers. Olive sat in the passenger seat, her headphones shoved into her ears, most likely listening to David Cook, since I wouldn't let her listen to his CD. David Cook was a good singer, but I just didn't like his voice very much. He was her idol, so I kept my mouth shut. She knew not to make fun my idols because of how much it upset me, so I didn't say a word against her. I clutched the steering wheel, watching Olive from the corner of my eye. I love my sister, so, so much, and part of me, felt bad for her. She went without her mother whenever she needed her the most, and only had a father for the first nine years of her life. She was beautiful, she deserved a mother and a father that could care for her, and help her through the teenage part of her life. I've tried my hardest to help her, boyfriends, friends, music, future goals, anything she needed. It didn't just work out. I could help her with the general boyfriend problems, music and friends. Other than that I was useless. I just didn't have experience with all the other things she asked about, but I still tried to help her out the best I could. Satchel and Maddie tried to help me learn new things, but it didn't help Olive that much. I was so glad she had Mason though, I trusted him to not hurt her. "Olive!" I exclaimed, shaking her shoulder. She sighed in exasperation, pulling one of her headphones from her ear, leaving it dangling weakly from the seat. "What? I was listening to

Perman-" she stopped talking and reached forward, twisting the volume knob to the right, the music pulsing the speakers louder than before. "I can't believe they are playing this!" She shrieked, a huge smile playing across her face. "Never made it as a wise

man," she sang loudly, the beautiful sound if her voice making me smile. "couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing." I focused on the road, and let Olive keep the radio in control. The clock on the dash read 4:48. We had about an hour before we had to be in our hotel room in Georgia, and I knew that I could stand listening to a previous winner of American Idol for that long.

•••

The evening sunset glowed gorgeously over the edge of the tree line as the tires of my red Chevy Cobalt crossed over the city limits of Savannah. Olive's eyes had drooped down far before we'd hit the state boarder, but I was glad she was sleeping, it was best. As we drove down the busy highway, I looked at the cars, wondering how many of them could possibly hold the next American Idol. I looked down the roads and through the rows of cars, trying to find the hotel we were going to be staying in. The Doubletree, 411 West Bay street. Olive found the word Doubletree utterly hilarious for some odd reason. My sister was different alright. I couldn't even fathom what might happen if we made it through. Well, if at least one of us makes it through. By one of us, I mean Olive. As the steering wheel twisted in my hands, the car pulled into the parking lot of The Doubletree Hotel. The amount of cars, new and old, that filled the parking lot made me more nervous than I had been before. I couldn't compete against all these people. I couldn't do anything. What if I broke down? Well, I guess I would see when I got there. I looked over at Olive's sleeping figure and grinned. She had nothing to worry about. She was going to do okay, and I knew she would. I found a place and pulled my car between the freshly painted white lines on the night black asphalt. I turned the key back, and the engine quieted, leaving the only sound in the car the noise of Olive's soft breathing. I reached my hand over, running my hand over her face, tucking her wavy brown hair behind her ear "Come on, time to wake up little sister."

She groaned, not moving. "Leave me alone. I'm tired." I rolled my eyes. "Olive, we're at the hotel. You need to get out of the car." She sighed, heavily, lifting her head. "Fine, I'm up. I'm up." I couldn't help but smile at her, from her stubbornness right down to her voice she was dad all over. I clasped my hand over the door handle, and took in a deep breath "We're auditioning for American Idol." And my sister's voice echoed right back at me the same words, with a tired hint behind it. "We're auditioning for American Idol." I had no idea what made us decide to audition. Maybe we just decided to do it, but there was no backing out now. "Olive, maybe you should check us in," I suggested with a hint of force in my voice. She knew I had horrible social skills and somebody could say one little thing and I would freak out. She nodded, and pushed open her door, the humidity of the Georgia evening rushing into the car.

•••

With my suitcase rolling steadily behind me, the sound becoming rhythm like as my eyes focused ahead on the glass doors that Olive had pulled open. I stepped into the building, and almost gasped at how beautiful the interior of the building was. Glass, chandlers covered the ceiling and golden light glowed over the entire space. Olive walked up to the desk lady as I seated myself in one of the velvet chairs. I was in utter amazement on how nice this hotel was. A few other people were in the lobby and I wondered if they were here for Idol, though it wasn't as cramped as I would've assumed. I traced my fingers over the wooden armrests, watching Olive. She handed the women at the desk a small, plastic debit card. The lady smiled as she swiped the card through the small crease in the side of the computer. I was happy of Olive, she'd really grown up into a good girl which was hard to do under the circumstances she grew up with. For crying out loud, she had a mom and sister with mental issues. She's seen me lose it more than once. The lady nodded and slid a small envelope across the counter, and Olive took it, and turning her back to the desk, she returned to beside my chair. Holding out her small hand, I slipped the envelope from between her fingers. "It's our keys. Room 163, third floor." I nodded, getting to my feet. "Let's go check out our room then I'll go find somewhere for us to eat. Okay?" She nodded, grabbing her bag from the floor beside me. "Fazolis?" She questioned, a hopeful look in her eye. I shook my head and grinned. "Chick fil a." She groaned as I walked towards the elevator. "I don't understand how you like that place," she muttered as the elevator doors opened. I rolled my eyes "Don't groan, its not that horrible of a place." She pushed the number three, the button glowing orange under her fingertip. She shoved her hand in her pocket and fished out her phone, clicking the home button, to show a black lock screen. "Seriously?" She yelled, sighing in distress. I chuckled, quietly. "You're having a worse day than I am and that's saying something." Olive shot me a death glare and it made me smile. She always hated it when her phone died. The doors separated from each other with a ding, exposing a long, carpeted hallway. I stepped forward, and moved out of the elevator, Olive following close to my side. My eyes scanned both sides of the hallway, numbers moving past as doors did. I stopped in my tracks whenever the number 163 caught my eye. "Here we are." I slid the key card through the slot and it glowed green, unlocking its self. It was actually a good looking room with two beds with clean white sheets on them. "This room is huge!" Olive exclaimed as I slipped the light switch. "I was thinking the same thing." I spoke quietly, my eyes doing three sixties around the room, catching every detail. It was nice, much nicer than anything Olive and I had stayed in for months. "Now this," she spoke, throwing herself down onto the bed, "is something I could get used to."