Beside You

Ch. 1

Summary: Cassadee is on a high after winning The Voice and getting a record deal, her relationship with Rian couldn’t be better, and now she’s looking forward to move onto the next point in her career, but some people might not let her.

Chapter 1

AN: So in this fic, Cassadee still hasn't heard from her dad, that's one of the many storylines here so don't hate me too much for that. The title is based off the song by Marina's Trench.

"And the winner, of Season 3 of The Voice is…. Cassadee Pope!" Carson’s voice rang out through the arena. Rian let out the breath he was holding in as he wrapped his arms around Lori and Ashley in excitement. That didn’t compare to the look of shock registering on Cassadee’s face as the news finally sunk in. She had done it, she had won The Voice. It was proof that her solo career wasn’t just a daydream, it was now happening, becoming successful and taking her to new places; it wasn’t a mistake.

Blake ran up and threw his arms around her and before she knew it, she was being asked what was going through her mind and how she felt about the whole ordeal. “I don’t know!” She managed to get out through the tears of joy appearing on her face. As the confetti rained down, the one thing that made Cassadee’s heart swell was the three most important people in her world were there cheering her on: her mom, her sister, and Rian. What more could she ask for?

The first thing she did when she got back to her dressing room was hug all three of them as tightly as she could. .“You did so great sweetie!” Lori praised, wiping her own set of tears as she clung to her daughter, an utter expression of love spreading across her face.“I’m still shocked.” Ashley said with a giggle. Her sister was the new winner of The Voice, how many people got to honestly say that? Not many.

Rian just kept hugging her, unable to properly expression how proud of her he was. She had won, she was going to better her solo career and wouldn’t be known as the girl from Hey Monday anymore, not for long anyway. He saw how hard she worked for this, he couldn’t think of anyone who deserved this more.

"You did so good." He commented as he pressed his lips to hers for a quick kiss, still keeping his arm wrapped around her shoulder when they pulled away.

"Um, did anyone here from-" Cassadee cleared her throat, looking over to her mom, curiosity evident in her voice.

"No." She quickly replied with the shake of her head, an almost stern expression coming through. "We haven’t heard from that-I mean Lenny all day, all week actually." Rian felt Cassadee viably stiffen under his arms at her mother’s words. That’s when he knew what was wrong, she had expected to hear at least something from her so-called father, only to get her hopes up once more.

She sighed, but shrugged it off. “That’s okay, it’s whatever. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t see it coming, I just hoped.” She plastered on a fake smile for her loved ones, who cares if she was hurt, more like fucking crushed that her own father didn’t contact her at all that day, even later tonight after she had won. Not a congrats, or even a good luck hours before the show started. This was still her night, and she planned on making the God-damn best of it.

"We all did." Ashley mumbled with an eye-roll. "Just means we shouldn’t anymore."

Rian awkwardly stood there, unsure of what to do or say, what would be comforting to hear or was he better off not butting in the situation. He just wrapped his arm tighter around his girlfriend, pressing a kiss to her forehead in hopes that it would somehow calm her. She didn’t say it-but he knew she was upset, he knew her almost better than anyone else.

She smiled up at him, letting him know that the gesture was appreciated. And that was all the confirmation Rian needed.

The rest of the night seemed like a blur. The after party came and went. She was getting shoved in so many directions to talk to so many different people, she felt her head could quite possibly explode any minute.

"Hey Cass." A familiar male voice said from behind her while she was chatting with Adam Levine.

It turned out to be none-other than Dez Duran, one of her fellow competitors and a newly close friend to her during her time on the show. "Hi Dez!" She smiled as she brought him in for a quick hug. The grin appearing on the male's face, did not go unnoticed by Rian who was across the room at the bar chatting with Ashley. He wasn't blind, Cass was maybe oblivious when it came to things like that, but anyone with two eyes could see that Dez had a crush, weird obsession in Rian's opinion, on Cassadee. Rian just hoped, for Dez's sake, the little punk didn't act on it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be pretty.

Finally Cassadee managed to get Rian alone, hours later when the party was finally starting to wind down and all the interviews stopped, for now anyway. “Hi.” She giggled, wrapping her arms around his waist, a smile never leaving her face as she glanced up at her boyfriend.

"Hi." Rian let out a chuckle as he quickly pecked his girlfriend’s lips. "So, how does it feel?" He asked placing his hands on each of her shoulders.

"Weird," She replied titling her head to the side. "But a good kind of weird. I mean my world as I know it will change, for the better." Cass had to smile at the very thought of it. Of course, making a career in country music wouldn't have been her first choice, but she thought of it more as one challenge she would soon triumph in.

Once they had made it back to the hotel in peace and quite, they collapsed in the bed, both worn out from the non-stop chatter that started the second the show had ended.

"Let’s just sleep, so exhausted." Cassadee muttered leaning her head towards Rian before getting up to brush her teeth.

"You coming to bed, Cass?" Rian called from the bedroom.

"Yeah, be there in a second." She quickly replied, walking towards the sink to get a cup of water.

Hearing her IPhone ring, she quickly slid it unlocked and pressed the little green button, holding the phone up to her ear, and not bothering to check the Caller ID as she did so. “Hello?” She spoke into the contraption, curious as to who was on the phone.

"Cassadee?" The voice was manly and scratchy, not so unfamiliar, but at this last hour, she hardly had the energy to try and put the puzzle together in her mind.

"Yes, who’s this?" She asked confused.

There was a sigh, possibly of relief, coming out of the other end of the line. “Cassadee, it’s Lenny.”

It took three words to piss her off and make her want to burst into tears all at once. Must be some kind of record.

Notes

I will be adding the members of All Time Low in the next few chapters, I mean it wouldn't be awesome without the rest of those goofballs now would it?