Preacher Man

Chapter 1

I stumbled through the door, sweaty, but not sweaty enough. Tired, but not tired enough. Drunk, but not drunk enough. I hear my girlfriend yell at me, "Ross Lynch! Do you have any idea of how late it is!?" I looked at my phone, 6:00 AM... Late but not late enough.

I looked my girlfriend of 6 years in the eyes... They looked tired. They looked angry. They looked like they had given up on me. I watched as she walked up to me and softly stroked my face, looking into my eyes. Her disappointed ones, looking into my drunk, disoriented ones. She sighed and finally said, "Ross, I love you, but this isn't healthy," I suddenly could feel myself getting slowly but surely sober, "For years, we have had this happen, on again, off again. You coming home late, drunk, and tired, and me... Left up all night doing nothing but worrying and waiting, and hoping, and just praying that you'd be fine," She started and I slowly stood up, "Where are you going with this?" I asked, hitting the realization that this could be over.

"I'm saying, that we need to go to church, we need to pray, we need to get an answer, I need to know if this will work out or not." She said.

I rolled my eyes church. You see, my girlfriend, is dead set on going to church, she is religious, and everything and yes, I find her beautiful, but that aspect just annoys me. It's either, I go to church with her tomorrow morning, or we break up.

... I could feel the anger rising inside of me, "Listen Tori, I know that I've hurt you, I know that you worry, I know that you don't know whether or not you could even dare to trust me ever again, but do you really think that church is going to change that? It's the person's decision. You can't just throw a 6 year relationship down the drain because you want to know for sure that I'm the one that you want to be with. You either put up with me, or you don't, but don't you dare force me to go to church with you."

"I'm not forcing you into anything, Ross. I'm asking you. I'm telling you, that I-I don't know how long I can do this anymore. I know that you're worried about your new song, and about how you just can't write now, but you told me 4 years ago, that when it comes to writing, life situations always depict the person. I'm not asking you to do this for me. I'm asking for you to do it for you." She said, with tears in her eyes.

I sighed, suddenly feeling tired, and really just not wanting to talk about the subject anymore, because she has a point and I hate admitting that I'm wrong. "You have a point, what time does church start Sunday?"

"10:30 AM, on the dot." She said, seemingly happy and hoping to being able to get somewhere with me.

"Okay, I'm uh, I'm tired, so I'm just gonna..." I drifted off, and just looked at her. When did the spark fade away?

She nodded, "Yeah, go on up to bed."

I walked upstairs and headed to my bedroom. I laid back down, and just sighed. I've been in a 6 year relationship. I don't feel anything when I look at her anymore. I love her, but I'm not in love with her anymore. And that's when I realized, the spark didn't fade away...

I made it fade away...

Those words being the last words that I thought of before I let my alcohol drown me in my sleep.

I dreamed about a girl. An angel, with short brown hair, brown eyes with specks of gold in them... This girl wasn't Tori.

She reached out for me, "Ross, Ross,-" I reached out to grab her face, to let her know that I was here. She was looking for me, and somewhere in the midst of it, I was looking for her.

Little did I know, that she wasn't just a dream. She was real. She was my inspiration.

Music started playing out of nowhere as we were about to connect lips.

Hey Mr. Preacher Man,
I've been playing with a heart like a violin,
I've been stumbling through the door after 6 AM,
Fix my soul, so I don't lose a love again.

Time stopped, and we did as well. I woke up with my girlfriend sleeping beside me.

I let out a sigh, My Inspiration wasn't even from my girlfriend, it was from this woman who I didn't even know, and I already felt like I knew her more than I've ever known anyone else, in my entire life.