HONESTLY

Complicated

I woke up and felt a soft kiss on my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Reed's perfect face staring back at me. The morning sunshine peeked through the barn window and into the living area, making me realize we had spent the night on the couch together. I glanced down and noticed the fluffy blanket over the both of us. I was in my underwear and small t-shirt, and he was in boxers and bare-chested, showing his ripped physique.

That moment was not lost on me, the "sleepover" was a big deal. I had only woken up in the morning with one other person in my life. This particular step in a relationship was serious, and I didn't take that lightly.

"Good morning," Reed said with a huge smile as he adjusted his arm around me, most likely there most of the night.

I smiled back, but internally, I was sort of freaking out.

We had just went from a casual hookup to spending the night with one another with little thought of what that actually meant.

After getting dressed, Reed headed to the door while I trailed behind. The sun shined even more bright into the barn when he opened the door. He walked out as I hung out in the doorway, still in my underwear and t-shirt. He turned back and smiled.

"I had a great time last night," he sweetly said.

"Me too."

He leaned in and gave me a short kiss on my lips as I warmly embraced him.

As Reed walked towards his truck, I stayed in the doorway watching him, wondering if we had  moved too fast in our relationship.

"Um, hello? Anyone in there?" Lily said, waving her hand in front of my face that was half-covered by a baseball cap to hide from any lurking fans who recognized me.

It took a few seconds to get my bearings and realize I had wandered off in my own daydream, reliving the morning events as I sat in a cozy coffee shop across from Lily, my best friend, public relations expert, and assistant.

Lily, a petite-little thing who had more energy than I could ever receive from any latte or espresso from the coffee shop, realized mid-sentence I had totally blanked out from the conversation. Lily sat back in her chair, arms crossed, all-business, taking her job seriously, and annoyed, I was not.

When I first met Lily Monroe, I had just moved to Nashville, entering my senior year at a new high school. Some kids knew about the YouTube videos but most didn't care. Lily, with more of a rock and roll soul, introduced herself to me in gym class when we needed partners to warm-up. She asked just to be nice, no pretense or agenda. We were total opposites, she would never listen to a country song on her own. That's probably one of the reasons why our relationship worked so well.

After graduation and when my first album was all coming together, I needed someone I could trust to be with me during the process. Lily had already decided on a gap year, instead of going straight to college, so I convinced her to hop on the journey with me, knowing she was the one person who could excel at the job.

The gap year allowed her talents to shine, her one-year of "trying things out" turned into a permanent career.

"I'm sorry," I said, apologizing to Lily for daydreaming and being rude.

I took a sip of coffee hoping she wouldn't do a deep-dive into the reasons why I wasn't listening. 

No such luck.

"Do tell me what is more important than knowing what you're supposed to be doing in the next month to become the next Carrie Underwood. Please tell me, because I can't wait to hear this one," she said half-sarcastically with a little smile, knowing I was famous for the most random thoughts one could have at the wrong moment.