Road Signs and Rock Songs

ok y'all, new fic time, yay! lol. now, i'll tell you right now that this isn't clarkwood. idk, i thought it was time for something different. and also, the prologue is a bit more on the sad, kinda darker side, but no worries, that's just the prologue, it'll get way happier in the first chapter which i'll try and post tomorrow. ok, that's all for now. i hope y'all enjoy it!

Prologue

Kelly smiled as she peeled off her shirt and Ashley handed her a fresh one to put on. Ashley watched her carefully. Something had been off with her. She just couldn't figure out what it was. Her smiles just weren't the ear to ear grin she was used to witnessing.

"Good show," Ashley commented, touching up Kelly's make-up before the meet-and-greets.

"Yea," Kelly nodded. "The fans seem to really like the new material."

"You feeling alright?"

"Yea," Kelly looked at her curiously. "That's like the third time you asked me that today. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ashley shook her head. "I just know that you weren't exactly thrilled about this tour..."

"It's fine," Kelly shrugged. "I mean, these are the largest venues I've ever played at, and they're selling out. How crazy is that?"

"Pretty crazy," she nodded, inspecting her work. "Ok, you're good to go."

"Thanks," Kelly smiled again, walking out of the dressing room and following Brian and Tim to where her fans were waiting.

+++++++++++

Kelly smiled once more, waving as the last fan walked away. She couldn't hide the yawn that she tried to stifle as Tim asked if she were ready to head to the bus for the night.

"Yea," Kelly nodded. "So how'd it go?"

"Another one sold out," he nodded, watching as she looked at the huge banner behind her that had the Ford logo all over it.

"I meant the show," she said, accepting the bottle of vitamin water he offered her.

"It was great," he assured her, squeezing her shoulder as he guided her down the hall and out of the back door. "Turns out the Addicted Tour was a pretty good idea after all, huh?"

"Yea," she forced a laugh as the doors to the bus opened.

"Kelly!" a voice called out from behind them.

She turned to find one of her guitarist hurrying out of the door right behind her.

"Hey Aben," she said, noticing the two girls around her age following him. "What's up?"

"Remember I said I wanted you to meet a couple of people?"

"Oh yea..." Kelly nodded, not really remembering the conversation he was referring to, her mind drifting off to the huge bed in the back of the bus that was calling her name.

"This is Jill and Kate," he introduced the two blondes. "You actually met them real briefly on the Hazel Eyes tour...I don't know if you remember."

"Oh yea," Kelly nodded, finally remembering the conversation, but not really remembering meeting them. That tour seemed so long ago. "Hey y'all, I'm Kelly," she smiled, hugging both of them.

"Jill," the first one reintroduced herself.

"Kate," the second one smiled. "This is really sweet of you to meet with us again. We know you're probably exhausted."

"No problem," Kelly assured her. "Aben said y'all were cool, so why not?"

"We know you probably get this all the time, but we have this CD for you...we thought maybe you could take a listen to it?"

"Yea, of course, I love listening to new music," Kelly replied, taking the CD they offered. "Thanks."

"Y'all want a picture?" Aben offered, holding up a camera.

The two girls turned to Kelly who smiled, "Sure, come on."

The three of them posed, smiling for the camera.

"It was great to meet you again," Kate said after the picture was taken.

"No problem," Kelly replied, hugging them one more time.

"The show was great," Jill commented.

"Thanks," Kelly nodded. "I'm glad y'all liked it."

"We should get going," Aben said. "It's getting late."

"See you tomorrow," Kelly smiled at him. "It was nice meeting y'all," she waved at the girls before getting on the bus.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly before she started to once more peel off her clothes, tossing them on the floor of her room. She placed the CD they had given her on her bedside table along with all the other gifts she had gotten that night before dragging herself to the shower, taking a quick one. Finally, she made it to her bed, crawling under the sheets, completely exhausted. Her eyes moved over all of the items she had already collected from fans on the tour that were taking over her room. How was it possible to be surrounded by so many people and still feel as if she were utterly alone?

+++++++++++

"So where do you want to eat tonight?" Ashley asked as they rolled into another town.

"Doesn't matter," Kelly shrugged.

"Who's all coming out for this show?"

"I'm not sure," Kelly admitted.

"What about your mom? She's coming to this one or the one in Houston?"

"Um...both?"

Ashley frowned. Since when had getting her best friend to talk become more painful than pulling teeth?

"You talked to Jeff lately?" Ashley asked, referring to her manager, trying to find something that she'd open up about.

"A little," Kelly nodded, resting her chin in her hand as she looked out the window. You'd think the familiar view of Texas would help her out of the funk she'd been in, but that wasn't the case at all.

"Are you still upset about the tour?"

"Everybody says it's been a brilliant idea so far."

"What about you?"

"I think I needed that vacation more than I realized."

"And Jeff?"

Kelly shrugged, "I always thought he had my best interest at heart."

"You don't think so anymore?"

"This whole thing just doesn't feel right to me," she shook her head, standing. "I think I'm gonna go lay down for a bit."

"Alright," Ashley nodded.

Kelly gave her a weak smile as she got up, walking to her room in the back, closing the door behind her. She collapsed on top of her bed, reaching out for her portable CD player. She grabbed the top CD on the small table, recognizing it as the one Aben's friends had given to her previously. She put it in the player, putting the ear phones in her ears.

++++++++++++++

"Aben," Kelly said, joining him at the table where he was seated, eating back stage before the day's rehearsals.

"Hey," he smiled. "What's going on?"

"I listened to that CD from the other night."

"JillandKate?"

"Yea, I don't know why, but I thought it was just a mixed CD. I didn't think it would be them. I mean, that's them, right?"

"Yea, that's them."

"Do you know which ones sang which songs?"

Aben laughed, "They sang together on each one."

"Seriously?"

"Yea."

"Their harmonies are insane," Kelly shook her head.

"I told you they were good."

"Is there anyway I can see them again? Have them play for me?"

"An audition?"

"Well yea, after this tour I'm going to need a couple more background vocalists, and I know it's kind of early to be worrying about that, but if they sound as good in person as they did on that CD, I don't want to pass it up."

"Yea, sure. I'll call them up and see," he nodded. "I really think y'all will hit it off."

"Thanks," she smiled, standing. "Let me know what they say."

++++++++++

Kelly sat with her knees pulled under her chin on her bed. She didn't know what to do anymore. She tucked her chin to her chest, resting her forehead on her knees, her fingers locking behind her head as she shook with unshed tears. She wanted so bad to cry, but she wouldn't let herself go there, and she didn't know how much longer she could go on like this.

She had let things get to a point where she felt completely detached from herself. There were times when she almost felt like she was looking at her life from the outside, unsure of why she was doing the things she was doing, not feeling the things she should be feeling. It was her life, but she felt as if it belonged to someone else now.

Kelly looked up at the sound of someone knocking on the doors of the bus before climbing on.

"Kelly?" an unfamiliar voice questioned.

She thought about just ignoring them. Hopefully they'd go away.

"Kelly?" it called out again.

"One second," Kelly called back, unfolding herself from the protective little ball she had formed. She looked in the mirror, making sure she looked decent before exiting the back room to find a somewhat familiar face sitting on the couch.

"Kate," the girl reminded, standing with a smile. "Sorry if I woke you. Aben said to just come on in, you'd be expecting us. Jill will be here in a minute."

"Cool," Kelly smiled. She had forgotten all about the two girls coming in to play for her. "So, you've been to California before?" she asked, sitting across from her, trying to make small talk. She found herself surprised that she hadn't noticed how naturally pretty the girl was the last time they had met--that was usually the first thing she noticed.

"Yea," Kate nodded. "But this is my first time in Irvine."

"So, how long have you two been playing together?"

"Are you ok?" Kate asked, her eyes filled with concern.

Kelly looked at her curiously, "Yea, of course. Why?"

"No reason," she shook her head. "I don't know. Something just seemed...sorry."

"No, it's fine," Kelly assured her, surprised that a girl who she'd only known for a couple of minutes could completely see right through her.

"And we met in college," Kate explained. "Jill and I. Speaking of..."

"Sorry I'm late," Jill apologized, walking onto the bus, acoustic guitar in hand.

"It's fine," Kelly assured her. "It's not like we're all that formal around here. Now, I'm not sure what all Aben told y'all, but I told him I was interested in you two as back up vocalists. It won't be a couple of months before promo and everything starts up for my next album, but I like to get all this stuff out the way before hand, so I don't have to worry about it, you know?"

The two girls nodded.

"So, I was wondering if maybe y'all could play something for me? One of y'alls songs would be fine."

"Sure," Jill nodded, saying something to Kate that Kelly didn't quite catch before she started strumming through a couple of chords.

Kelly leaned forward, resting her chin in her hands as she watched the pair of them intently. Their voices were nearly identical, much as they had been on the CD, and Kelly nodded to herself. She relaxed a bit. They both had an extremely warm and inviting tone to their voices. It was nice to get lost in. It was even nicer to watch the two get lost in the song. She found that that had grown more and more rare as time went on--people who were willing to actually feel what they sang. Her eyes kept going back to Kate. Obviously she was gorgeous--she had already acknowledged that--but there was something else.

Kelly cocked her head to the side slightly, watching as the girl gently rocked back and forth to the song, her hands folded between her knees as her eyes closed. There was something incredibly sweet about her. She also seemed to have 'it'--that elusive factor that just drew everybody to a person.

She smiled as the song ended and the two girls broke into giggles as they looked at each other.

"That was really good," Kelly commented.

"She totally butchered the lyrics," Jill laughed, nodding at Kate.

"I just thought I'd improve them," Kate joked, laughing as well.

Kelly nodded. She could definitely see herself getting along perfectly with the two of them.

"Y'all got the job."

"We what?" Kate's jaw dropped as they immediately sobered up.

"If y'all want it, y'all got it."

"Just like that?" Jill asked.

"Yea," Kelly nodded. "I pick my band and everything, and it's rare for me to find something I like right away, but I like y'all. You guys have an amazing sound, and I really think you'd get along well with the rest of the guys."

Jill and Kate looked at each other, shocked.

"I understand completely if you need some time to think about it," Kelly said, standing. "Why don't y'all just get back with me, and we'll discuss all the details and such, alright?"

"Definitely," Kate nodded as they stood as well. "Thanks so much."

"You too."

+++++++++

Kelly found herself dashing off stage, right past Tim and Brian.

"Kelly?" Tim questioned in concern as he hurried to catch up with her, but she just quickened her pace.

Kelly turned a corner, racing up the stairs, wiping the tears from her eyes as she blindly rushed into the nearest bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"Kelly," Tim called out, knocking on the bathroom door. "Kelly, open up."

Kelly placed both hands on the sink, breathing heavy, feeling as if she were about to be sick. She felt her tears start fall faster, her body raking with sobs as she finally allowed herself to break down. She crumpled to the floor.

"Kelly!" Tim banged on the door.

"Go away," she cried hoarsely, her voice coming out as no more than a whisper. "Why can't everybody just leave me alone?"