"You're gross." She comments. 
                          
"Yeah, you'd like her." Michael points to his phone. "She's definitely your type, little bit of a hell rasier." He winks at his friend. "I'll have to introduce the two of you when you're in town next." 
                          
"Fuck you, Hardy." She mutters. 
                          
"What's that? You'll be stoppin' in Knoxville next month? Perfect! Finals will be over and she'll be as free as a bird." She flips him off. "Alright, talk to you later." He hangs up and smirks at Dani. "He's looking forward to meeting you."
                          
"You're a piece of shit, you know that? If you set us up together and he finds out you're messing with him you'll break his heart."
                          
"Sounds like somebody still cares."  
                          
"He probably won't even remember me, too busy livin' that rock star life."
                          
"'Cause country music is so rock and roll." The two chuckle and sit in the coffee shop for a little while longer before deciding to leave and head back to their shared apartment. 
                          
   
                          
Dani and Michael have been living together since they met in an off campus bar, Susie Q's. Hardy told her she was beautiful and asked if she wanted a drink, she said he could buy one for her it if she won in a pool game. They ended up talking for hours, becoming fast friends. He's up all hours of the night with random melodies he comes up with, tapping his keyboard or strumming his guitar while she's trying to study and prepare for law exams. 
                          
Tonight is one of those late nights. 
                          
Michael is up at two in the morning, using a pick against the metal strings of his acoustic, she's asked him plenty of times to use this thumb on his acoustic or a pick on his unplugged electric so he can still get sound but she can also sleep. "C'mon now." Dani grumbles as she gets out of her bed, pulling a big sweatshirt, it's probably one of Morgan's, on so she can knock on his door. 
                          
"Who is it?" He asks in a feminine voice, she can't help but chuckle as she opens the door. "What's up girly?"
                          
"Can you not use a pick against -"
                          
"Sorry, I forgot about that." He gives her an apologetic smile. "Now that you're up, what do you think about this?" He starts strumming a few cords, humming some melody along with it. 
                          
"That's real nice, Michael." She nods. "How long have you been up?"
                          
"Since," he turns in his chair to look at the alarm clock, "six am."
                          
"That was like twenty hours ago, Mike. You gotta sleep." 
                          
He waves her off. "I'll sleep when I'm dead. Go away, I'm creating." 
                          
"Creatin' my ass." She mutters, closing the door to his room before heading out to the kitchen. She's probably not going to back to sleep so might as well just stay up. She grabs a slice of pizza from the box kept in the oven then sits on the couch with her phone, scrolling through her Instagram page. 
                          
Morgan Wallen's account is in the 'For You' page, she bites her lip as she stalks through his account. It's nothing but pictures of him with his friends and family and a couple of him with a guitar. She stops at a picture of him smiling that goofy little smile of his, it makes her heart ache. He looks the same except for the mullet he's decided to have. She sighs to herself when she realizes he's living his life the way he wants to, single and free. She's kind of glad that he didn't go to college, if he did he probably wouldn't be living the way he is now, happy. Dani sighs again as she tosses her phone onto the coffee table, staring up at the dark ceiling, trying to drift back to sleep. 
                          
   
                          
"Daniella, you're gonna be late for your final!" Hardy shouts to her the following month as he's rushing around the apartment. 
                          
"Shit." She stands and dresses, pulling a pair of jeans on with her sneakers. She quickly brushes her teeth as she pulls her hair into a bun. She rinses her mouth, grabs her bag, then heads out the door to her last final of the semester. 
                          
After two hours, she finishes it up and walks around the campus for a little bit. She sits on the steps next to the university sign, putting her earbuds in to drown out the campus noise as she looks over her thesis paper for the last time. "Whatcha got there?" A male voice asks, she doesn't hear him. He taps her shoulder, scaring her. "Sorry, thought you heard me."
                          
She tugs her earbuds out, "what?"
                          
"Hey, I'm Ernest."
                          
"Ernest?" 
                          
"Ernest. You look super familiar." He says, sitting next to her. 
                          
"Yeah, twenty two thousand students and I'm familiar?" 
                          
"You're just a stand out kinda girl." 
                          
She chuckles. "Are you flirtin' with me, Ernest?"
                          
"Tryin' to." He smiles at her. "What's your name, darlin'?"
                          
"I'm Dani." She holds her hand out for him to shake. "Nice meetin' you, Ernest." She says as she stands. 
                          
"Where ya off to?"
                          
"Well, if you must know, the law building, I have a thesis to turn in."
                          
"You're a law major?"
                          
"I am. What're you?"
                          
"Ag Science." She nods. "Are you sure we haven't met before? I've definitely seen you before." 
                          
"I've never met someone named Ernest before." She shrugs, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. "Don't know what to tell ya." She starts to walk away. 
                          
"I know where I've seen you!" He shouts after her but she has her earbuds pressed into her ears as she walks to the north side of campus.