Sophie's POV

"Sophie girl, are you planning on staying in tonight? Or do you want to come out with us for a little while" Ryan asks, sticking his head into my room on my bus.

After leaving Alabama the day after my college graduation with my best friend, Scarlett by my side, the two of us landed in Charlotte, North Carolina on a whim. We had stopped for gas and lunch, and just sat in silence taking in the town. We both fell in love with it instantly.

It only took us a few weeks to get moved into an apartment, get jobs lined up, and completely start our lives over, which I would call completely lucky. Honestly, I had a feeling that we would be going home with our tails tucked between our legs in a week, but we didn't.

I ended up finding an open position with Team Penske as a PR rep for their driver Ryan Blaney, and Scarlett found her calling in the marketing department for the Carolina Panthers.

Growing up, I was a huge NASCAR fan, so I already had quite a bit of knowledge going into the job, which helped out a lot when trying to get the position.

After I started working with Ryan, we quickly became friends. That turned into him, Bubba, and Chase dragging me around with them.

I look up from my phone to see Ryan leaning against my doorway, a smirk on his face.

"That depends, what do you guys have planned?" I ask him.

"Chase wanted to check out the concert tonight, maybe take a walk around the track on the way" Ryan responds.

I give him a nod, before standing up and sliding on my flip flops, shoving my phone into the pocket of my leggings.

"Let's go" I tell Ryan, motioning to the door.

The two of us left the bus, heading in the direction where Chase and Bubba were standing in front of the bus waiting for us.

"Look who decided to come out tonight" Chase states, spotting the two of us walking in their direction.

"I can go back in if you guys have something to say" I respond.

"Nope, you're coming out with us tonight" Ryan says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

The four of us make our way towards the infield where are crowd of people are waiting by the stage, eager to get the party going more than it already has.

"Do we know who is preforming tonight?" I question, looking at the four of them.

"No idea" Bubba responds.

"Let's try not to stay out too late tonight, we all have an early morning" I tell them, the three of them groaning in response. 

A bunch of damn babies, all of them. You'd think that getting closer to 30 would change them, but it clearly hasn't. 

We make our way over to a section off to the side of the stage where drivers, staff members, and other guests of the weekend are standing. As we approach the section, I spot different drivers and wives standing around talking amongst themselves.

Being employed by one of the teams, I've managed to meet some of my closest friends through my job, seeing how we all spend so much time together throughout the year. From wives to pit crew members, I spend my time with just about everyone related to NASCAR, and Scarlett of course.

The four of us separated, only meeting again once the stage lights start to flash and band members start walking out.

"How are we doing tonight race fans?" I hear being yelled from the stage.

Looking in the direction of the stage, my breath hitches in my throat when I see a familiar face looking out at the crowd, a smile on his face as he takes it all in.

A hand landing on the small of my back pulls my attention from the man on the stage, to the brunette standing next to me. 

"Do you want to go back to the bus? We can find something else to do tonight. All of us agreed, if you don't want to stay here, we don't have to" Ryan asks.

I look back up at the stage debating on leaving, before looking back at Ryan, a small smile on my face. 

"I think we should stay" I respond.

As soon as Riley starts singing, Ryan grabs my hand and spins me around, a smile coming to my face.

I've learned to live in the moment recently, so that's what I'm doing.

Living in the moment, and not thinking about the man standing on stage who shattered my heart into a million pieces. 

Riley's POV

I look out at the crowd of NASCAR fans, a smile on my face as I take it all in.

When I was growing up, my dad and grandpa would take me to the race when it was in town. If the race wasn't in Alabama or Atlanta, we would all gather around the TV watching, so actually getting to perform for a race is a dream come true.

As the next song starts up, I look out at the crowd to see a group of drivers standing behind a barrier dancing and singing along.

A flash of blonde hair in the crowd draws my attention in from the group of drivers, to the other end of the barricade. 

As the girl being spun around by Ryan Blaney faces forward, I feel my heart beating out of my chest.

Sophie Chandler.

If there was a girl that got away, it would be Sophie. She's the thought behind every song is sing, everything that happens in my life, Sophie is a lingering thought.

I've been constantly wondering how she was, what she's doing now, or even where she was. 

The two of us were thick as thieves growing up, seeing as how our parents were best friends before we were even born, we spent every waking moment with each other. 

We started dating our freshman year of high school, and everything about our relationship was perfect. Every weekend you would find her in the stands with an identical jersey to mine hanging off her shoulders.

It wasn't until I decided to drop out of school to head to Nashville that things started getting rocky. I made the mistake of promising her forever. Promising her that the two of us would get married and have a house full of kids.

That clearly didn't happen.

I broke the promises, breaking her heart and mine in the process.

Last I heard, she fled town right after graduation with Scarlett and never looked back, only coming into town for holidays. 

I've tried to catch her in town over the years, but no one has been willing to tell me if she was actually in town or not. Not that I blame them.. Sophie was the sweetheart of our hometown, she was protected by everyone there.. Hell, she probably still is. 

She's probably in love by now

A girl like that don't stay lonely long

And I bet she's already found somebody else

And he ain't doin' her wrong

Wouldn't do no good even if I could somehow track her down

She's probably in love by now

I feel the lyrics I'm singing get caught in my throat as I watch her dance with someone else, the smile on her face that I used to be on the receiving end of. 

 The lyrics to the song I wrote coming true in front of my face.

She looks happy, happy with someone that isn't me.

And there's no one to blame but me.