Post by Anabelle Grace Bryan on Nov 8, 2012 18:39:09 GMT -5
Anabelle stood quietly in the elevator as she blinked, staring at the door in front of her. She didn’t think she had ever been this quiet around Luke before, but honestly she wasn’t sure what people expected of her. Don’t talk about your relationship with Luke. Do not talk about who you are married to.You can talk about how you met, but be vague. Don’t say how long you’ve known each other. Do not discuss how quickly you got married. Don’t associate his career with yours, make it his own. Anabelle took in a deep breath, holding it as she kept her fingers locked tightly around his. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin his career before it even got started and Collin had her convinced she was going to do just that. The confusing thing about it was, she wanted him to succeed more than anyone. Why would she ruin his career? Why would people associate him with her, he was far more talented. And what was the harm in being associated with her? People used to like their kids spending time with her. But maybe she had changed. The silence filled the elevator as she dropped her staple smile and furrowed her eyebrows. Not yet a frown, those were pretty rare. Complete focus and confusion. She let out a small sigh as the elevator reached the top, slipping her fingers away from his before she made an exit out of the elevator first. The first person she saw was Collin, which sort of surprised her. They had literally just been shooting her music video for Good Girl, how the hell had he managed to make it all the way here before her. “ Oh good, you wore the dress,” Collin said with a smile before he leaned down and kissed her cheek before extending his hand out to shake Luke’s hand. Anabelle smiled as she looked down at the floral dress she was wearing. Her mama had sent it to her and she’d instantly fallen in love. So when she showed up to film Good Girl she couldn’t be happier that Collin wanted her to wear that dress in one of the segments – her mama would be so proud and probably tell everyone in her book club. “ I’m glad you like it, Collin” she said, giving him a quick smile. That was another thing that had changed. She was calling a heck of a lot less people sugar now that Luke had waltzed into her life. She looked around at everyone in the room, busy working away. It was strange to not feel like herself, to not be able to go across the room and kiss him just because she wanted to. At this point they had been separated and she looked across the room at him, giving him a faint smile as people fussed over him, getting him ready for the interview, raving to him about how well his show was going on the tour.
At that moment little Dolly wiggled inside the pet carrier pseudo purse and popped her head out of the carrier. “ Jesus CHRIST,” Collin yelled out taking a slight jump back, “ What the hell is that thing?” he said with his eyes widened before he finally took a small step closer to inspect. “ It’s Dolly,” she said matter of factly before she reached inside and took her out. Dolly had already grown accustom to Stella and Thor on the bus, and it was just the cutest thing to see them all cuddling. Anabelle leaned down carefully, setting little Dolly on the floor so she could do as she pleased before she set the soft carrier down against the ground. “ Who the hell let you get a pig,” Collin said with his eyes still wide. Anabelle blinked as she looked over at him, pushing her hair from her face. Dolly was downright adorable. Anybody could see that. “ Well Luke did,” she said as though it were obvious again before she looked at Collin and tilted her head with an expression of confusion. “ Are you ill?” she questioned, bringing her hand up to touch his forehead. Well he didn’t seem ill. “ Hm,” she said, watching him skeptically before she stepped away. But just like that he was on her heels, following her over to hair and make up. “ How’s the married life?” he asked as he caught up to her. Anabelle smiled as she lifted her eyebrow at him, “ Oh am I allowed to talk about it?” she asked. Collin, smirked, crossing his arms as he watched her, “ I don’t have a camera on me at the moment,” he said, giving her a slight nudge on the shoulder. “ It’s good. Perfect, actually.” she said , unable to stop the smile that came across her lips. “ Even on a tourbus for your honeymoon?” Collin asked skeptically. Anabelle looked up at him, how did he not understand? “ It doesn’t matter where we are as long as I’m with him,” she said, to which Collin seemingly understood as he nodded his head a few times. “ Strange to think that could have been us,” he said, lifting his eyes up to look at her. She knew no part of him whatsoever wanted to be with her, he was the happiest she had ever seen him with Ellie. But it was still sort of depressing to think about what ‘could have been’. “ No offense, Collin… I was willing to give up Texas for you. I’m willing to give up everything for him. We’re exactly where we are supposed to be, and are with exactly who we are supposed to be with.” she said, before giving him a quick hug. “ Are you happy with him, Anabelle? You see things so differently than everyone else.. You two getting married this quickly.. it seems crazy. I don’t want it to come back and bite you in the ass. Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked, placing his hands in his front pockets. “ He’s everything I need,” she offered, looking down to see if Dolly was coming along. Slowly but surely that little pig had made it’s way over to Luke and was wandering around his feet. If he weren’t careful he might actually step on her. But she was just a little piglet, she learned from the dogs. When Anabelle laid down, she wanted to curl up at her side and take a nap. When Luke was up and moving around, she wanted at his feet like Stella. “Your daddy asked me about him after he spoke to Hunter,” Collin said decisively, just letting her know. “ Yeah well, he’s the answer to my mama’s prayers. I’m actually writing a song about it,” she said, looking over at the hair and make up girl before she offered a small smile to her as well.
All she wanted to do was go talk to Luke, literally that was it. They had offered lunch and she was hoping Luke had gotten something to eat – as far as she went, she had skipped lunch. She was far more fascinated by the caterer’s dreams to someday open a restaurant. It amazed her how hard working people were, how they had all of these dreams and hopes. Hers had changed the moment she met Luke. That boy better have eaten. Though in her mind she was already mentally preparing what she was going to make him for supper. “ Alright,” Collin said, ushering her over to Luke where she did her best to not stand too close to him. “ Anabelle, please.. please, please do not associate his career with yours,” he started off and instantly Anabelle felt her shoulders square back. She never got defensive. “ Collin Reynolds, I am a fan of this mans’ career,” she said stubbornly as she glared at him. “ No one is saying you aren’t, if you could jus-“ he started off but quickly she was narrowing her eyes at him. “ And Collin I know you are coming from a place where you want this man to skyrocket. But I am telling you right now it does not matter what he faces, his talent is more powerful than anything I have ever encountered in my entire life. He could go up against an army and still come out a victor, so I don’t think some little country girl talkin’ about the way he sings is going to harm anything,” she said before blinking at him. Collin stood staring at her for a moment, blinking at her as well with his mouth open. “ One thing I’ve learned about Anabelle..” Collin started off, before glancing a look at Luke before looking back at her, “ Gracie, my mom was telling me this morning that she tried to make an apple pie and couldn’t get the crust to crumble up the way you do. Could you get her that recipe?” he asked and Anabelle instantly softened, relaxing her shoulders and put her hand on her heart. “ Bless that woman’s heart, I actually have it on me in my recipe rolodex,” Anabelle said, pointing her finger up at him to hold on for a moment before she ran over to her purse to look for it, leaving Luke alone with Collin who was shaking his head. Once she returned she offered it out to him, giving him the brightest smile she had. She loved it when people baked for their loved ones, it was just such a sweet gesture. “ Tell your mama I’m callin her Sunday to see how it turns out,” she said before giving him a polite kiss on the cheek and making her way over to the set. She had a lot of mama’s to call Sunday. Her mama, Hunter’s mama, Luke’s mama, now Collin’s. Anabelle sat down, picking up the cup of coffee and looked up with an eager smile as the interviewer leaned down to hug her.
“ Thank you so much for coming in, we’re thrilled to have you both here today,” he said with a genuine smile that matched her own. “ Thank you so much,” she countered, adjusting in her seat.Anabelle looked up and watched Luke as he took his seat. That boy was so tall. He must have thought she was a miniature person or something. Once he was all sat down the girls came over to readjust his microphone as the interviewer leaned over to introduce himself and welcome Luke as well. Anabelle had taken a seat to the side, letting Luke sit by the interviewer. No one cared what she had to say and she knew it. If she weren’t here herself she would be tuning in to hear with Luke had to say. “ This is Jeff O’Connor with CMT Inside and we are joined here in the studio today with country artists Anabelle Hart and Luke Bryan. Incase you’ve been living under a rock, these two are taking the country scene by storm with Anabelle’s tour in which we gladly get to see Luke open up for her. Welcome to the studio, guys. We couldn’t be happier to have you here and I myself am burning with questions so I can guarantee you that the fans are as well,” he said and Anabelle gave a broad smile, “ I’d say it’s more of a joint tour than my own tour. Luke puts on just as much if not more of a show than I do. It really is his own thing. He connects with the fans in a way that to me is.. untouchable by any other country artist out there – male or female. They’re leaving the concert talking about his performances,” she said, taking everything inside of her to not reach over and touch his leg or his hand. “ Well I think that everyone is thrilled to listen to you both. Luke, I do want to get to your sudden appearance on the country scene, how that all started, where you want to see your career go. But first, there’s been a couple of things that we’ve noticed as fans that I think you should both address if you don’t mind. You’re both newly married.. so congratulations on that front. Anabelle, are we ever going to get a chance to be introduced to your husband, is he a fellow artist, is he someone from back home?” he asked as he crossed his hands over one another. Anabelle licked her lips uncomfortably, reaching her hand up behind her ear and scratched her neck uncomfortably. “ I would say someday, yes. There’s so much going on with the tour right now. And for me I.. didn’t get married for anyone else, and it’s not the normal thing to get married and then sort of shy away from the person in the public eye. But the reality of it is, I don’t live a normal life anymore, as much as I want to pretend that I do. A normal marriage probably isn’t in the cards for me. But who gets to decide what it should be like for everyone anyways? Right now.. what works for us, with me being on tour, and him having a whole list of things that he is having to deal with too.. it almost seems like it would be a stress factor, apparently. Part of me wants to jump out and say.. this is it, we’re married, we’re happy. The other part is a lot more careful about what’s going on in his life. I married him because my love for him exceeds the love for myself, so I’ll do anything to sort of keep it sacred. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep it to ourselves for a little while either, I have to remind myself of that sometimes. Though I think I would rather want to keep it to myself because that’s what I wanted.. versus, thinking it was best for our situation,” she said before offering a small shrug of her shoulder, “ You find this person that makes you feel complete and becomes your entire world, and then you have to sit on it and not let anyone know until the time is right,” she said while slightly narrowing her eyebrows. “ And is that difficult for you. You have a reputation of being a sweetheart in the industry and always wanting to be honest with her fans, do you feel like you’re keeping something from them?” he asked and Anabelle shook her head, “ Not at all, I think.. my fans care about whether or not I’m happy. That doesn’t mean having to know every little detail. And trust me, those close to me know exactly who he is and who he makes me want to become. I’m not much for secrecy, and I think it’s sort of.. spiraled into something of that level, and I think quite honestly people will find out sooner rather than later. But if they are true fans they’ll also understand that I’m not wanting to keep anything from them.. that this is a necessity for my marriage right now, and hopefully they would choose to respect and honor that,” she said before taking in a deep breath and sighing. It was so strange talking about Luke when he was sitting right beside her. She wanted to look over and see his reaction, but she kept her eyes locked straight ahead on the interviewer.
“ And are you? Happy, that is. It must be hard starting off a marriage when you’re heading out on tour, on a bus with your crew and not much chance to see this person. How has it effected everything?” he asked and Anabelle placed her elbow against the arm rest, crossing her legs as she shook her foot and tried to think of how to answer that, but the smile on her face probably did more than enough for her. “ Everyone has told me my entire life that I’ve been a happy person, and I can’t help but think… why not? The world is filled with such amazing people and there is a miracle in each and every single day. But I think something that had been missing from my life was this perpetual feeling of inner…peace. And he’s brought me that. I don’t have an uncertainty about tomorrow anymore or what it might bring. There’s one thing I am certain about and that is for the rest of my life, every single day I can look forward to the love of the most amazing man I’ve ever met in my entire life,” she said as she sighed happily, “ And he is the cutest thing, I swear. Even with me being on tour he takes such good care of me, and makes sure that I have everything I need. He is the kindest most caring, handsome, funniest, intelligent, most talented person to have ever walked this Earth. And I know there’s a God because by some miracle he loves me, too” she said, the smile nearly stretching her lips out as she held onto her knee tightly with her hands. “ Well it sounds like this guy can do no wrong,” the interviewer said with a slight laugh but Anabelle just nodded along seriously. That was right, he could not. “ And how about you Luke, have you met this man? Is he everything she makes him out to be?” the interviewer asked, turning his attention over to Luke. For the first time since the interview started Anabelle turned her head, looking over to watch him as he spoke. “ Also before I forget real quick, you’re new to the country scene. So we sort of all just expect that your wife is someone you’ve met previously to being exposed to this lifestyle. How did you meet her, because I guarantee every girl out there is dying to know who to be jealous of and what it took to snag the ‘ in high demand’ Luke Bryan,” he said before laughing quietly.Anabelle bit the inside of her cheek, looking over at Luke. She felt so horrible for him – first television interview and here he was, having to dance around his marriage. He hadn’t even been married a month ago. Her heart ached for him in that moment, and she wondered just for a moment, if this was the life he truly wanted. Anabelle looked down, her eyes looking at his hands just for a moment which she desperately wanted to reach out and grab, but instead she forced herself to hold onto her own hands tightly, bouncing her foot in anxiety as she waited for Luke to handle some of the interview. When she looked up she smiled, her eye catching as Collin was uncomfortably being handed a teacup pig. Since Anabelle and Luke were on set, Dolly had been trying her best to go over to them and many of the crew members were having a hard time trying to catch her, which left Collin responsible for holding her, which he did.. straight out in front of him as though he didn’t want her to get close enough to smell him and get attached.
