Usual Disclaimer - I do not own the South of Nowhere characters…unfortunately

Ok so here is the first chapter of my new fic…what do you guys reckon continue it, scrap it?

Please read and review.

Anam Cara

Chapter One - The Music

Ashley's POV

"That was great guys," Julian called out as he lay down his guitar and wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel he then chucked over the amps.

I lifted the strap of my bass guitar over my head and placed it in its stand carefully, "Are you kidding me Julian? That sucked! The whole sound was off, not to mention your voice is totally wrong for that song." I tucked a curl of mahogany hair behind my ear and groaned in frustration. We had been working on this new song I'd written for over an hour now and it was going up shit creek.

"Well you know I have a way of fixing all this…" Julian began only to be cut off by yours truly.

"Save it Julian. We do not need another band member, we just need to work harder to get this right!" I snapped. Julian had been going on and on about this friend of his, some girl with a dudes name who was supposed to be insanely talented. It was starting to piss me off just a tad.

"Look Ash you just said it yourself that something is off, maybe a new band member is just what we need. Can't hurt to hear the girl play now can it?" Jen asked as she leaned on the keyboard in front of her. I glared hard at her, us girls were supposed to stick together! It's like the rules of feminism!

"Ash you know they're right, how about we go and see this chick, just see what she's like and how she plays. It's not like we're committing to anything, it's just a look," Grey said as he idly tapped on the symbol with his drum sticks. I hate it when they gang up on me, bastards!

I sighed, I knew when I was beaten, "Fine we'll go see this chick, but I'm not saying I want a new person in this band, you got it?"

I saw Julian holding back a triumphant smile, I would have to castrate him if he let it show. "Ok Ash, that's fair. Spencer is performing tonight with the LACA orchestra so we should check it out and then meet her afterwards. I really think you guys will love her."

I grunted and rolled my eyes, I was really mad at myself for caving and now my punishment was having to go and see some pretentious orchestra play a bunch of shitty classical crap…worst night out ever.

"Jules, what's the LACA?" Jen asked tucking a strand of auburn hair behind her ear.

"It's the L.A. College of the Arts. That's where I met Spencer while I was studying the cello and she was studying the violin and singing. She got a job there right after graduation as a tutor and teaching assistant and she's been the principle violinist in their orchestra for over a year now, she is the youngest principle violinist in the history of the LACA orchestra." Julian said with pride, seemed to me like this Spencer chick meant a lot to him, didn't mean I wanted her in my band.

"Classical musician huh? That'll go really well with the whole rock band thing we got going on," I deadpanned.

"C'mon Ash, stop being so damn negative. Just wait til you see her perform and meet her before you judge ok?" Julian pleaded.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Fine we'll go see little Miss violinist tonight." I guess the universe hates me, that or I have some bad karma to work off. Its probably the second one.

I guess it really wouldn't hurt to go see this chick play, the band was one of the most important things in my life and if little miss principle violinist could help with that then I guess I had to give it a shot. Don't ever tell the others I said that, Ashley Davies does not admit to being wrong!

The band had formed a year ago. Julian had been in another band with Grey since high school and Grey was friends with Jen who had dated my best friend Aiden. The three of them had come together and then set out to find a fourth band member. Aiden tipped them off about me which led them to an open mic night at a local club, Gray. There they found what they were looking for in the form of the last performer of the night, one Ashley Davies.

And me, well I'm the child of Rock Royalty. My Dad is Raife Davies, lead singer and guitarist in the band Purple Venom. They hit it big in the 80s and have been touring ever since. It meant that I didn't see a hell of a lot of my Dad growing up, but it also meant that I inherited some mad music skills. I think my first toy was a guitar actually.

I have been in love with music for as long as I can remember so this band meant a lot to me, which I guess is why I was being such a brat about bringing in someone new. My music was all I really had and I didn't want to fuck around with that, but I said I'd give the girl a chance and I will. Stupid fucking band members ganging up on me.

A few hours later I found myself in a rather uncomfortable seat in the auditorium of the Los Angeles College of the Arts. I was fidgeting so much that Julian promised to buy me dinner if I'd behave myself, Jen and Grey just laughed at us.

As soon as the music began Julian pointed out a blonde woman sitting in the front row on the left side. From my distant perspective she looked kinda hot, but the whole white shirt, black skirt and plait was a bit too stiff for me. She seemed pretty talented I will say, I mean I know absolutely nothing about classical music but she was good and then she stood up and did her solo.

Oh my God that solo, it was transcendent. You know how I said I knew nothing about classical music, well I don't, but I do know what moves me and the solo piece this Spencer woman performed moved me to tears. The music was powerful and sad yet hopeful. In short it was breathtaking.

I was captivated for the rest of the performance, my eyes never leaving the blonde who threw so much passion and intensity into her music. You could see how the music invaded her and took over her body while she played. It was like everything fell away for her and all that was left was the magical sounds she was stirring from that violin. After the performance Julian smirked over at me and said, "So you liked it huh?"

"Yeah I did, I still don't think a classical violinist will work in our rock band but I'll grant you she is incredibly talented." I said honestly.

"What you think the violin is all she plays?" Julian laughed and shook his head, "C'mon guys lets head back stage so you guys can meet her."

We followed Julian back stage and watched as he greeted the majority of performers on his way back stage to find Spencer. We were informed that she was getting changed so we waited for her in the rehearsal room. I was admiring a rather nice grand piano when the door behind me opened and I heard Julian squeal, yes he squealed. I spun around to find him spinning a drop dead gorgeous blonde girl around in his arms.

He set her down and called us over, "Guys I want you to meet my favourite blonde, Spencer. Spence this is Grey, Jen and Ashley."

Spencer turned to me and I felt like I was drowning in her ocean blue eyes. She was so different from the woman who was up on stage. Gone was the uptight look, instead she was wearing a short jean skirt with a frayed hem, a vintage Beatles t-shirt and green Converses. Her long blonde hair was hanging in loose waves around her face, having been released from the plait she'd had it in to perform.

"Hi guys, it's nice to meet you. So what'd you think of the performance?" She asked. My God her voice was so hot! All husky and sexy. I completely lost the plot and just watched her as she interacted with the others. I was so lost in her that I didn't even register when they all turned to me waiting for my response to some question.

"Ash, Ashley!" Julian said waving a hand in front of my face.

"What? What's going on?" I said as a blush coloured my face.

"I'll take it from that, that you didn't like the show?" Spencer said with a smirk.

"What, oh no I really liked it, it was great," I stammered out. Spencer just nodded with an expression that told me she didn't believe a word I was saying to her. Hell I wouldn't have believed me either.

"So Spencer how do you feel about coming to a little jam session with us tomorrow, it'll give you a chance to do something other than all this classical crap that's making you crazy," Julian asked with a grin. I was thinking he might have a tiny crush on the gorgeous blonde, not that I blamed him at all she was hot!

"Hmm that's pretty tempting Jules, you certainly know how to woo a girl dontcha?" Spencer said with a teasing smile, "But actually it sounds great, I'll be there. Hey guys the performers usually go out for drinks at a bar down the street after a show if you guys wanna come? I promise we aren't as stiff and uptight in real life as we seem on stage." We all laughed and agreed to head out with them.

I will admit that I was rather intrigued by this gorgeous blonde and was looking forward to spending some more time with her. She was so not what I was expecting at all.

Ok I think I just had an aneurism! Spencer just reached up to hug Julian and her t-shit came up to show off like half of her incredibly toned and perfectly tanned abs with an undeniably sexy tattoo on her right hip. Now I have no idea what that tattoo said, all I know is that is was hot.

"Ash you're drooling," Jen whispered to me. I turned around and glared at her before giving her the finger and following the others out of the room.

Thankfully Spencer hadn't noticed my creepy stalker like staring and was now leading us out of the auditorium and down the street to a funky little bar called Pella. As soon as we walked in Spencer was being hugged and kissed by everyone, and I mean everyone! She was like freaking royalty in this place.

Spencer led us to the bar and then made my mouth drop open in shock when she walked straight behind the bar and asked us all what we wanted.

"Um Spencer, I don't think you allowed to just walk behind the bar like that," I said nervously, just waiting for the bold blonde to get yelled at and tackled by the burly bouncers.

Spencer and Julian just laughed and Spencer leaned over the bar so she could talk to me without having to yell over the music and the crowd, "Honey it's all good my brother owns the bar and I work her occasionally, plus I kinda live upstairs."

I felt her breath tickle my cheek and I wanted her right there and then, on the bar in front of everyone. Spencer stepped back and grinned at me, "So what can I get you? On the house."

We ordered our drinks and then watched her get all Coyote Ugly, and by that I don't mean slutty and dancing on the bar (not that I would have minded that), I mean that she began mixing drinks like she was a pro. It was a bit of a turn on…ok so it was a lot of a turn on.

Spencer gave me a gorgeous smile as she handed me my vodka, lime and soda and walked around the bar to stand beside me with a beer. She had the most incredible smile on her face as she bobbed her head to the music. I was about to ask her to dance when Julian grabbed her hand and dragged her forcibly out onto the dance floor. Spencer giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck as they began moving to the music.

I officially hated Julian in that moment. Jen came up and stood beside me, "So what do you think of Spencer?"

I wiped the condensation off my glass with my finger before answering her, "She seems nice and talented, I still do know how a violinist will fit into our band though. I guess we'll find out tomorrow when she comes to play with us."

"Yeah I'd bet you'd like her to 'play with you,'" Jen said with a smug look on her face.

"What the fuck are you talking about," I said quickly, a little too quickly going by Jen's roaring laughter.

"Ash are you kidding? You've been staring at her non-stop all night. Just admit that you think she's hot. Hell I'm straight and I think she's hot!" Jen said as she watched Spencer dance with Julian.

"Ok so she's hot, but that doesn't mean I'm interested in her!" I insisted. Jen clearly wasn't buying it. She shook her head, laughed and wandered off to join Grey at the bar. I sipped my drink and watched the blonde on the dance floor, God she could really move.

Spencer raised her eyes and they locked on mine. It was weird, I felt an intense connection with the beautiful blonde as our eyes burned into each other. Spencer winked at me and smiled before turning around to listen to something Julian was trying to tell her.

I felt all strange inside. It was a feeling I hadn't had before. I had a feeling that things were about to get pretty interesting in my life.