Who You Love (Katy Perry/John Mayer Fanfiction)

Chapter Twelve: Sweet Charity

John:
I need to ask you something. Do you have any breaks from rehearsal today? I'd rather ask in person. I hope you're having a great time, beautiful. I love you.
Xo

To: John
I have a lunch break in about 20 minutes, does that work? You're making me nervous... But I love you too. See you soon baby. Xo

John:
I'll be there, wait for me. Nothing to be nervous about gorgeous.
Xo

I smiled as I placed my phone back into my gym bag that I had bought with me to rehearsal, deciding to grab my sweater out and throw it over my shoulders as a sudden wave of cool wind hit my body, instantly giving me chills.

I walked back over to the baby grand piano in the middle of the room, apologising to my singing coach for looking at my phone when I knew I wasn't allowed to due to time constraints. I sighed and continued reading through the sheet music in front of me, and no matter how long I tried to think about it, I couldn't seem to make a decision about what song I wanted to sing. Usually I would pick one at random, but this year's Grammy Awards were incredibly important to me... This would be the last time I would be singing something from my PRISM album, and I knew I had to close the 'era' gracefully.

"What about Legendary Lovers? You've never sung that live, it would get people talking," Eric, my vocal teacher suggested, probably because he didn't know what to do either.

"No... I can't sing that. I'm trying to close PRISM, and if I sing a song like that everyone is going to expect me to release it, and that's definitely not what I want right now," I said, sighing. I don't know why I couldn't make a decision, it seemed that making decisions about my life had been easier than this one at some point.

"Wait...." I said, after a long silence, continuing to gnaw at my thumb as I rested my body against the piano. "What about.... By The Grace of God?" I said, my eyes widening at the possibility of singing it live.

"It would be a good song, vocally anyway. But that's not an easy song for you to sing though, is it?" Eric questioned me, which made me start to second-guess myself.

"Not really, but.... Oh!" I said, popping my head up suddenly, looking Eric in the eye.

"It was actually the first song I wrote for PRISM. I was in the middle of heartbreak when I wrote it, I think it would be perfect actually.... It can provide symbolism... showing how far I've come since then... Closing it off with the first song written for it just sounds right to me, Eric. I have a feeling about this. It could work." I smiled at him, my eyes wide and full of thought.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to go out there and all your emotions hit you at once. I'm not speaking from any other side of it than being concerned for you. It's got a lot of memories to it, but I do think it will be beautiful for you to sing," Eric said, looking at me with a face of concern. He knew me very well, but I was determined that I had let the past go and by singing this song, it could tell the world something I couldn't with just words from my mouth.

"I think if I simply stand on the stage and sing it, that would be the best. No glittery costumes, no excessive makeup, no dancers, no props. Just me, singing to the lyrics to a song that's about my life," I said, nodding lightly to myself as I made sense with my conscience, a whirl of thoughts and ideas starting to take over my mind.

"I think Katheryn Hudson is about to make her debut to the world!" Eric laughed, playfully sticking his tongue out at me from his stool at the piano keys.

"Oh, she never left," I said, winking. My mood had started to pick up now that I had finally made a decision and was no longer stressing about finding a song.

We laughed lightly as I went through the sheet music before finding the sheets for the song, handing them to Eric who put them in order in his folder, before placing it on the piano and playing with the keys.