Piece By Piece

Chapter 14

"Knock knock, can I come in?" Ivey peeped into Carrie's dressing room to see her curling her hair.

"Hey." Carrie cooed, smiling at her as she entered.

"I brought you a good luck cupcake." Ivey smiled, placing a box in front of Carrie and pulling a chair up beside her.

"You're the greatest." Carrie gushed.

"Yeah yeah, I know." Ivey laughed. "So are you excited?"

"I guess, I don't know." The blonde sighed, continuing to curl her long hair. "It feels good to sing again, I just don't know if I'm ready to face all the people yet. This is my first public appearance."

"Hey I know you're worried, but it's gonna be okay! And this is a good start, you don't have to do any interviews or see any people face to face. All you have to do is get up on that stage and sing your heart out. You look beautiful and you're going to sound beautiful." Ivey assured her best friend.

"Thank you." Carrie smiled, hugging her best friend tightly.

"What are you singing tonight?" Ivey asked once Carrie returned back to fixing her hair.

"Good Girl, Before He Cheats, and Two Black Cadillacs."

"Ohh a night full of sass." Ivey smirked.

"I don't think I could make it through an emotional song, I figured those would be the safer route." Carrie chuckled, setting the curler down and moving onto her makeup.

"Can you see this? Is it covered enough?" Carrie asked, pointing to the scar on her forehead that had been painted over in makeup.

"Um, it's very faint but I don't think you're going to get it much better. From far away nobody will notice it."

"Promise? I don't want people to see it." Carrie fretted, putting another layer of foundation over it.

"They won't, you look beautiful." Ivey smiled.

"Ugh I wish it would go away."
Carrie groaned.

"Hey, it shows how tough you are." Ivey gave Carrie an encouraging smile as she finished her makeup.

After changing into her dress and putting a few last touch ups on her curls, they walked out to find Mike and Mark talking backstage as someone sang onstage.

"Hey princess." Mike smiled, pulling Carrie in for a side hug and kissing the side of her head. "You look stunning."

"Thank you." Carrie blushed.

"Are you ready?" Mark asked, putting his arm around his wife.

"I guess so." She sighed.

"I'm gonna go find my seat. Good luck Carrie, I love you you're going to do great." Ivey said, giving Carrie a big hug before disappearing.

"I should go get ready too, they're gonna bring us on soon. You're gonna kill it Carrie I know it." Mark said once Ivey left, also hugging Carrie and turning to go find the rest of the band.

"Nervous?" Mike asked, looping his arms around her waist once it was just the two of them backstage.

Carrie nodded, feeling a lump grow in her throat.

"I don't know if this was a good idea Mike, I don't think I can go out in front of all those people." She said, heavily breathing as she looked at all the people in the audience from the wing.

"Carrie yes you can, I know you can. You've been doing this for years, this is what you were born to do. You're going to go out there and kick ass okay? I love you so much, I'll be right here the entire time." Mike gripped Carrie's small arms, reassuring her over and over that she was going to be okay.

"All those people are probably out there waiting to see if I'm going to break on stage. They're going to be looking at me and picking me apart trying to figure out the details of what happened and-" Carrie's voice cracked and she put her hand over her mouth.

"Hey hey, shh. Please don't cry." Mike said gently, caressing her face and wiping a tear that fell.

"Don't cry, you're going to ruin your makeup." A sympathetic and soft smile appeared on his face, bringing peace to Carrie.

"I'm sorry, I'm okay. I can do this." Carrie fanned her face to get rid of the tears.

"I know you can." Mike took both her hands and rested his forehead against yours.

"2 minutes Mrs. Underwood." Someone shouted from backstage.

"That's you babe." Mike smiled.

Carrie let out a huge sigh. "That's me."

"You can do this. You look beautiful, you're going to sound beautiful. I'll be right here on the side of the stage and Ivey and Melissa are right in the front. If you get nervous just sing to them. You're going to do great. I'm so proud of you and I love you so so much."

"I love you more." She squeezed his hands and smiled one last time as she heard the announcer start to introduce her. She gave him a long soft kiss before turning to go on stage as the entrance to Good Girl started.

"Hey good girl, with your head in the clouds, I bet you I can tell you what you're thinking about." Carrie belted out, instantly feeling the rush she lived for every time she stepped on stage.

She immediately forget everything that had happened in the past two months and put all her emotion into her music.

"How are you guys feeling tonight?" Carrie shouted, coming off her high from the song. "I don't know about y'all, but I am so happy to be back on stage!"

The crowd screamed and cheered, making Carrie forget all about Drake. She didn't feel like they were judging her or looking at her differently.

As she sang her last two songs, she realized that every single person in the crowd seemed genuinely happy to see her and she was happy to be there.

She was happier than she'd been in the past two months. She was Carrie Underwood, all until she saw him.

He was sitting in the third row on the right.

Drake.