Believe in Yourself

Chapter 2 - On The Road

*Olivia’s POV*

Something is bothering Sophie, and I can tell. I have known her since we were freshmen and I have been her roommate for 2 years now. I’m not sure what is bugging her, but I know that she will discuss it when she is ready to. She’s very private about her inner thoughts until she wants (read needs) to say them.

Happy thoughts, Olivia. Only happy thoughts. Today we are leaving to travel to Omaha to visit Sophie’s sister, Kassidy, for the weekend. I am super excited because I know that means we are going to have a great time. Okay, so Sophie and I like to party… We really do, but getting to do that with Kassidy ought to be super interesting. Kassidy is 12 years older than Sophie is, but they are like best friends. It is amazing really. Even though they are so far apart in years, they are the best of friends.

Sorry, I keep getting away from the point. The real reason that we are going all the way to Omaha is because we are going to the Hunter Hayes concert on Saturday! Sophie called me one day when Hunter was on TV over the summer and asked if I wanted to go. I of course said yes! I have loved his music for like ever. Sophie didn’t really take it in until she saw him on TV one day by accident. She likes knowing that the person she is listening to is fantastic live just as they are on the album. I respect that. She’s a music student that understands the importance of the live performance.

After loading up her Altima and a pit stop for gas, Sophie and I are pulling out of the city. It’s a four hour drive from here to Omaha. We are planning a stop about 1.75 hours into the drive in Des Moines though so that way we can get Limeades from Sonic. It’s one of Sophie’s favorite things, and we don’t have one in our area. As we get on the intestate, she asks me to send Kassidy a text so she knows we left. I compose a quick message that says we just left and hit send.

*Sophie’s POV*

                We finally arrived in Des Moines, and I stop not just to get my necessary cherry-limeade, but to walk around too. I’m a little to ADD to be sitting in the car for over 4 hours. Anywho, after we arrived in Omaha, Kassidy met us to go out for the night. We were going to one of her favorite bars.  In fact, we were on our way there now. It’s just a little place near my sister’s house that does karaoke every weekend night. Kassidy has been bugging me for years to get back into singing. I mean, I like it and all, but I just get so scared to be up there on a stage. Even if it’s only a few people I trust.

                Walking into the bar, it’s more crowded than normal. It looks like there is a big party hanging out in one area tonight. This should be entertaining at the very least. These groups are usually the ones that are funny to watch as the night goes on. As the rest of our group arrives, people begin ordering pitchers of beer to drink. It’s not my favorite or Olivia’s, but you don’t complain when people buy the drinks for the broke college girls. After a few swigs of beer, I looked over to Olivia.

“Hey Olivia, wanna go sing the Backstreet Boys with me?” I asked.

“Heck yeah!” was her response. “We gotta bring this back up to at least the 90’s.”

“I know! Everyone is singing all the old music. We have to fix this.”

“Yes, we do.”

                The decision has been made. We are going to go sign up for a song to sing in this bar. I wish I was confident enough to sing something on my own. We were flipping through the book when my sister’s friend Callie came up behind us. She looked up at Shadow, the DJ, and asked for a song for her. He added it to the list, and went to sit back down. We finally decided on singing ‘Larger than Life’ since we both knew it well. We went back to the table, and returned to our beers.

A few minutes later, Callie was pulling every woman in the bar up to the stage to sing ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.’ This is really not my thing, but if everyone else is up there singing, including Olivia, I should be. After that song, Callie made me stay so I could sing with her. We sang Miranda Lambert song ‘Mama’s Broken Heart.’ It was fun.  Afterwards, we went back to our table while the audience was still clapping for us. She is an amazing singer. They always do that when she sings.

“Hey Kassidy, do you think that Callie would sing ‘Before He Cheats’ with me?” I asked.

“OH MY GOSH I WOULD LOVE TO!” was Callie’s stated excitement, and she bounded back up to Shadow to have him add it to the list.

“I guess that settles that,” I said as I picked up my beer and finished the third of a glass that was left.

                A little while later, we were called to the stage. I was super nervous. Even liquor didn’t help me terrified feeling right now. I wanted to run away. Why do I do this to myself? Callie grabbed my arm and walked to the stage. As the music started playing, I felt a little better though. I was going to sing with an amazing singer, and she was going to help me sing the song I always wanted to sing in front of people. All was well during the song, and I had a great time singing with her.

“I didn’t sing for part of the song,” she spoke as we walked back to the table. “That one refrain was all you, and the audience loved it.”

“Really? I didn’t even notice you stopped” I replied.

“That was the point. You are better than you think you are Sophie. You just gotta understand that. This is you. Music is you. Don’t just not sing because of one thing.”

“I understand Callie, but I just get so scared.”

“I know, I used to too, but there will come a point in your life where you can’t let that fear run your life or you may never know how good you really could be. We all believe in you.”

“Thanks Callie.”

*Kassidy’s POV*

I can’t believe that I just heard my little sister sing live in front of people. She sang choirs and stuff, but to hear her sing what is really her style was amazing. Callie brought out the best in her tonight. She didn’t know at the time that she was singing by herself during the song, but maybe her chat with Callie would help her confidence. I know she has a ways to go to beat this anxiety, but I know she will, given the right opportunities.

The night came to a close literally, when they had to kick us all out of the bar at 2:30am. They were supposed to close at 2, but my group of friends comes here a lot and we have connections with one of the bartenders, Steph. She always lets us stay late. I drove all of us home, and we went to bed so the girls could go shopping in the morning.