Rain On The Pavement

One.

September 7, 2012

   45 days till album release

  "Don't fidget hon!" my makeup artist, Stella, said. "Sorry." I said. No matter how many times someone tried to put even the smallest bit of eyeliner on me I had to squirm a bit.

  Stella sighed. "Maybe we should just forget the eyeliner." "Great idea." I said. 

  One of the stage managers poked his head through the door to my changing room. "Your on in ten." he said before he disappeared.

  Stella looked over my makeup one last time. "Well. It's good enough." she said. "Stella, it's fine. Remember, this is a telethon, not a concert." She shrugged her shoulders. "You got a point kid." she said. 

  I walked out of the dressing room, just to get almost trampled by a guy wearing all black talking into a headset. Backstage is always a hectic place. I tend to stay away from it as much as I can.

  I saw my younger brother, Alex, watching the telethon on a t.v. I went over to talk to him. "Hey squirt." I said. "Sup short stuff." he said back.

  Yes. My nineteen year old brother calls me "short stuff" because he's taller than me, and I'm a year older than him.

  "I have the jitters." I said. "You always have the jitters before you go onstage, but you always do amazing." Alex said. I shuffled my feet. "But it feels like this time it's different. Like I have to do good or I'll be letting her down." 

  My brother smiled sympathetically.  "Hey, don't worry. You'll be great." 

  "Five minutes Lizzie." A stage manager said. I pulled out my phone out of my purse and went to the internet, pulling up a blog I'd been visiting a lot recently. Sure enough, the latest post was saying "Watch Stand Up 2 Cancer tonight!" I sighed and put the phone back  in the purse. "You have to be good tonight. For both of them." I thought.

  I heard a voice call out, "Places for Taylor everyone! Places!" 

  I took a deep breath. It's go time.

  I walked on stage silently, under the cover of darkness with the rest of my band. Someone handed me a microphone. I smoothed my red and black dress. Then the lights were up and my guitarist started playing. "Time to sing." I thought.

  I raised my mic up to my mouth and started to sing,

I remember you bare feet down the hallway

I remember your little laugh

Race cars on the kitchen floors, plastic dinosaurs 

I love you to the moon and back

 An overwhelming sadness filled me, just like what always happens when I sang this song.

I remember your blue eyes looking into mine

Like we had our own secret club

I remember you dancing before bed time

Then jumping on me, waking me up

I can still feel you hold my hand, little man

From even the moment I knew

You fought it hard like an army guy

Remember I leaned in and whispered to you

Come on baby with me we're gonna fly away, from here