The sound of Chloe's van pulling into the driveway woke me up.
I was in a solid state of being only half awake, falling back in and out of sleep. I stayed like that for a couple minutes, almost falling asleep for good when I heard the door creak open. The hallway light flooded into the room
"Becs, wake up. Today is the big day." The bed shifted next to me as Chloe sat down and rested a hand on my shoulder, shaking it lightly. I smiled at the touch.
"Mmm.. 5 more minutes.."
"Babe, you need to start getting ready at some point. I'll even make you some coffee and breakfast, but you have to get up." I propped myself up on my elbows. The hallway light was harsh as it bled into the cave-like darkness of the room. Squinting, I looked up at Chloe. She was already put together for the day. Beautiful as always.
A large smiled formed on her face as she began to giggle at me.
"I love what you've done with your hair, M'lady." Upon reaching my hand up, I discovered that my hair was fluffing up in all kinds of directions. Noticing my distress over my crazy bedhead, she cupped my chin in her hand and placed a kiss on my lips.
"It's cute. Trust me. Now get up, it's time to get moving." I gave her a small smack on the butt as she stood up and left the room. I decided to take a couple more minutes to lay there, thinking about the day ahead. She was right. Today was going to be a big deal.
I was scheduled to do a performance this morning, except in the audience will be one of the most important people in my life. For the life of me, I didn't want to screw up. I just wanted to make her proud.
When I was finally up, I put together a decent looking outfit and showered. My face came into view as I wiped a circle of steam off the mirror.
"You, are Beca effin' Mitchell. You, are going to do awesome today. She will be so proud of you. It'll be great." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly until a knock on the door made me jump.
"Hurry up and get dressed. I put you some breakfast on the table." She yelled through the door.
I emerged a little later. With my hair dried, makeup applied, and all dressed, I went out and sat across from Chloe at our small dining table. She sat there, staring out the window into the backyard.
"Everything alright, babe?" I took a few bites of the scrambled eggs and toast lying on the plate in front of me. After a few seconds, she slowly turned to face me.
"Yeah, it's just, Emily."
"Is everything okay? Did she throw a fit today?"
"No, quite the opposite today. She was so excited to go to school. Makes me realize how quickly she's growing up.." I nodded and took a sip of my coffee. I reached my hand across the table and placed it on top of hers. Giving it a small squeeze, I felt the wedding ring on her finger. It reminded of the wonderful life we've created here together. I knew I wanted it to be her that I spend forever with. Now here we are. A place of our own and the most precious little girl.
"It's hard, but we've still got a while until the grumpy teenage years set in. She's only in 2nd grade. Don't worry about it." Chloe gave me a sad smile. I rarely get emotional about many things, but one of those things is our daughter. With how upset Chloe seemed to be, I decided just to play it cool as not to make things worse. I knew in my heart that Emily was growing up so fast, and I thought it about it a lot more often then I let on.
"Everything will be okay, she won't be going anywhere for a while." She took a deep breath and nodded.
"You're right. Why am I even upset? She will always be our little girl. Even when we are like, 90." We shared a laugh as I went to put my empty dishes in the sink.
"Hey Chlo, I'm going to go grab my guitar then we should get on the road." I checked my watch. I still had time to make it over to where I'd be performing, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time in case anything happened.
"Can we take your car today? The van is almost on empty."
"Yeah, I was going to ask if we could anyways, because I am not feeling the whole soccer mom vibe today." If looks could kill, I'd be dead. Saying something like that normally would send Chloe into an hour long rant about how vans are safer and can carry lots of kids, but I guess she was going to spare me from it today. I'll take the death glare over the rant any day.
Before too long, we were on our way with my guitar in the backseat.
"You're doing that thing again." I looked down at my fingers tapping the curve of the steering wheel. It was a nervous habit I picked up out of nowhere, and whenever Chloe was in the car with me, it drove her mad if I did it long enough. Not that it was the goal, I just get nervous easily and the sound annoys her.
"I'm sorry, I'll stop." I firmly wrapped my hands around the wheel until my knuckles were white to keep from tapping. We pulled up to a red light. My hands still clutching the wheel as if it was the only thing keeping me grounded.
"Beca, look at me." I faced Chloe. A hand reached out and brushed some loose hair behind my ear. The amount of care in her touch made me shiver. God, I love this woman. The light turned green and I turned back to face the road.
"You are going to do so amazing. You always do. There is no need to be so anxious."
We pulled into the parking lot and got out. With my guitar in one hand and Chloe in the other, we walked down the hall and got directions from the lady at the front desk. Soon enough, we managed to find the stage where I'd be playing after a couple wrong turns. There were many rows of benches sitting in front of the stage.
I made my way up the steps and placed my case down in the center. I gathered up a chair and the microphone they had left out for me.
It wasn't too much longer until the sound of voices and shuffling feet had made their way into the auditorium. It stayed loud for a while until conversations naturally lulled when everyone was seated.
"Hey everyone, my name is Beca Mitchell. I am here today to just play you all a few songs. So let's get started." I sat down in the chair and pulled my guitar from the case behind me. I slid the strap over my head and adjusted the microphone.
I played a few different songs. I tried to pick some that I thought all the kids would enjoy. Such as popular Disney songs, songs about dinosaurs and puppies and pancakes. That sort of thing.
Originally, I wasn't thrilled about having kids. Chloe, of course, insisted I be the one to carry her, so she could have my genes. I protested so hard, but eventually, I caved. It was crazy and exciting to have a mini me, but the pregnancy sucked, don't get me wrong. Ultimately, I love the joy Emily brought into our household. In the future, I wouldn't be opposed to having more, but next it was Chloe's turn. I'd kill to have another feisty redhead running around.
It warmed my heart to see all the children having a great time. They were all smiling and dancing down on the floor. Chloe looked thrilled too. Everything was going so amazing. All the teachers and faculty seemed to be enjoying it as well.
"Alright everyone, that's all I have for you today. Thank you for being such a lovely audience!" I searched along the front row of seats for Chloe. Once I was able to find her, she gave me a thumbs up and a smile. I could breathe a little easier knowing she thought I did well. The audience was cheering and clapping.
As soon as the applause died down and teachers began to walk their kids back to class, I stood up and began to put my guitar away.
"Mommy!" I turned around to see Emily flying up the steps to the stage. Her brown pigtails bounced on her shoulders with each leap. I scooped her up into my arms as she made it to the stage. Time to get my most important review yet. I only wanted to make my little girl proud.
"Hey, little one, did you like the show?" she nodded so aggressively I thought her head might fall off.
"It was so good! I want to be just like you when I'm older! I want to play the guh-guitar." I laughed as she struggled to say guitar properly. Tears welled up in the back of my eyes knowing that I had done well this morning.
"How about after school, mom and I take you out for some ice cream? Does that sound good to you?" Emily aggressively nodded again. Chloe made her way up onto the stage.
"Hey, pumpkin. Have a good time?"
"I sure did!" Emily's teacher had called her to take her back to class. So we both gave her a kiss on the head and sent her on her way. I smiled as she turned around at the door to wave before running to catch up with her peers.
"You did good, babe." Chloe pulled me into a hug.
"I'm just glad she's happy. Makes me so happy." I leaned in and kissed Chloe slowly. She stopped and pulled away from me, smirking.
"What? What happened?"
"You're a big softie." I let her go and walked over to collect my guitar, shaking my head. When I walked back over to her, she punched my arm playfully before taking hold of my free hand.
"I'm not a softie. I just love my daughter. And by the way, we are taking her for ice cream after school."
"Softie."
"Whatever." I could feel her glancing over and smirking at me all the way back to the car.