My mom drove the two of us to the cafe around 6:30. I was on at 7:00, and I was really anxious about it. Karkat reached over and held my hand, and I relaxed a little bit. We pulled into the parking lot, I checked in, and we sat at a table near the stage. My mom gave us some money, and sat in the back so she could watch, but also give us some time alone. We listened to a few really good players, one, that surprised us both, was Dave Strider, a kid who was in our grade and immensely popular. We never knew he was such an amazing guitar player, though, of course, his song of choice was Wonderwall by Oasis.

Soon, it was 6:55, and a stage hand came up to my table and told me to get ready. Karkat came with me backstage, and held my hand. When we were out of sight of the audience, he turned to me, and hugged me tight. "Good luck. You'll do great, know it!" He said, giving me a quick kiss. It was quick, but it filled me with an energy and warmth that gave me courage to be ready to go out there. He went to go sit down at our table, and they called my name to come on the stage. I sat on the stool, adjusted the mic, and took a deep breath.

"I'm Nepeta, and I have two songs for you tonight. This first one is by Death Cab for a Cutie, and it's called Follow You Into the Dark." I said, then began strumming the intro.

I thought each chord in my head as I strummed, then began singing. My voice was shaky at first, but I looked at Karkat, and he looked so proud, and then I looked at My mom, and she looked so excited and proud, and my sister was even there! She couldn't here, but she looked so happy, I don't think it mattered. Equius, Sollux, Gamzee, Even Feferi were there, and I felt so confident, my voice leveled out and came out stronger. When I finished, I got a round of applause, and I sighed with relief.

"And, now my next song is one I wrote myself, called Turn to Stone." I said. I began strumming, and the whole place went silent. I closed my eyes, and imagined the colors of the words blending perfectly. When it was over, The whole place applauded. I let off a small, relieved laugh, and got up to walk off stage.

"Thank you, everyone!" I said, then walked off the stage.

I sat down at my table with Karkat, and all my friends come over and congratulated and praised me. I felt so good, and so happy that everyone was there.

"Nepeta, you did excellent, if I do say so myself." Equius said, smiling.

"Thank you, Equius!" He gave me a pat on the back, and we did our secret handshake, and then his brother made him leave.

We stayed for a bit longer, and listened to the others, then me and Karkat got tired. We got in my moms car, and started to go home. Karkat sat in the middle seat, and I leaned my head on his shoulder, sighing happily.

"That was fun.." I said, slipping my hand into his. He smiled and squeezed my hand.

"You did really well, I'm proud of you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Really." He said, smiling. I giggled softly and scooted a bit closer to him, closing my eyes.

"I'm tired.."

"Then sleep! I'll be right here, okay?" He told me, kissing the side of my head. "No more bad dreams..."

"No more bad dreams..." I murmured, falling asleep on his shoulder.

I awoke a while later in my room with Karkat next to me. I looked at him kinda confused, and he just smiled and kissed my forehead.

"Your mom saw we were asleep in the car, and called my dad and asked if she could just take us here for the night. He said yeah, and now I'm here at-" He stopped and looked at the clock next to my computer on my desk. "- 2:48 in the morning.." He said softly, smiling. He kissed my nose, and snuggled up to me, wrapping his arms around me, and pressing into his chest. I smiled placidly, wrapped my arms around his waist, and inhaling his scent each time I breathed, sighing with content. I loved being so close to him, in his warm arms, feeling do content, and placid. I didn't ever want this moment to end. He began to sing softly to me, and soon, I was out like a light, dreaming of him, dreaming of Guitar night, dreaming of our kiss, but most importantly, dreaming of us being together for a long, long time.

Hope everyone had a better Fourth of July than I did! (It won't be hard; I had anxiety all day, I fell and scraped my hands, depression came back, it was not my best day) Enjoy, and I will try to write today, but my depression is really bad right now, so it might be hard...sorry about that ^^;;