“I’m proud of you, alright? No matter how the tour goes or how it looks, I’m proud of you,” Drix said. “I’ve watched you practice and put in the work and I know whatever you give is your best. That’s all you can do, baby, and if it doesn’t go how you want, we’ll pivot together, alright?”
I nodded. “Alright.”
“Alright,” he repeated, leaning down and kissing me. “Go ahead.” He nudged his head toward the line I needed to be in at the airport and I nodded.
“Okay.” I kissed him again. “Good luck working on your features and your album.”
“Thanks.” He took a step back. “Go ahead,” he repeated.
He knew I was procrastinating. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and spun.
“Ready?” Charm pushed Rome away from her, both of them laughing, and I nodded.
“I’m ready.”
“Good luck.” Rome hit me on the shoulder. “You got this, sister-in-law.”
“I know.”
He chuckled and nodded. “There we go.”
I hugged him then Drix’s parents who demanded they be allowed to come to the airport too. It was sweet how supportive they were and it meant a lot to me that they wanted to see me and Charm off.
Once we said our goodbyes, Charm linked our arms together and we headed into the security line.
The line flew by and once we made it through I let myself look back at where I’d left Drix. He was still there, both hands on the back of his dad’s wheelchair but his eyes already on me. I waved and blew him a kiss. He grinned and his parents waved back.
“You ready?” Charm danced a little beside me.
“I’m ready.” I pulled my eyes from my family and nodded. “Let’s do this.”
“Let’s do it.”
We waded through the airport together and were already settled in our seats and buckled when Retta made her way ontothe plane. Of course, they’d seated us together but thankfully Charm was in the middle.
I put my headphones on, leaned my head back, and did my best to silence my brain enough to fall asleep.
Allison had flown ahead to make sure everything was taken care of for our first stop and negotiated to get us a bigger tour bus so we wouldn’t be losing money staying in hotels.
She met us at the airport and helped us put our suitcases in the car. All the clothes we’d gotten thanks to Drix had already been loaded into our bus thankfully, so we just had a few casual clothes and personal items. None of us had packed too much because we already knew we’d be buying things at our stops.
We checked in at our hotel then were immediately ushered to the venue so we could do a quick soundcheck. We had a late lunch in the venue then got hair and makeup done and put our outfits on. I looked at myself one way then the other and exhaled.
I smiled when Charm hummed the first song in our lineup and joined her. It took a minute but Retta joined in and we practiced harmonizing a little before we pulled our sweatshirts on and went to explore the venue. The sweatshirts we wore were part of the merch we’d agreed on, and honestly, it was probably my favorite thing on the lineup.
There were surprisingly a few people already lined up to head into the venue, so the three of us went out, took pictures, and briefly talked to them about how excited we were to be on tour.
Afterwards, we hydrated, worked out our last minute jitters, and headed to the stage. We watched our opening acts from the side, bobbing to the music and getting more excited as time went on.
Performing in front of a live audience hit me like a high—and I probably looked stupid with how much I smiled between singing and choreography—but I couldn’t stop myself. The lasttime I performed at a venue I’d ended up on the ground and was rushed to the hospital afterwards. This was different. I was more in shape, confident, and happier than I’d been then, even if not that much time had gone by.
When we walked off stage to the sound of cheering I bounced up and down and hugged Charm who screamed excitedly.
“That was amazing!” Allison clapped as she closed in on us, each of our water bottles in hand. “Y’all looked so good out there.”
“Thank you.”
“If you ladies are up to it, you can meet fans while we load the instruments.”