My Everything

[Laurels]

((Katrina Lavell continued from Room 816: You Need a Bad Girl to Blow Your Mind))

Katrina sat on a bench in the hotel courtyard strumming her ukulele. She wasn't playing anything in particular, mostly just running through some scales and practicing her chords. It was the last evening of the senior trip, and soon Katrina would find herself back on a crammed bus heading to Chattanooga to resume her normal life. This summer would be spent getting everything ready for a cross-country move to UCLA, which meant a lot of furniture and clothes shopping, plus a ton of packing of her equipment. Her parents found her a nice one-bedroom apartment not too far from the school, so she had all the freedom in the world to look at color swatches and plan for her new Hollywood lifestyle.

For now, Katrina was just trying to relax and play some music. She hadn't had a lot of time to practice this week. Aside from singing a few bars at the Kennedy Center, she had let herself go a bit. Then again, it was nice to have a short break from her music career if it meant she could just enjoy her vacation. She had made it to a few more museums and monuments and had made plenty of memories. She was sure she could come up with some new work or find a new arrangement that would make a hit viral song.

She continued to play along on the ukulele as she noticed some people walking around the courtyard. It looked like it was a small family probably making their way through the courtyard to get to their rooms. The parents were chatting to themselves, while their son, who was probably around 10 or so, was distracted by some handheld gaming device. The daughter, who looked to be around kindergarten age, was looking at Katrina. Katrina flashed a smile as the girl looked at her, and the girl replied with one of her own. Katrina continued to play along as the family made their way out of the courtyard.

Katrina went back to her playing. Now that she felt warmed up, she began to play a song she had been working on recently. She wanted to do an Ariana Grande-inspired love ballad and had been working on a song over the last few weeks. She'd have to finish it once she got home and then figure out a music video for the song, but for now she could just do Katrina Lavell Unplugged 2.0.


Oh, how you make me so sad
the way you look at me
like I was someone no longer here.
Oh, how you make me so scared
the way you look away
like you're going to disappear
Oh, how you make me want to cry
the way you look tonight
laying in the back of your jeep
Oh, how you make me want to fly
the way you look before
you decide to take a leap

But all I want to do
is be that person here for you.
But all I want to do
is be that person who didn't leave you.
But all I want to do
is be that person who didn't run.
But all I want to do
is be that person, the only one.

Oh, how you- OW!

Katrina took her hand off the neck of the ukulele and began to suck on her finger. As she was moving from the chorus to the second verse, one of the strings of the ukulele snapped and hit her index finger. Katrina looked at her finger as she took it out of her mouth. It wasn't bleeding, but it still kind of hurt and had that metallic taste to it.

"Man..." she muttered looking at the ukulele.

She probably tuned the string too hard earlier. When was the last time she had the strings replaced? She couldn't remember, which probably meant she needed to replace them anyways.

"Great. And I was in such a mood," she muttered.

Katrina grabbed the ukulele case next to her and laid the instrument inside. She had hoped to do more playing on this trip, but perhaps all the traveling had been too much for her companion. She closed the case and latched it shut. She'd have to get it fixed right when she got home.

She grabbed the case and stood up, making her way back to her hotel room. There wasn't much to do now, but it was getting late, and Katrina could leave this matter for later. Besides, now she had more time to work on her lyrics and plan out additional chord arrangements. That's what a long bus trip as for, after all.

((Katrina Lavell continued in V7))