Double Trouble

Chapter 16

The next night, Carrie had a show at the Opry. Kenzie and Mike came along to join and also to keep Charlotte company. For some reason, Carrie figured out that when Mike was there, she was a lot calmer. Before Mike and Kenzie came, Charlotte and Carrie had one of their mother-daughter chats. This was something they hadn't had in a long time.
"So are you excited for cheer tryouts?" Carrie asked her daughter.
"Ya," Charlotte replied. "Um that's actually something that I kinda need to talk to you about."
"What's that?" Carrie asked.
"Cheer tryouts are over spring break," Charlotte said quietly.
"Oh..." Carrie frowned. "So the mission trip is off?"
"I mean," Charlotte stuttered. "You can still go. It just, won't be with me."
Carrie sighed, "I was really looking forward to going with you. It's kind of always been our thing especially where I haven't gotten to see you hardly. It's been hard being away from you."
"And you think this isn't hard on me?" Charlotte questioned. "Every day I see everyone with their parents and all I ever wish when I see that I could have that relationship with them too. But no, my mom is always across the country. I freaking hate you being away all the time. Why can't you just stay for once? I hate living this way. And I hate you."
Carrie's heart crushed to a million pieces when those words came out of her daughter's mouth. She thought she would never hear that from her. She was in pure shock and didn't know what to do. Charlotte had ran out of the room.
"Carrie," a crew member walked in. "20 minutes."
"Thank you," Carrie replied. Carrie walked out of the dressing room to see that Mike and Kenzie had just arrived.
"Hey, Care," Mike said going in for a hug while holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
Carrie stepped away though, "I'm sorry, I have to go find Charlotte."
Carrie ran off around backstage yelling for Charlotte everywhere. She had called only to get sent to voicemail. Carrie was mad that her daughter ran off. But her concern outweighed her. She was scared that sometime would happen to her.
"Care, what happened?" Mike asked coming up towards her.
"Charlotte," Carrie answered. "We had a fight and she ran away. I can't find her."
"5 minutes Miss Underwood," a crew member told her as they walked by.
"I can't perform without knowing where she is," Carrie told Mike.
"Calm down," Mike said resting his hands on her shoulders. For once, that didn't really make the stress and worry go away. "You go out there and do your thing while Kenzie and I go look for her."
Carrie shook her head almost crying in the moment. It was five minutes before show time and she couldn't find her daughter. Mike wrapped her up in a hug. "I can't do it, Mike."
"Everything's going to be okay," Mike soothed. "We'll find her. I promise. Meanwhile, you have to go do your thing."
"2 minutes, Miss Underwood," a crew member warned.
"Carrie, we've gotta go," Mark approached her grabbing her hand and leading her towards the side of the stage. "We've been looking all over for you."
Carrie was practically dragged out onto the stage and forced to act as if nothing was wrong. She just wanted to get back and find her daughter she didn't care whether Charlotte hated her or not. Well, she did. But it didn't make her love her any less. The set felt like a century. The last song started to play and Carrie glanced to the side of the stage and saw that things were semi okay. Mike stood with Kenzie on his side. On the other side of Kenzie was Charlotte. She stood arms crossed, frown upon her face, anger in her eyes.
Carrie tried to finish out the set acting unaffected by the teenager. She knew she probably did a poor job at that but she did her best. As soon as Carrie walked off stage she turned to Charlotte. Her and Charlotte never really fought. Carrie never had to yell at Charlotte for anything. But in this situation, she knew discipline was definitely needed.
"You, me, dressing room, now," Carrie ordered. Charlotte rolled her eyes as she saw her mom walk by her. She could tell just by the way her mother was walking that she was angry with her. Charlotte turned on her feet and followed her to the dressing room. As soon as Charlotte entered, Carrie closed the door and locked it. The last thing she wanted was some crew member walking in on her yelling at her daughter.
"Charlotte Marie Underwood, don't you ever run off like that again!" Carrie yelled. "You had me worried sick! What if something would have happened to you?! I know me being away has been hard on you but don't you dare think that it hasn't been hard on me just as much!"
"If it's hard on the both of us then why not just quit?!" Charlotte spat out.
"Is that what you want me to do?! Becuase I can do that," Carrie replied angrily.
"Go for it," Charlotte said.
"I will," Carrie snapped back. She went behind the curtains in the dressing room and changed back into some normal clothes. Meanwhile, there were knocks on the door. Carrie could hear Mike's voice come in. It was mostly quiet until Carrie came out from the curtain.
"There's the country queen," Mike smiled over unable to break his stare from the beautiful fiance.
MacKenzie ran over to Carrie and hugged her. "You were so good, Carrie."
"Thank you, sweetie," Carrie squeezed. "It means a lot that you came."
"You wanna go out for ice cream?" Mike asked.
"Babe, that sounds great," Carrie answered. "But I'm afraid Char and I are going to have to pass. We have some things we have to take care of."
"Understandable," Mike nodded. Mike pulled Carrie into a hug while he gave a quick peck on the lips. "You were amazing out there tonight, princess."
"Thank you," Carrie smiled. "I'll call you later."
"I'll be waiting," Mike grinned back making Carrie blush and giggle.
The Underwoods said their goodbyes to the Fishers as both of them parted their separate ways for the night. Carrie and Charlotte were both silent on the way home. And that's how it was going to stay for the days to come