"Shar," He tilted her chin up. "Your tiara is falling."
She chuckled and Val pressed a kiss to her head.
"Now, why do you keep looking down?"
"I'm just--it's just...nerves."
"Nervous for tour are we?"
Sharna's cheeks tinged a bit more red that usual. "Yeah."
"Hey, Babe, there's nothing to worry about."
~~~~~
They sat on the tour bus a half hour later.
Sharna laid in Val's grasp for a bit of the beginning of the ride. They were only interrupted when Sharna's phone rang.
"Hello? Oh! Hi, Mom!"
"What's she saying?" Val mouthed.
Sharna held up her index finger as if to say 'wait just a moment'.
"Alright, yeah, thanks. Love you, bye."
Sharna ran a finger under her eyes as tears were close to running down her face.
"What's wrong?" He whispered.
"My sister...she was...she said she wasn't coming to see me perform on tour and I'm really sad because she's never seen me dance before, ever!"
"Why can't she come?"
"Something with her boyfriend."
"Oh, Sharna, I'm so sorry."
She sat there for a little just accepting what happened.
"Sharna, these mountains your carrying, you were only supposed to climb." He kissed her head and settled into the chair.
She smiled.
"Hey, Shar, come here." Lindsay came up to their seat.
"Alright." She climbed over the two seats and followed Lindsay to the front of the bus.
Lindsay dealt her into a game of UNO to take her mind off stuff because she happened to hear about her sister.
"Thanks, Linds, that was fun!" Sharna exclaimed after they finished four hands of UNO.
"Of course, Sharna."
"Babe." Val attempted to steal Sharna back.
"Yeah."
"It's late, I'm going to sleep, alright?"
"Alright, Val."
She turned back to the game.
"I'm going to head back, thanks for letting me play!"
"Of course, Shar."
~~~~~
"Shar, are you okay? I can feel your whole body shaking." Val whispered later that night when she was laying on his shoulder.
"Yeah, just a nightmare, I'm alright." She whispered back.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'm just nervous. What if I mess up the choreo? What if the audiences don't like me?"
"You are Sharna May Burgess! You are a beast in this art. You have no reason to be scared, because, Beautiful Girl, you were made to do hard things, so believe in yourself."
Throughout the tour, and life for that matter, Val always said things like that to her. He'd slip quotes into everyday conversation to keep her going.
And that was her favorite thing about Val...
His random inspiration