Page 56 of Baby, It's You
“So?” Olive smiles. “The worse the singing, the better the karaoke. I love when someone has the confidence to get up on that stage knowing they aren't a vocalist. It takes balls.” She gives me a look, challenging me.
Hearing that, I have to do it now. I want to impress her, so I stand up. She raises an eyebrow, obviously happy with herself, so I decide to reach for her hand across the bar.
“Fine, but you're doing it with me.”
She bites the inside of her cheek. A moment goes by before she looks at my awaiting hand and finally places hers in it. The contact is like a jolt of electricity, always.
“Okay,” she concedes. “Let’s go, Curls.”
“I’ll watch your equipment,” a half slurring Eddie yells from a booth where he is currently chatting with the nice cougar that Wes gave a lap dance to.
“Great,” I murmur. “I’m sure you will, Eddie.”
“Come on, it’s just one song.” Olive laughs and pulls my arm, guiding me towards the stage.
“What song do you want to sing?” I ask her.
“Do you know ‘Lonely Day’ by System of a Down?”
“Yes, actually.” I snort. “That’s Eddie’s favorite band which means I have heard almost every song weekly for the past twenty years of friendship.”
“Perfect, because that’s what I want to sing.” She steps on the stage with me and leans forward to set up the song on the karaoke machine.
As it starts playing, I see Eddie’s head pop up from the booth and he lets out a “whoop!” in excitement. Olive hands me a microphone and I can feel my hand start to sweat with nerves when I see multiple eyes staring at me from the crowd. I clear my throat, and she winks at me. She reaches out and gives my free hand a squeeze in comfort. The lyrics start and we both awkwardly begin singing them.
After the first minute of the song, we grow more comfortable, and our voices get louder, more confident. A few people watching us start to sway, and someone even holds up a lighter. Olive is loving this, I can tell; she’s smiling from ear to earand giggling. I decide that this is my moment to make a grand gesture. To show her I will put myself out there for her, even if it makes me uncomfortable.
I channel my inner Gomez Addams and take her hand, dramatically bowing towards her as I sing. Her eyes grow even bigger than normal as I maintain eye contact with her and bring my lips close to her hand. Then, I gently kiss the top of it, my lips barely making contact. I hear her gasp softly, and someone cheers in the audience, but Olive doesn’t break eye contact with me for a second. She has completely stopped singing as I continue to serenade her. Horribly. I know every word to the song without looking, so at least that’s a win to make up for my terrible singing.
As I stand up again from my bowed position in front of her, I draw her closer to me. We are less than an inch apart now, the only distance between us our microphones.
I continue to sing while we both hold intense eye contact with each other. I perform the last few slow lyrics of the song and when it ends, she's still staring at me. I’m about to break our eye contact and start laughing when she grabs both sides of my face and pulls me in. It takes me completely by surprise as she begins to kiss me deeply.
I fucking love karaoke.
Chapter 38
Olive
The second I put my lips on Hunter’s, I know I'm screwed. This isn’t just lust; I like him. Ireallylike him.
His strong arms reach around me and grip the back of my hair as he continues to kiss me. He pulls me even closer, like he’s trying to show me every last drop of passion that consumes him in this moment. I can’t help moaning into his mouth and wrapping my own arms around the back of his head.
I never want this moment to end. The environment around us has completely faded away. I feel like I’m on my own private little island with him, not standing on the stage of the bar. I feel unimaginably safe and secure in his muscular arms. The feeling consumes me and almost makes me want to cry. I have longed to have this, deep down; I’ve dreamed of this type of intimacy with a man.
But admitting this to myself scares the crap out of me. I think of my mother and how she constantly threw everything away for her boyfriends. The negative thoughts begin to consume me, and it only gets worse as I start to think of all the horrible relationships that I’ve nursed Ivy back from. The intrusive thoughts take over and cause me to pull back from our kissing. Ilook up at Hunter. He looks flushed and thrilled until he sees my expression.
“I’m sorry,” I say to him, and his expression turns to hurt and confusion as I back away from him slowly, and then run off the stage.
The audience that was cheering and celebrating us a moment ago goes silent. Some people turn back to their conversations and the room begins to fill with chatter again. I’m grateful for them, the regulars, trying to make it less awkward.
I burst through the kitchen door and walk over to the office, where I lean against the wall and breathe heavily. I hear someone come up behind me and know it’s Rob.
“I need to go home,” I tell him, feeling nauseous as I can’t slow my breathing.
“Okay, okay. Try to calm down.” He rests his large, rough hand on my back, as I continue to hyperventilate.
“Fuck,” I cry out, and slide down to the tile floor. I bury my face in my hands. “I just ruined everything.”
