Page 13 of Only One Tent
“Sure, dude. Here. Move down a bit, Landon.” The teen—twenty-something—scooted over and I slid beside him at the edge. From my seat, I had a good view of most of the campground and could see who was moving in and out of the food prep area. And there he was. Crow stood in line with that other guy he came with and some twink. Why did this guy get under my skin like that?
After he got his food, he sat at a table with a few people who I didn’t know. His friends went with him.
I took a bite of my burger while glaring at Crow.
“Wow, Sky.” Levi grabbed my attention.
“What?”
“Are you that hungry?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re face.” He motioned over his face before looking at me expectantly. And I really did not want to give him an explanation. Not when—Drew stopped at Crow’s table.
Drew was my boss and the sponsor of this event. And while I figured I should be representing the company better, I also couldn’t find it in me to care. I was a lot more concerned about why Drew was talking to Crow. What could they have to discuss? And if Crow had other cases, who was handling them? It wasn’t me.
“Switch with me.” Levi got up and slid in between Landon and me, and Landon got up to sit in his vacated seat. “Hey.” He leaned into my shoulder. “Are you okay, Sky?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, but maybe I wasn’t. “I don’t know.” I dropped my half-eaten burger back to my plate.
Drew left with a wave and headed over to the table where the buns and condiments were. Crow chatted with his friends left at the table. This sucked. And I wasn’t entirely sure why.
And worse, Levi kept trying to talk to me. He could obviously see I was upset, but I wasn’t all that close to him, and this was shit I wasn’t even telling Danny. But we weren’t as close as we used to be anyway. Actually, Levi filled Danny’s BFF spot now, and I still kind of felt a little jealous over it. No one had filled mine, but it had been years since then, and we weren’t school kids. Relationships changed, and I should be over it. Only Danny was still in my BFF spot, like it or not.
Fuck it all. “Sorry, Levi. I’m really kind of tired. I’m going back to my campsite.” I took the last of my food with me, thinking I’d eat it there and then, what? Go to bed? I couldn’t even remember what was on schedule for the next day, but I was sure it would start too early.
I ate quietly, then cleaned up. But before I could sneak into the tent, Danny showed up. “Hey, man. You’re gonna be late. Chop-chop.”
“Late for what?”
“Are you kidding me? This is probably the best part of the trip. It’s PRIDE, remember?”
Honestly, I hadn’t remembered. I was focused on simply getting through the day. “So?”
“Sooo….” He stretched issoout three times longer than mine. “Drag Queen Karaoke!” He grabbed my arm and tugged. “You’ll love it.” Great.
The party was being held behind the main office. The lawn stretched out wide, and tables and chairs were set up. And on the porch, a makeshift area serving as a stage had been marked out with streamers. This was a camping sing-along, PRIDE style—complete with a drag queen host. Danny shoved me over to a table with people I did not know, but I sat. For him. It wasn’t abad seat. I could see everything very well, but I could also ditch out easily if I needed to.
“Hello, gentleman and gentleman. And others…” The drag queen spoke into the mic while gesturing wildly. She had platinum blond hair, done up with a huge purple bow wrapped around half of it, and she wore a matching jumpsuit with silver platform heels. Her makeup was wild and exaggerated, as one would expect, with purple, glittery eyeshadow and deep red lips. “I am Madame Bella Donna. Here to helpyouhave tons of fun on this PRIDE camping trip.” She bounced up and down, clapping her hands, and everyone applauded. “Well, thank you. Thank you. I am a bit of a diva, so I love-love-love the attention.” She leaned over and fake stage-whispered. “That means more applause, people.” Everyone laughed again as we applauded. “Okay. Let’s get this thing started. I expect everyone to sing along with this classic. Hit it, Bender.” She motioned to a guy I hadn’t noticed yet. He stood in front of a sound console. This Bender guy nodded and moved his hands, and the music started up.
It was Gloria Gaynor’sI Will Survive. Perfect! Bella Donna started in with the lyrics, “At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Thinking I could live without you by my side…” She had a good, rich voice. “After spending oh so many nights thinking how you did me wrong, I grew strong, and I learned how to get along…” She moved out into the audience and stuck the mic in random people’s faces, and they sang along. Pretty much everyone knew the song. And it was getting everyone in the right mood.
At the end, Bella Donna went back to the patio stage. “Now we have some folks already signed up tocomeon up to this, uh-hum…” She gestured to the marked-off area. “Stage. But you know. You won’t be better than me. I’m deadly…” She thrust her hips to the side, camping it up, but nothing was even remotely lewd. “Try anyway, sweethearts…” She explained how to sign upusing the cards on our tables, and then she reached into a big bowl and pulled out a name. “Our first guinea pig—uh, I mean volunteers…are…” She bent over and made an over-dramatic motion of winking with an open mouth. “Nelson Crowell and Warner Rainey… Get on up here, boys.” She used the card to gesture and then to fan herself when Crow walked up to her. “My-my-my… This one, am I right?” She looked out at the rest of us, and everyone cheered.
Crow was going to sing? What the hell? And what would he sing? I was actually on the edge of my seat.
“Hit it, Barney,” Bella said to her assistant, who scowled at her, but then the music to B52’sLove Shackstarted up.
Love Shack? Really? I laughed so hard, but they weren’t bad. Crow was bigger than his friend Warner, so it was even more comical when Warner did the male parts and Crow did all the female parts. All of them. Including the most famous, “Tin roof—Rusted.”
I had never seen this side of Crow. I’d seen him all scowly, and I’d seen him trying to be nice to me. And I’d seen him determined, like when he ruined my case. But I’d never seen him funny. And he had a nice voice. And…I didn’t even know what to think.
Afterward, they got a lot of applause, and a group of other people from Drew’s firm got up and did an ABBA song. I only knewDancing Queen. But they choseWaterloo. I didn’t know the words to that, and honestly, they weren’t that good. Especially after Crow.
Then Lee and Danny got up. I knew from experience that Lee could sing, but Danny couldn’t, not even if his life depended on it. However, he absolutely loved to sing and did it all the time, especially 80s songs. So…they’d pickedCelebration. Lee sang most of the lyrics, but Danny worked the audience, getting everyone to clap and sing along. “You know this one. Sing withus. It’s PRIDE, y’all. Let’s celebrate.” And everyone did. Danny wiggled his ass and moved around a lot. It was pretty good.
After a few more songs, including a Pink song that Lilly sang, Bella took the mic back. “Now, everyone needs to participate. It’s not a sing-along if we don’tallsing. Along.” She encouraged us to pick songs. A few more people did, but then she came to my table, thankfully, without a mic. “Hey, cutie. What are you going to sing?”
