Page 20

As we were walking inside, I tried my best to conceal my disappointment when Colton let go of my hand. But the feeling was only temporary, when he put his hand on my back instead, as he led me to our table.

The table that Colton brought me to was located at the back of the bar, in a slightly elevated area, than the seats in the front that were closer to the stage. As we got closer to our seats, I noticed there was a ‘reserved’ sign placed on the table.

‘Thank you.’ I gave Colton a grateful smile when he pulled out my chair for me.

‘Reserved?’ I asked him once he settled himself on the seat beside me.

A blush appeared on Colton’s face, but that might have just been a trick of my imagination due to the dim lighting of the bar. ‘I texted my aunt when we were at the diner to reserve a table for us before we got here,’ he explained.

‘That’s sweet of you. Thank you,’ I smiled. ‘I saw a sign outside that says “70s Groove”. What does that mean?’

‘Oh, that’s the karaoke theme for the night. Usually, they’ll just let everyone sing any song they like. But on Saturdays, they have a theme,’ he explained.

‘So that means you can only sing songs from the seventies tonight?’

‘Exactly,’ he confirmed.

At that moment, a lady, who looked to be in her forties, stopped by our table.

‘Colton!’ she greeted him, before turning to me and asking, ‘And who do we have here?’

‘Aunt Edna, this is Clara. My partner for a class this semester,’ he introduced me.

‘Clara, you say?’ she asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at Colton. ‘Well, it’s nice to meet you.’

‘It’s nice to meet you too. I love what you’ve done with the place,’ I told her. The insides of the bar were truly an aesthetic of their own. One of the walls was just pure red bricks, and there was another one filled with album covers, ranging from the classics to new ones.

‘Why thank you, this bar is my heart and soul, so I appreciate the love,’ she replied, her tone filled with pride as she looked around the place. ‘Anyway, can I get you anything to drink? It’s on the house.’

I was about to insist on paying, when Colton shot me a look, as if he already knew what I was about to say.

Rescinding back on what I was about to offer, I told his aunt, ‘I’ll have a margarita please.’

‘Just a Sprite for me,’ Colton added.

Giving us a nod, Aunt Edna went her way to get our drinks.

‘Just a Sprite?’ I arched a brow at him.

‘Well, you’re going to need someone sober to drive you home later.’

‘I don’t think I agreed to let you drive me home,’ I said to him, my voice teasing.

Colton was quick to reply. ‘You’ll just have to get used to me driving you home.’

My stomach flipped at his words, his tone firm and possessive. But the last part was probably just my imagination running a bit wild.

Colton had driven me home numerous times before, but something felt different about this one.

My automatic response was to reject his offer, reassuring him I could go home on my own, if he wanted to drink tonight.

But, instead, I just accepted his kind gesture with a grateful smile. ‘I appreciate that. Thank you.’

Aunt Edna was back at our table moments later, holding our drinks in her hands. ‘Here you go,’ she placed down the drinks as she turned to Colton and said, ‘and you’re off for the night by the way.’

‘Shit. Did I take you away from work?’ I forgot he only went to the diner for his break.

‘Don’t worry about it, honey. We can manage the bar from here, you two just have fun,’ Aunt Edna reassured me. ‘And call for me if you need more drinks.’

‘Thanks, Aunt Edna,’ Colton said before she left us.

I took a sip of my margarita, my eyes turned to watch the people singing on stage. They looked like they were having a great time, not caring whether they were off-beat or singing the wrong tune.

‘You look like you want to go up there,’ I heard Colton say next to me.

I turned my attention back to him and shrugged. ‘It looks like a lot of fun. But I definitely do not want to be up there alone.’

‘Then, I’ll go up there with you.’

My eyes widened, and then I let out a small laugh at his suggestion. But I stopped when I realized he wasn’t joining me and instead had an amused expression on his face.

‘You’re not serious?’

‘I never kid around about karaoke.’

‘You don’t have to go up there just because I want to.’

‘I know, but I do want to,’ he said, before adding, ‘On one condition though.’ Holding up a finger.

I tilted my head. ‘Which is?’

‘I get to pick the song, and you won’t know what song I picked out until we get on stage.’

I gave him a suspicious look. ‘And how are you so sure I will actually know the song that you chose?’

‘You’ll just have to trust me on this one.’

I took a moment to think about it, but I already knew my mind was made once he said he would go up there with me. ‘Deal.’ I held my hand out to him, and we shook on it.

‘I’ll be right back,’ Colton said as he left our table to submit our names for our turn on stage.

I let out a sigh. While I do like karaoke, it’s mostly in a privately rented room with my closest friends—a pastime the girls and I grew fond of ever since we discovered a karaoke box in town our freshman year—not in a public space like this.

What did I just agree to?

Colton came back moments later, retaking his seat. ‘There’s two more songs including this one, and then it’s going to be us.’

I just gave him a silent nod and took another sip of my margarita. We settled into silence—well, as silent as you can get at a karaoke bar—as the next person got up on stage and sang the song they had selected, belting out the lyrics slightly off-pitch when they reached a high note.

Noticing how quiet I got, Colton asked, ‘Are you okay?’ His voice filled with concern.

‘I’m all right.’ I tried to wave off my nervousness but the squeak in my voice might have given it away.

‘We don’t have to do this, you know?’ Colton reassured me, sensing my uneasiness. ‘I can still go there and cancel.’

The thing is, I did want to. As much as I would have loved to just sit there for the rest of the night and be content with listening to other people singing on stage, I knew that a part of me would regret backing out of this, once I got home later that night.

‘I want to do this. I’m just a bit nervous, that’s all.’ I started rubbing my hands together, trying to warm them up once I felt them starting to get cold.

Noticing what I was doing, Colton took my hands and put them between his. His thumbs slowly rubbing the back of my hands.

‘Does this help?’ he asked.

‘It does,’ I replied, giving him an appreciative smile.

I didn’t know how long we stayed like that, both of us looking down at my hands that were clasped between his.

‘Next up, give it up for Clara and Colton!’

Upon hearing our names, we raised our heads and looked at one another.

‘You ready?’ Colton asked, a small smile tugging on his lips.

I gave him a nod, and Colton finally let go of my hands. Just for a split second before grasping one of them as he got off his seat and waited for me to get off mine. I eyed my drink and decided to just finish it up. I was going to need that extra liquid courage for when I’m up there.

Leading us to the stage, Colton let go of my hand to take two mics from the DJ and passed one to me.

At that moment, I was grateful for my cardigan for giving me the sense of being less exposed. I braved myself to look at the crowd, but my courage only lasted for one fleeting second before I let my eyes fall to my feet.

But as I felt a warm sensation covering my left hand, I turned my gaze to look where it was coming from: finding Colton’s hand wrapping mine.

I peered up to look at his face and was met by his encouraging smile.

I gave him a smile of my own and the song finally came on.

It took me a moment to register what song it was. But once I recognized the melody, my eyes instantly widened. Seeing the expression on my face, Colton’s smile turned into a massive grin.

It was ‘Waterloo’.

By ABBA.

I was still too stunned by the song choice to start singing, so Colton started instead, his head banging to the beat of the verse.

And as he went to the chorus, Colton started stepping sideways—one step to the right and to the left repeatedly—bringing me along with him since our hands were still connected.

The movements slowly calmed down my nerves and I was starting to enjoy following the rush of the music.

As if sensing my ease, Colton raised his hand that was holding mine, indicating I take the next part.

I started singing, my voice slightly awkward, and my tone quiet. But Colton kept nodding his head, encouraging me, and I started singing a bit louder.

Letting go of my hand when the next verse came, Colton started dramatically walking backwards to the side of the stage.

That was when I realized that he had been acting out the lines.

I continued with the next line, repeating his head banging from earlier, when the beat came, following his dramatic antics.

We continued the rest of the song, just singing to each other—some lines on our own, some lines together.

And before I knew it, we were nearing the end of the song.

As we sang out the last line, Colton took my hand, twirling me around again and again as the outro played, until the song finally came to an end.

He stopped spinning me and wrapped his arm around my waist on the final beat of the song, my hands instinctively going to his chest. We just stared at each other for a few seconds and for that brief space in time, only Colton and I existed.

And it wasn’t until I heard the sounds of clapping and cheers that I remembered where we were and what we were doing: singing karaoke on stage in a bar full of strangers.

Snapping out of our little moment, Colton finally freed his hold of my waist and grabbed my hand. Facing the crowd, we took a bow before leaving the stage, passing the mics back to the DJ.