Page 23 of Out of Left Field (The North Bay #1)
Mike
B rew-Ha-Ha is packed tonight. I hold the door so Shelley and Jordan can enter in front of me. I feel Danielle before I see her, so I freeze on the threshold.
“You’re here. Can we talk?” Hearing her voice again makes a dangerous surge of hope run through my veins.
Danielle motions to the grassy area between the building and the parking lot, and I follow her. She’s wearing a sweatshirt that hangs loosely off one shoulder and tight black leggings that make it impossible for me not to stare. There’s an adorable little nervous bounce in her walk and she fidgets with her fingernails. The fact that she wanted to see me again is encouraging. I think. Unless she called me here so she could officially end things with me in public, with witnesses. But I don’t think she would have told me to bring my sister and Jordan along for that.
The text she sent earlier this week didn’t give a lot of clues about where she stands. After weeks of radio silence, she reached out to say she talked to Jordan and needed more time. Then things went quiet again until she sent me two sentences.
Would you like to come to Karaoke night at Brew-Ha-Ha on Saturday? Bring anyone you want.
I know it probably seems desperate, but I responded immediately.
I’ll be there.
That’s all we’ve said to each other. Until right now.
“It’s really good to see you,” I tell her.
“Is it, though? After what I did to you. God, Mike I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how to handle everything you told me, and then when I saw those pills, I let myself use them as an excuse not to trust you. I ran away at the first chance I got because I thought you would leave me eventually anyway. You were right about everything. You didn’t deserve that.” A thin sheet of water starts to cover her eyes. I want to touch her, but there are things I need to say first.
“Maybe I didn’t. But I also should have fought harder for us. I just sat there and watched you walk away from me, and I didn’t do anything to try to stop it. I thought I wasn’t good enough for this. I’m working on owning my own shit, too. We both could have handled things differently.”
I step toward her and she meets me in the middle and throws her arms around my neck. Waves of relief, joy, and pride run through me. Danielle is mine again. I wrap her in a hug and bury my face in her hair. She squeezes back tightly, then she pulls my face to hers and plants kisses all over my cheeks, nose, and forehead until Alice pops her head out of the doorway.
“You two ever plan to join us?”
Danielle takes my hand and leads me inside. Karaoke wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I will gladly follow her anywhere.
I notice Honey across the room sitting with another older woman and offer a small wave to be polite. Danielle tells me the other lady is Edna, her boss from the restaurant. I start to head in their direction, but Shelley calls out from a table in the corner to the left of the stage and beckons us over. Jordan is next to her and Alice is at their table, too. Jake is on the other side of my sister, looking uncomfortable, but to his credit, he stands to shake my hand and give Danielle a hug.
I formally introduce everyone. “You may have already covered this while we were outside, but this is my sister, Shelley, and my roommate, Jordan. Shelley, Jordan, meet Danielle’s friends, Jake and Alice.”
This should be an interesting evening. But I told myself to be on my best behavior, and I will. I’ve come out on top. Danielle is still mine, and I’m not going to do anything stupid to screw it up, like gloat in front of Jake. At least I won’t make it obvious. If I happen to get a little bit handsy with her in front of the guy, so sue me. He’ll live.
Danielle sits down at the round table next to Alice. I take the seat between Danielle and Jake. Three high schoolers are on the stage, screeching their way through a death metal song I don’t recognize.
“Have you guys been waiting long?” Danielle raises her voice over the—let’s be generous and call it “music.”
“Nah, we only got here a few minutes ago,” Jake answers.
Alice leans in to ask, “So, what are we all singing tonight?” Danielle shoots her a look.
Do they think I will be getting on stage? Because that is not happening. Next to me, Danielle rubs her hands together and giggles.
“ Blue Moon ?”
“A classic, but a little slow,” Alice says, while Jake sits quietly, sipping from a paper cup and listening to them speak. I try to make myself tall and not fidget in the chair next to him. As the girls get deeper into their discussion, I realize how much I have underestimated their commitment to the karaoke portion of the evening. By the time Alice turns to me, I’m already dreading her question.
“What’s your favorite karaoke song, Miller?”
“Can’t say I have one.” I shrug and try to play it cool. I’m a terrible singer and an even worse dancer, but I know better than to show weakness in front of women like Alice and my sister. If I don’t perform tonight, they will never let me forget it.
“We could always do You’ve Got a Friend in Me again,” Jake offers.
That little hint of competition gives me all the courage I need. I’m not spending my first hours back with Danielle sitting here watching Jake reenact the best parts of his history with my girl. I will put my name down in all of the available time slots and spend the next hour belting out every song from The Little Mermaid soundtrack before I let that happen. Realizing Danielle would actually love that makes me chuckle to myself, which earns me a glare from Jake, who thinks I’m laughing at him. I lean my head to the side and stretch my neck.
“Danielle and I have been practicing our performance of One Headlight ,” I say, trying to project more confidence than I feel. I mean, we did sing it together. Once. Danielle is biting her bottom lip, trying to rein in a smile at my reference to our first road trip.
There is a feisty challenge in her eyes when she says, “I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. Although, I did promise to do a song with Honey first.”
Well, challenge accepted, baby. I push my chair out from the table and walk over to the sign-up sheet to add our names to the list. Jake doesn’t say much else besides the occasional grunt or “uh-huh” if someone asks him a direct question, but I can feel his eyes on me for most of the night. I thought he was supposed to be away at college? Did he come home again just for this? He’s at a different school, so maybe his semester ended earlier than Danielle’s.
After we sit and listen through six more acts, the announcer finally calls Danielle and Honey to the stage. And, apparently, Edna? Then Alice gets up to join them, followed by my sister. What the hell is going on?
Jake conveniently excuses himself to go to the restroom. He clearly wants no part in whatever this is. I glance over at Jordan, but he shrugs like he’s as clueless as I am.
There’s a cardboard box on the side of the stage, and each of the women takes out a colorful feather boa and sunglasses before shuffling into a semicircle behind Danielle as she grabs microphone.
“So, um, hi everyone.” There are a few murmured greetings directed back at her. Then Danielle says, “A few weeks ago, I met this really special guy, but I made a mistake, and after a misunderstanding I said some really hurtful things to him. I wish I could go back in time to take it all back. Since I can’t do that, I thought a public groveling was the next best thing. I really am sorry, Mike.”
The music starts and Danielle begins to sing Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time as low as her voice will allow her to go. I laugh along with everyone else. A second apology wasn’t necessary, but I’m enjoying the show. She’s ridiculous and I can’t take my eyes off her. I want to take her home and peel off those leggings. Her smile gets wider and she winks at me from the stage like she can read my mind and she’s thinking the same thing. I think I’m in love with this woman.
The ladies behind her perform a comically bad choreographed dance routine. Clearly, they put a lot of thought into this, even if they aren’t executing it well. Their hearts are in it, but none of them have the rhythm the dance requires. There is a lot of arm pumping and hip shaking. What they lack in skill they make up for in enthusiasm. By the end of the song, Honey and Shelley are both off the stage, sharing their boas with people in the crowd and attempting to get everyone clapping along.
When the music stops, Danielle is out of breath when she leans into the microphone and says, “Mike, I promise from now on I will try to own my stuff, too.”
My face is already sore from smiling so much when I stand up to clap.
The announcer joins Danielle on the stage and talks into the mic for a second.
“Speaking of these two lovebirds, it looks like they are next to perform. Stay right there, Danielle. Let’s also welcome North Bay’s new shortstop, Mike Miller, to the stage, please. Get on up here.” He motions for me to join them, so I practically jump up onto the stage, needing to be close to my girl. Needing everyone in this room to know Danielle is mine.
“Hey.” Danielle looks at me as she takes the microphone back again.
“Hey.” I grin at her. There’s softness in my voice that isn’t usually there. Only she can bring it out of me, just like she’s the only one who could ever get me to agree to sing in front of half the town like this.
We lean in to share the mic. When the music starts again, we miss the first cue. She and I are singing the lyrics at completely different times. I don’t know how to match the rhythm of the music to the words lighting up on the screen in front of us, and Danielle is no better. We are terrible and off-key. None of it matters. By the end we are both laughing so hard that it is almost difficult to breathe. Danielle uses a finger to blot a tear away from her eye and smears her mascara. I reach out and cup her cheek with my hand and use my thumb to wipe the dark smudge from her face, and we stand frozen, eyes locked on each other.
“What are you waiting for? Kiss her already!” Honey’s voice booms from the back of the crowd, and laughter erupts below us. Danielle’s grandmother is quickly becoming my favorite wing woman. I don’t hesitate to take her advice and lean in. All of the tables at Brew-Ha-Ha clap and holler for us as I kiss Danielle on stage.
When we pull apart, I whisper in her ear, “Are you ready for that dinner date now?” She knows exactly what I’m asking, and when she nods, it feels like my entire world has finally clicked back into place. As we return to our table, Jake’s seat is still empty, but Alice gives us a slow clap. Jordan nods at me and raises his voice over the start of the next song. “It’s about damn time.”