Chapter 10 The Song of Nora and Raul #3
“You still could’ve finished your song.”
“No, no, no, this smile!” She pointed at me.
Her eyes flicked to Raul to make sure he could see it, too.
“This means there’s someone on the other end of that phone he’s interested in.
” She looked back at me… “Is that why you didn’t flirt back with the cute server?
” …and then back to Raul. “He’s usually not shy about flirting. ”
“I know, guapa.”
Nora climbed onto my bench, trapping me between her and Raul. “Tell us everything.”
“It’s nothing, really,” I said. But as the words left my mouth, my chest stung a little.
It wasn’t nothing. It was just something that couldn’t become anything more. Or at least not more than an online friendship with someone I might hook up with if I ever saw him again, and we’re both still single and into each other at the time.
My phone vibrated again, and I couldn’t resist peeking at it.
Which karaoke bar are you at?
And is that the friend you mentioned in the background?
Her name was Nora, right?
“Nothing, huh? Tell that to your face,” Nora said, leaning in a little closer, trying to catch a glimpse of my phone.
“Okay, you got me.” I locked the screen and raised my hands in front of me. “There is someone. We met yesterday. Just some random guy who helps out my parents around the house. We got talking during the reunion, and we kind of… clicked.”
“As in, he clicked his you-know-what into you?”
Raul gasped. “Nora!”
I opened my mouth, but the words refused to come out. Denying it wouldn’t change the fact that it happened. Feeling a little light-headed, I rubbed the back of my neck and cleared my throat, which was enough of an answer to make Nora giggle and Raul nudge me.
“It kind of just happened after we talked and listened to his music. He’s writing his own stuff, and believe me, it’s legit—so good, in fact, that I promised to record some vocals for him.
And… I might have already done that for a song we improvised together.
But it’s not like this could turn into anything more than that. ”
Nora’s mouth fell open. “He gets to hear you sing after only one night, and I have to beg you for half a year?”
“To be fair, the other guy paid him in ways you can’t,” Raul teased.
Nora jumped up in her seat. “Now you’re siding with him?” Her body twitched forward as if she were about to climb over the table to fight Raul, but she stopped herself and focused on me again. “I want to hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“That song you improvised.”
“I don’t have a recording of it. And I’m also not sure if he’d be comfortable if I—”
“Then ask.” Nora pointed to my phone. “You can say I threatened you or something… which I guess I’m doing, so actually don’t tell him that.”
Knowing that she would bug me about it for weeks if I didn’t at least ask Alex, I opened the chat with him.
My friends won’t stop pestering me about our song.
Shouldn’t have told them.
Alex sent me a Dropbox link in his reply without even needing to be asked, making it harder for me to back out of this.
I made a new version with proper beats and everything.
The second file is just the track without your vocals.
It’s still rough, though.
Is it okay if I show my friends?
Of course. It’s your song, too.
“He said yes.” I clicked the link, and a new intro with synth sounds started playing from my phone’s shitty speaker. Within half a second, I knew it wouldn’t do him justice, so I turned it off again. “Sorry, but it doesn’t sound good on my phone.”
“Oh no, you’re not getting out of this,” Nora said, leaning over the center console. She pressed the server button in the upper-right corner. “If that’s the problem, I’ll find a solution.”
Our waiter’s eyebrows rose above the edge of his round glasses. “That’s not how the machines are intended to be used.”
“But it is possible!” Nora pressed in a stern voice. She took a step toward him, which made him take a step back.
“Well, yes, it is possible to play something from a phone.” His eyes darted toward the door as if he feared the other staff might hear him. He lowered his voice. “Please, don’t tell anyone if I show you how. I just got this job, and I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Our lips are sealed,” Nora confirmed. She glared at Raul and me, forcing us to nod in agreement.
With a pained smile, Oliver locked eyes with me, leaned over the table, and pointed underneath. “There should be a little box down there. Can you open it?”
I followed his instructions, brushing my fingers over the flat black surface until I found a hidden knob. I pulled on it, and with a creak, the door opened, revealing tangled cables and the small computer that powered the screen.
“There should be an extension cord that looks like the end of wireless headphones.”
I lowered my head for a better view, and a second later, I saw the silver tip of the plug. I pulled it out and connected my phone.
“Let me see,” Oliver said. He clicked through the karaoke machine’s menu until the system prompted him for a passcode to switch the console to external input. He looked up, not needing to explain that he wanted all of us to look away, which we willingly did.
“Only one song, though. And please don’t press anything else.” He stood up again. “I’ll step out for a second and get you more water so my boss doesn’t get suspicious, but I’ll be back in three minutes to reset the machine.” A drop of sweat rolled down his temple.
“Thank you,” Nora and I said at the same time—she happily celebrating her success, and I apologizing.
Oliver’s eyebrows scrunched up, making his smile look forced as he walked out of the room.
“Just a heads up, the recording of my vocals is rather—”
“No.” Nora casually shook her head. “I don’t want to hear a damn recording. There’s a microphone, and you’ve got your voice with you.”
As much as I disliked the idea of giving them a performance of a song that wasn’t even finished, I couldn’t argue with her anymore. I wanted this topic to be over. Besides, I was going to sing it again soon anyway for the promised recording, so a little practice wouldn’t hurt.
I pulled on the cord to see if it would extend far enough for me to view the lyrics on my phone while playing the file on the same device. As if they had anticipated that, the chord stretched the whole length of the room without a problem.
“This is the only time, though,” I warned Nora.
She shrugged, sank into her seat, and wore a smug smile as if to say that what I said didn’t matter because if she could get me to do it once, she could get me to do it again.
I pressed play, and a second later, the new intro filled the room. The chords that used to be played on Alex’s piano were now replaced by a synthesizer, and when the drums kicked in—and with it the heaviest bass I had ever heard—all the little hairs on my body stood up.
I had really enjoyed what we’d played together yesterday, but this…
? This almost made me horny. Horny to perform it together with Alex.
Horny to play it for everyone I knew. Horny to upload it to the internet and let the whole world hear it.
It sounded like a million bucks, like it could easily make it into the top ten on the charts.
Raul and Nora stared at me so intently that I couldn’t look at them.
When the bass dropped, I instinctively opened my mouth. As if I had performed it a thousand times already, I sang along, hitting every note. All that was missing to make the moment perfect was the person I actually wanted to sing it to.
As the chorus set in a second time, I closed my eyes. I knew the words by now, and this way it was easier to summon the image of Alex watching me sing it yesterday. The bassline he had written vibrated through my body as if it were his hands trying to caress me.
During the solo, the beat took over my body, making my legs move and my head shake. When the third and final chorus began, I sang with everything I had, as if his words were mine.
The last chords ended with a bang, and silence took over the room. I was out of breath, yet energized as if I had just woken up after sleeping through winter. I finally got to sing without holding back for the first time in years. Although that wasn’t thanks to the karaoke, but to Alex.
“Well, something like that,” I said into the microphone and opened my eyes.
My friends were pressed into their seats, unable to move. Unlike their previous performances, there was no applause or cheering. Nora clutched her phone with the camera pointed at me. She quickly tapped on the screen and dropped the phone into her lap.
“That was incredible,” Nora stammered. “The song, your voice. It’s hard to believe it only took you a couple of hours to write that.”
“Well, it sounded quite different yesterday. I’m surprised how quickly Alex recorded all the other instruments.”
“You two should be in a band. You’d make millions.”
I leaned to the side so I wouldn’t keep speaking into the microphone. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Well, I want a record. Signed. By both of you. I’ll even pay for it.”
“You can pay for the video you took without my permission,” I said, walking back to my seat and taking the extension cord with me.
Nora pressed her phone to her chest. “You can’t take that from me!”
Her having a recording of me might actually be useful, because whenever she bugs me to sing in the future, I can refer her to the video she already has. And there might be another upside to this.
“Okay, you can keep it under one condition.”
She dug her left hand into Raul’s shoulder as if she feared I would ask her to give up her firstborn child.
“Send it to me, too.”
With a sigh of relief, she pulled her phone out right away. “Yes, sir. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”
When I pulled the plug out of my phone, a loud crack ripped through the PA system.