34. Ben
I grin,pulling her close as I kiss her again before saying, “Yes we did, and I actually have the perfect song to really decide this competition once and for all.”
“Oh?” Aida asks, brow raised as she smiles up at me.
“Yep,” I reply with a nod. “Give me two secs.” I get up from the table and make my way over to the karaoke set up. The guy running the thing knows me, although he’s used to seeing me later in the night. And drunker too. Right now, I am stone cold sober, and not only have I never done karaoke sober, I’ve never done it in front of my grandma and Ed either.
Or my dad.
“Hey, Ben,” the guy says, offering me a smile. “Getting in early huh?”
I chuckle. “Something like that. Kinda celebrating and also settling a little competition.”
“Celebrating?” he asks, and I watch as he glances behind me. I follow his gaze to see Aida watching us, a smile on her face as she offers us both a wave. “Holy shit, is that the chick who punched Weston?” he now asks, his eyes wide in both amazement and awe.
Laughing, I nod, turning back to him. “Sure is. She’s my girlfriend and she totally fucking nailed him too, it was awesome.”
“Wow, she’s like a hero around here,” he now says. “You know they like have her picture up behind the bar?” he asks, pointing to the bar area.
“Yeah,” I reply, shaking my head at how fast word spread about Aida punching Weston. I mean I know the guy’s a dick and I know the line of people who have always wanted to punch him is really fucking long, but holy shit, it was less than twenty-four hours ago.
This guy smiles as he taps away at his laptop. “And this is the song you’re doing to try and impress her?” he now asks.
“Well,” I say, tipping my head a little. “We sorta have this competition thing going too, so I figure if we do this, we might settle that once and for all.”
The guy snorts out a laugh. “Alright, you ready to go?”
“Yep,” I reply, taking the microphone he hands me before stepping onto the small stage. Turning, I face the restaurant, all the people now looking at me because karaoke at lunchtime isn’t exactly a common thing. “Aida, babe, you ready?” I say, grinning at her.
Aida nods and I get that she doesn’t realize I’m actually telling her to get her sweet ass up here and join me.
“Alright, well, get on up here then,” I add, crooking my finger at her. Glancing around, I add, “In case anyone doesn’t recognize her, this amazing lady is the now infamous Aida McNaughton, who not only gave me the best summer ever, but who also nailed Weston Waterman. Seriously, it was the greatest punch EVER!”
The entire restaurant cheers at this as the dude manning the karaoke now starts playing the Rocky theme song. With a laugh, I beckon for Aida again, smiling as she shakes her head, but gets up to join me on stage.
When she gets up here, I pull her close, giving her a kiss as she murmurs, “Infamous, huh?”
“Well,” I reply with a shrug, still smiling. “Kinda, yeah.”
Aida just laughs, taking the second microphone as she says, “So I take it we’re doing a duet?”
“What better way to settle this competition once and for all?” I tell her.
With a laugh, she says, “Somehow I think we’re gonna be competing with each other for a very long time, Ben.”
I shrug, my grin widening because I think the same thing. “Yeah, but I’m okay with that,” I tell her, pulling her in for another kiss. “Are you?”
“I am,” she replies, smiling against my mouth. “Okay, what are we singing?”
Chuckling, I pull back, nodding at the karaoke dude who gets the song up and the opening bars of Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s duet, “Islands in the Stream” starts up. Aida raises a brow and when I start singing the opening lyrics about peace on earth or whatever, her smile widens, her whole face lighting up. By the time I get to the second line about setting out to get her like a fine-tooth comb, whatever the fuck that means, she’s laughing and so am I, but it’s awesome and I don’t even give a shit about the competition we have going on anymore.
Which is kind of good, because as she starts up with Dolly’s lines, it’s pretty fucking obvious that neither of us can really sing or hold a tune, the two of us sounding more like cats in heat than singers. Still, it doesn’t matter, because by the time we get to the chorus, everyone in the restaurant is singing along with us, including Grandma, Ed and surprisingly my dad.
He actually smiles up at us from the table, a reaction that surprises me so much I nearly miss my next line. By the time we are done, the whole restaurant is cheering and I can see people on the beach looking in through the open windows, trying to figure out what it’s all about.
At the end of the song, when everyone is cheering and clapping, I grab Aida’s hand in mine, holding our joined hands high, laughing when the whole restaurant suddenly calls out, “LATER MOTHERFUCKER!” as if they’d planned it.
With a laugh, I pull her into my arms, pressing a hard kiss to her mouth. “You are fucking amazing,” I whisper. “And a really, really bad singer.”
Aida bursts out laughing, her arm around my waist as she says, “Yeah, you’re kinda pretty shit too, but I’m okay with that.”
Laughing, I give her another kiss before we both leave the stage, joining everyone back at the table. Grandma is still clapping as we walk over, both Ed and my dad just watching us with amused looks on our faces.
“Oh, that was wonderful!” Grandma says, clapping her hands together as both Ed and my dad let out loud snorts of disagreement.
“Would we really describe it that way?” Ed asks as we sit down.
Dad barks out a laugh, shaking his head as he smiles at both of us. “No we wouldn’t,” he says. “But it sure was entertaining.”
“Who would you say was the better singer?” Aida now asks, smiling at him. “I mean, for settling this competition thing and all.”
I throw an arm around her shoulders, taking a sip of the drink the bar named after her as I wait for my dad’s answer. He turns to me, smiling, before looking back at Aida.
“Probably too close to call,” he eventually says. “Might need to call it a draw.”
“Pfft, that’s a cop out, Dad,” I say, but I’m smiling so he knows I’m only joking and also that I don’t really give a shit about the competition or which of us won.
His grin widens as he leans forward, his elbows resting on the table. “I mean look, I think we both know neither of you are auditioning for American Idol anytime soon,” he says as Aida laughs beside me. “So I’m sticking with the draw. But…” he adds, his eyes sparkling with what looks like amusement. “We could always go another round and see?”
I raise a brow, totally not expecting my dad to be so on board with any of this. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him this relaxed and not talking about work and honestly, it’s fucking great.
“Oh?” I ask. “You have something in mind?”
Chuckling, he stands from the table and I watch as he walks over to the karaoke guy and the two of them chat for a while, both of them laughing before Dad returns to the table. Whatever was discussed doesn’t play out straight away, a couple of other people getting up to sing as we all get another round of drinks and some food.
By the time they call my dad’s name, we are all kind of a little tipsy, which is probably why when he stands and tells us all to join him, we do. I’m curious to see what he’s chosen because I’ve never once even heard him listen to music, let alone do actual fucking karaoke.
“Okay, this song is for Little Crab Island’s very own Mike Tyson,” he starts, grinning at Aida who stands beside me on the stage.
Then the opening bars to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” starts up and everyone is laughing as we all start to sing it.
Badly.
It doesn’t matter though, because by now we are all drunk and everyone is clearly having a good time. Which is why when Queen’s “We Are the Champions” plays next, we all keep singing. Even when Grandma jumps in and requests ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It All”, we stay up here, people randomly bringing us drinks to keep us going.
By the time we finally call it done, we are all laughing and drunk and having an amazing time.
“You know,” my dad says, throwing his arm around my shoulders as we make our way back to the table. “I really wish we’d shared more of these moments.” I stop, so fucking surprised by his comment, that I literally don’t know what to say. Dad just laughs, squeezing my shoulder as we both start walking again. “I mean it, Ben. I’m sorry I wasn’t around much when you were growing up.”
I shrug, still not sure what to say to this. I didn’t even realize he recognized he wasn’t really a part of my life, let alone that he thought to apologize for it. I mean maybe it’s because we’ve all had a few drinks or whatever, but whatever it is, they are words I’ve needed to hear.
“I know I wasn’t there much and then when I was, well…” Now he’s shrugging as he continues, offering me an apologetic look as though he isn’t sure how to continue or what he can say.
Swallowing hard, I nod once as I say, “Thanks, Dad, that ah… that really means a lot.”
We stop beside the table, neither of us sitting down as we turn to face each other. Dad puts his hands on my shoulders, his eyes meeting mine. “That’s going to change, okay?” he now says. “I want things to be different…to be more like…well, today.”
“Me too,” I tell him.
He smiles at that, his eyes flicking to Aida who’s now sitting talking to my grandma and Ed. “She’s really great, Ben,” he now says.
“Yeah, she really is,” I say, smiling back at him.
“You like her, huh?”
I nod, knowing it’s way more than like at this stage. “I do.”
“Good,” he says, squeezing my shoulders. “And I know you’re going to stay with her anyway, but I just want you to know, you aren’t kicked out. I wouldn’t…well, I’m sorry I did that. You are always welcome at home.”
My head falls, my gaze dropping to our feet as I let his words sink in. This feels like a record, the number of times my dad has apologized to me in one day. But it also feels like a new beginning, like we’re both clearing the air so we can start again.
“Thanks, Dad,” I say, lifting my gaze to meet his. “That means a lot.”
He nods once, giving me a small smile. “And in case I didn’t say it before, I really am proud of you.”
The next morning, I wake up beside Aida. Even though Dad told me I could come back home, after we finished up at lunch, Aida and I went back to the Henderson’s together, the two of us drunk and happy.
I roll into her, my arm sliding across her lower back as she sleeps beside me. She’s lying on her stomach, her hair spread all over the pillow, her hands hidden beneath it.
Fuck, she’s beautiful. I have no idea how I got so lucky landing this woman, but I know my dad is right, she is really great. More than great.
She’s fucking amazing.
And I don’t just like her, I fucking love her. Like for real, want to wake up next to her every day and spend the rest of my life with her, love her.
I’ve never felt this way about anyone before and even though it is scary as shit, I don’t care. Because I want this and I want her and I want all of this to keep going when we get back to New York.
Leaning in, I nuzzle against her neck, my arm tightening as I pull her closer to me.
“Hmmm,” she murmurs, turning her face into the pillow before she turns back to me, blinking her eyes open.
“Morning, baby,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her lips.
“Hmmm, morning,” she says sleepily, rolling onto her side.
Chuckling, I shuffle closer, my hand sliding down to her ass as I pull her against me, our bodies pressed together and my dick, hard and desperate to be inside her, pressed against her.
“Someone’s awake,” she mumbles, her lips against mine.
Chuckling, I kiss her again. “I’m always awake around you, babe,” I say, squeezing her ass. “I can’t get enough of you.”
“Oh no?” she asks, slipping her arm around me now as her hand also slips down to my ass. “Is that all it is?” she now asks.
I smile, kissing her again, a little deeper this time. “Well, I mean, it’s a huge part of it,” I tease, dragging my fingers over her ass crack and up her spine as I press my dick against her to reinforce my point.
She laughs, all husky and sleepy and adorable. “But it’s not all it is?”
“No,” I whisper, smoothing my hand down her side to her leg before hitching it up and over my hip.
“What else?” she whispers, her eyes closing, almost as though she’s falling back to sleep.
Smiling, I kiss her again, my tongue teasing her bottom lip as I say, “That I love you.”