14. Jake
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
jake
Colored spotlights danced across the floor of The Sapphire bar as a college kid belted out a terrible rendition of “Mr. Brightside,” which was normally the song I chose.
After the rodeo, we’d all gotten dinner at Marco’s, one of the best pizza places in town, then most of our group headed out to the bars.
I’d managed to convince Caitlin to come out after Colter and Ellison offered to watch Whitley back at their hotel. Cait didn’t seem too convinced, but I reminded her of her bucket list and said she could count it as one of the items. By some miracle, she agreed and we wound up here.
“All right!” I clapped my hands, getting the group’s attention. “Everyone is required to put in a song tonight, no excuses!”
A look of pure horror flashed across Cait’s face, so I shot her a wink.
“Do I really have to put in a song?” Sierra whined, lip curling up on one side.
I pointed at her with finger guns. “Yes. You got off easy the last time we went out for karaoke. Don’t make me put in a song for you like I did for Hayden.”
She rolled her eyes then hauled herself off her chair to look at the booklet of songs available.
“You know, saying no to something I don’t want to do is also an item on my bucket list,” Caitlin teased after the rest of the group followed Sierra.
“But so is doing something that scares you. Saying no to this and not completing the other item on the list would be a missed opportunity, Cait. Besides, I’ve heard your singing voice before.
You have nothing to worry about. It is too bad Isa isn’t here, though.
Ellison and Juniper once said she sounds like a dying cat when she sings. ”
“Well, I’ve got that going for me, at least.” She snorted out a laugh. “What song are you going to sing?”
“I’m not sure, since that little fella up there stole my song. Let’s go take a look at the book.” I tried to resist the urge to reach for her hand, but impulse still took over, and my fingers brushed against hers for a brief moment before I pulled back.
Her eyes bounced down to her hand then back up to me, eyes widening.
“After you.” I chose to ignore what I just did. If it was out of my mind, it didn’t happen.
At least that was what I was going to tell myself to save my pride.
“Have you picked songs?” I asked the posse as they headed back to our table.
They all nodded, but I had an inkling Sierra didn’t actually put in a song. She was trying her best to hide a guilty expression, but I’d been forcing my friends to partake in karaoke for years now. I could easily sniff out a liar when it came to this.
Flipping through the pages of the songbook, a title jumped out at me, reminding me of my second semester of freshman year when Colter and I snuck into the bar with Caitlin and Adam using fake IDs.
“This is fucking stupid, let’s just go home, Caity,” Adam grumbled as another person was called up for karaoke. “We’ve been waiting for like an hour, and they haven’t called our songs yet.”
Her posture deflated, and I was convinced she was going to agree with him until the DJ called out my name.
“They just called up Jake. That means our songs will be played soon. Let’s just stay for a little while longer.” She reached over to squeeze his hand, and I had to bite back a grin as I speed walked over to the DJ’s booth to grab a microphone.
The DJ queued up the music, and “Teenage Dirtbag” started playing through the speakers.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Caitlin with her hand in front of her mouth, stifling a laugh. Adam had a scowl on his face, but it only encouraged me to sing even louder and more obnoxiously. Just for him.
He might have been a party pooper, but I was going to make sure Cait had fun tonight.
Scribbling down the same title, I handed my card to the DJ before turning back around where Caitlin was scanning the book for a song.
“Whatcha thinking?” I asked, looking over her shoulder at the options.
She tapped her lips with her finger. “I’m not sure. What are you singing?”
I clicked my tongue. “It’s a surprise.”
“I’m in between two songs, I think.”
“Flip a coin.” I pulled a quarter out of my pocket. “Heads, you sing the first song you had in mind, tails, you sing the other.”
She nodded, and I tossed the coin in the air, catching it and placing it on top of my hand. “It’s tails.”
“Okay, then.” She scribbled down the song.
“Which one was it?”
A glint of mischief flashed in her eyes. “It’s a surprise.”
However, I was pretty sure I saw her scribble down “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson, the same song she’d sang in that dingy college bar.
We rejoined the group back at the table. Mikey had already ordered a round for everyone and handed me and Cait shot glasses filled to the brim with clear liquor.
“What is this?” She eyed the drink suspiciously before sniffing it and wrinkling her nose.
“Tequila. Thought we’d all need something different for karaoke night. I’m also trying to get Jake’s alter ego to come out as soon as possible.” He winked at me.
“You have an alter ego?” Caitlin’s mouth turned down into a frown.
With an eyebrow wiggle and a nudge to my ribs, Mikey replied, “Oh, yeah. He definitely has one. Sexy, too.”
Her eyes bulged. “Oh?”
Hayden shook his head with a sigh. “We don’t speak of that. Don’t encourage him, Mikey.”
“Is that a challenge?” I joked, downing my shot before Mikey could do one of his silly toasts.
“Well, damn, Jakey.” Mikey raised his shot glass. “Here’s to your alter ego. May he grace us with his presence tonight.” He clinked his glass against everyone else’s then the group followed my lead, drinking down the liquor.
“Yuck.” Caitlin stuck out her tongue in disgust.
Before anyone could give her a hard time, the DJ started speaking. “Up next on the mic, we’ve got Mikey!”
“That’s me!” Mikey pushed past us. When the opening riff to “Sweet Home Alabama” started playing, the group let out a collective groan. Last time we did karaoke at Rudy’s he sang “SexyBack.”
“At least he’s not a good singer, so whoever follows him will look really good.” Sierra laughed.
“Who put in their song after him?” Juniper asked.
“I think it was me.” Hayden lifted a finger in a nonchalant gesture.
“You gonna serenade us all like Heath Ledger again?” I ruffled his hair before he smacked my hand away. “Maybe I should fish some ones out of my wallet, since you put on such a good show for us last time.”
“I think you’ve been spending too much time with Mikey,” he grumbled. “You’re starting to be annoying.”
I scoffed. “Well, I think you’re spending too much time with Colter. I swear, if they ever had an I love my wife-slash-girlfriend competition, everyone would drop out after seeing you two there.”
Although, to be fair, I could probably be the same way if I was with Cait. Adam was a damn fool for letting her go.
Sierra chimed in after standing behind Hayden’s chair and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Is that such a bad thing?”
“Never. I didn’t spend five years of my life waiting for you to come back to not be absolutely obsessed with you.” He turned his head so he was looking at her, and she leaned down to plant a kiss on his lips, the gesture quickly turning into a make out session.
“Get a room,” I grumbled in mock annoyance, though I had to fight to keep up the act and not smile at their relationship.
Mikey’s song ended, and the DJ called up Hayden, finally breaking him and Sierra apart.
She leaned against the table, resting her elbows on the tabletop, her eyes tracking Hayden the entire way to the DJ booth.
The notes to some Backstreet Boys song began to play, and Hayden did a little shimmy with his hips before belting out the first verse.
He had to be drunk, or at least a little buzzed, but then again, maybe Sierra just brought out a wilder side to him.
Before they got back together, he had been the quietest in our group of five.
However, the bar was pretty low to begin with.
Our friend group was a rowdy bunch who liked to have fun.
Mikey had pulled Juniper away to the bar, Reid went outside to answer a phone call, and Sierra was completely enamored with Hayden’s performance, leaving me and Cait sitting next to each other in silence.
Our stools were close enough that our shoulders brushed and our knees were touching. If I reached out under the table, it would be so easy to rest my hand on her thigh.
She leaned in, her lips nearly brushing my ear as she whispered, “He’s not that bad a singer.”
“Normally he’d never sing karaoke, so he’s gotta be drunk.”
“I think I’m more curious about this alter ego of yours,” she teased.
I masked a laugh by shaking my head slightly. “It’s nothing special. Just a stupid thing that happens when I’m having too much fun.”
“I think it is special. You have this way of bringing out the playfulness in people. Making them feel comfortable enough to be themselves.”
“You think so?”
She nodded. “I just remember being in college and you were always the life of the party. Anytime I was feeling down, you had this way of knowing how to make me smile or laugh. Trust me, I needed that a lot my senior year.”
Neither of us said anything, letting whatever energy there was between us crackle in the air for a minute. In the heat of the moment, I inched my hand closer to her leg, fingers nearly brushing the denim fabric covering her skin.
My fingertip brushed against the side of her thigh, and her head snapped toward me, eyebrows raised and mouth slightly parted.
“Jake—” she whispered. “What are you doing?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Mikey and Juniper came back before anything else could happen, and the moment ended.
“Jakey over here with the lovey-dovey eyes.” Mikey made kissy noises with his mouth, and I immediately pulled my hand back.
Caitlin’s cheeks flushed, and I imagined I had a similarly guilty expression on my face, as though I was a horny teenager getting caught and not a grown-ass adult who could make my own decisions.
If my heart pounded any harder, I was sure it would break its way out of my chest, falling directly into Caitlin’s palm.
If I was being honest, I wouldn’t have minded giving it to her.
Still, I flattened my voice, giving him a noncommittal shrug to feign disinterest like the idiot I was. “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ ’bout.”
In my peripheral, Caitlin pursed her lips, eyes darting away.
“Ah, don’t be fucking dense, giving me that shit,” Mikey groaned. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Luckily for me, Juniper and Caitlin had started their own conversation, allowing me to lower my voice and growl in Mikey’s direction to shut the fuck up.
Before he could say anything else, Hayden’s song ended and the DJ saved me from more of this ridiculousness.
“Come on up to the stage, Jake!”
Before I turned around, I shot Cait a flashy grin. When I had the microphone in my hand, I lifted it to my lips. Pointing in the direction of the table, I murmured, “This one’s for you.”
The song played, and it only took a few seconds for recognition to flash across Caitlin’s face, followed by a smile she tried to suppress by rolling her lips between her teeth.
Mission accomplished.