Chapter 11 #2
She’s talkative, which will offset his self-imposed isolation. She’s animated, which will stop him from fading into the wallpaper, and she’ll pull him into things more in a way only a romantic partner can. Her confidence will hopefully resuscitate his own .
I always imagined that if Dean ended up with anyone, she would have been quiet and gentle and amenable, and wouldn’t have pushed him to do anything.
Someone content to lead an insular, uneventful life with him, bubble wrapped away from the world.
But having met Liaden, I can see now how very wrong this imaginary woman would have been for him.
Liaden will suit him better than anyone because she’s his opposite in so many ways.
She’ll pull him out of his determinedly solitary lifestyle and into the land of the living-not-merely-existing, and better yet, she’ll make him want to join her there.
I can’t help wishing he'd felt able to be with us tonight. Their compatibility and her intentions aren’t the issue here.
The way he locks himself away is . He’ll never see how good he could have it and what an amazing chance this is for him if he never sets foot out of his flat for anything except work.
I wonder if he will, now, if given time to pace himself. For her.
The pub is pretty packed now, all the tables occupied.
About as busy as it’s going to get, give or take a late coming hen do.
John’s karaoke nights are always popular, and it doesn’t matter if you’re the next Sam Ryder or if you can’t carry a tune with a forklift truck; people will still cheer you on with equal enthusiasm either way.
Sadie laughs at something Liaden’s said, a proper throw-your-head-back belly laugh which shows off the curve of her throat.
I smile, wondering what I can sing that she’ll enjoy, and then grin wider as I come up with not one, but two songs that’ll be perfect, and act as a peace offering after pissing her off with my ‘old Petey boy’ crack.
“OK, folks,” John says into the mic, “welcome to another karaoke night. This one is exclusively eighties themed, and I’ll buy a double gin and tonic for the first person to volunteer to sing tonight, to get things underway. How about that?”
“Right here!” Liaden waves her hand immediately and fearlessly, one hundred percent up for it. “I will,” she yells. I cheer, and the girls join me.
“And the pretty girl with the strawberry milkshake hair has it,” John grins, looking her up and down as she stands. John, mate, there’s a thing called subtlety . Put your eyes back in their damn sockets. Makes me glad I’m not Dean, watching him guess her measurements.
“Hurray, G and T,” she says happily as she scooches past me and picks up John’s folder, flicking through the laminated track listing carefully. She’s clearly got something in mind, and I can’t wait to see what.
She nods and taps the page. “That one. Seven three four five two.”
“Don’t you mean eight six seven five three oh nine ,” I quip, and Sadie taps my arm and giggles.
Phew, I’m out of the doghouse . I narrow my eyes at John, who’s standing unnecessarily close to our new friend as he looks over her shoulder, but she doesn’t seem bothered by him. He ignores me deliberately.
“Good choice,” he murmurs to her, almost purring, “lemme get her fired up for you, and then I’ll buy you that drink.”
“Definitely going to need it after this one.” She stretches her neck on one side, and then the other, like a warm up exercise.
“You got it, toots.” He turns and programs the machine, and she rolls her eyes a little at us. John is shit out of luck with his flirting, I’m relieved to see.
The plinkety-plink sounds of the first few bars of Alone by Heart fill the room, and there are a couple of cheers for the perennial favourite. Brave choice, but then, we know Liaden can sing from her YouTube videos, so -
WOW .
She opens her mouth, and fuck me backwards, the pair of lungs on her…
She’s a born singer. Hearing her live makes the videos seem like nothing.
Her voice is the type that sends tingles down your spine, as though Ann Wilson and Sheena Easton had a baby.
She’s perfect for power ballads like this one, like she could hold her own in a duet with Meat Loaf.
The whole place goes silent and stunned as she effortlessly rings out the first few lines.
She has fun with it as well, grinning and winking at us and our open mouths as she belts out the first chorus like she’s live at Wembley Stadium. Other punters actually walk over from the bar with their drinks orders to watch the pretty lady sing .
I watch John stare at her, grinning slowly.
This is a far cry from his bread and butter punter who wails Holiday by Madonna out of key.
The evening has very obviously started at the top of the talent pile.
She’s even better than me , for god’s sake.
Talent, presence…no wonder Dean is so into her.
And from the looks of it, John is, too. He’s definitely going to ask her to come to other nights he runs, and I’d bet money he’s going to ask her out before the evening’s over.
I sigh inwardly. I’m obviously going to have my work cut out for me as Dean’s proxy, cock blocking John on his behalf without overstepping.
Or , I think as I gape at the scruffy man who’s walking towards us with a pint in his trembling hand, maybe not …
Dean sits next to me as casually as he can manage, placing a beer mat under his glass, and turning all of his focus onto Liaden as she sings.
He’s pretending nonchalance, spoiled slightly by being a bit out of breath, and there’s a very fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. But he’s here. He’s fucking here .
Holy shit, the sonofabitch actually did it.
I can’t stop the grin spreading across my face, and when I look at the others, we’re all wearing pretty identical expressions of delighted disbelief.
I’m about to sling an arm around his shoulder for a bro hug when I see the eye lock going on between him and Liaden.
Oosh. Did I say eye lock? More like eye fucking , actually.
To her credit, she didn’t skip a beat, didn’t so much as stumble over the lyrics as Dean sat down, but she’s not blinking.
The sexy tension between them pulses like a heartbeat as she treats him to a slow smile full of heated promise.
And then the second chorus begins, and apparently Liaden was holding back before, because she kicks it up a notch and belts out the rest of the lyrics as though she’s singing directly to Dean.
And it hits me: that’s exactly what she is doing.
She’s straight up asking him how she can get him alone…
Her voice takes on the staggering quality of a career best performance, and Dean sits wide eyed, mesmerised by her as Sadie and I both stand and cheer.
With a wicked smile, Liaden finishes the song and hands the mic back to John without looking at him.
Keeping her eyes on Dean, she sits the other side of him, and they look and look at each other as though they can’t believe the other is actually real.
It gives me chills.
There is honestly nothing I wouldn’t do in order to nudge them together if I can. Not a damn thing.