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I flop onto the couch when Adriana takes the stage. “Man, I forgot how much fun this is.”
Luz grins. “There’s nothing like karaoke to make you forget your problems.” She bumps me with her shoulder. “I forgot how good you are.”
“All those years of singing in the shower.” I wink, but my heart is heavy. Eric hated when I sang in the apartment. Said it disrupted his work. Work. Right. If taking selfies and posting about detox tea and protein powder could be considered work.
I focus on picking my next song, because I don’t want to think about my shitty ex. Not when I’m supposed to be enjoying myself.
Adriana sings Queen and then Luz picks Christina Aguilera. We go from early 2000s classics to show tunes, and then back to classic rock. Luz has the vocal abilities of a dying cat, but she puts her whole heart in it. Adriana’s face is pink from three fruity, pink cocktails, and we’ve moved on to our second bucket of beers.
“You should text Jonah,” Luz yells over the intro music to an Aerosmith classic.
“Why would I do that?” I knock back the rest of my beer.
“Because we need some men in here. Maybe he has a hot friend he can bring.”
“You’re drunk. No way.”
Luz is a wild child on her nights off, though it’s not intentional. She’s just up for anything and can’t hold her liquor. She’d probably accidentally fall into the lap of whomever Jonah would bring. And who would he even bring? Miles is taken. Theo, their mysterious friend, is gone. He has another friend that I’ve seen a few times. Jason, I think his name is, but I think he’s taken too. Somehow, I doubt Jonah is tearing up the town. That’s sad.
“He’s probably at the office. His life is depressing.”
Luz shakes her head. “Like I said, you should text him. Everyone deserves a karaoke night.” She shrugs and opens more beers for the two of us.
Jonah is probably in his glass tower, buried in work. At nine p.m. on a Friday night. I picture 555 57th Street, the building dark, except for the light from Jonah’s office. I wonder if he ate there. Or maybe he didn’t eat dinner at all.
“Okay, I’m going to text him.” The beer is making me bold, and the thought of him alone is too sad to bear.
I pull my phone out, squinting slightly at the screen. I tap out a text that reads, “What are you doing tonight? We’re at karaoke. You should come.”
“What’s she doing?” Adriana asks, when her song finishes.
“Texting her hot boss,” Luz says nonchalantly.
Adriana snorts. “You’re so gone for him.”
“Am not.” My head jerks up. “I just think he needs to loosen up. Maybe it will make him nicer.”
“Sure. Keep telling yourself that. You like him. You want to have sex with him, and he wants to have sex with you.” She shrugs. “You should go for it. You don’t have to ride off into the sunset together.”
“Oh no. Here we go. The Adriana dating method rears its ugly head.” Luz groans and I grin. “Feelings? I’ve never met them.” Luz presses a hand dramatically to her heart.
“Sex does not require feelings,” Adriana protests.
“Yes, well, not all of us like to schedule our sexual encounters like we schedule our nail appointments.”
“Some of us are extremely busy.”
“Busy hitting it and quitting it.” Luz cackles.
“Guys.” I look up at my friends. “He’s calling me.”
“Pick it up!” Luz screeches.
I hit “accept” and raise the phone to my ear.
“Hi.”
“Thompson?” His voice rolls over me, and I shiver down to my toes. “Where are you? I hear music.”
