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The bartender’s eyebrow shot up questioningly at Lexie. “Um, I’ll have what she’s having.”
“Woohoo! We’ll have you drunk in no time.” Blair drew a check in the air. “That will take care of item one in your bucket list.” Lexie colored slightly at Blair’s “exuberance”, as her nonna would choose to call any show of spirit. Her cousin then pointed a manicured hand to a raised platform containing a lone microphone stand. “Is somebody playing tonight?”
“Even better,” the bartender winked again. “It’s karaoke night.”
Lexie tried to blend in. Taking a deep breath, she started taking a few nervous sips of her drink, her first taste of alcohol in seven years. She was hyper-alert, noting any telltale signs her body would betray her. Concentrate on your drink, Lexie.
This is lovely, she thought, just like cranberry juice. Now look around you. Just breathe and be calm. Oh look, there’s a bald man who looks like a hip Professor Xavier approaching the tables.
One of the biker dudes earlier had come in, spotted the empty bar stool beside Blair, and started chatting her up. Tables facing the stage were already filled with an eclectic crowd. A bald man wearing a suit and tie with musical note patterns was carrying what appeared to be a plastic folder thick with filed paper. He was going around each table, showing them the folder. He must have sensed Lexie’s curiosity because he caught her gaze and started making his way towards her.
Lexie smiled automatically. Her training made it second nature.
“Well, hello there, Red,” bald man greeted, eyeing her wig with some amusement. Up close, he looked younger than Lexie first supposed. “I’m DJ Twist, your karaoke night host.” His eyes were professionally flirty, just like Lexie’s smile was professionally warm yet distant. “It’s your lucky night. For a kiss, I’ll let you up on that stage after the fifth song.” He gestured with a cocky sideways motion of his head to the dais.
“Why can’t she be first?” Blair butted into the conversation before Lexie could tell DJ Twist there was no way in Hades she was going to go up that stage. In a cruel twist of genetics, Colleen Gallagher’s famous singing voice had skipped Lexie. Her mother had thought it an affront to her sensibilities that not only could her daughter not sing a tune, she was also tone deaf. Worse, her son Stefan could sing better than Lexie. In fact, the principality of Seirenada, named after the Greek legend of the Sirens, prided themselves on their innate musicality.
“See the mob out there?” DJ Twist gestured with a pointed thumb over his shoulder towards the crowded tables at his back. “They’re going to have my head on an ashtray if a non-regular comes up first. So, what’s it to be sweetheart? I’ve got a playlist to line up.”
Lexie opened her mouth to say no, but the words that came out were different. “Let me see.” She had been reading a self-help book that espoused saying yes to every opportunity life chose to throw one’s way. It must have stuck deep in her subconscious because before she knew it, she had grabbed the song list from a startled DJ Twist. Or maybe it was just the vodka talking. Either way, on this night, Lexie didn’t give a damn.
She scanned the list feverishly, turning the pages quickly. “Here,” she pointed to the first song she recognized under the heading B for Artist before she lost her nerve.
From over her shoulder, Blair took a peek at the song list and groaned at her choice. “Anybody asks, I’m going to deny I’m with her.”
“My kiss, sweetheart,” the man presented his cheek jauntily to Lexie.
Lexie hesitated. Before she could change her mind, she leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek just as DJ Twist turned at the last minute. Their lips met.
The look of surprise on Lexie’s face delighted the sneaky DJ. “Sweet. The deal is sealed. See you later, Red.” He turned to address the dive goers, some appearing disgruntled at having their shot in the spotlight delayed.
“I can’t believe I just signed up for my own public humiliation.” She was talking to dead air. Blair, giving her up as a lost cause with her choice of song, was now talking to one of the hipster boys.
