“You guys did great today!” I say, congratulating them on their win.
Liam picks up his bag, and he and Brooks move out of the way as Luca offers to take Zeke from me. “It helped to have our favorite people in the stands,” Luca says.
“Is that me?” Zeke asks, a huge smile on his face.
“You and your mother,” Luca says, giving me a wink. Luca turns his attention entirely on me. “How do you feel about going out with us and celebrating before we drive home?”
“We have Zeke,” I say, glancing at my little dragon and ruffling his hair. “It has to be someplace that he’s allowed inside.”
“No, we’ll make him stand outside in the cold,” Luca jokes and rolls his eyes. He nudges me. “You should know me better than that.”
He drops a kiss on my cheek.
I’ve missed going out with the guys and having fun. I don’t know how that’s going to happen with a three-year-old in the mix.
“What do you say, Harper?” Liam asks. “Join us for a night of karaoke and non-alcoholic drinks?”
I snort. Even if they wanted to drink, most of them are underage.
“What about your coach? Don’t you have to head back to campus tonight?” I ask.
“We convinced him it would be a good opportunity to celebrate and do some team-building,” Ashton says. There’s a smirk on his face.
Clearly, Coach fell for it.
I don’t see these guys doing any team-building exercises tonight.
Just having fun on the town.
“I’m in if you’re in,” I say, staring at Luca.
“Let’s go!”
We make our way to the small-town restaurant that features karaoke on Friday nights. Since it’s a restaurant, it’s open to all ages, and we manage to snag a table and put in an order for some appetizers to share.
“Who’s singing first?” Liam asks as he pulls up an extra chair and straddles it, sitting backward. He rests his arms on the back of the chair, his chin resting on his hands.
“Go for it,” I say, gesturing for him to take the lead.
“You don’t want to hear me sing.” Liam grins. “You’ll be paying me to get off the stage.”
There’s already someone up at the microphone singing a rendition of a familiar ‘90s song that I recognize but don’t quite know all the lyrics.
“Does anyone want to do a duet?” Nova asks.
“I’ll sing with you,” Kensley offers. “What songs do they have?”
“There’s an app you can use to browse the karaoke catalog.” Liam gives us the information and Nova grabs her phone, typing it in and downloading the app.
After a few minutes of everyone deciding what to sing, Liam, Nova, Kensley, Brooks, and a few others start making their way up to put their name and song choice down.
“You’re not going to go up there?” Luca asks, watching me with a smile.
“Have you heard me sing? No one wants to hear that.” I shake my head adamantly. “I’m here to support everyone else. What about you?”
“I’d rather go hang out with Dante than sing in front of my friends.”
Liam is the first back from putting his name down on the sheet. “Will you take a picture of me up there with my phone?”
