Page 32 of The Scars We Heal

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.”