18
I stare at him far too long; it's definitely weird and someone else has probably noticed by now, but the only thing that breaks my reverie is the music coming to an end.
Before I know it, I'm out of my chair, ducking under the table to scoot out onto the little stage area. I take the microphone and scroll through the karaoke catalog quickly until I find a song I know.
“Um, I don’t know if any of you have had the pleasure of listening to a siren sing before, but, uh, I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you.”
The raised eyebrows of my coworkers barely register. If they didn’t know after Deanna told people, well then, now they do. I thought if I didn’t let people know anything about me, I could keep myself safe, but it wasn’t true. It just stopped me from making connections with people I could have been really close with.
I don't care that I'm making the most obvious heart eyes at Vlad. I’ve answered the door in my underwear enough that this should be easy in comparison. Really. Except, I’m only trying to seduce one of them, and they’re all about to witness this.
Vlad’s eyes are on me, bright and curious. He’s leaning in, the same level of heat in his eyes that I feel in my cheeks. I try not to do anything so obvious as twirl my hair and giggle as it strikes me, that even after every awkward moment in the airport and between PowerPoint presentations, he kept talking to me. It’s kind of a weird thought, that anyone would look at me like this after seeing me at my crustiest and cringiest.
There's so much warmth and gratitude in my chest, and not just from the alcohol. I haven't had that much yet. But he's been more generous with me than I've been to myself, kinder and more supportive.
The music starts to play. I wince at myself a few times, and then just launch into it as if I were in my car on the freeway driving eighty-five MPH.
Janice has the best poker face of the lot, Kathy has both hands over her mouth, but her eyes are wide, presumably because she didn’t know just how bad of a singer I am.
“Is she supposed to be bad?” Kathy fails to whisper quietly. Lily, ever a dear, shushes and elbows Kathy in the side.
It doesn’t matter; the look on Vlad’s face is enough to keep me going. I have never seen him look so awed, his eyes soft and adoring, even when my voice cracks every few notes.
I can’t tear my eyes away from his, and dance to the music just a little, throwing my hand in his direction, winking cheesily, and curling a finger at him.
I stumble over some of the words, a verse I never bothered to learn the lyrics for catches me unawares. I start losing some of my volume, and therefore my momentum. I stammer a second, the music continuing on without me.
Vlad’s voice comes in with the ring of another cheap microphone, and I look up. He’s picked up the second one that not many people had actually been dueting with.
He’s also bad, but he’s also not trying to hit the notes and spectacularly missing the way I am.
Kathy tries to boo us off the little stage, Janice helps her. I honestly don't care. If anything, it makes me sing louder and just a little more off key.
The moment moves me in a way that is less dancing and more flailing vaguely to the beat while giggling and staring in his eyes. Every sour note comes with a smile, and it's every feeling I wanted to give him, everything I couldn't put into words.
The song ends, and the world is just this dark corner with only us.
There’s some polite, some enthusiastic, applause from the seats.
Oh shit, I forgot about them.
I brace myself for the inevitable cringe, the knee-jerk need to curl in on myself, and it never comes. There's too much else happening, my work friends smiling and Vlad leading us back to the tables, where he sits next to me this time.
The giddiness of the moment lasts in a way that I always hoped it would. Glasses clink against the table, music conducts one wonderful feeling into the next as the next song comes on, everyone is one eyebrow wiggle away from cracking up again. My face is tired from smiling so hard, but I can't stop.
Vlad's hand is still curled around mine between us as Kathy takes the song selection book and starts flipping through it. I take a sip of my drink and nearly spit it out when I see Lily practically in Soven's lap, the two nose-to-cowl in conversation.
“What am I seeing?” I murmur, knocking shoulders with Janice.
She follows my eye line.
“An age gap for the record books?” she shrugs, “I guess you wouldn't know. They didn't exactly do paperwork about it.”
“A power imbalance to write home about,” Vlad observes, and gives me a knowing look.
“No, you don't know Lily. She's terrifying when she wants to be,” I explain. “She scares me more than he does.”
“Yeah, and you saw why Randall didn't get an exit interview,” Janice chuckles darkly into her drink.
