“I could go some Spice Girls,” Jamie pipes in, giving Ava a reassuring pat on the arm. “You know, British pride and all.”
Jazz rubs his chin, frowning in hesitation. “I’ll put that down as a maybe. I’ve already done two Spice Girls songs this week.”
Jamie sighs. “In that case I also want some All Saints, B*Witched, Mariah…”
“So basically every manufactured female pop act from the nineties?” Jazz asks wryly.
“Hey, Mariah wasnotmanufactured,” Jamie protests, before reluctantly admitting, “I’ll give you the others, though.”
Jazz lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah, I’m not promising all of those. Come back Tuesday if you want girl power.”
“You have a specific night for female music?” Ava asks, looking far too interested considering she’ll be well and truly back in Boston by Tuesday.
“Not purposefully,” Jazz says with a snort of amusement. “But my grandma and her friends are difficult ladies to say no to, especially when they all gang up together.”
That sounds…interesting. Maybe I should switch to work on a Tuesday so I can witness this phenomenon.
“I wantto see something more impressive than the Spice Girls,” Joel says, eyeing Jazz with obvious skepticism. “Unlike all of them—” He tosses a thumb to his right, indicating everyone except himself and me—“I can’t be dazzled by how hot you are so I want to see some actual talent.”
Jazz lets out a rumble of laughter. “I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
I offer a wry smile. “Actually, that’s one of the few things we have in common.”
“Well, Icanbe dazzled by his hotness,” Shay says with a grin. “But I like the idea of giving him a challenge.”
Blake nods his agreement and then the two of them start conferring in hushed whispers.
“Okay,” Shay says with a decisive nod as they break apart. Then he frowns in hesitation. “You’re absolutely sure it was 1990?”
Blake nods. “Positive. I remember dragging my first ever girlfriend to the music store after school to get the cassingle.”
Shay lets out a snort of amusement, shaking his head. Then he turns to Jazz, tilting his chin up as he throws down the gauntlet. ““Thunderstruck.””
Jazz’sbrows creep up and he takes a moment to glance around the bar, which is relatively quiet given the early hour. “Maybe if it picks up later—I’m not wasting AC/DC on a crowd of sixty people.”
Blake smiles. “We don’t have anywhere to be. But we have a back-up option as well.”
Jazz arches a brow at him. “And that is?”
““Right Now” by Van Halen,” Shay says.
Jazz nods. “Alright.” Then he turns his attention to Joel. “Will that be impressive enough for you or do you have something else in mind?”
Joel frowns thoughtfully. “I guess AC/DC would be pretty cool. I don’t know the Van Halen one, though…”
“Do “Space Jam” by Quad City DJs,” I tell Jazz. “I’m sure that’ll satisfy his lofty expectations.”
Joel’s brows draw together. “I don’t know that song either.”
“Yes, you do,” I assure him, letting out a soft laugh. “It’s the one from Mom’s cheerleading championship.” When they were kids Ava and Joel were pretty obsessed with Valerie’s old cheerleading videos, and especially her college championship; they even came up with their own cheer routines and brought some of their friends into it, which was ridiculously adorable.
Joel’s eyes light in recognition and he grins at Jazz. “Oh, yeah. Wow, if you can pull that off I’ll definitely be impressed.”
Jazz’s lips curve up in a teasing smirk as he glances my way. “Oh, I can pull it off. But are you sure you wouldn’t rather “C’mon N’ Ride It”?”
I shrug. “If you didn’t have all your weird rules you could just do them both.”
His eyes flash with surprised delight for a brief second before a devilish gleam settles in his gaze.
