Nora slid past us and hurried into the foyer toward the hostess, clearly anticipating that I wasn’t going to make a scene in front of a stranger.
Raul grabbed the door before it closed and motioned for me to go in first. “Friends can be weird, no?”
As I walked past him, Raul threw his arm around my shoulder. Even after knowing each other for six months, I still wasn’t used to it. He did it on the first night we met at a club when I was out with Nora, and I misinterpreted it badly. It wasn’t until the next morning that I found out why he didn’t return any of my advances—when he walked out of Nora’s room wearing only his boxer shorts. Ever since then, he had been a regular guest at our place, which I liked. Becausefirst, he wasn’t shy about walking around in his underwear, even though he knew I was gay, andsecond—which was my actual reason—Nora had been smiling a lot more since he came into her life.
The hostess, a woman around our age with a nose ring, smiled at us. “Just the three of you?”
“Yes,” Nora replied, clinging to the countertop of the hostess stand as if it could save her from my wrath.
“Perfect. You’ve got booth number ten. Please follow me.”
She handed each of us a pair of earplugs that had the same microphone as the neon sign printed on them. I put them in my jacket pocket. We followed her through a small, wooden-paneled corridor with indirect lighting. For a karaoke bar, it was surprisingly quiet, but when we walked past the doors on our left and right, I understood why. Through the windows in the doors, we could see disco lights filling the room, food and drinks on tables, and people singing their hearts out.
“Is this your first time with us?” the hostess asked.
“It’s our first time in town,” Nora replied. “At least, for him and me.” She pointed at herself and Raul, then nodded toward me. “You’ve probably been here before, huh?”
“In Ashbourne, more times than I can count. Not in this bar, though.”
“It’s good that you finally made it here!” The hostess pulled open the door with the number ten emblazoned above it. “After you.”
We walked past her into the small room, and Raul released me from his embrace. In the right corner were two benches, each big enough to seat four people, surrounding a table with a built-in display. On the opposite side of the room, a screen welcomed us with soothing images of cherry blossoms against the backdrop of Mount Fuji. In front of the screen, a microphone waited for a lucky person to show off their talent. Nora and Raul squeezed themselves onto the bench opposite the door, and I made myself comfortable on the other bench.
The hostess positioned herself in front of the table. “Welcome toThe Toshiro Karaoke Bar. Inspired by the Japanese tradition of private booth karaoke, you get to spend an evening full of entertainment. Let me show you how it works.”
She leaned over the table and walked us through the karaoke machine’s menu. The display had two main functions: selecting songs and choosing whether to play them in karaoke or music video mode, as well as ordering food and drinks, so we wouldn’t have to wait for a server to check in on us between songs.
“If you need any assistance, you can also press this button to call your waiter.” She pointed to the blue silhouette of a person in the upper right corner of the screen. “Any questions?”
We all looked at each other, and eventually Nora spoke up. “No, thank you.”
“Perfect. Your waiter will be with you in a minute to start you off with some water.” She walked away, closing the door behind her.
The moment the three of us were alone, I glared at Nora with the most evil grin I could muster.
“Oh, no,” she laughed, lunging toward Raul, but her attempt to hide behind him failed miserably due to the lack of space. “Don’t kill me.”
“You’re going topayfor this,” I said in my deepest, most evil voice. “And I meanliterally, because your credit card is on the tab.”
“That’s even worse!” She yelled, barely able to stifle her chuckles. “Can’t you kick me in the butt instead?”
“Maybe I’ll do both,” I joked, and the three of us laughed. “Metaphorically and physically.”
“How about we have drinks first?” she asked, eyeing me as she leaned over the screen. She pushed herself forward, leaning in so far that it seemed like she was deliberately trying to push her cleavage toward me.
“You know that doesn’t work on me, right?”
“You can’t blame me for trying.” She grinned at Raul. “I guess they’re still all yours.”
We all leaned over the screen and scanned the menu.
“I understand why this place has such high ratings. This is just like in Japan,” Nora announced as she looked through the cocktails. “Everybody up for a Highball?”
“I have to drive,” Raul said. “So, no.”
Nora beamed at me, but I shook my head.
“Alcohol is bad for the voice,” I said, pointing to my throat. I knew why she wanted to get me drunk. That’s when I lose all my inhibitions. Not today, though. “I’d take aVirginHighball if they have that.”
