“Our lips are sealed,” Nora confirmed. She glared at Raul and me, forcing us to nod in agreement.
With a pained smile, Oliver locked eyes with me, leaned over the table, and pointed underneath. “There should be a little box down there. Can you open it?”
I followed his instructions, brushing my fingers over the flat black surface until I found a hidden knob. I pulled on it, and with a creak, the door opened, revealing tangled cables and the small computer that powered the screen.
“There should be an extension cord that looks like the end of wireless headphones.”
I lowered my head for a better view, and a second later, I saw the silver tip of the plug. I pulled it out and connected my phone.
“Let me see,” Oliver said. He clicked through the karaoke machine’s menu until the system prompted him for a passcode to switch the console to external input. He looked up, not needing to explain that he wanted all of us to look away, which we willingly did.
“Only one song, though. And please don’t press anything else.” He stood up again. “I’ll step out for a second and get you more water so my boss doesn’t get suspicious, but I’ll be back in three minutes to reset the machine.” A drop of sweat rolled down his temple.
“Thank you,” Nora and I said at the same time—she happily celebrating her success, and I apologizing.
Oliver’s eyebrows scrunched up, making his smile look forced as he walked out of the room.
“Just a heads up, the recording of my vocals is rather?—”
“No.” Nora casually shook her head. “I don’t want to hear a damn recording. There’s a microphone, and you’ve got your voice with you.”
As much as I disliked the idea of giving them a performance of a song that wasn’t even finished, I couldn’t argue with her anymore. I wanted this topic to be over. Besides, I was going to sing it again soon anyway for the promised recording, so a little practice wouldn’t hurt.
I pulled on the cord to see if it would extend far enough for me to view the lyrics on my phone while playing the file on the same device. As if they had anticipated that, the chord stretched the whole length of the room without a problem.
“This is the only time, though,” I warned Nora.
She shrugged, sank into her seat, and wore a smug smile as if to say that what I said didn’t matter because if she could get me to do it once, she could get me to do it again.
I pressed play, and a second later, the new intro filled the room. The chords that used to be played on Alex’s piano were now replaced by a synthesizer, and when the drums kicked in—and with it the heaviest bass I had ever heard—all the little hairs on my body stood up.
I had really enjoyed what we’d played together yesterday, but this…? This almost made me horny. Horny to perform it together with Alex. Horny to play it for everyone I knew. Horny to upload it to the internet and let the whole world hear it. It sounded like a million bucks, like it could easily make it into the top ten on the charts.
Raul and Nora stared at me so intently that I couldn’t look at them.
When the bass dropped, I instinctively opened my mouth. As if I had performed it a thousand times already, I sang along, hitting every note. All that was missing to make the moment perfect was the person I actually wanted to sing it to.
As the chorus set in a second time, I closed my eyes. I knew the words by now, and this way it was easier to summon the image of Alex watching me sing it yesterday. The bassline he had written vibrated through my body as if it were his hands trying to caress me.
During the solo, the beat took over my body, making my legs move and my head shake. When the third and final chorus began, I sang with everything I had, as if his words were mine.
The last chords ended with a bang, and silence took over the room. I was out of breath, yet energized as if I had just woken up after sleeping through winter. I finally got to sing without holding back for the first time in years. Although that wasn’t thanks to the karaoke, but to Alex.
“Well, something like that,” I said into the microphone and opened my eyes.
My friends were pressed into their seats, unable to move. Unlike their previous performances, there was no applause or cheering. Nora clutched her phone with the camera pointed at me. She quickly tapped on the screen and dropped the phone into her lap.
“That was incredible,” Nora stammered. “The song, your voice. It’s hard to believe it only took you a couple of hours to write that.”
“Well, it sounded quite different yesterday. I’m surprised how quickly Alex recorded all the other instruments.”
“You two should be in a band. You’d make millions.”
I leaned to the side so I wouldn’t keep speaking into the microphone. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Well,Iwant a record. Signed. By both of you. I’ll even pay for it.”
“You can pay for the video you took without my permission,” I said, walking back to my seat and taking the extension cord with me.
