Good luck uncovering our town secret, Mr. Know It All.
_____
“Uh, A-wassailing?” I hear his rich voice nearby.
Yeah, so, I guess he figured out. Not that it was hard. The whole point was to generate buzz in the nearby towns and create a pop-up sort of speakeasy.
“This?” He says, stalking right over to the table where I sit with Steven, Tyrone and a few local college kids. “Fight club iskaraoke night?”
Everyone shushes him since there’s a gal up singingTotal Eclipse of the Heartwith all her, heart, I guess. She’s pretty bad. Enthusiastic, though.
“You didn’t want me to seethis?”He gestures at the stage.
I sigh, annoyed at how annoyed he seems. What is he doing here?
Go away!
“It’s pop up karaoke night in the woods. With a password and alcohol. It’s cool,” Steven defends our idea. Aiden scoffs and looks around. His features soften when he actually takes in the event.
Thanks to the unseasonably warm weather, or maybe Braxton’s TikTok, it’s packed out here in this clearing. We reused the string lights and lanterns from the maple tap. We had the boys grab tables from one of the abandoned camp sites and move them here. Plus some folding chairs, logs, stumps, and whatever else we could find around town.
Tyrone had Miles help him move some of his speakers out here and the same young guys who moved the tables got a few extra bucks for setting up YouTube karaoke on an iPad, rather than worrying about an actual karaoke machine. There are a lot of young faces here I don’t recognize. Steven saw a silent disco event similar to this on TikTok and we made it our own.
“A cool pop up speakeasy wit a door fee, hey! Did anybody charge this guy?” Tyrone jokes.
Aiden dips his chin in concession, “They did.”
“No BYOB, either. Gotta buy a drink from James over there. And popcorn balls courtesy of this one,” Steven bumps shoulders with me.
“Huh,” Aiden says.
“Yeah. Huh. Now get on up and sing!” Tyrone tells Aiden asTotal Eclipsecomes to an end.
The man goes white in the yellow lamp light, “Oh, absolutely not. I’m awful.”
Our jolly host of the evening laughs, “I figured. That’s why I wanna see!”
Aiden rolls his eyes at Tyrone. Then those black orbs land on me. He lifts an eyebrow. I shake my head with wide eyes.I’m awful too.He nods.
“You know who is not awful? Me!” Steven says. “Neither is my Masters In Music Side Piece, c’mon, Miles, let’s wow these people.” Everyone cheers. Miles follows behind Steven as bashful as ever but the two of them can really sing. There’s no denying it.
“This one’s for Harper! Tonight was mostly her idea, isn’t it great?” The crowd claps, hollers, lifts glasses and stomps their feet. I try to shrink into my chair. But then I hear the tune and can’t help myself. I smile right away.
The island sounds start, pulsing guitars and, well, I don’t exactly know what. I’m not a musician. I just know I love it. I watch the stage, giddy, but Aiden watches me until it seems like he can’t take it anymore, “Are you originallyfromCalifornia then?”
“Shhhh!” Tyrone scolds him.
The duo does a truly stellar rendition of one of my favorites. I would normally be cheering and smiling ear to ear. But this guy just will not stop staring.
“Why are you here?” I finally ask him when the song ends. He frowns at how angry I sound.Well, I am angry. You ruined my song and you’re ruining the vibe and our whole town!
“Young bloke invited me,” Aiden huffs right back. I roll my eyes.Invited is the biggest stretch of all stretches.Aiden, annoyingly, reads my face like a freaking book. “It was an invitation and you bloody well know it. And I paid at the door, I’ve every right to be here.”
He starts to manspread in his little folding chair. At the same time, I see that James has run out of Coors Light.Go ahead, settle in, Vandy. I’m out!
I wave James’s lone employee off with a quick, “I got it,” before I hop up and head to the old van James uses for Nog’s.
“Got what?” Aiden asks.
