Open House: For Sale

Approved

As it turns out, his plan for after work was to go eat something and then go to a karaoke bar. I don't even know how he knew I like to sing, so when I saw how sure he was for his decision, I got more surprised than I should be.

"How did u know?" I ask when we sit a table

"Well, your car isn't soundproof...do u know how many times I've heard u come into the garage? And I mean hearing u, not the car. And those few times u have driven us to a house u have always sang throughout the ride. Behind your teeth, but u have..."

"I have, haven't I? I swear, sometimes I don't even know I sing"

"I believe that...u do it when u're working too. Most of the times u put your headphones on to concentrate, even if u don't sing behind your teeth or hum, u definitely move your lips to the lyrics..."

"Oh my God, I sing and hum when we're working? Crap! Don't I distract u?"

"Sweetie, if I got distracted from every little sound around the office, I would never get anything done. Besides, sometimes I enjoy it. If I know the song, I hum along..."

"Hmm...I see. Let's hear that voice then!"

"Ladies first" he says and I get up to choose a song. I find a few that I like, but for the 1st I choose my favorite one

When my turn comes, I take my jacket off and get on the stage, with the music of Met Him Last Night by Demi Lovato ft. Ariana Grande starting to play at the back. The whole time I'm singing he looks at me with wide eyes, barely blinking, and when I'm done, he claps and woes louder than anyone

"Shut up already, u're embarrassing me!" I tell him, when I go back to the table

"Where were u hiding that voice?"

"In my car and my house" I say proudly and he laughs

"Wow! It was a hard song, wasn't it?"

 "Oh, yeah! But I've sung it so many times that's easy now. Are we gonna hear u or not, though?"

"Well, I'm not that confident and I really don't know what to sing. U see, I'm a little old, I don't want to bum everyone out by singing My funny valentine for example" 

"Oh, come on, don't play the old card on me when u have lifted me and tossed me around like I'm nothing. Pick one or I'll pick for u"

"I don't know...I might screw up and I don't want to embarrass myself or u"

"Well, if u don't sing I won't sing either. And I have seen some pretty cool songs in there that I haven't sung in a while..."

"I'll tell u what: how about we do a duet and see what happens?"

"Deal! Have u watched Glee at all?"

"At all? I was obsessed!"

"Great! Do u remember the cover Rachel did with Jesse of Rolling in the deep?"

"It's in my playlist, baby!"

"Great! Is your voice good enough for that?"

"Oh, you bet your sweet tits it is!"

"I'll go put us on the list!" I say excitedly and then go to put our names down and choose my second solo

When we get on the stage, after about 3 people, he's visibly nervous

"Ok guys, my husband here is a little nervous and shy, but he has a great voice, so let's give him some courage!" I say, making him curse me

"U got this, honey!" I tell him and leave a kiss on his cheek, signaling the DJ to play the song

At first, he's indeed very nervous, but after the first chorus he loosens up and we finally hear the marvel that is his voice.

"What the hell was that?" I ask him surprised when we're done

"What? U think u're the only one who has a good voice?"

"No, but...wow! And u were nervous...I would never shut up with that voice!"

"U already don't shut up" he says smirking

"U have a point there, yeah"

"So? Are u gonna do me the honors of singing again?"

"Yep, but not yet...let's just enjoy our drinks for now" I say and we clink our glasses.

As we talk and enjoy the others that sing, he gets a call but when he sees the caller ID he declines the call and then texts, probably to the person who called him. This move makes me suspicious for some reason, since he never declines calls, he just ignores them. This time, though, it looked like he did it because he didn't want the person who called him to ask where he is. I also see him waiting for a reply and then he writes back and leaves it on the table face down. I decide not to ask him, but I keep it to the back of my head...

~~~

About a month later...

For the past month, things have been great; It seems like Carlos and I have put things behind us and our relationship now is just professional. Yeah, ok, we have our inside jokes and funny moments, but we're not involved in each other's personal lives. Well, I'm still in charge of his schedule and he knows about mine, but we don't mix our free time like before. I don't know if he moved on or not, he kinda closed himself to me, but I'm doing great with Malcolm. Between work, my lessons and dating, I don't have much time to think about anything else, so I guess I moved on too. It was fun while it lasted, but now I understand that it couldn't go anywhere else; we would either stop it or it would let it ruin our professional life too.

Anyway, a couple of days ago we went to the bank for the loan. Indeed, Carlos' credit score helped more than a lot, so we managed to get a very low-interest rate, but it still needed to be approved and I was very anxious about it. Fortunately, they didn't take much time to do it, so the minute the bank called Carlos to tell him that it got approved, I made the offer for the house and he took us for lunch to celebrate once again, sure that my offer will be accepted, since he hasn't put the house on the for sale list, officially. When I got home, I told Carla and we started packing my things.

At night, I had a date with Malcolm and told him the good news. Of course, we celebrated too, but with drinks. I drank more, of course, since he was driving. The last thing I remember before falling asleep in the car, is putting my head against the car window. When I wake up in the morning and turn to lay on my back, rubbing my eyes, I realize that someone's next to me, so I turn to look beside me...