Taking Control

Chapter 5

Never let your fear decide your fate.

- Awolnation, Kill Your Heroes

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Chapter 5

"So I've got a compromise."

Luke looked up from his textbook when he heard me approach and I sat down in the seat next to him. He was holed up in the library, slaving away at a Legal Tax Liability 900-page textbook. Poor kid.

I needed to tell him my plan and I knew he'd be elated. The last 24 hours were spent just mulling over Tommy's idea from the night before. An open-mic night sounded exhilarating. Hadn't I just been bitching about how dull my life had become? The guitar started to change that; it gave me a hobby I genuinely enjoyed. Continuing with my playing and really testing my ability was a perfectly natural progression here. It would feel amazing, if I could bypass the initial intimidation...

"What do you mean," he asked.

"Well you're clearing not giving up on me 'coming out of hiding' and I still want to keep it a secret, so I've come up with a compromise."

"Yeah? What is it?" His responded, and his ears perked up like a puppy being shown a treat.

"Open mic night at Frankie's. I was talking to a bartender at Castles last night and he gave me the idea."

"Seriously?" He asked, clearly surprised. "You'd actually do that?"

"Yeah, why not?" I conceded. "It could be fun, right?"

"Hell fucking yeah, Scarlett. It's a great idea!"

"Alright, don't get into the 'I told you so's' just yet. This could still be an epic disaster."

He rolled his eyes sarcastically but a cheerful grin grew on his face. Clearly he was confident that it really, truly wouldn't. "So wait," he said, ignoring my previous statement, "How'd you hear about Frankie's?"

"I just told you, dude, a bartender at Castles. I was drunkenly confiding in him about what an endless pit of pathetic I am."

"Was his name Tommy?"

"Yeah. How'd you know that?"

As I answered, his eyes lit up at the affirmative words. "I've known him forever! He's a part owner of Frankie's. He and my older brother were friends and we used to go to Frankie's all the time to listen to live music and get free drinks."

"Oh that's perfect! So you'll come with me?"

"Obviously. I wouldn't miss you finally playing in public."

"More like embarrassing myself in public... Although, I always did want to be a rock star when I grow up. Maybe this will be my shining moment." I joked, flipping my hair dramatically.

He smiled and rolled his eyes in response yet again, and pulled out the chair next to him signaling for me to sit. He opened his iTunes library on his laptop and started scrolling through his music list.

"So what song are you thinking," he asked. I hesitated, realizing that I'd have to actually pick a song - one, from the hundreds of millions of options.

"Um, I have no idea. I just can't go up there like a little karaoke girl who tries to sing a ballad that's too big for her. That's embarrassing."

"Nothing would be too big for you. Your voice is ridiculous," he complimented me nonchalantly. I raised an eyebrow in protest, but he continued. "But I think you should do something fun, right? A song you enjoy playing."