In Your Dreams

16 || Emmett Larkin

For an introverted person, he does look comfortable and happy when singing in front of the crowd. The moment Hanz and Alecks entered the living room while carrying a karaoke set, I had this feeling that this party would get even louder. I helped out to set the karaoke and connect it on the TV screen that's hanging on the wall. No one had even begun singing, and yet, curious people entered the living room and watched as we set up the karaoke machine.

Once we've done setting it up, Alecks had suggested he'll try it out if it's still functioning. It's not every day that he deliberately volunteers to sing first. Before I got close to Alecks, he was really quiet as a person. He never once became so energetic. But the longer I hung out with him, he became more and more comfortable talking. Especially when I propose that we'll create a band the moment I learned that he plays the drums in his free time. For the first few weeks of us performing for fun, Alecks hadn't tried to sing solo. He always hides behind the background vocals. The moment I realised what he was doing, I tried my best to coax him out of his comfort zone until he finally had the courage to sing solo.

So imagine my pride when I'm seeing one of my friends singing in public with no signs of nervousness. Every single inch of his expression looks so relaxed, and it sounds like he's enjoying his time. The crowd gathered quickly in the living room the moment Alecks began to sing. Luckily, he didn't get surprised or falter when the crowd suddenly got dense. Some even have their phones out to film, and Alecks didn't mind at all. He just sings and honestly enjoys his time with no care in the world.

I kept watching him sing until I felt someone staring at me. It's like an itchy feeling that someone had been staring at me. When I turned in a random direction, my eyes met with Phoebe Summers for a split second. After a fraction of a millisecond, I tore my eyes off her. Out of all the people I could have some eye contact in this room right now, it's none other than Phoebe fucking Summers. I swear from that short second our eyes met, and she immediately registered who I was. I don't know what's more embarrassing. That I made eye contact with her for the second time this night or that I've accidentally spilled some juice on my shirt.

Thankfully I've decided to wear something dark, so the liquid stains weren't that obvious to see. If someone looks close enough and focuses on my chest, they will definitely notice it. But I doubt people are very keen on focusing on someone's chest when my eyes are all the way here. Well, except for perverts, that is. But this is Gilligan's house party, perverts and troublemakers aren't allowed in the house of the former president of the student council.

So yeah, the eye contact one was more embarrassing. Thankfully, I avoided looking at her general direction. No need to have another eye contact incident with her.

After the song is over, the crowd applauded and cheered at Alecks, who's currently pushing his way to the crowd to... Phoebe Summers.

My friend is making his way towards Phoebe Summers. Most of us are present in this room. Samuel and Lance are watching from the couch. Asher is chatting with someone beside me. Hanz is meddling with the karaoke system to see if he can improve the sound system. And I'm here standing nearly in front of him when he is singing. Yet, he still went to Phoebe who's just standing by the door frame.

Part of me wants to follow behind and check on what they're talking about. Unfortunately, the rational part had finally woken up from its twelve hours of sleep and whispered in my ear that I let them be and hang out on the couch with Samuel and Lance. Plus, I was kind of curious as to why Samuel's ears were glowing red when the two of them entered the living room after getting their drinks.

I carefully stride my way to the couch until I'm standing in front of these two. They both lift their heads up to meet my eyes towering above them. "What happened?" I ask after pointing a finger to the obvious pale shade of red on Samuel's ears.