The Favor (BOOK 1 & BOOK 2 INCLUDED)

14. You Weren't Supposed to be Good at Singing

"And so I said: No, that's like the worst idea in the world. And he was like 'But you're so pretty,'"

And then I just tuned her out. Who was speaking? Gillian, of course. She was talking about Simone.

We hadn't seen each other since that last day at school where I told her to get off of Brendon's back. Speaking of him, he was the only person I cared about finding right now. It was the New Years Eve party, and Gillian was yapping her ear off about her relationship problems. I still hadn't seen Brendon since he left my house that day, and he hasn't updated what happened the night his dad was with him. I was itching to know, because he had to stay out of town a few extra days. He never told me why, though.

"So that's why I'm trying to get Brendon into me, I just really need an upgrade from Simone. He's such a jerk, don't you think?"

"Yeah, totally." How did I actually feel about that? Well, everything she said bad about Simone was true. But I didn't want her to get anywhere close to Brendon. She doesn't even know him! I know I said I'd stay away from him because she already put her stamp on him, but he wasn't a piece of furniture. I was going to fight for him because I feel so confident in our friendship. I see something there.

And then I felt fingers moving randomly on my back.

"Yikes!" I screamed super loud and looked back. Brendon was cackling. How dare he greet me after almost two weeks with tickling! Plus we were in public, and that was just embarrassing.

I felt like splashing my cup of cheap beer in his face. Don't worry, I wasn't actually drinking. It's to make sure nobody pressures you into drinking something, because it just tricks them into thinking you're already drinking.

"You're a terrible person." I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms.

"You're so adorable when you're mad," He squeezes my cheeks.

"That is not how you say hello to me after all this time!" I huff.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Blah blah blah, but hey, let's go do the karaoke competition."

"I thought you said I had a terrible voice."

"That's exactly why I want to compete  with you." He smirked victoriously.

"Alright, you're on." I mirrored his reactions.

So he lead me to the stage made of wooden boxes. This guy gave us mics, and we strolled through cute winter songs to sing. We were both going to sing separate songs, and he chose the classic Jingle Bell Rock. But I went for something a little more original, a song from Ariana Grande's new Christmas album,  Winter Things.

"Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock," you know how it goes. I admit, he was good. But I didn't admit my full feelings. His beautiful voice sounded even more beautiful when he sang. It was the perfect pitch for the song. I tried not to show how much I was fangirling over his voice.

People were continuously clapping, and Gillian was right up front. She was cheering him on way too much, so basically kissing his ass. I had to contain my terrible thoughts about her for the moment. Currently, we both wanted the same guy. We both had a good chance, but I was going to fight harder.

Geez, since when was I so... so... so much like Gillian? So controlling and confident over a guy. I wanted to rip her to shreds for getting that close to him, and she probably thinks the same of me.

Once he finishes, I have to fight the urge to clap and smile. This is a competition, and set aside my growing feelings for him, I was going to wind.

"Can you beat that?" He says arrogantly.

"Hm, I think I can." And I took the microphone from him.