Outcasts

25: Karaoke

Chapter 25

A week after attending my first Strider Counseling appointment, it was Saturday and I was happily attending my first outing since I felt all the stress from testosterone leave my body and disperse into the Heavens. And what a weight that was. I tried my best to listen to Dave's advice, so I tried not to pay too much attention to when I felt my heart beat too fast to be normal whenever the two boys in question where either mentioned or in my presence.

In any case, I invited Dave to this outing to make sure I had my personal "NOPE" device handy. Vriska and the others were a bit grumpy at the thought of bringing an outsider into our little group (which wasn't that little anymore, to be honest), but they eventually agreed when I finally admitted my reasoning. Damara was a little sad that she wouldn't be able to see the drama between Eridan and Gamzee erupt if I was alone. The others, mainly Dirk and Roxy and Kankri, completely seemed to backup the idea of support, though I didn't escape a ra-- a very educational lecture from the older Vantas about how it was okay to go to him if there was anything else that needed to be talked about that "involved a case of emotional breakdown that would be hard to manage by oneself".

In any case, Dave didn't mind either. In fact, he was the most enthused, despite his lack of facial expressions, about going on our outing. 

Standing in front of the karaoke bar for the underaged, Minor-Oke as it was so called, I stuffed my hands into the green hoodie as I waited for the others to show up. Roxy, Dirk, Dave, and Eridan were all showing up together, as Damara drove Gamzee, Kankri, and Sollux. I had been able to get my mother to pick up Tavros so it was just the two of us standing in front of Minor-Oke and freezing our asses off. 

"Are you sure this is the place they wanted to meet at?" Tavros asked. He was shivering in his wheelchair despite the fact that he had a large winter coat and a thick knitted cap on. His face was flushed from the cold and I could almost see the crystals of snot-cicles appearing from under his nose.

Checking my phone, I scrolled through the texts Vriska sent me two nights ago and nodded. "This is the place. She just text me now saying that her mom finally got off work and was driving her over. I'm sure the rest should be here in a few more minutes, Tav."

"I thought she said that ten minutes ago..."

"Tav, we've been here for four minutes."

"...Still..."

I merely rolled my eyes and continued to look around the place. The Downtown area was nicer than most so it was already bustling with activity and people going around and seeing the local shops. There was already a long line coming out of the small Starbucks and a few people were out running with their dogs. I glimpsed a familiar maroon pickup truck and grinned.

"Looks like we didn't have to wait too long for the others," I said, pointing out the damaged car out of the fancier vehicles. I grinned more when I recognized the shiny violet car that was cruising behind it and the cerulean corvette behind that one. "It seems like they all decided to do a small parade for us lowly folks."

"Oh ha ha."

It didn't seem to take them too long to find parking and walk over to our spot, where I'm sure the concrete was warm under our... my feet. The girls eagerly grinned and gave good morning and welcoming hugs and the guys just seemed to be a little too manly and decided a brofist was enough of a greeting. Well, aside from Gamzee, who was as happy to lazily sprawl himself over anyone that seemed open enough. I was just lucky to get distracted by my "NOPE" detector that I wasn't one of the poor saps that got a 6 foot 3 inch tall teen nearly collapsing on top of me.