Fix You ~Completed~

Act Forty-Three

"So, you're here covering for the paper?"

"Yes. Jimmy kept complaining that I wouldn't do a piece on Karaoke Night, so I finally gave in and agreed to come. We've been a little slow. Not much honestly happens here, you know?" Edda, the journalist girl who'd flat out refused to sing, explained. (This had upset Alto more than I thought it really should have, but apparently they were friends so maybe his puppy-dog pout was just a joke?) When Gale had arrived at the café, he was pulling Dame, a short Mexican girl with a dazzling smile, along with him and managed to talk Edda into joining him, his date, Eddie, and I. She was very easy going and laughed at all of Gale's awful jokes.

"That's not a bad thing," Gale pointed out, his eyes on the stage where Dame now stood at the microphone with Alto. They were singing a song I didn't recognize, but instantly loved. Knowing Alto, it was from some musical. (Upon looking it up later, I discovered it was "Take Me Or Leave Me" from Rent. Alto had played one of the leads when our drama department put the musical on the year before. Strangely enough, Kyla had taken me to see it.)

Gale's partner tonight would be this quiet ginger guy named Gabe, who was good buddies with Kaito, Eddie's partner. Jimmy screamed when he drew Jesimae's name, but soldiered through it. The two of them argued for five full minutes over what song they'd do, but eventually managed to agree on "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better." (Fitting, right?)

I was still nervous over the prospect of singing with Madison, but I knew I could do it. We both loved Avril Lavigne. It'd be fine.

"Do you know Jimmy very well?" Eddie asked Edda, repeatedly folding his slip of paper until it was smaller than his thumbnail. I kept watching him as he did this, so mesmerized by the little act.

Edda nodded. "We're neighbors in the dorms. They're co-ed. Him and Alto live a couple doors down from Sammy, my roommate, and I. Madison and Amy are in between us I think," she explained in a honeyed southern accent. "He caught me this morning when we were both headed off to class. I didn't have plans for tonight and we needed a front page story. This seemed like a good idea."

"It's a great idea, Edda. Promise!" Gale chuckled, clapping excitedly. "Hey, Lem, isn't Madison your partner?"

"Yep." It was hard to talk around Edda. It was always hard to talk around new people. For some reason, though, it was decently easy to speak to Ale and Ed when we first met. Of course, it was no picnic, but they made me feel so comfortable right away. (They didn't give me any choice except to feel comfortable.) Other people didn't exactly do the same.

Alto gave Dame a high five before she walked off the stage and he called up the next pairing: "Okay, Madison and Clem! Get on up here, guys!"

Oh, thank you, Alto. I really appreciate that.

I weakly rose to my feet, sending Eddie a look of complete terror. "You got this, Clemmy," he promised. "Remember, you have the voice of an angel. You're our angel."

"Oh," I whispered, giving him a curt nod. You're our angel. And what did that mean?

No, I didn't need to know.

Madison met me in the front of the café by the stage. "Oh, it's you," she hummed when saw me, looking genuinely surprised. "Okay, so what do you listen to? I doubt we have much of the same likes."

"Actually," I spoke up, my eyes trained on her forehead instead of her eyes because eye contact was effing weird, "I-I love Avril Lavigne. You sing her songs a lot. We could do something by her?"

"Oh, you like Avril? I'm impressed," she admitted, giving me a once over that made me want to shrink into nothing. "Alright. How about we do "What the Hell?" Do you know that one?"