It All Started in Vegas

Chapter 14

Charlotte POV

After dinner, we decided that it would be easier to walk to the nightclub than to try to find a cab or an Uber. We all started heading that direction, when we walked past the Bellagio hotel. 

"Guys, wait a sec!" I said, running towards the railing. 

"Char, what're you doing?" Mason said. 

"Just wait a second, you'll see." I said, staring ahead of me. 

We were standing there for about three minutes, and Ryder was getting impatient. 

"Char, come on! I wanna get my groove-" he was cut off by water shooting out of the fountains and into the air. 

"Wow!" Ashley gasped, grabbing her phone to take a video. The others followed suit, while I just continued to stare. The display was beautiful, with the lights and water in sync with the music playing in the background. I was totally entranced by the show, and found myself disappointed that it was over. 

I turned to my friends smiling, and Ryder said, "Definitely worth stopping for." And with that, we continued our walk to the nightclub.

We reached the club at around 9:45, and by the time we got inside and to the bar it was 10:30. I'm pretty sure there's an unspoken rule that all the bartenders in Vegas have to be attractive, and the guy behind the bar definitely followed the rules. 

The bartender made his way over to us, and noticing my sash he said, "21st birthday, huh? Well happy birthday beautiful. What can I get you?" My cheeks flushed as I asked for a vodka cranberry. When he walked away, the girls all snickered at me and nudged me. The bartender returned with my drink, and two shot glasses. 

"It's on me, happy birthday." 

We each downed our shots, and I said "Thank you," to the bartender with a smile, but that smile fell when I saw an angry looking Jake on the other side of the bar. His jaw was clenched, and Caleb was saying something in his ear.

All I wanted to do was go over and see what was wrong, but I stopped myself. What was I thinking? Yeah he had been incredibly nice to me this past day, but maybe he was just a nice guy. We're not together, and he hasn't expressed any interest in me in a non-platonic way, so who was I to get myself involved in his business? 

While I was caught up in my own thoughts, I heard the DJ talking into the microphone, "Alright y'all. I hope you're ready, because we're about to start karaoke!"

My eyes immediately widened, and I turned to my friends who were already looking at me. One thing you should know about me, I love karaoke. I am the kind of person who remembers song lyrics religiously, but couldn't remember important information. Obviously, my best friends knew how big of a karaoke person I was. They were all smiling at me, hoping I would sign up, but I immediately started shaking my head.

 "No, no, no. Absolutely not." 

Jenny looked at me shocked, "But why? You love karaoke!" 

"Yeah, I do. But that's a small bar at college, not a huge night club in Las Vegas!" 

"Char, we've all seen you do karaoke. You're great, you know you're great!" 

"Nope. Not going to happen. Sorry guys." 

They both just pouted at me, trying to get me to change my mind, but I was standing my ground. 

Ashley came walking back over to us, "Sorry, the line for the bathroom was way too long. What're we talking about?" 

Once we had had about two or three drinks, it was time to hit the dance floor. Even though it was karaoke instead of the regular artists, we were still having so much. The guys eventually joined us, and we were all having a great time. Until I heard a voice come over the speaker. 

"All right, great job. Let's give it up for our next singer Charlotte! Charlotte turned 21 today, show her some love y'all!" 

The crowd started cheering, and I looked over at my friends with wide eyes. Sarah and Jenny immediately put their hands up, signaling that they didn't do it. I glared at Ashley who blew me a kiss sarcastically.

"Well what are you waiting for Char? Get up there!" Kyle yelled, as he and Ryder lifted me up onto the stage.

The bright lights hit my eyes, while all my friends yelled, "Woo! Go Charlotte! You go girl!" 

I looked down at all of them, and making eye contact with Jake. He smirked at me, probably wondering how this would go. When the beat to Ice Ice Baby started playing, I immediately relaxed. This was my go to karaoke song; I knew all of the words. 

All of the group, including Jake, had their phones out ready to record: the guys probably thinking that they would get something embarrassing, and the girls knowing that they would get a good show. I lifted the microphone up to my mouth, ready to kill it.

"Alright stop, collaborate and listen. Ice is back with a brand new invention," I rapped confidently. After that, it was all kind of a blur. I rapped the entire song, word for word, and even covering my eyes at one point letting the crowd know I didn't need the words on the screen. I finally finished, and the crowd roared. This was the experience of a lifetime, and I was so happy Ashley pushed me to do it.

As I made my way back to the group, Sarah, Jenny, and Ashley ran up and hugged me, telling me how good of a job I did. While hugging my girls, I glanced over at the guys, each one of them with a shocked look on their faces.