Chapter 13
After the whole "incident" was over and everyone promised not to spontaneously burst out laughing after looking at Liam, we decided to go out and do something more interesting than sitting around. Zach suggested visiting his cousin and trying out his new karaoke machine. All of us agreed enthusiastically.
Since it was close by, we decided to walk there. On the way, we met Caleb. The guys did the whole fist bump slash hug thing. Scarlet half-smiled. I waved like a dork, and said "Hey!"
"How's New York been treating you?" he greeted.
"Just fine. I met some great people." I grinned.
"I see you guys already know each other." Zach noted.
"Yes, I saw Jasper being his charming self with her." Caleb was talking about my first day.
"Is it that time of the year when everyone meets and discusses my flaws? I think I'll miss the party this time, thank you very much." Jasper put in, ever sarcastic.
"So where are you going?" I asked, continuing a conversation which hopefully would go on without any more interruptions.
"To the college, I guess. My shift at the store just got over."
"Come with us."
I turned to look at the band. Liam's was smiling as usual, Jasper looked bored, Zach was looking distracted and Scarlett was actually looking enthusiastic.
"Yeah, it's a good idea. Come." Liam added.
"Alright, but only if you guys don't mind."
After everyone clarified that they didn't mind, we continued to walk. Scarlett was actually talking with Caleb and I. She was asking him a lot of questions about himself and how I had met him. I didn't mind answering.
Soon, we reached a nice looking house with yellow curtains and a lot of flowers growing on the front lawn. So I completely didn't expect the door to be opened by a six-foot tall guy with a mohawk and piercings on his eyebrows. He smiled and invited all of us is and hugged Zach.
"Everyone, this is Marcus. Marcus, meet everyone." he introduced.
We smiled and told him our names.
"We want to try out that machine you never use." Zach said.
"Sure, man. It doesn't even have the songs I like. All of them are so.... old."
I grinned at Caleb. Old music was definitely our thing. We headed down into the basement. Which was quite cool because it had a flat screen T.V, a projector, an actual foosball table and finally, the karaoke machine. Marcus switched it on and gave us the remotes and the mics. He told us how to use it and then sat on a bean chair with a can of coke.
"O.K. What first?" Liam asked excitedly. He scrolled down the list.
"Bingo." I said, smiling, when we read the name of a song.
He pressed play and all of us burst into the iconic Bon Jovi song You Give Love A Bad Name.
After that, we sang anything we wanted to, like Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire, Come Together by the Beatles and Message In A Bottle by the Police. Caleb was pretty good though we couldn't tell sometimes because someone would started screaming the lyrics or laughing. Everyone was having a great time.
"There's one song I'd like to see be performed." Marcus said after sometime.
"What?"
"Don't ya wish your girlfriend was hot like me."
"Really, man?" Zach rolled his eyes.
"The chicks can do it."
I felt slightly miffed when he called me a "chick" and was going to say no way in hell would I do that when he said "I'd give them the pick of the lot from my albums if the did."
I froze. I had just been dreaming of buying new albums but I was broke. I remembered staring longingly at Maroon 5's new C.D.
"I'll do it." I said it the same time as Scarlett did.
"You guys... He's just fooling around. He's a jerk sometimes." Zach said.
"No way. I can do it." Scarlett snapped, looking at me like I couldn't. It stung. She got up on the makeshift stage and handed me a mic. The music started and she started moving in place. I just stood there, shocked by how seriously she was taking the fact that it was a "performance". Then my competitive side kicked in. I had to do a performance? They would get a performance.
I started singing and walked straight to my first target. Jasper. The easiest. I put one finger on the side of his face as I sang "Don't ya wish your girlfriend was hot like me?".
When his jaw dropped, I grinned and pushed him backwards. Then I kicked out my feet and started dancing. Scarlett was just as inspired and she sounded pretty good. By the end, we were actually having fun and not trying to outdo each other.
"Not bad." she told me after we finished. "You got some moves."
"You too." I confessed.
Then the guys recovered and Jasper said "I think you just destroyed my innocent mind."
"Your mind is nothing but innocent." I laughed.
"True." he admitted.
"What did you think?" Scarlett asked Liam, who turned an interesting shade of pink and started stammering about how her singing had improved. Zach was just shaking his head repeatedly, shocked by the random dance contest that had started mostly due to a clash of egos and one perverted cousin. Caleb was burying his face in his hands and laughing for some reason.
Then Scarlett and I turned to glare at Marcus. "Our prizes?" We asked.
"Just this way." he walked up the stairs, starting to look a little scared.
We walked to the stack of C.D.s in his room. I smiled at little and started looking through them. Most of them were rap albums, which was expected but kind of annoyed me. I spotted the new album by The Script and lunged for it. I really wanted this one. I looked at him and dared him to say otherwise but he was looking anxiously at what Scarlett was holding. An original record by Nirvana. I wondered idly how she managed to find it in this mass of new music.
I didn't care that much though, since I didn't even have a gramophone like her. We walked out, proud of ourselves for showing that we couldn't be pushed over by a teenage boy who had probably never had many girlfriends in his life.
But then I realized that maybe I wasn't one to pass judgment because no boy had shown the slightest bit interest in me. Maybe I should be happy that I was called a chick. Suddenly, I didn't feel so good. I was such an attractive person myself. Caleb, who I hadn't noticed until now, came up to me and whispered "Hey. You alright?"
But I couldn't hear him over the taunts in my head. The names that were given to me were ringing in my ears. Dork. Loser. Weirdo. Geek.
Still, I looked up, smiled and said "Yes, of course I am."
He shook his head and replied "You're such a bad liar."
I didn't reply to that and walked up to Liam instead and started listening to his conversation with Zach. Or pretended to at least. By the time we reached my place, I had successfully avoided looking at Caleb. But before I could slip away, he grabbed hold of my hand. I waited for him to tell me to stop being so stubborn, or yell at me.
"Listen, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm there." he said.
Then he pulled me into his arms and gave me a bear hug. I was so shocked I couldn't reply. The band was staring at us with wide eyes. Caleb realized this, let go of me, waved goodbye and walked away.
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Hmm. What do you guys think? Something's going one between Caleb and Lexa? :D
Or do you support someone else? Comment with that person's name!
