Finding Harry

24. Finding Karaoke

Back in Seattle the bars I went to were over priced, fad bars that each had their own stupid gimmick. Me and my friends used to go just to make fun of how desperately the bars were trying to seem relatable to the point it just seemed forced, well mainly Sam the rest of our friends just went because they were the places most kids from our school went on the weekends.

They were just a pit stop for me though. After pre-gaming, hard, on some stupidly expensive cocktails I would split from the group and head off to wherever I knew the real fun would be going on. Sam would go home if I couldn't convince them to come along with me, Sam nearly always went home at that point. I would leave, party, get hammered do so many drugs the world didn't seem real anymore and ending up texting Sam during the early hours of the morning.

 Sam was always waiting for me outside the party to make sure I got some food in my system and sobered up before eventually deciding I was of sound mind to make it home on my own.

The foreign feeling of regret twinges in my stomach. They deserved a better best friend. Someone who could actually be a good friend and not just a burden.

Suzy-May, Yasmine and I sit at the wooden bar. Scratches, stains and dents very evident on this surface. I wonder what Sam would think of this dingy bar outside of town that the girls dragged me to. They'd love it, They'd say something like 'Harry wipe that fucking look off your face, this place is great, authentic. Don't be resentful just for the hell of it'. 

I twirl my straw around the lemonade in my glass taking a small sip. Both the other girls had ordered vodka and cokes, with an extra one for Jessie when she returns from signing us up for Karaoke. 

My mind struggles to comprehend the fact I turned down a drink and accepted doing karaoke, I don't even know who's making my decisions for me anymore because it sure as hell isn't my brain. 

Jessie walks over to us a huge grin plastered on her face away from the small, lit up stage where a lady sits to the side with a clipboard and laptop set up on a table. A drunken man is standing on the stage, a microphone in his hand while he performs a... spirited version of Sweet Caroline. I have no idea how she talked me into doing this.

By the time we got here the karaoke had already begun and Suzy-May knocked me lightly over the head for making us late, explaining that watching drunk people sing and make a fool of themselves was some of the best entertainment this place had to offer. 

"I can't believe we rushed over here at the speed of light for karaoke" I raise my eyebrows questioningly even though I feel a smile desperately tugging on the side of my lips wanting to appear.

"The prize is two-hundred dollars, plus the amount of drinks guys send to us here is insane especially after we finish singing" Jessie hops up onto the barstool next to me, Yasmine slides the spare drink past me towards her.

Honestly I can't find that hard to believe, my gaze darts around the crowded bar cigarette smoke lingering in the air. I spot handfuls of guys already staring at the group of us with predatory looks in their eyes. My stomach turns in slight discomfort before I flick my gaze back over to the fizzing bubbles in my drink.

"And we never get carded" Suzy-May brings her drink to her lips with a smirk "What song did you sign me and Yaz up for Jess?"

Jessie finishes her drink in two gulps and gestures for the bartender to bring her another who quickly obliges, My eyebrow quirks. I'm certainly not in any place to judge, I've just never seen her drink like that before. She seemed quite indifferent to alcohol at Yasmine's party, I think back to how she spent quite a few minutes recovering from the first shot we all took together.

I wonder what's bothering her.

"Like a virgin" Jessie stifles a laugh by taking a swig of her new drink, I'm confused by whats so funny until I look over at Yasmine and her face is beet red "Oh come on Yas it's just a joke".