30 Hours With You [Completed]

Hour Five

Ellis

Thea's grip is so tight around my stomach. I can feel her muscles tense every time a car passes us or we get too close to a pedestrian. She goes from looking around to burying her head into my shoulder as we weave through the typical 2:00am traffic of The City.

I find a spot to park along a side road and wait for Thea to hop of the bike first. Her legs wobble slightly, she holds onto my arm as she regains her balance.

"Yeah, I would definitely choose the rats over that. One-hundred percent worst experience of my life. I hated it. Every single second was terrible."

Her cheeks are bright pink and her hair is a wavy mess, her makeup is slightly smeared around her brown eyes, and she looks pretty damn good. I'm still surprised she is following me around NYC in the middle of the night.

"You're dramatic," I say putting our helmets inside the side pouches on the motorcycle and lead us down a narrow block. It is buzzing with people who are drunk and looking to continue their night.

"I swear if we see anyone else throw up I'm calling Blake to pick me up," Thea mutters somewhat under her breath but loud enough that I can hear. I look over to her and she smiles at me and shrugs.

"What next, tour guide?" She asks linking her arm through mine as I navigate us towards my destination. When we reach the most crowded bar on the block Thea looks at the sign and starts shaking her head.

"Hell no."

"Hell yes, come on." I say and basically drag her inside. Luckily they aren't checking IDs at the door or she would have run away from me the second I went to grab my wallet. We walk in to the sound of quiet chatter and a guy singing Taylor Swift on stage holding a bottle of beer.

He must have noticed some movement from us because we were the only ones entering the bar at that moment, "Holy shit, Taylor Swift is here?" he says into the microphone as the music continues to play.

I look towards Thea at her blonde hair and brown eyes and her little to no resemblance to Taylor Swift and laugh loudly. I scream, "yeah, Taylor's here!"

"What are you doing!?" Thea whisper-screams at me and grabs my hand, dragging me further into the bar.

The crowd starts chanting, "Taylor, Taylor, Taylor," and I can't continue walking because I am laughing too damn hard and Thea looks so freaking mad.

It is amazing.

Now I start pulling her towards the stage while she digs her heels into the floor to try to keep from moving. Finally she gives up because the chanting is continuing and I'm still pulling and the guy on stage is still butchering the song.

"Will you sing with me?" the guy who is probably in his mid-twenties asks Thea with a look of drunken wonderment in his eyes.

"She would love to," I answer for her and nudge her the rest of the way towards the stage. The audiences clapping is thunderous as it vibrates and everyone has goofy smiles on their faces as a worker hands Thea another microphone.

"Lets do this!" The guys says wrapping an arm around Thea and belting out the lyrics to, "Shake it Off," and when the 'rap' part comes on Thea goes for it.

She walks over towards her singing partner and says the words then even interacts with the audience as she continues, "to the fella over there with the hella good hair," she says pointing to a bald guy sitting near the stairs and everyone cracks up and the bald guy stands up and takes a bow. It is all outrageous and hilarious.

The two of them sing the rest of the song at the top of their lungs. I swear my ears would be bleeding if I wasn't too busy laughing and enjoying watching Thea completely let loose and have a really good time.

"Thank you, thank you," she says and takes a bow then her partner does. The crowd is on their feet applauding them as they step off the stage and someone else takes their place.

"Oh my God," she says walking over to me with a strange look on her face. I flinch slightly thinking she is going to hit me or something, "what are you doing?"

"Are you going to punch me?"

"No," she says then smirks at me with raised eyebrows, "I'm going to sign you up for a song!" she runs over to a pink haired girl who is creating the list of performers.

We sit at the bar both of us nursing a beer while we wait for my turn, "secret time?" I ask looking down at my phone for the time.

She nods and takes a big gulp of beer.

"What are you scared of?" I ask thinking about how scared she's been most of the night. But she knows I'm not asking about her small fears like rats and motorcycles.

She sighs, running her fingers through her long hair, "disappointing my parents, I guess. My brother is in medical school and my little sister is already following in his footsteps. I graduated college and I'm still clueless, you know? I'm scared of never figuring myself out and of always being scared to take the risks I really want to take."

"What did you graduate with?" I ask.

"Business and creative writing. I only majored in business for my parents," she is tracing patterns into her sweating glass.

"So then do the creative writing thing. Who cares if your brother and sister go and become the world's best doctors. Do what makes you happy."

"I think that's why tonight is so important to me," she looks down and peaks at me through her eyelashes, "I'm finally taking a risk even if it's as small as eating a poop infested lemon or getting mauled by rats."

She laughs quietly and shakes her head, "Do your parents approve of culinary school?"

"No. They tried to talk me out of it. They gave me speech after speech about the long hours and barely there pay but I won't be happy doing anything else. They gave up when they realized I wasn't backing down."

I grab her hand, "and tonight means a lot to me too. I don't take risks either. This is the beginning of trying new things for me. All of this and then Europe."

"What's your biggest regret?" She asks her question now.

"Can we have Ellis to the stage please?" the MC asks.

My heart stops pounding when I finally walk away from Thea. I know she won't forget her question but that isn't something I'm ready to answer just yet. But then again isn't a stranger the best person to tell secrets to? But for some reason Thea doesn't feel like a stranger.

A familiar song begins to play and I look at the screen seeing 'Britney Spears: Oops I did it Again.' I laugh and belt out the song while the crowd claps along.

*Please vote and comment!

Has anyone ever been to a karaoke bar?! I went for my 21st birthday it was so fun!!

Thanks,

Brooke