Heartless

Chapter 5

A week passes

I was writing at my desk when someone slapped a paper down in front of me.

"Karaoke. Saturday night," Katherine said, bouncing up and down on her heels.

"Kate you know I don't sing," I said without looking up. I slid the paper out of my way.

"Aw, c'mon, please?" she begged.

"No."

"Do it with me."

"No."

"At least come with me? There's gonna be food," she tried bribing me. "And it's Disney songs!"

I sighed, "Yeah, okay, fine, I'll go."

"Yay!"

-----------

It was Saturday night. Katherine and I were getting ready in my room. I was brushing my hair out and Katherine was applying makeup. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and put on mascara and a bit of lipgloss.

"Monica, you don't need your gun," Kate said, noticing the holster at my waist.

"Better safe than sorry," I said simply, pulling my jean jacket on.

-----------

We arrived at the cafe. Katherine practically ran out of the car before I even parked it. We walked in and were greeted by a boy with wristbands of different colors.

"Hello, I'm Tim. Please take a wristband that corresponds with your sexuality," the young man said. He seemed to be about 16, if that. I took a pink, yellow, and blue one, signifying that I'm pansexual. Katherine took a black and white one. "We also have bands that correspond to what your relationship status is. Red means you're not looking for a relationship at all, yellow is 'I'm not here specifically looking for a relationship, but I might be up for it,' and green is looking for a significant other." I took a yellow and Katherine took a green.

 We found an empty table  and ordered food. 

"So, you gonna look for anyone tonight?" Kate asked me.

I took a deep breath. "I think so."

Kate smiled. "Does this mean you're gonna start showing positive emotions?"

I sighed, "I'll get there. Possibly."

The waitress brought us our food. I noticed she was wearing the same sexuality bracelet as I was. Her name tag read Cassidy. She had shoulder length blue hair. Her almond eyes were a shocking forest green. She wore a cute, blood red crop top and royal blue shorts under her blue apron. She had lighter olive skin and wore high heels. When she spoke, I was surprised that she had a deeper voice. I realized she was nonbinary.

"Here's your order, ladies."

"Thanks," Kate said, taking her mozzarella sticks. I took my bread sticks.

After she left, Katherine said, "Ooh, someone has a crush!"

"Shhhhhh! Shut up!" I hissed.

Katherine just laughed and watched the first person go up to sing. The girl was horrible. She was singing Reflection from Mulan. Katherine soon went up and sang Part of Your World.

She came off the stage and stood at our table. "You and me, Monica. Hakuna Matata."

"No. Absolutely not."

"Come on," she said, pulling me up out of my chair.

"Nope."

"Yes," she said, still pulling me.

This went on for about five minutes before I decided I've had enough stares from strangers. I let Kate drag me up on stage. I sighed and took the microphone.

"Hakuna Matata," Katherine began, "What a wonderful phrase."

"Hakuna Matata," I joined in "Ain't no passin' craze""

"It means no worries for the rest of your days!" 

Together, we sang, "It's our problem-free philosophy! Hakuna Matata!"

We sang the rest of the song together. Singing was the only time I let any emotions out, so I didn't do it in front of others.  After we finished, I smiled. My first genuine smile in years.

We sat back down and I knew my walls were down, at least temporarily. The cute waiter was standing next to a fellow employee, whispering something to him. She brought us our food, and bent down next to me.

"You're cute when you smile," she whispered, setting my salad in front of me. She gave Katherine hers and walked away. Katherine just smiled. She looked at the second waiter and they seemed to have a silent conversation.

"Kate, what's going on?" I asked cautiously. She grabbed my arm and pulled me onstage while the other waiter did the same to the cute girl.

"Stephen, no, stop, what are you-" 

We were face to face. Our friends gave us the microphones and put a song on.

She started singing first. "Living in my own world, didn't understand that anything can happen when you take a chance."

I took a deep breath and joined in, "I never believed in what I couldn't see. I never opened up my heart to all the possibilities."

I sang a bit shyly until the chorus.

"This could be the start of something new! It feels so right to be here with you! And now I'm looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart the start of something new," I sang with all my heart, not realizing how close we were getting to each other. We finished the song and I looked up, into her beautiful, forest green eyes. I lost all capacity for speech and shuffled off the stage. 

"Kate, you have some explaining to do," I said, glaring at my best friend.

She laughed. "Stephen was a high school friend. He agreed to help get you two together."

"Katherine, she probably doesn't like me."

Katherine handed me a note, "This seems to say otherwise."

 I unfolded it and read it.

Hey there, cutie! I'm Cassidy. Text me: Here's my number: 929-987-6543 

I put her number in my phone and text her a quick message:

Hi

I got a reply almost instantly:

Hey ;-)

So, you think I'm cute?

I think you're downright hot, babe.

I felt my heart rate spike and set my phone down. I looked over to Cassidy and felt my phone buzz.

Call me Cass.