Words Have Two Meanings

II

Once a month, Lydia lets herself get completely and utterly obliterated. Or actually, Pash lets Lydia get completely and utterly obliterated. This usually happens at one of the bars nearest their apartment, but sometimes, on nights when Pash is feeling particularly kind, Lydia manages to convince her to go to one a little farther away for karaoke.

When they first moved to the city together, the two found a small bar named SoMa tucked in between a credit union and a second-hand store. Lydia immediately felt at home in the crowd of people belting out the words to Piano Man louder than the piano itself. Pash felt at home with cold guinness and a bartender to listen to her jokes.

Luckily, Lydia gets to visit once every few months - thanks to Pash - and each trip is a new and wonderful experience.

She doesn't sing often, though. She doesn't have stage fright, and she's not uncomfortable with her voice, but the bar does have a bit of a reputation. The SoMa on the sign isn't actually its name, but what it's known for.

Soulmates.

This bar, out of every other one in the city, has the biggest record of soulmates matched inside its walls. There's something about the music and the people that draws everyone in, and when you hear the song that's tattooed on your body being sung, it's not like it's that difficult to get in touch with whoever's singing it - with your soulmate.

So Lydia has only sung once - her favorite song, of course, as is the standard in a place like this. Unfortunately, it didn't yield any results as far as her soulmate goes, and Lydia hasn't tried again in the year since.

Not that she sings for her soulmate. She'll never be the person to light a neon sign above her head with her song on it, or have a boombox playing it as she walks across town. She's the kind of girl that's happy to live her life now, and when her soulmate shows themself, it'll happen naturally and at the right time. That's how she's always imagined the meeting to go, at least.

So she doesn't sing for her soulmate. She sings for herself. She sings because Stairway to Heaven is her favorite song, and she has killer vocals that the song perfectly displays. She doesn't do it often, but when she does, it's for herself.

Just her.