Laws Of Siblinghood

Chapter 12

"I think I'm done," she said.

"You bought nothing except those earrings for Carmen." I said.

"Everything's great but they're not... me."

"I'm never taking you out for shopping again," I said annoyed.

"Take me to some favorite place of yours. I still haven't seen the town," she said.

"I want to go home."

"Please?" Ray made puppy dog eyes.

"Fine."

***

"I have five favorite places in this town. This is my fourth favorite place," I said.

"A coffee shop?" Ray raised her eyebrows. "I didn't know that you loved coffee so much."

"I don't like this place because of the coffee. I like it because of its open mic. Every evening on the weekends, they have an open mic. I used to sing here a lot in high school." I told her.

"An open mic sounds good. When does it begin?"

I looked at the stage and checked the time on my watch. "Now."

The first performer was a comedian. The woman had a charm about her that made the whole audience was engrossed in her words. She received quite an applause when she left the stage.

The second performer was a guy who was going to read a poem. He was going to read a Robert Frost poem. He read 'The Road Not Taken'. He recited the poem loud and clear. The audience remained silent for a while then broke into applause. The guy thanked the audience and went back to sit in a booth.

Next, was another girl. She looked familiar. Her hair was dark brown with golden highlights which she had braided to the side. She had golden brown skin and was taller than other girls I knew, about 5'7.

She was waiting on the side of the stage, waiting for somebody. She looked annoyed. Another girl came to her and whispered something in her ear. The dark haired girl looked angry. She started arguing with the other girl. The other girl left her and started talking to the audience.

She came up to our table and said, "Hey. Two of my friends were going to perform tonight but one of them bailed and the other is absolutely mad at me. If you can sing then please please please help me out here."

"He sings," Ray said before I could open my mouth.

I sent a glare in her direction and opened my mouth to decline the offer but the girl cut me off again.

"Thank you so much! You just saved my life!" She dragged me towards the stage.

"Jen! I found you a singer!" The girl said.

Jen, the dark haired girl still looked angry but she asked me calmly, "Can you play guitar?"

"Yeah." I said.

"My friend Mark was going to play with me but he bailed. I need you to play the guitar while I sing. Can you do that for me, please?"

Her face looked more and more familiar. She looked desperate. I sighed.

"Okay." Jen looked relieved.

"Thank you so much! Do you know the tune of Life of the Party?" She asked, handing me her guitar.

I adjusted the guitar and looked at her. "Yeah."

"Okay. We're up. Let's go."

We walked up to the stage and someone handed Jen the mic. She took it and beamed at the audience.