A/N: I know it hasn't even been a day since I posted chapter 1 but I can't help myself when I'm excited 😅
Fun Fact: The reader's sexual orientation is not defined, not least because it wasn't a very talked about thing at the time the story takes place, but she is definitely not straight.
You couldn't help but be confused, when Ivy parked the car and you found yourself in front of a cafe called 'Little Daisy'.
You looked around to see if you could locate the Lackadaisy, but only saw an almost empty street, illuminated by the moonlight, but even more so by street lamps.
"Where is this place?" You asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't be so hasty, soon you'll understand everything." She replied, gesturing with her hand for you to follow her.
The two of you entered the cafe and she led you to what looked like a secret door, hidden by a red curtain.
She opened the door, waiting for you to enter. However, you were frozen in place, perhaps from nervousness. You felt like your heart was going to jump out of your mouth.
"There's no danger." She assured you, resting her hand on your shoulder. "You can enter."
You took a deep breath to try to calm your nerves at least a little and took the first step inside, starting down the stairs.
You didn't understand why a bar had to be in such a secret place, but you decided not to ask any more questions. Halfway up the stairs, you managed to see an elegantly dressed gray and burly cat, who you deduced was the doorman of the place.
"Hello, Horatio." Ivy greeted him with a wave. So that was his name.
"Ivy." He greeted her back, soon shifting his attention to you. "Oh, so this lovely young lady is your friend?"
"I appreciate the compliment, sir." You thanked him before extending your hand. "Nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine, miss." He said, gently taking her hand and giving it a kiss.
Soon after, he opened the door for you two to pass.
"Welcome."
"Thank you again." You said, before walking in along with your best friend.
You gaped, being surprised and delighted at the same time, to observe how beautiful that place was. It seemed an unreal place, like the places narrated in soap operas that you listened to on the radio with your mother.
Your admiration was short-lived, Ivy took you by the hand and led you to where the bar owner was, surrounded by some gentlemen.
You became dazzled as soon as you saw the owner of the place. She was such a beautiful woman, even more so than Ivy had told you.
"Ivy, honey, you really managed to bring her in." She overjoyed, smiling as she walked towards you.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Mitzi." You said, as she greeted you with two kisses on the cheeks.
"Welcome to my establishment, sweetheart." She said, in an affable tone of voice. "Ivy has told me so much about you, I was quite curious to know if you are really as good a singer as she told me."
"Maybe she overreacted a bit." You said between nervous chuckles, turning to talk to her, but you felt every hair on your tail stand on end when you didn't see her where she was the last time you saw her.
As welcoming and nice as the people in that bar were, Ivy was the only friendly face you knew there.
"Wait, where's Ivy?" You asked, looking from side to side to see if you spotted her again.
"Calm down, honey." Mitzi said, quickly noticing your uneasiness. "She just went to get her little friend so you could meet him too."
You turned and watched her walk towards you, while pulling a young man who looked the same age as her and you by the arm.
She didn't need to tell you who he was, she told you countless times how cute the guy she was interested in was and indeed, he was.
She said the two of you were a lot alike, because you both didn't go out much and you also didn't have a very wide social circle. However, he seemed a lot more shy than you were.
Ivy lightly pushed him towards you as he tried to muster up enough courage to talk to you. Seeing this, you decided to take the initiative.
"It's nice to meet you, Calvin." You smiled and held out your hand for him to shake.
Without saying anything, he reached out his hand and squeezed your hand, before running off somewhere far away from you.
"Oh, he's quite shy, isn't he?" You said between soft laughs.
"Eh, don't mind that." Ivy said nonchalantly. "Once he gets to know you better, he'll loosen up more."
"Alright then." You shrugged.
"Make yourself comfortable, honey, when you're ready to perform, just let us know." Mitzi said, resting her hand on your shoulder.
"If you allow me, miss, it could be now." You answered.
"So, the stage is all yours." She pointed to where the stage was.
"You're going to be great, I know it." Ivy whispered encouraging words in your ear as she gave you a hug.
You smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek in thanks, before walking to the stage.
As you walked there, listening to the click of your shoes against the perfectly polished floor, you couldn't see, but you could feel everyone's eyes on you.
You took a deep breath, you had to be brave to help your best friend.
You discreetly lifted your skirt with one hand so you could climb the stairs and went to the only instrument you knew how to play, the piano.
It was a beautiful piano, you couldn't contain yourself from running your fingers over the smooth black material.
You cleared your throat briefly and played the first musical notes of a song you knew how to play.
You heard the entire bar shut up, just so they could hear your voice.
You opened your mouth and started singing, at first, low and shy like a mouse. with reason, that was the first time you performed in front of so many people.
But little by little, you started to sing louder which made everyone applaud loudly, especially Ivy. With that encouragement, you got carried away and sang your heart out. You had never felt so alive in your life as you did at that moment.
While you were performing, Zib and the other band members finally arrived at the bar, warned by Horatio that Mitzi wasn't happy at all about their tardiness.
He tried to explain to her why they were late, but Mitzi told him to be quiet, so she wouldn't had to stop listening to you. Your voice was even more beautiful than she had expected, it was so smooth and strong at the same time, so hypnotic, it felt like you'd stolen it from a mermaid.
Just like everyone else there, the whole band was soon equally dazzled the moment they started to hear your singing.
Especially Rocky.
He quickly approached the stage. He had to take a closer look at who owned a voice as sweet and enchanting as that one.
As he had guessed, it was a woman with a face as pretty as the voice. He leaned against the edge of the stage, feeling like he could stay there and listen to you sing forever.
When the song ended, you were treated to an even louder round of applause, that made your cheeks flush. For the first time, you felt loved by people who were not your fmily or Ivy.
You got up to thank all the aplauses, but found yourself frozen again, when came into your field of vision, a young man, the most handsome you had ever seen, with even more beautiful eyes.
His eyes were so blue and so deep, just like the sea. And you loved the sea.
You felt something you've never felt before, so it was impossible to explain with words, but it felt like something out of a dream.
Soon after, he took a red rose from the jacket he was wearing and held it out to you, a huge smile playing across his lips as you bent down to accept the flower.
You held the flower to your nose and inhaled its delicate scent, still looking at him.
You knew absolutely nothing about that young man, his name, where he came from, if he was a customer or if he worked there, but you knew you were in love with him.