Eve glanced around the cheesy karaoke bar with the even cheesier name and wondered again how she ended up here. It wasn’t that The Sing-A-Ling was a bad bar, even if there were some particularly bad amateur singers on stage. Eve was sure in another life, she would have enjoyed the general feel-good atmosphere surrounding her. No, it wasn’t the bar or even the fact that she was there; rather it was who she was sharing a table with.
After Doug’s strange proposal of friendship, which had nearly given Eve a heart attack, he’d insisted they kick off their newfound friendship with an evening out. What she hadn’t realized was that an evening out as friends included Thad and Camille Kline.
“So, Eve,” Doug said over the boisterous, off-key woman crooning something about any man of hers. “What do you plan on singing first?”
“Oh, no,” Eve responded quickly. “I don’t sing.”
“Sure you do,” Doug cajoled. “I’ve heard you sing to Emma. You have a great voice.”
“It’s not the same,” Eve said, her cheeks flaming. “Emma is comforted by rhythm; she doesn’t care how out of tune I am.”
“You leave her alone, Douglas.”
Eve was shocked when Camille to her defense.
“Don’t you let him bully you,” Camille patted Eve’s hand. “The first time these two brought me here, they plied me with alcohol and then dragged me on stage repeatedly.”
“And she sounds like a demented cat in heat when she sings,” Thad chimed in.
“Like you’re any better,” Camille shot back.
“Neither one of them can sing their way out of a wet paper bag,” Doug said.
Eve sat back and watched the interaction between the three friends. She was envious of the closeness the group had. It had been a long time since Eve had been part of a group like this, and she found that she missed the camaraderie. It wasn’t long before Eve found herself giggling along with Camille as the two men turned their wit on each other.
“Listen thunder bolts of lightning,” Doug said to Thad.
“Hey man, don’t hate. Just because I’m creative and inventive—”
“You copied some chick flick from the 80’s,” Doug snorted. “I don’t think that counts as creativity. Plagiarism, maybe.”
“I got the girl, didn’t I?” Thad asked slinging his arm over his wife’s shoulders. “I think it was pretty creative to use an old movie as inspiration.”
“Um honey,” Camille said, smiling adoringly at Thad. “I believe I told you how much I loved those kind of romantic gestures and that was why you pulled that stunt.”
“Yes, but don’t I get points for listening?”
Eve was roaring with laughter as the byplay continued around the table. While she didn’t share the memories, she wasn’t excluded from the conversation.
“Eve, tell me honestly,” Thad said turning to her. “If your man messed up big time, wouldn’t you be won over by him signing to you along with a stereo? Not to mention having a huge basket of flowers that all mean I’m sorry.”
“Well,” Eve said carefully. “I’m sure your intentions were good.”
“Oh those flowers,” Camille burst out laughing. “I had nearly forgotten that perfumed basket of vomit you brought me.” She turned to Eve. “There is a reason florists mix and match certain types of flowers while leaving others out. This doofus,” she tossed a thumb over her shoulder at Thad, “thought it would be a good idea to mix every kind of flower. It was literally one of the most horrible scent combinations I have ever smelled.”
“That’s it,” Thad said standing. “I’m going to get a drink. A man can only take so much of this bashing.”
“Bring me back a virgin strawberry thing,” Camille said smiling.
“Would you like another soda, Eve?” Doug asked rising to his feet as well.
“Water would be great,” Eve said. “Too much sugar keeps me awake at night.”
“Eve,” Camille said as soon as the men were away from the table. “I owe you an apology.”
“Please don’t,” Eve said. “You were concerned about your friend.”
“Yes, but he had asked me to not get involved. You were a guest in my home and I was horrible to you.”
Eve was alarmed by the distress she heard in Camille’s voice and the tears forming in her eyes. Different things that Doug had said indicated that Camille was having a troublesome pregnancy, and Eve didn’t want to be the cause of any more complications for the woman. But she was at a loss as to how to deal with this. After a few breaths of silence, Eve decided to be straightforward and to the point.
“I assume Doug explained the whole situation?” Eve asked Camille.
“Yes and I want you to know that I think he’s a dumbass.”
“I won’t argue with that,” Eve said chuckling.
“I’m glad you agreed to come out with us this evening,” Camille said suddenly. “I wasn’t sure you would, nor was I confident that Doug could make things right with you.”
“Did you know what he was going to do?” Eve asked. “His proposal scared me half to death.”
“Proposal?” Camille’s eyes widened. “He didn’t.”
“Oh yes,” Eve smiled. “He got down on one knee and asked me to be his friend.”
“Oh dear Lord,” Camille said shaking her head.
“I was horrified for those few seconds when I thought he was going to ask me to marry him,” Eve said. “I know he’s a decent man and all, but…”
“But that would just be adding insult to injury,” Camille finished.
“Exactly.”
As the women shared a comfortable silence, Eve contemplated Doug’s friend. She hadn’t taken time to examine the close relationship Doug had with the wife of his long time buddy, but it was plain to Eve that there was a special bond between them. For a moment, she wondered if that wasn’t the motivation behind Doug’s desire for a child without a wife. If he was in love with Camille, Eve could easily see why he wouldn’t want a relationship with another woman; and yet he longed for a family of his own.
“You know, I’ve never really had a girlfriend,” Camille’s hesitant voice broke through Eve’s thoughts.
“Never?” Eve asked, her eyes widening.
“Oh I’ve had people I’ve called friends, co-workers and acquaintances,” Camille waved a hand through the air as she talked. “And Doug, of course, is my best friend in the world next to Thad, but they’ve only been part of my life for a few years.”
“That must have been…” Eve struggled for the right word. “Lonely?”
“I filled time with books,” Camille said. “When I wasn’t reading, the characters kept me company inside my head.” Camille’s face contorted. “I sound insane.”
“No,” Eve assured her. “You sound like you found a way to cope with life.”
“I’d like to be your friend, Eve,” Camille said with a smile. “I know I was a bitch on Thanksgiving, but I’d like it if we could move past that.”
“I think I’d like that as well,” Eve said returning the smile. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had time for anything but work and Emma.”
“Well then, we’ll figure out this friend thing together,” Camille said. “I think the first thing we should do is stare at the pretty eye-candy that just walked in the door.” She nodded in the direction of a group of men making their way to the bar.
“Oh yes,” Eve grinned. “I recall a time when my friends and I used to rate ‘bangability,’” Eve said.
“Bangability?”
“Yep,” Eve said. “We would rate guys from one to ten on how easy it would be to have sex with them.”
“Oh my goodness,” Camille laughed. “That’s terrible.”
“Oh it gets better,” Eve told her with a big grin. “Then we rated them one to ten on how we think they would perform.” Eve chuckled. “We always figured that’s what they were doing to us, why shouldn’t we do it to them.”
“I like it,” Camille said. “So did you ever find out if any of them measured up to rankings?”
“Ha! Most of them, while completely bangable, scored really low on our performance scale,” Eve said. “We figured the prettier the guys were, the more self-absorbed. Even as teenagers we were smart enough to know that self-absorbed did not make for a good time in bed.”
“I wouldn’t really know,” Camille said, her smile deflating a little. “Guys weren’t really interested in fat girls.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Eve said. “It’s not about your size or your hair color or anything else. It’s about how much confidence you project.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you act like you’re all that, then…” Eve stopped talking when Thad and Doug arrived back at the table.
“Don’t stop talking because we’re here,” Thad said while presenting his wife with a frozen red drink.
Camille grinned at her husband and then winked at Eve. “Ten o’clock. One to ten?”
Eve glanced to the right and pondered. “Five, maybe six after a couple of drinks.” She studied the man in question for a few more seconds. She noted that he passed drinks to his group before taking one for himself and that he held himself with poise but not arrogance. “Definitely a solid eight as well.”
“What are you two up to?” Doug asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“Hush,” Camille told him. “It’s girl stuff.” She glanced around the room again and her eyes landed on the man just taking the mic. “My turn,” she said rubbing her hands together. “Hmm, I’d say a six.”
“No way,” Eve said. “I saw him heading up toward the stage. You’ve got to get a look at the back of him. He’s definitely an eight.”
Then the man opened his mouth and started to sing. Both women’s jaws dropped.
“Okay, I think he just hit the ten range,” Camille said as she fanned herself.
“I might have to agree with you on that,” Eve said picking up her water.
“Are you rating guys based on their looks?” Doug asked incredulously.
“Of course not,” Camille said giggling. “We’re rating them based on how easy it would be to bang them.”
“It had better be damn hard to bang anyone but me,” Thad snapped.
“Don’t worry dear,” Camille patted his hand patronizingly. “I love you and only you, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind.” She turned back to Eve. “You should go up to Mr. Sexy Voice and ask him out.”
“Oh no,” Eve shook her head rapidly.
“Why not? Not only is he a ten in bangability, I’d bet he ranks pretty high up there on the performance scale too.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s our turn to sing,” Doug said abruptly.
“I’m not singing,” Camille said. “And Eve doesn’t want to sing either.”
“We’re all singing,” Doug ground out. “It’s tradition. We always sing when we come here.”
“We’re usually all drunk when we come here,” Camille said. “Two of us are not drinking tonight.”
Eve sucked in a breath. It was first comment that seemed pointed directly at the pink elephant at the table and she wasn’t prepared for it. She had relaxed while talking with Camille, let down the wall that was protecting her tender feelings.
“Shit,” Doug said. “Way to be sensitive, Camille.”
“Oh hell, I’m sorry, Eve.” Camille bit her lip as she looked at the other woman with concern. “That wasn’t meant to be a dig at you in any way. I truthfully just want to see you have some fun and I don’t think dragging you up to sing stone sober is the way to do it, especially when you’ve already said you don’t want to.”
“It’s fine,” Eve said stiffly. She pasted a smile on her face. “We’ll know for sure one way or the other in a couple weeks and then we can either forget it and move on or we won’t be able to avoid talking about it. For now, I’d just like to enjoy the first time I’ve been in public socially in over five years.”
“You haven’t been out in five years?” Thad gave her a puzzled look.
“Even before the accident, I was really wrapped up in getting my PhD.” Eve shrugged. “I figured I’d have time for socializing once I’d gotten through school and was established.”
“Holy shit,” Thad muttered. “Well that settles it. You are definitely singing. You’ve been dormant too long and you need to roar.”
Thad jumped to his feet and grabbed Eve by the hand. Before anyone could protest he dragged her across the crowded bar and dance floor to the stage. It was only a matter of seconds before he had her on stage with the thumping beat of Eye of Tiger playing around them.
“Come on,” Thad whispered from beside her. “You know this one, everyone knows this one.”
“Yes, but…”
“No buts,” Thad said and pushed her closer to the mic. “Sing.”
Eve was sure the nearly minute long instrumental introduction of the song had never been longer. Nervous butterflies tugged at her stomach until she thought she was going to throw up. Then the lyrics flicked onto the screen in front of her.
“Rising up,” Eve’s voice cracked a little. “Back on the street. Took my time, took my chances. Went the distance now I’m back on my feet,” her voice got stronger with each note. “Just a man and his will to survive.” With the next few lines, Eve forgot about the audience and just sang the rock anthem that had inspired entire generations.
Thad moved up beside her and joined in for the chorus. Eve gave him a grin and slid to one side of the mic to give him room to sing. Before she could really process what was happening, the song was over and the crowd was cheering.
“You have an amazing voice,” Thad said giving her a quick hug and then leading her down the stage steps.
By the time they reached their table, Eve’s grin had taken on maniacal proportions. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun or gotten such a rush. As she took her seat, though, the smile that made her cheeks ache faded.
“Well, aren’t you full of surprises,” Doug said with a sarcastic smirk. Then he picked up his beer bottle and drained it.