We had all piled into Damian's car to head into town for dinner. Sarah gave him directions to the place she had seen and we made it in less than fifteen minutes. It was a small restaurant with a red sign that read Macy's Bar and Grill. It seemed normal enough until I saw a smaller sign on the door that read "Karaoke every Friday night!" And guess what day today was. I gave Sarah a pointed look. She gracefully avoided my gaze and pulled David alongside her stepping into the restaurant. I sighed hanging my head.
"After you," Damian said, holding the door open for me.
When we stepped through the doors I saw that there were a few tables set up in front of a small stage. There were a few people sitting at the bar to the right but the majority of customers were seated in front of the stage. A waitress had seated us at one of the tables that had a good view of the stage. When we walked in, a middle aged woman was already up there singing a Katy Perry song. There was a paper on the table that had a line-up of who was singing tonight. I scanned the list of names and stiffened when I came to the fourth name. Kim Brady. I slowly looked up at Sarah who widened her eyes innocently, "Surprise!" she said grinning.
"Sarah," I said calmly, "What did you do?"
She shrugged, "I just happened to pass by when they were taking names for people to sing."
"And you didn't think to ask me?" I breathed out in disbelief. I could see the boys looking at the pair of us clearly confused.
"What's the big deal?" she asked "Singing was such a big part of your life! I almost thought you were going to get a record deal. But you surprised us all and said you were going to be a vet. You used to love to sing."
"Yeah. Used to." I said getting up from the table heading for the door. I heard Sarah calling after me but I ignored her. The minute I stepped into the fresh air I breathed in deeply. I noticed a bench right in front of the restaurant and sat down with a sigh. I leaned my head against the brick wall. My heart was hammering in my chest feeling like it was going to explode. I could tell that my face was flushed because it was warm. I couldn't be too mad at Sarah for signing me up. After all she didn't know the real reason why I stopped singing.
I heard the chime of the restaurant door opening and expected to see either Damian or Sarah but saw David instead. I was relieved that he was the one who came to check on me.
He walked over to me with his hands tucked in his pockets and a small smile on his face, "She is a wonder, that woman of mine." I scoffed and shook my head sighing. David sat down next to me and crossed his arms looking at some people as they passed by.
We were quiet for a few moments before I finally spoke, "It's not entirely her fault."
David unfolded his arms and clasped his hands together, "It's been seven years, Kim. You just need to forget about Sam."
I closed my eyes putting my head in my hands, "Time doesn't make it okay."
*Seven years ago...*
"Sam! Quit that!" I squealed as he pointed the hose at me dousing me with water, "We're supposed to be washing the car not me!"
Sam laughed, pointing the hose back towards the car, "Ugh why are you such a jerk?" I asked looking down at my wet t-shirt and jeans.
"Aw, come on babe. You know this by now. It's what I do," he said laughing. I hated it when he would say that every time he messed around with me. After about a minute he pointed the hose back at me. I dropped my sponge and started to run away towards the back yard, "Worst boyfriend ever!" I called over my shoulder.
"Oh, you're going to get it now!" he yelled. I screamed and quickened my pace, searching for the water gun I'd hidden in the bushes yesterday when I was outside with my best friend Christie. I found the water gun and hid behind the side of the house, peeking around to see where Sam was. He was approaching slowly and looking around for me. When he turned around, I let him have it. He yelped in surprise as I squirted him in the back with cold water. By that point, David had stepped out of the house with Sarah at his side.
"Hey you two!" Sarah called, "Quit that yelling before the neighbor calls the police."
Sam wrapped an arm around my waist, "It's your boyfriend's fault for introducing me to such a loud mouth."
"Loud mouth, huh?" I said narrowing my eyes.
"Anyway Kim don't you have a doctor's appointment to go to?" Sarah asked.
"Oh right. Doctor's appointment," I said slowly. My eyes wandered to David who winked. Little did Sarah know that my "doctor's appointment" was actually a recording session with a company for a record deal. Sam's father owned the company and he was getting a contract for me. I wanted to surprise my family so I asked David to help me.
"Before you go, clean up the mess you made in the front yard," Sarah said looking at me and Sam. Sam and I both looked at each other before he started to back away towards his car.
"Well I'm leaving first because," Sam said holding his hands up "it's what I do."
"Oh my god you are not leaving me here to clean by myself," I said with my mouth wide open. "Wouldn't want to catch a cold," he said indicated towards the back of his shirt that was still wet.
I rolled my eyes at him as he ran faster towards his car. Jerk.
***
"How was that, Greg?" I asked when I finished the last song. Greg looking up from the mixing board and gave a thumbs up. I grinned and took another swig of my water.
I saw David smiling at me when I came out of the booth, "That was great. I wouldn't be surprised if you had millions of fans by next week."
I scoffed, "Please. It took me two years to get fifteen followers on twitter."
Greg laughed, "I don't know, Kim. Sounded pretty good to me. I'll be done editing by tomorrow morning. Stop by then to hear the finished product."
"Will do," I said smiling and patting him on the back, "I'm going to go see Sam. He said he would be around here somewhere."
"Alright," David said taking a seat next to Greg. I walked through the halls and began to look for Sam. He had told me that he'd meet me after I was done recording. I had finished up early so I could celebrate with him at dinner. As I continued to walk through the studio I heard his voice coming from one of the offices. I tip toed over to where I heard his voice thinking that I could scare him as payback for calling me a loud mouth.
"...of course you'll be the next best thing, babe," he was saying. Babe? Who the hell is he calling "babe"? I peeked through the door to the office and saw that Sam was standing in front of a tall blonde girl who was perched on the desk. He had his hands on her waist and she had her arms twined around his neck, "Do you really mean that?" she giggled.
"I promise. Would I lie to my girlfriend?" he asked leaning towards her.
By this point I had opened the door all the way and was leaning against the door frame, "I'd think about my answer if I were you, Blondie," I said breathlessly crossing my arms. Sam whirled around and stared at me with wide eyes, his mouth agape, "Kim? What are you-"
"Save it," I cut him off holding a hand up.
"Who is this?" the blonde asked wrinkling her nose at me and hopping off of the desk.
I raised an eyebrow at her, "His girlfriend. Well actually judging by the position I just found you two in, I guess you could say I'm now his ex-girlfriend."
The blonde opened her mouth in shock. Sam recovered and raised both of his hands towards me "It's not what it looks like," he said what seemed like to both me and the blonde.
"Isn't it? Though I guess I should have known you would pull something like this. After all," I paused narrowing my eyes at him, "it's what you do." I said quoting him for every time he used that as an excuse. He flinched and the blonde looked from him to me in confusion.
"He's all yours, honey." I said looking at her before turning my back and marching out the door. I headed towards the studio where David and Greg were and opened the door. They both took in my expression and exchanged a glance, "The deals off," I said breathlessly, "Forget the contract. I'm never singing here again."