MUSIC SPEAKS A 1000 WORDS

I love karaoke night.

I always pick the best songs to perform, at least in my opinion. I’ve discovered the best songs are the fast-paced ones that everyone can move to, like kpop or electronic music, that way everyone just goofs around and no one takes it too seriously. Just a bunch of kids down on their luck singing along to a Kygo song with zero rhythm, as it should be.

“Hiya.”

Cy slipped into the booth I was seated at and sat next to me, breaking my train of thought. He smiled at me as he reached over for the fries I had ordered for the table, and began stuffing his face with it. He was in what I called The Cy Uniform, a hoodie with a baseball cap, a pair of jeans and sneakers. Today, he had gone with a deep red hoodie paired with a white cap, black jeans and black and white shoes. He’s really lucky there was no dress code at his job.

“When are others getting here?” he asked, without bothering to finish up what he was chewing.

By the others, he was referring to Devan and Ali, the remaining half of our little karaoke group. Ali, who introduced us to Devan, went to high school with Cy and I. She went off to an art school afterwards in hopes of becoming a world-famous artist someday, dream big dreams, right? It was at art school she met Devan, he was the model for one of her classes’ projects, and afterwards they got talking and one asked the other out, and they’ve been on and off for about a year now. Cy and I ended up attending the same community college, where he’s studying media and communication, while I’m studying psychology. We both weren’t sure if that was what we wanted to spend our lives doing, I guess we’re just a pair of confused minds.

“They’re probably still at art,” I responded, “they have this new thing they’re working on.”

“Alright. Are you going to eat that?” he asked, referring to the burger I had order for myself.

“Yeah, but you can have it, I’ll order another one when they get here.”

He quickly grabbed it and began to wolf it down.

I watched him eat the entire burger in under five minutes, “You didn’t have any lunch today, huh?”

He shook his head as he swallowed the final bite, causing his blonde hair that stunk through the cap to go flying. “Gwyneth asked us to work through our break today, she had some clients who needed their stuff delivered.”

“Again? This is like the fourth time she’s done this, just this month.”

“Yeah, it’s because she has some clients that can be difficult, and insist on getting their stuff on days that weren’t agreed on.”

I snorted in response, and shook my head.

“Hey,” he said and nudged me with his elbow. “It’s not so bad, we do get paid for the extra hours. Plus, she ordered donuts afterwards.”

“If you’re fine with it, it’s fine I guess.” I replied.

“It is, she’s a pretty neat boss actually.”

“Mmmhhmmm.”

He chuckled to himself and went back to chomping down on the fries. The jockey’s voice filled the room as he announced the next song to be sang, the person had chosen to sing hello. I hope for their sake that their voice could carry it, because they’d be one song away from becoming a viral internet sensation.

“Do you want to do a duet with me?” I turned to ask Cy, who had successfully finished the entire serving of fries.

“Yeah, sure why not?”

“Good,” I responded with a grin. “Because I’m thinking of singing a million things, and I need a partner.”

“It would be an honour to sing alongside you, madame.” He said, and gave a comical bow.

I was still laughing when a guy’s voice rang through the room, as he began singing. We all fell silent and stopped whatever we were doing to listen. It was mesmerizing to watch him, it was like he was pulling you in as he sang. The room exploded with applause when he finished, he could become a viral internet sensation but for the opposite reason I had expected.

“Hate to be the person going after him.” I muttered.

“Alright people!” the jockey called out. “The next song is one thing right, and it will be performed by Cy! Give him a hand!”

I swung around and stared at Cy with a look of shook, he avoided my eyes and dusted the nonexistent crumbs off his jeans.

“What are you doing!” I shouted over the noise of the applause.

“I’m going on.” He replied with a shrug.

“Now? You’re not waiting for Dee and Ali? I could call and find out what’s ke-”

“Never mind,” he said as he got up. “I want to do it now while I still have the guts.”

“What are you talking about? We do this all the time!”

He shook his head and began making his way to the stage, leaving me utterly confused.

“When did you even sign yourself up?” I called out after him.

He set off into a jog to the jockey, who handed him the microphone. He turned and faced the screen as he waited for the song to begin, and it did after a few seconds, so he began;

"I’ve cheated, and I’ve lied

I’ve broke down, and I’ve cried

I’ve got nothing to hide, no more"

At least he picked a song I knew, so I could sing along with him from my booth. I actually introduced him to the song, so I guess I could take a little credit for this performance, and Cy generally doesn’t even sing pop songs at karaoke, except it’s a duet or a group thing, so this was a first. He was carrying on pretty good so far.

"I’ve loved, and I’ve hurt

I’ve broken people down with words

More grace than I deserve, for sure"

I looked around to see that the crowd was enjoying it, people always prefer the more upbeat performances to the majorly depressing ones. Except it was really soulful and gave the audience goosebumps or left them on the verge of tears, but that’s a lot to deliver on. So, it’s better to pick the safer rout.

"Known to be crazy, known to be wild

Mama had herself a little devilish child

Ain’t no stranger to the troubles at my door"

I continued to sway and sing along with him; he was doing a pretty good job for someone so out of their comfort zone. Ali would be sad she missed Cy sing such a lovey song, she always accused him of listening to alternative songs that had no soul.

"I’ve been at the wrong place at the wrong time

Chasing all the wrong things most of my life

Been every kind of lost that you can’t find

But I’ve got one thing right"

I was about reach for my phone to record, when I saw him turn away from the screen and begin scanning through the crowd. What was he looking for? Was he checking to see if Ali and Devan had made it?

"Been the kind of guy girls’ mamas don’t like

Running with the wrong crowd on the wrong night

Cause I’ve been wrong about a million times

But I’ve got one thing right…"

His eyes finally landed on me, and he winked as he gave me small smile. Knowing what was coming next in the song, my eyes went wide as I felt my chest tighten.

"…you."

{Credits given to the song used it this chapter, One Thing Right by Marshmello and Kane Brown.}