Page 8 of One More Weekend

I took another pull from my cup, needing as much courage as possible. When we started coming here, I hated it. Jenna was theextrovert, but she was an expert in peer pressure. It wasn’t long before she’d pressured me into starting the night with a duet every week.

At the time, she told me it was more fun for her. But I knew that it was really her way of making sure I was comfortable every week. And it worked like a charm every time.

Walking up to the stage, I grabbed the second mic from the curtained window sill behind the platform and flipped it on.

As we took our positions, the familiar, jazzy first beats of “You’re The One That I Want” started. I rolled my eyes, it was one of two songs that we kept as standards on our duet rotation.

Jenna squealed and ran up to the stage, grabbing the mic just in time to start the song with John Travolta’s part. “I got chillllsssss, they’re multiplying…”

Taking one final swig of my tequila soda, I set my drink on the same window that I grabbed the mic from. I raised the microphone to my mouth and started Olivia Newton-John's rebuttal. “You better shape up, ‘cause I need a man.”

No matter how many times we sang it, the line always made me laugh – just the idea that either of us would need a man making me giggle.

“And my heart is set on you…” I turn toward Jenna, bringing on the high school theatrics and pointing at her.

Looking over at her, Jenna danced along to my lines with a goofy, tipsy smile plastered on her lips.

As the instrumental picked up, she lifted the mic and joined in. “You’re the one that I want.”

We carried through like that, dancing between our individual lines and harmonizing each line just right. If I wasn’t wrong, we could have done this number with earplugs in and our eyes closed.

But looking over at Jenna, I couldn’t imagine not doing this every single week. All I could do was hope that this was all some sick joke, that her idea to leave the city was just for the laughs.

Because if it wasn’t, I had no idea what I would do.

6

JENNA

As we hitour last note, the group of college kids clapped for us as we left the stage. A few of them gawked at us as we headed back to our booth, shocked that we went up with such a coordinated number.

To be fair, if I’d seen two random women come in and pull that off on a random Thursday, I would’ve been surprised too.

Falling back into the booth, I sipped at my Mule like it was rehydrating water.

Sy slid in next to me, setting her drink on the table. The college sophomores hopped on stage to do their next number,I Gotta Feelingby The Black Eyed Peas.

Without thinking, I start biting the inside of my cheek as I watch these kids sing it out.

As if she could read my mind, Sy slouches in the booth and leans closer to me. “What’s up, Chambers?”

The corners of my lips lift into a smile, raising my eyebrows. “Nothing, just thinking.”

“About?”

I couldn’t look at her, knowing this wouldn’t be easy for her to hear. “What if what I said earlier is true?”

Sy sat up, turning herself toward me and pressing her knees into my thigh. “What? That you should leave?”

Unable to meet her gaze, all I could do was nod. It felt impossible to ever say the words and mean it.I should leave New York.My chest tightened at the thought. But I couldn’t pretend like there wasn’t a part of my mind that let the tension release.

“Like, what’s really left for me here?” I picked up my cup, sipping the bitter vodka and ginger beer. “I’ve tried to be more than an intern for like three years now and even when I land a perfect opportunity it bites me in the ass. And clearly, my love life is a mess.”

Sy sat in silence, her slender fingers tracing the rim of her plastic cup.

Filling the silence with more than off-key shout-singing, I continued, “Like maybe I just need a change of location. I’ve never done as much here as I wanted to. It just never happened for me.”

“Yeah.” Sy shrugged, letting her hand rest on my forearm. Goosebumps rose from my sensitive skin, clearly just overstimulated by the day I’d had.

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