Page 66 of All Mine
‘And what are you singing tonight?’ the beard asked.
Etienne shaded his eyes again, still looking directly at the booth.
‘The Rolling Stones,’ he said. ‘“Satisfaction”.’
‘I can help with that!’ someone shouted from the dark edges of the dance floor, to much hilarity.
Wren put her two fingers in her mouth and wolf whistled. Women stamped their feet on the floor. Isabella made a noise deep in her throat as she looked at him in the spotlight, shirt undone at the top, sleeves pushed up, belted jeans fitting like a glove.
‘Holy Mary, Mother of God,’ Jesse mouthed across the table to her, crossing himself at the same time.
That famous guitar introduction sounded, and Fox and Walker positioned themselves slightly behind Etienne, one to either side, a triangle of gorgeousness.
Etienne pouted and shook his waves out at the familiar beat, apparently channelling his inner Mick Jagger.
He turned to the audience and started belting out the opening to ‘Satisfaction’.
He stalked one way across the stage, then the other as he sang, in a perfect imitation of the original. Fox and Walker played air guitar behind him, swaying in perfect rhythm. Either they’d been practising, or they’d done this before. Gabi cheered, Amber whooped and Wren whistled. Isabella and Jesse were both struck dumb.
Was there anything Etienne couldn’t do?
The dance floor was in chaos. People were whirling around in circles, jumping on the spot, shouting along. Isabella leaped up to join Amber at the front of the booth and found herself doing some kind of flying angel. Jesse and Gabi were stamping their feet so hard the glasses on their table rattled.
As the last chord sounded, the crowd roared. Etienne wiped a hand across his brow and grinned. Walker saluted and Fox pretended to stagger off stage clutching his heart.
Isabella threw a panicked glance at the girls as she realised what it meant. Their turn.
‘Help me,’ she mouthed to Gabi but Amber had grabbed her by the wrist before she could escape. Wren and Rosie jumped down from their bench and Isabella was swept along to the stage. Halfway there, they met the men on their way back.
‘You smashed it!’ Rosie said to Walker.
‘Tough act to follow,’ Wren agreed.
‘Especially with a karaoke virgin in our midst,’ Amber said, indicating Isabella.
‘And I can’t sing,’ Isabella exclaimed wildly, wondering why nobody was listening to her.
‘You’ll be fine,’ they all chorused as she stumbled into the spotlights. A microphone was thrust into her hand and the bar manager ran off the stage. Just as she was considering running after him, the song title appeared on the screen in front of her and the immediately recognisable electro strains of the intro sounded. Well, at least she knew the words to Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’.
Amber jumped to the centre of the stage in time to start and Isabella sighed in relief. Of course Amber would take the lead, she was sassy and confident and obviously loved karaoke. Isbella joined in with what Wren and Rosie were doing at the back, swaying and clicking their fingers until the chorus, when they all leaned in to join in with the refrain over a shared microphone. This wasn’t too bad.
As Wren and Rosie sang, Isabella made sure to keep her mouth as far away as possible from the microphone. The crowd bellowed along and suddenly it was feeling better. Almost like fun. She could be part of the backing singers– no problem. She grinned and struck a pose on the next line, feeling more confident with every second.
Rosie and Wren grabbed a mic each and faced each other, taking the next couple of lines on their own. Isabella was happy to leave them to it, and did a little dance in the background. She was having a blast.
Until the next verse was about to start and Amber turned and shoved the mike into her hand. ‘Your turn,’ she shouted and stepped back, leaving Isabella out front on her own. In a spotlight. Facing a crowd.
Isabella shook her head frantically, but the other women waved their hands at her to get on with it. They didn’t understand and it was too late to tell them now. There was a reason Isabella didn’t do karaoke. An extremely good one. She couldn’t sing.At all. She was, as the music teacher at school had factually stated, tone deaf.
Amber pushed her forward again, and it was too late to do anything but go for it.
‘Sorry about this!’ she shouted into the microphone to the audience, then she grinned and began to sing.
The look of shock on people’s faces rippled down the front row. She shrugged and carried on, nothing else for it. She couldn’t let the girls down. She sang the next line and it came out a bit louder, which made someone at the nearest booth put their hands over their ears. People were looking at each other in disbelief. A handful laughed out loud. The others looked horrified. She’d seen it before at school and it had hurt then, but tonight, it just seemed funny.
‘Yay, Isabella!’ Gabi shouted from the audience.
‘You go, girl!’ Amber said behind her and she heard Wren’s two-finger whistle.
