Page 8 of It Started with a Kiss
It did sound like a laugh when he put it like that. Looking down at my work attire, I frowned. ‘I'll have to go home and change, though.’
‘Sod that, Hunter. No one will give a shit what you’re dressed like. You’ll be fine like that.’ Ah, Tom. The articulate man of many words.
Most of them expletives.
Tom fannied about on his phone, checking his social media, whilst I finished off what I was working on and put my files away.
* * *
DeBasement was buzzing when we arrived, and the other guys were already a couple of drinks ahead of us. Tom insisted on a few shots to help us catch up, and by the fourth one, I was feeling a little light-headed. The club was one I’d never been in before. It was a karaoke bar with a difference. The music available consisted of many obscure rock and indie tunes, and the majority of the people getting up to sing didn’t care that they were making fools of themselves. I think alcohol may have played its part.
I wasn’t exactly scintillating company after the week I’d had, and I would rather have been at home drinking beer and watching rubbish on TV. But the more drunk I became, the more the lads insisted I got up to sing. Apparently to ‘cheer me up’. Of course, I refused, preferring to watch everyone else strut their stuff in the limelight. I was in no frame of mind to laugh and joke, even in light of the relief I felt from Elise’s admission.
I got increasingly pissed off as the guys badgered me. I was okay with drinking myself into a stupor and trying to stay in the background. That is until my so-called friend, Jake, asked if I’d made things up with my family. Why the hell bringthatparticular topic up and ruin my already crap night?
Jake had drunk far too much, and regardless of what I said, he wouldn’t let it go. ‘I just don’t get it though, Fin. They’re yourparents. Surely they’ll come around? Isn’t it worth at least trying to sort it out? I’d give anything to still have mine around. You don’t want to leave things like this and regret it, mate.’
I clenched my jaw and responded through gritted teeth, trying desperately not to lose my temper. ‘You have no clue what went on, Jake. You’ve no idea how much I’ve tried with them. Can’t you just drop it, eh?’
He shrugged his shoulders and held up his hands in surrender. I disappeared into my own head after that. Anger at the whole sorry situation churned anew in my stomach, along with the alcohol, leaving me with a bitter taste in my mouth and an even more bitter taint on my heart.
* * *
I’d never considered myself as having a duplicitous personality, but there I was stomping round a stage in a bloody karaoke club after telling my friends how ridiculous it was to see people up there and how there wasno way in hellI’d be following suitinmy suit.
I looked out over the blurry crowd as the bitterness of the lyrics seeped from my every pore. If only the man was here to listen. If only the father I had idolised and worshipped all my life could hear the way he made me feel. ‘In the End’ by Link Park was a great song choice and expressed my feelings better than I ever could using my own words.
After everything I’d done for him. After everything I’d given up so I could be the perfect son. Following in his footsteps even though I had no real passion for corporate law. Everything I ever did was to gain his approval, and it never happened. Regardless of how much of my life I handed over to him, nothing was ever good enough. And now I was being blamed for the fact that my fiancée had fallen in love with someone else on a business trip. A triphehad sent her on. It really took the biscuit, that’s for sure.
Words flowed from my lips through my gritted teeth as I pictured his face on each of those staring up at me open-mouthed. Their actual faces were already hazy in the bright stage lights, making it easy for my alcohol-induced imagination to take over. I clipped the mic back in its stand and dragged it along the stage with one hand as I pointed at the multiple faces of my father in the crowd. It felt good. Cathartic somehow.He would despise the fact that his lawyer son was up there making a fool of himself.
But I didn’t give a shit.
In fact, that tiny piece of knowledge made me enjoy it all the more. I leaned forward so I could see the real faces in the crowd. Real people watching me and dancing to the songIhad chosen. It freaked me out, and I snapped myself into an upright position, dragged from my bizarre fantasy of telling himwhat I thought.
The song ended.
The place erupted.
I almost passed out.
I was dragged from the stage by my group of friends. I was slapped on the back and congratulated with such vigour that it took me completely by surprise. Their words registered in my brain but I felt like I was having some kind of out-of-body experience.
‘Bloody hell, Hunter! Whatwasthat?!’
‘You’re a natural up there, buddy.’
‘You’ve been holding out on us.’
‘Abso-bloody-lutely amazing, mate.’
What the hell had I done?
My heart pounded in my chest so hard I felt it would tear right through the bones and skin that encased it. My mouth dried up and I stared. Just stared into the crowd of familiar faces grinning from ear to ear as they adulated me.
‘You’re some kind of Jekyll and Hyde character, Hunter. Shit!’
Jekyll and Hyde? Was that a good thing?
