Page 153 of The Holy Grail
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the lovely Jules, and she’s going to blow everyone here …” the DJ trailed off to let the innuendo land and draw a few catcalls, whistles, and good-natured shouts before continuing with, “away, with her version of “Hot Stuff” by the late, great, Donna Summer.” After another round of cheering (had she inadvertently picked a fan favorite?), he finished with, “So, let’s give it up for Jules, and her first time doing karaoke!”
A few more whistles split the air, as well as cries of “Karaoke virgin!” and with the moment almost upon her, Jules found Evan and Malcom in the crowd, both with hugegrins on their faces, clearly excited for her. It gave her a little boost—as did telling herself she was JulesfuckingShaw—which was just enough to straighten her spine, and when the first notes of the music began, she turned her attention to the screen where the lyrics began appearing. She was actually grateful for having heard the song a few times, so she wasn’t going in blind, and that helped her come out of the gate strong. Once people started cheering her on, she really found her groove, and during the first chorus, she held the microphone out to the crowd, encouraging them to sing along, like she was a rock star.
Because she totally was.
By the time the song was over, she felt like she should be taking her act on the road, she’d killed it so hard, shaking her ass to add to the performance. After handing the microphone back to the DJ, she took a quick bow and then made her way over to Evan and Malcom, who pulled her in for a hug.
“That wassomuch fun!” she practically yelled, sweaty and out of breath.
“Oh, my God,” Evan said. “You totally shredded that song.”
“You sounded like Kim Carnes,” Malcom told her.
“Who?”
“She sings “Bette Davis Eyes”.”
Her eyes widened in recognition of the song. “Oh, maybe I should sing that one next!”
To their amusement, she dashed over to the stage once more.
Alone again, Evan said, “I’m going to get another round of drinks. Do you want to find us a table?”
Malcom nodded, and headed to the upper level, managing to find an unoccupied table. As he was sitting down and watching the next karaoke performance (an energetic version of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy”) an attractive man walked by, slowing down as he made eye contact with Malcom, then coming to a stop several feet away. The man glanced back for several moments, before reversing direction and heading back to the table.
“Are you … here alone?” he asked.
Momentarily shocked into silence, partly because the man appeared to be even younger than Evan, and partly because Malcom had never been hit on like this … if he was, in fact, being hit on.
“No, I’m here with someone. Two someones, actually,” he finally answered, taking in the man’s semi-preppy look and style, and experiencing a moment of surrealism. Malcom had never thought he’d be in a place like this, being deemed attractive and worthy, andbeing approached by other men. It was nice, feeling like he belonged in a gay bar, with no one questioning it, or thinking it strange or wrong.
The feeling of being accepted, and seen as ‘normal’ was heady stuff, indeed.
He could get used to this.
“My loss.” The man looked disappointed, but not surprised, and gave Malcom a little head tilt. “It never hurts to ask, though, right?”
“No, it doesn’t,” Malcom agreed, before adding, “And this might sound really strange, but I do appreciate you asking.”
He was still sort of smiling when Evan returned with the drinks, along with Jules.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Evan wanted to know, as he sat down at the table.
“I just got hit on,” Malcom answered. “By a man.”
Jules leaned over to give him a kiss. “Good for you.”
Evan found Jules’ exuberance kind of amusing. “Was this man hot?”
Malcom took a drink of his bourbon and nodded.
“Was he hotter than Evan?” Jules asked.
“No, but he was younger than Evan, I think. He also seemed a little shy.”
“Well, he obviously has good taste,” Evan said, giving Malcom a kiss as well, but this one had a bit more steam behind it than the one Jules had given him.
They finished their drinks and enjoyed watching some more karaoke, all agreeing Jules was the best so far. She’d been a little disappointed to find out she likely wouldn’t get another chance to be on stage again, as there were too many people signing up, so she had to be content to dance with Evan and Malcom, which was a pretty good consolation prize. The three of them danced until after 2:00 a.m., engaging in some moderate, three-way grinding, just enough to get them all rather worked up, at which point Malcom pulled them to his side and said, “Let’s go back to my place. I have a surprise for you two.”
