Second Chances : Chapter 7
#6 of Ar
Author's Note - I just wanted to thank Sam softpaw for editing this chapter too :). Also, I am worried about the endings to my chapters being too repetitive so I'm asking you guys to comment on how you think my endings are and if your getting bored with how I end my chapters... I hope not but I'm still worried so please comment :). Oh, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record I want to thank everyone who's been faving/voting/watching/ and especially commenting. As usual there are gay themes in this story so if that bothers you... go away.
"Trust me," that was all I needed to say for the tension in his body to relax away as I pulled him towards the door. I was honestly surprised at my confidence as we approached the front of the building rather quickly. I almost ran to the door so I didn't lose this surprising confidence half-way to the door and turn around. I had probably walked through that front door at least a hundred times, but never with another person standing beside me, never with Luke standing beside me. At least he said he had been there before, which translates to they had seen him in there before. Kat's was the kind of place that only regulars went to, so everyone noticed a new face, it had the kind of atmosphere where everyone knew everyone and they all were good friends. Truthfully they were, this was the luckiest find of my life, if I didn't have this place to utilize I would've tried to off myself a long time ago. The door was in plain view and thank whoever's up there Ronnie's the door man tonight, Hallelujah. Ronnie was the regular doorman on Fridays and he loved to watch me and 'orange cat' sing together, apparently our once a week performance is one of his favourites. He would definitely let Luke and I in.
"Hey Sugar!" I yelled to the Doberman. Ronnie was a tough looking guy with a low gravelly voice, reminds me of Johnny Cash, but he really was one of the sweetest guys you could ever meet hence his nickname 'Sugar'. I was told it originated from the title of one of Cash's songs 'Sugar time', see I'm not the only one who he reminded of Cash. That's another thing I forgot to mention, everyone who sings on stage is referred to by nickname usually. It was kind of a gag we liked to play with the newbie's; some of them will never learn our real names.
"Hey black cat," he rumbled back at me. Yup that's my nickname, it had to do with what I sang every Friday, not with whom I was or what I looked like.
"Who's black cat?" Luke whispered to me, and I couldn't help but giggle, I also noticed that Sugar caught his whisper and was giving his deep belly laugh.
"That's me," I replied after my small outburst. He gave me a look that was adorable, the one that puppies give you when they were confused; I just about melted right on the spot. "It's ok, I doubt Sugar's gonna let me leave without showing you why I'm called that," I smiled softly as I eased the words onto him and I saw a few things plainly on his face. Confusion, probably because he was starting to understand exactly HOW familiar I am with this place, and excitement, he was excited for who knows what reason. Maybe it was to see me perform? If it was, I was going to give it my all, just for him. I usually lose myself in the emotion of the song and my singing isn't all that impressive to begin with, I had some experience and that was it. Plus I always sang with 'orange cat' and he was an amazing singer. I honestly don't know why he lets me onstage with him.
"So you bringing the 'Thursday night newbie' in with you?" he laughed again as Luke blushed. It was so cute I almost died. I have a thing for blushing, I know I do it a lot but it's not the same, when it's on a stud like Luke it makes my heart flutter for him and I just want to hold him forever. That is one of my favourite things about Luke, there was never any guessing game, and he wore his emotions on his sleeve.
"It's ok," I consoled as I turned to face him, "it's just regulars in there, new faces stick out like a sore thumb, mine did too when I first started coming here." I started going inside and Sugar put his hand on my shoulder stopping me before I could open the door.
"Orange cat is on in 15 min, you'd better let him know you're here, he'll be pissed if you're here and you two don't sing together," he smiled at me gently with his voice in a strange combination of low gravel and sweet syrup.
"Will do Sugar," I replied as I opened the door and walked in to a wave of the most terrible drunk version of 'Sexy Back' ever preformed on a nightly bases. If 'Sway' was singing, it was always terrible because he was always drunk, hence the name. We had discussed 'Stagger' or 'Drunk' but it was soon decided that those were a little too obvious as to what we were alluding to. Luke followed close behind me as I made my way to the bar in the back 'orange cat' was the bartender there.
He had apparently spotted me before I made it to the bar because as soon as I got within shouting range he yelled to me, "Now I gotta go see Jerry about changing my song," he grinned manically, "I guess the cats are out to play a little early this week." I hate it when he refers to us singing as 'playing', it irritates me because it can easily be misconstrued as something more. I made my best 'frowny face' as he walked over to the other bartender and whispered something in his ear, probably asking him to cover for the lion while he talked to Jerry. I actually didn't know 'orange cat's' real name, before I came his name was 'Passion' and I suspected that whenever I wasn't around he still was referred to as that but, I never got his real name and I was ok with that. For some reason Orange Cat had taken a liking to me, and whenever I was there we sang the same song, every week. You'd think that the regulars would get tired of hearing us sing the same song every Friday at 7:00 p.m. and that was all we sang but, we were still loved. The song we sang wasn't even originally a duet, the golden lion had given me a sheet of paper that divided up the lyrics between us one night 7 months ago and simply said 'will you sing with me?' and that was that. The rest is really history.
"Wow," Luke broke into my reminiscing, not unpleasantly either, "you're about to sing with the guy I was gonna take you to go see. I've never seen him sing with anyone else before, now I at least know why you were laughing when we pulled up in the car," he said this contemplatively. Not really accusing more like he was just saying his thoughts out loud as they came to him. At this point the lion was back and grinning like a maniac, he always smiled like that, showing all his teeth, I once told him if he were ever to perform onstage he would make the perfect 'Cheshire Cat'. He just laughed at the comment.
"Were third up in the queue," he said to me, in an almost bouncy way. He was always so energetic; it made me more jealous of him than anything else.
"Ok were gonna go get a table then," I said waiving to him with the 'one handed flick' that I loved to use. I don't know why I liked it so much; it just said 'nonchalant' to me. The bar wasn't really a normal bar on the inside, the stage was obviously the main event as all the round tables squeezed together in the dark with the only light emanating dimly from the stage with little metal beige fold out chairs. This place really was only there for regulars, I think anyone else who came would think it was a dump. We got a seat two rows away from stage left. Perfect. The next two songs went by fairly quickly as my nervousness built up. I knew what I had planned and I was going to give it my all for Luke, but what if I messed up? What if Luke laughed at the song, it was a pretty ridiculous eighty's song when you thought about it. Would he never speak to me again if I embarrassed him?
"Black and Orange cat are up next," interrupted my thoughts as Jerry announced to the crowd, also with energy I envied, "and I'm sure all our regulars know what's coming up next!" Orange cat and I walked up to the stage and I gathered every ounce of courage I had in my body as I picked up my mic. The lion picked his up and I walked over to him and leaned into his ear as the base and drums started and said with all the strength in my heart and a forced smile on my face
"I'll take lead this time, sound good?"
"I was waiting for that Black cat. Fire away."