AllFreeNovel
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The entire team is already here, sitting at one long table near the front. Gwen and a guy I assume is her boyfriend are up on stage, singing an ear-splitting version of a Celine Dion song. The only positive of them being up there is that there’s an empty seat next to Allie at the moment. She’s dressed in a red V-neck top and her hair is piled on top of her head in a bun. The sight of her nearly does me in because she’s so incredibly gorgeous and there’s a distinct possibility that as of a couple of days from now, I’ll never see her again.
As soon as I sit down, I can feel her mood change from relaxed and happy to cold as ice, even though her eyes haven’t left the stage. I wave a quick hello to the rest of the team, then lean in to Allie’s ear. “Hi. I really need to talk to you.”
“You really don’t.”
On stage, Gwen is belting out, “SOMETIMES I AM FRIGHTENED BUT I’M READY TO LEARN…!!!!!!”
I wince, but Allie stares up at her friend as if she’s Celine Dion herself. “Allie, I need to fix this.”
“Not possible.”
“ABOUT THE POWER OF LOVE….”
“Definitely possible and absolutely necessary. I need a chance to explain.”
She scoffs, then turns to me. “Explain what? How you tricked me into sleeping with you?”
The crowd erupts into applause, which I’m pretty sure is because they’re finally done torturing us all.
“I didn’t trick you,” I say, feeling my desperation morph to irritation. “I wanted you just as much as you wanted me.”
Shaking her head, Allie says, “Don’t bother. Seriously. There’s nothing you can say that will change anything.” She gives me a hard look. “I don’t even know why you’re here.”
“I’m here because I’m in love with you and I need to find a way to get back to what we had.”
“What we had was a giant lie,” she says. “Now, you’re sitting in Gwen’s seat, so if you don’t mind…”
“No, of course,” I answer, getting up. I turn and see Gwen standing in front of me.
She smiles, seemingly unaware of what’s going on. “Hudson! I want you to meet Ty.” She turns to him. “Ty, this is Hudson. Allie’s new fella.”
Urgh. Not anymore. I hold out my hand and we shake hands. “You do a mean Celine.”
He rolls his eyes in a self-deprecating way. “If you had told me a year ago that I’d be on stage singing, I’d have said you had the wrong guy,” he says, throwing a smile at Gwen. “The right woman’ll change you in ways you never expected.”
While we’re talking, Gwen pulls an empty chair from the table behind ours and pulls it up to the table. “Here, now you and Allie can sit together.”
Allie stiffens, and out of desperation, I say, “You know what? I think I’m going to get up and sing. You know, get it over with early before I overthink it.”
Gwen claps her hands and grins at Allie. “He’s going to sing for you!”
I walk over to the DJ, whose face immediately lights up when he recognizes me. “Whoa! You’re Hudson Finch.”
“Hi, nice to meet you,” I tell him. “I’d like to go with The Righteous Brothers, ‘You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’.’”
He gives me a nod. “Solid choice. Watch the beginning because you have to start singing before the music kicks in, so you really have to follow the prompter.”
“Good tip. Thanks,” I say, giving him a thumbs up.
A second later, I’m standing with the microphone in my hand, feeling stupid. I take a deep breath and say, “This one is for the beautiful, talented, incredibly smart Dr. Allegra Cammareri, who’s just made the most important discovery in SETI research since the late, great Frank Drake.” The team starts to cheer, but Allie just purses her lips and gives me a quick eyebrow raise that says she’s not impressed.
I give the DJ a nod and he starts up the song. “You never close your eyes anymore…”
My heart pounds and I feel a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck, but on the outside, I’m giving Tom Cruise in Top Gun vibes. I’m really going for it, occasionally pointing at Allie, smiling at other people from the team, holding the mic out on the chorus to get everyone to join in. Pretty soon, everyone in the place is clapping along and belting out the lyrics with me. To anyone here, I look like the most confident guy in the world, but inside, I’m dying. This isn’t working and I don’t know why I thought it would. I just want to throw her over my shoulder, take her back to my place, and beg her to give me another chance. But since obviously that would be illegal, I just keep performing. When the song ends, the group gives me a standing ovation, and I high five people as I make my way back to my chair.
As soon as I sit down, Allie gets up. “My turn to sing.”
“Oh! Some Dolly?” Gwen asks.
