AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hesnatchedyou right out of the air!” she hissed, quoting one of their favorite movies,The Emperor’s New Groove.
“That he did,” Nikki replied as flat as she could muster. She finally chanced a glance at her friend.
Al was looking at her, perplexed. “Nothing, huh? No feelings whatsoever.”
“I feel nothing,” Nikki replied, still flat.
Al backed away and waved her face with a hand. “You are a stronger woman than me because I felt things and I wasn’t even involved.”
Nikki chuckled and looked to Asa who was singing and playing some Elton John medley. He was so stupid talented it was ridiculous.
André returned and Nikki didn’t acknowledge him.
Because she needed to prove a point to herself. Right now, their lives intersected. But as soon as the lounge was finished, he’d be gone, and she was not going to spend another two years hoping he’d come back.
André eased onto a stool and regaled Al with all the same information that Nikki had told her that morning about the renovation and the baseball game and the car accident. Which just made Nikki that much more relieved that she’d told her friend what was happening. Otherwise, this night could have been hella awkward.
She took a sip of her drink and glanced through the people around her.
Who was she kidding?
It was still hella awkward.
“I just want to thank everyone for always being so gracious with their tips and compliments,” Asa said from the piano bench. “Right now, I want to invite a friend of mine up here to sing with me. Nikki?”
Nikki bugged her eyes out at Asa and shook her head. The small bar crowd easily found her and began making noise for her to get up there.
“C’mon, Nik,” Asa said, his fingers tickling the keys. “I can’t do this one without you.”
“Bullshit,” she said loud enough that the people closest to them laughed.
“Are you going up there?” André asked.
“What?” Nikki shook her head. “I don’t sing.”
André slow blinked. “I don’t remember it that way.”
Gah!
Her heart dipped and she darted her eyes to Al who was watching their interaction with amused suspicion.
Dammit!
Which meant her choices were to go up there and embarrass herself, or stay where she was and risk more heavy eye contact.
She slid off the stool and finished her second drink in one smooth swallow.
Asa made room for her on the piano bench and she happened to look out into the crowd and immediately found André.
Son of a motherfucker.
“You’re joking, right?” she asked Asa.
Asa shook his head. “Please. I love it when you sing.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she said.
“C’mon. What was it you said to me yesterday? You’re a talented and gifted musician. I think we’ve both been stuck in the worst breakup of our lives.”
