First and Always: The Forever Duet

by Brooke, Rebecca

  “Will you stop flirting?” Dylan called out.

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Why the hell am I friends with these fuckers?”

  A hand landed on my shoulder. I glanced down to see Kylee’s bright green nail polish. “Because most of the time you love us.”

  Christine took the guitar from my hand.

  “Most of the time. Not so sure about tonight.”

  She winked. “You still love us. Especially me, ’cause the next time you want, I’m gonna take Miles and Dylan out to the bar for a few hours to give the two of you some time alone.”

  “Okay, I take it back. Tonight, I still love you as long as you don’t forget your promise.” I pressed a kiss to her cheek.

  “Just remember it the next time I need a favor and we have a deal.”

  “Whatever you want you can have.”

  I reached out to Christine. “Come on. I’m going to grab one of the drums.”

  “I’m right behind you.”

  Kylee and I walked over to the drum kit, dismantling it and getting all of the drums in the cases. Once we had them all put away, we started taking things out to the van. It only took about three trips before we had everything packed up.

  I shut the back doors and found Christine waiting a few steps away.

  Miles sauntered over to her. “I’m glad you came tonight. We don’t always give Aiden so much shit, but he deserves it every once in a while.” He winked at her. “I hope you’ll come see us play again one of these days.”

  She smiled at him. “I think I might, as long as Aiden asks me to come.”

  “That’s all but guaranteed.”

  Kylee leaned out the car window. “Miles, get your ass in this van or I’m leaving it here.”

  “Oh shit, she’s driving?” Miles threw his thumb over his shoulder at Kylee, who flipped him off and started to pull away.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to test her. She’s likely to leave you here.”

  “You’ve got a point.” He jogged around to the passenger side of the van.

  “Bye, guys, have fun tonight,” Kylee yelled out the window before pulling away from the curb.

  I could see hands waving out the window as the brake lights lit up at the end of the parking lot. A few seconds later she turned onto the highway and the van drove out of sight.

  I pulled the keys out of my pocket and turned to face Christine. “I guess we better get on the road and find something to eat.”

  She laughed. “Let’s go enjoy the peace then.”

  We got in the car and headed home.

  “I hope they weren’t too much to deal with tonight.”

  “Not at all. They were picking on you not me, but I could tell they were only doing it because they care about you.”

  I nodded. “They’re great. With all my family and friends close to home, they’re really all I have here.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing we got to meet.”

  “A very good thing.” I reached over and slid my palm across hers, linking our fingers together.

  We stopped by a pizza place on the way home, where I learned one thing Christine and I did not agree on—pizza toppings. It gave us something to laugh about when it came out covered in broccoli and spinach on one side and pepperoni and sausage on the other.

  I parked in a space right in front of her apartment, and like the last time, I was reluctant to leave. This time, I got out of the car with her.

  I led Christine over to the door and she unlocked it. “That was a great show tonight. I loved seeing it up close.”

  “I’m glad you came.”

  Christine stepped closer and leaned up on her toes to press her lips to mine. I brushed my hand up and down her arm before plunging my fingers into the thick hair at the base of her neck. Holding her lips tightly to mine and dipping my tongue to her mouth. They twisted and danced around each other while my body grew hard as steel.

  Thoughts of reaching for the hem of her shirt hit my mind and I stepped back, breaking the connection of our lips.

  What the hell was I thinking?

  We were standing on her porch, out in the open where anyone could see us. The chemistry between us unreal, starting out slow then growing into an explosion until neither of us could think straight.

  “I think I should go home.” I reached down and adjusted myself in my jeans.

  “Okay”—her own breath came out in shallow pants—“but I think you should text me later in the week so we can go out again.”

  “Don’t worry, I planned on it.” I bent down and pressed a brief kiss to her lips, then took a step back out of her reach.

  “Night, Christine.”

  “Night, Aiden. Just remember, next time it’s my pick.”

  I back down the first step. “Anything you want.” I moved down another step while Christine went through the doorway.

  “Until then.”

  She walked into the apartment and shut the door. I don’t think I could have found anyone more perfect for me.

  8

  Sitting in the passenger seat of Christine’s car, I tried to figure out where the hell she was taking me. I’d promised to let her pick, but she refused to tell me where we were going. Even after four years of living here, I still didn’t have a great grasp of the towns surrounding the college campus. Thank God for GPS or I’d never be able to find any of our gigs.

  She made another left. A few different businesses came into view, but they were mostly dark. It wasn’t until she pulled into a parking lot farther down the street that I realized the place was all lit up.

  I glanced out of the front window. “All this way for a bar?”

  We’d been in the car for almost forty minutes. There were plenty of good bars near campus. Why drive all the way there?

  She smirked and shook her head. “Not just a bar.”

  Before I could ask what she meant, she was climbing out of the car and walking toward the front door. I jumped out and hurried after her. The distinct beep of a car locking hit my ears as I reached the door and pulled it open for her.

  The place was packed. But that wasn’t the first thing I noticed.

  Karaoke Night.

  It was written on the board on the wall as soon as you walked in.

  I laid a hand on her arm, stopping her from moving farther into the bar area. “Karaoke night? You said karaoke would be a bad choice for date night with you.”

  She shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m a little selfish. I want to see you perform by yourself.”

  I chuckled. “So sure I like karaoke.”

  She moved into the bar area, taking one of the small tables up near the stage that no one had claimed yet. “You like to sing. You’re telling me you’ve never done karaoke before?”

  I sat in the seat across from her. “I’ve never actually done karaoke before.”

  Her head whipped around from the stage back to me. Her eyes were wide. “You haven’t?” She went to push back from the table. “We don’t have to stay. We can do something—”

  I placed my hand on hers. “No, I’d love to do karaoke with you.”

  Her shoulders relaxed and she let out a sigh. “I thought I’d really messed up.”

  It might be too soon to tell her, but I was starting to fall hard and fast for Christine.

  “I’ll love anything you want to do as long as I get to do it with you.”

  The green of her eyes sparkled under the lights from the stage.

  I stood from the chair. “How about I grab us a drink? What do you want?”

  “I’ll take a Corona.”

  “I’ll be right back. You can start thinking about what song we’re going to sing while I’m gone.”

  “We’re going to sing?” she sputtered.

  I winked and turned back to the bar, my shoulders giving away my laughter as I went to order our drinks.

  I flagged down the bartender and ordered a Corona and a Sam Adams. With a beer in each hand, I returned to the
table.

  “Think of anything yet?” I passed the bottle of Corona over and watched as she pushed the lime into it.

  “Nothing that won’t offend everyone’s ears in a three-mile radius.”

  “I’m sure you’ll hear much worse tonight.”

  She laughed and lifted the bottle to her lips. “I highly doubt that.”

  “How about this? I’ll sing one song by myself, but you have to sing one with me.”

  She tilted her head from side to side. “Deal.”

  “Okay, so now you need to pick a song.”

  “Don’t you want to pick one?”

  I took a sip of my beer. “I know what I’m going to sing. What do you want to sing with me?”

  “One where I don’t have to do much singing.” She laughed.

  “Where’s the fun in that?”

  The lights on the stage grew brighter as a man stepped out to the middle.

  “Welcome to the Arrow Taproom’s karaoke night. You can find the sign up on our app. I’ll be back in ten to get us started.”

  The lights dimmed as he stepped off the stage. I tugged my phone from my pocket and downloaded the app. I found the song I wanted, then handed her the phone to let her pick our song.

  She scrolled through while drinking her beer. I knew when she found the one she was looking for. The bottle slammed down onto the table and both hands moved to the phone as she made her selection.

  A smirk curled her lips when she handed the phone back to me.

  “Not going to tell me which one you picked?”

  “Nope, it’s a surprise.”

  “How can you be sure I know the song?”

  She quirked a brow. “Are there many songs you don’t know?”

  “Not really.” I took a swig of my beer and set the bottle back down.

  The lights on the stage came back up and the guy from earlier returned to the microphone. “Let’s jump right in with our first sign up.”

  He called out a name and a girl with short, shoulder-length blond hair came forward to take the microphone. The music started and I almost instantly recognized the Adele song now pouring out of the speakers. At least until the woman started to sing, then I wanted to cover my ears at the screechy tone to her voice.

  I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grimacing. One of the reasons I usually didn’t do karaoke was currently standing on the stage with a microphone in her hand. When the song blissfully ended, I leaned over to Christine. “I doubt it could be that bad.” She giggled and shook her head.

  The next person took the stage. A vast improvement from the person before. Throughout the song, the table started to shake slightly. When I moved my leg out a bit, I realized why. Christine’s leg bounced rapidly up and down under it. One thing the website didn’t tell you was what order you fell in to perform.

  Three more people had gone before my name was called to take the stage. I set my beer down and made my way to the stage. The words popped up on the screen in front of me, not that I needed them. I’d sung the song enough times before to do it all on my own.

  When I looked out into the crowd, Christine smiled up at me while I waited for the music to begin. It took a few moments, but finally Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill” filled the room. The minute I opened my mouth and started to sing, I noticed more eyes begin to turn to the stage.

  Conversations slowed and people started to bob their heads in time with the music. I shouldn’t have been shocked by the reaction, I did this professionally, but this was one of the first times I ever performed on a stage without a band to back me up.

  Excitement filled my chest as I kept singing. When I caught Christine’s gaze again, I couldn’t help but focus on the sweet, yet sexy smile directed at me. I finished the song and cheers filled the place.

  The guy took the microphone back, eyes wide. Instead of calling the next group right away, he turned to me. “Damn, you should be doing this for a living.”

  “I’m working on that.” I winked and stepped off the stage.

  He shook his head and looked at the next person on his phone.

  “Guess we’re in luck tonight. Our next singers are Aiden Cormack and Christine Davis.”

  I stopped with my hands on the top of the chair and reached out to Christine instead. “It’s going to be fine.”

  Her eyes were wide, but she slipped her hand in mine and let me lead her back to the stage. She stepped up next to me and took the microphone that was handed to her. I could see her hands shake as she wrapped both around it.

  I covered the top of the mic. “It’s going to be fine.”

  A few seconds later “Broken Strings” by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado started playing. I’d been so worried about Christine, I hadn’t even bothered to look at what song she’d picked when it came up on the screen.

  Luckily it was an older song I knew. I opened my mouth to start the song and Christine joined in when it was her turn. As the first verse blended into the chorus, I noticed her drop one hand away from the mic. She turned to me and I held out my hand to her, drawing her closer as we continued to sing, ignoring the crowd watching us.

  We were lost in each other’s eyes. It was hard not to notice the fires blazing in Christine’s jade green depths. There were no words for how badly I wanted to drop the mic on the ground, pull her into my arms, and kiss her until we both needed to come up for air.

  The whole room faded away until the song came to an end and the room erupted into cheers. Reluctantly, I dragged my gaze away from Christine and back out to the crowd. I waved and after giving the mics back, led her back to the table.

  A quick stop at the bar for two more beers and I passed her the Corona, then took my seat next to her to watch the rest of the show.

  I leaned over to whisper in her ear, “See, that wasn’t as bad as you thought.”

  She giggled. “That’s because your voice covered up mine.”

  “Nah.” I waved her off.

  “Yes, but I still had fun.” She moved her chair closer and looped her arm through mine. “Want to get out of here after these?” She lifted her bottle. “Gina won’t be home until tomorrow.”

  The fire that had sparked in her eyes while we were singing returned. I could feel the heat of her hand through the fabric of my shirt. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed to not tip the bottle back and drain it like some guy at a frat party.

  We sat through the next few performances. My leg bouncing rapidly up and down as my desire to get the hell out of there grew. The bottle of Sam Adams sat empty on the table and I couldn’t stop my eyes from darting to her Corona every few minutes. Three-quarters filled. Half filled.

  Was I reading this situation entirely wrong?

  She suggested we leave, but then drank her beer slowly as if she was settling in for a night of listening to karaoke. It seemed to take even longer to finish the last quarter of the bottle. When she set down the empty bottle, there was no mistaking the heat in her eyes.

  But my confidence had already taken a hit for the night. What did she really want?

  “Ready?” She stood up.

  “Um…yeah.”

  I followed her out to the car silently, still trying to get my head on straight.

  We climbed inside and Christine pulled out of the lot, starting back toward campus. Once we entered the highway, she slipped her hand across the center console and over my thigh.

  Jesus, I’d never felt so conflicted in my life.

  Was that what women felt like when they weren’t sure what a guy wanted from them?

  Damn, it was frustrating. Normally, I wouldn’t be worried about moving too fast or too slow, but this was the first time I didn’t want to ruin a relationship by making the wrong decision.

  “God, I wanted to get out of there before now.”

  I turned to look at her, pretty sure she couldn’t see the incredulous look on my face. “Really?”

  She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “Umm…yeah.
I told you I wanted to leave. Did you want to stay?”

  I chuckled at the absurdity of the situation. “Nope. I thought maybe you wanted to stay.”

  “Nah, I just didn’t want to seem rude like we were running out right after we went.”

  I wanted to smack myself. Of course Christine would worry about offending others. She never wanted to seem rude or hurt anyone’s feelings.

  I dropped my head back against the headrest and just started to laugh.

  “What are you laughing at?”

  “Let’s just say my head’s been twisted in knots for the last hour or so.”

  “Why?”

  How did I say this without sounding like a complete asshole? “I thought you wanted to leave for one reason, then it took us so long to go I thought I’d been wrong.”

  Her breathing sped up. “You are definitely not wrong. It killed me to sit there.”

  I reached over to where her hand rested on the gear shift and lifted it to my lips to press a kiss to the back. “Woman, you have me all tied up. I find I second-guess myself all the time, trying to figure out exactly what you want. What will make you happy.”

  She took our exit and slowed to a stop at the red light. Shifting in her seat, she turned to face me. “Don’t second-guess yourself. Everything you’ve done has been absolutely perfect. Go with your gut, you’ve been right every time.”

  A car blew its horn behind us. Christine righted herself in the seat and put the car back in gear, shooting us down the street toward campus.

  You’ve been right every time.

  The words made my chest expand. They were everything I needed to hear. For a guy who could get up on stage and sing in front of crowds of people, I struggled with my confidence when it came to her.

  By the time she parked the car in front of her building, I was ready to take her upstairs and press my lips to every inch of her body. Her words had not only built my confidence in our time together, but it made the blood rush from my head south.

  I climbed out of the car, but somehow, Christine beat me out and to the front door. She unlocked it as I climbed the stairs, taking them two at a time. By the time she pushed it open, I’d made it to the top, curling my hands around her hips.

  She leaned back against me as the door swung open. I bent down and nipped at her ear. “I don’t think you want me to do what I have in mind out here in the open at your front door.”