Love in All the Wrong Places

by Audrey Harte

  Nate: I am stalking you on Facebook.

  Annie: Lol, why don’t you just send me a friend request?

  Nate: I just did, but you haven’t responded, yet.

  Annie: Oh, well, I’m driving to karaoke, so I’ll approve it now. Just give me a minute.

  Nate: No worries.

  Annie: So you saw my profile pic?

  Nate: Uh huh.

  Annie: And…you liked it?

  Nate: Uh huh.

  Annie giggled to herself as she texted back to Nate. Who knew a girl could become so flustered by those two simple words. “Uh huh.”

  Annie: I should be there in about fifteen minutes, give or take.

  Nate: Okay, I’ll see you there, beautiful.

  Annie: See you there.

  When she arrived at the karaoke bar twenty-five minutes later (there’d been an accident on the 405 south), Nate was already standing outside the bar, waiting for her. Luckily, there were a couple of open spots in the bar parking lot, so it didn’t take her long to park and climb out of her car. Hurrying towards him, she started apologizing.

  “I’m so sorry. There was an accident on the 405.”

  “Oh, no worries – I just got here a minute ago myself.” He reached over to give her a warm hug, whispering in her ear. “I could eat you out right here, right this second in front of everybody.”

  Her stomach tightened and clenched automatically as she inhaled a sharp, quick breath at his words. Wow. Her hug tightened as she clung to him for a moment before reluctantly pulling back to smile and offer her hand to him.

  “My goodness, Mr. Skyles, you certainly do have a way with words.”

  Taking her hand and tucking her arm under his, he smiled wickedly at her and led the way into the softly lit karaoke bar. Annie spotted her friends as soon as they entered the bar, as they had already staked out several tables in the far corner of the room next to the stage.

  Leading the way over to them, Annie quickly introduced Nate to everyone and then waved the waitress down to take their drink order. Nate had told her he didn’t drink alcohol, but he didn’t have a problem if she did, so she asked if he’d like a Coke and then placed her order, asking for a double peach Kamikaze shot.

  There were so many songs to choose from, but Annie really wanted to impress him with her first song, so she had to pick something she knew really well. Finally, she settled on Because the Night by 10,000 Maniacs and scribbled her name, the artist and song title on the karaoke slip and got up to walk it over to the KJ. Justin, the KJ, had been working there for as long as she’d been coming to karaoke and they were old friends. He greeted her with a hug and took her slip, nodding at her choice, which he knew to be one of her favorites.

  When she sat back down at their table, Nate leaned close to murmur in her ear. “Hmm, should I be jealous?”

  Laughing, she shook her head at him. “That’s just Justin, my KJ.”

  “Your what?”

  “KJ…Karaoke Jockey.”

  “Oh,” he laughed. “I guess I am not hip to karaoke lingo.”

  “It’s okay. I had no idea what a KJ was the first time I came here either. Justin’s pretty cool, but all KJs can get kind of prickly if you don’t follow the ‘Proper Rules of Karaoke Etiquette’,” she confided in him as she grinned, using her fingers to make air quotes.

  Nate laughed out loud. “The what?”

  “I know, it sounds silly, but Justin posted these rules of karaoke etiquette on Facebook one night while he was here working. I laughed the whole time I was reading them, but most of them made a lot of sense. I can’t imagine if I had to do his job night after night and maintain my patience with the patrons.”

  “So what are some of these rules?”

  “Oh you know, mostly just common sense things like:

  Don’t tap on, drop or swing the microphones.

  Don’t sit in the crowd and try to sing louder than the singer. It’s annoying and makes you look arrogant.

  Submit one song at a time. Don’t give me your next song until you have sung your first.

  Don’t ask me, ‘When am I up next?’ I sometimes get annoyed and might lose your slip.

  Don’t try to bribe me into moving you up in the rotation. I will take you out of the rotation completely.

  Tipping is not a city in China. It’s common practice to tip $1 per song you get to sing.”

  “Wow, he has a lot of rules.”

  “Yeah, but like I said, most of them make sense.”

  “I guess.”

  “So are you going to sing something or are you just here to make fun of my singing?”

  “I don’t know about singing myself, but I wouldn’t make fun of your singing.”

  “Well, I hope I don’t give you a reason to,” Annie said with a grin, then raised her glass to toast. After clinking her tumbler against his glass of Coke, she tilted her head as she threw back the double shot with ease. Making a slight face, she patted the tabletop. “Woo! There we go.”

  “Good?”

  “Yeah, just strong.” Beckoning the waitress back over to their table, she ordered another double and some cheese fries. Mary, one of the girls in their group, had just been called onto the stage. Annie turned to watch her, listening to the opening chords of Landslide. “Oh I love this song,” she said to Nate, humming along as her friend began to sing.

  She continued to flip through the songbook, looking for her next song before she finally settled on Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The waitress brought their drinks and order of cheese fries just as her friend’s song ended, and then Justin called Annie’s name, saying she was up next. Frantically, she downed her second double shot and got up to walk to the stage, pausing by the KJ’s booth to hand him her next song slip.

  Climbing onto the stage and turning to adjust the mic stand to her height, she swallowed hard, feeling perspiration starting to bead on her forehead as she stood under the hot stage lights, waiting for her song to start. The beginning piano chords began to play and Annie leaned away from the mic, bending her head to the side as she lightly cleared her throat before facing the mic again. She began to sing the first verse, her voice ringing out clearly through the room; it was throaty, deep and sexy.

  Glancing at Nate as she sang and worked the crowd from the stage, she saw his mouth hanging open. Ha, so he didn’t really think she was going to be that good. Smiling to herself, she almost laughed. It was fun being able to surprise him like that.

  When she had sung the last note, Nate and her friends jumped to their feet and applauded loudly, whooping and hollering things like, “Go Annie! Woo hoo! Get it, girl!”

  Smiling happily, she made her way back to their table and thanked her friends as they complimented her on a song well sung.

  “Wow, you are really good, Annie. I mean, like seriously, you can really sing.”

  “Aw thanks,” she said, her face reddening from Nate’s praise.

  “Have you ever thought about pursuing a singing career?”

  “Oh, sure, I think almost every little girl dreams that, but I’ve never really done anything about it.”

  “You should audition for one of those talent shows.”

  “I know. I watch all of them: American Idol, X-Factor, The Voice and America’s Got Talent, but I’ve just never really felt inclined to audition myself.” She shook her head and smiled ruefully at him.

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know. Fear of failure, maybe?”

  “You shouldn’t let that hold you back. You’ve got a real gift.”

  Annie laughed. “You’ve only heard me sing one song.”

  “Well, when someone is really good, that’s all it should take.”

  “Okay stop. I’m starting to think that you’re trying to make me remain this shade of red like permanently.”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. But this isn’t the last time you’re going to hear it from me. I can’t wait for your next song.”

  “Ha, well now that I’ve made mysel
f such a tough act to follow, I’m bound to do worse on the next one.”

  Nate smiled and shook his head at her. “Somehow, I find that doubtful.”

  The waitress came by and asked how their fries were and if they needed any refills. Nate ordered another Coke and asked if she wanted another double, to which she nodded yes.

  “Are you going to be okay to drive?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah, I’ll be fine. This will be my last drink for the night and I usually stay until they kick us out, around one-thirty or so.”

  “You really stay out that late on a weeknight?”

  “Not usually, but I don’t get to karaoke very often, so it’s not too bad if I only do it once

  in a great while.”

  “Gotcha…well, I’m not sure I can stay that late, but I can probably manage until midnight or so.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. Justin called her friend, Ashley, the birthday girl, to the stage, and all of the girls in their party got up to accompany her to the mic. The whole bar sang Happy Birthday to Ashley, then hooted, hollered and cheered as the girls handed the mic to the birthday girl so she could sing her song. She had picked Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar and everyone went crazy as the song started, moving from the stage to the dance floor as they all yelled, “Dance party! Dance party!”

  Mary came over to Annie and tugged on her hand, ignoring her protests as she pulled her over to join them on the dance floor. They all sang the words together as they danced in front of the stage. Annie glanced back at Nate sitting at their table, an amused expression on his face.

  After the song was over, Annie headed back to their table and drank her last double Kamikaze of the night. She excused herself for a minute and turned to head to the ladies room. After freshening up and checking her make-up in the bathroom mirror, she turned to unlock the door, but as she opened it, she saw Nate standing there. He held his finger up to his lips and gently pushed her back into the bathroom, turning to lock the door behind him.

  A shiver of excitement ran through her as she realized what he was doing…fulfilling her secret fantasy. Without another word, he placed his hands on her hips and spun her around to face the sink. He fumbled in his pocket for a condom, unbuttoned his jeans and shoved them and his boxer briefs halfway down his legs, then reached down to slide her mini-skirt all the way up to her waist. She heard the crackle of the condom wrapper as she looked at him in the mirror, seeing him tear the packet open with his teeth.

  Looking down for a moment, he rolled the condom onto himself, then slid his hands in between her legs, gently yet firmly pushing them apart. Slowly, he ran his fingers back and forth between her legs, teasing her quickly moistening folds through the flimsy silken scrap of material that barely covered her. Moaning softly, she started to close her eyes, but he whispered in her ear.

  “No, don’t close them. I want to see you looking at me in the mirror as I fuck you. I’m going to take you hard and fast and you’re going to love it.”

  Annie became wetter with her growing need for him as she listened to the erotic instructions he was giving her. Swallowing hard, she nodded at his reflection, then gasped as she felt his hard length push against her thin panties, the only thing blocking him from entering her.

  Smoothly, he hooked a finger in the thong and jerked it to the side, pushing the tip of his cock in between her folds, slowly entering her. He continued to push himself deeper up into her tight wetness until he was fully encased by her. Then he told her to hang onto the side of the sink and he began to thrust hard and fast, pummeling his hips against hers as he took his pleasure from her.

  Reaching around, his eyes never left hers as he cupped a breast, pinching her nipple through the thin material of her dress, rolling the hardening peak between his fingers. She wasn’t wearing a bra and the feeling was enough to send her over the edge and she felt her legs go wobbly as she felt her orgasm begin to build.

  Nate continued to thrust vigorously into her, his eyelids half closing as his head tilted back. His lips parted in a soft moan as he came and he grunted as he slammed his hips against hers in two hard last thrusts, just as they both heard a loud knock on the bathroom door. Groaning in frustration, Annie rolled her eyes and giggled. Robbed of her orgasm, she snapped at the offending party, “Just a minute!”

  Nate quickly disposed of the condom, wrapping it in a paper towel before shoving it to the bottom of the trash can. He pulled his pants back up and tucked in his shirt, grinning at her as she shimmied her skirt back down over her hips. Smiling back at him, she took a moment to check her appearance in the mirror, making sure everything was smoothed back into place.

  Lifting her head, she prepared to be embarrassed as she walked out of the bathroom with a guy following her. Luckily, whoever had been waiting for them to exit the ladies’ room had finally given up and left the hallway, so no one witnessed them walking out of the bathroom together.

  They returned to their table and sat there for a few minutes, listening to an older man who was singing Fly Me to the Moon. His tone was rich and full, filling the bar with his beautiful, pure voice, even as his body had become gnarled and stooped with old age. Everyone cheered for him as he finished the song, then proudly walked off the stage, smiling broadly with his head held high. His table was near theirs and as he sat down, Nate leaned over to say something to him, making the elderly man smile again.

  “Thank you, young man,” she heard the man say.

  Smiling, she squeezed his hand before reaching for another song slip. It was almost her turn to sing again and she wanted to have another song ready to go. She was just starting to write it down when Justin called her name. Hurriedly, she finished scribbling the song title and then took a sip of water before getting to her feet and walking over to the stage once again. After she dropped a few bucks in the KJ’s tip jar and handed him her next slip, she turned to grab the mic from the stand.

  Her song started to play and looking directly at Nate this time, she began to sing to him. Halfway through the song, he glanced down at his phone which was lying on their table and frowned as he picked it up. He listened for a moment, started to say something, then got up from the table and started to walk out of the bar. Annie finished up her song and then stepped down from the stage. She sat back down and waited for a few minutes, not wanting to disturb his phone call, which was apparently urgent.

  After ten minutes had passed, she finally got up to go outside to check on him, but as she stepped outside the bar and looked around, she started to panic. He was nowhere to be seen. She walked to the parking lot next door to see if he had possibly walked to his car to finish the phone call, but the lot was empty except for a few cars – none of them a Honda Accord. Puzzled, Annie took out her cell phone and called him, waiting as it rang once and then went straight to voicemail. What the hell?

  Annie tried to calm herself, walking slowly back to the bar as she typed a furious text message to him.

  Annie: Um, what the fuck, Nate? Where did you go?

  Of course, there was no response. She stood outside for a few more minutes, bumming a much-needed cigarette from one of the guys standing outside the bar. Praying for patience and still wanting to think the best of him, she tried to think of a reasonable explanation for his disappearance. At first, she thought that maybe there was an emergency with one of the patients he sponsored and he had to go. But even in that scenario, she couldn’t imagine that he would just leave her there without a word, not even sending her a text to explain his sudden departure.

  Finally, she gave up and sent him one more text message.

  Annie: Really mature. Fuck me and then leave me here without a word. I hope to God you have a real emergency and aren’t the world’s biggest prick.

  With a heavy heart, she turned to go back into the bar to pay her bill and say goodbye to her friends. Unsurprisingly, he had left her to pay the bill, though all he had ordered was a few Cokes. Still, in her overly sensitive state, she was feeling royally dick
ed over.

  Ashley asked where her friend went and Annie made an excuse for him, saying he had a family emergency and had to leave. She wanted to slap her friend as she sat there nodding at her, with a knowing, sad look on her face. The evening had started on such a high note and had so rapidly plummeted to such a low point, that she was feeling emotional whiplash from the sudden turn of events.

  As she left the bar and climbed into her car to drive home, she wiped a tear from her cheek and gritted her teeth, glaring stubbornly at her reflection in the rearview mirror. I will not cry!

  Despite her determined resolve to not cry, she couldn’t keep the tears back as she drove home. She was a blubbering mess by the time she pulled in front of her apartment building. Praying that she wouldn’t run into anyone on her way through the courtyard, she hurried to unlock her front door and let herself in. She dropped her keys on the coffee table and kicked off her shoes, then headed straight for the bathroom to take a hot shower.

  Annie felt dirty and used and wanted nothing more than to wash the memory of his touch off her skin. As she stood under the scalding hot water with her forehead leaning against the shower wall, she cried her heart out. Angrily, she pounded her fist against the wall. Why was she so stupid and gullible? Why did guys keep doing these shitty things to her?

  She couldn’t understand how he could act like such a total gentleman and say all the right things and then just fuck her and leave her there without a word. What kind of person did something like that? He had even waited another night before having sex with her, as she was pretty sure he knew he could have had her that first night when he was hanging out with her and Alex at her apartment. What was the point of waiting that extra night if he was just going to walk out on her afterwards?

  But as the hot water continued to stream down over her body, she thought back to his emails where he had clearly been interested in public sexual encounters and she had to admit that he did find her in the Casual Encounters section, even as he claimed to want to be true friends with benefits. To her, friends with benefits implied a continued trade of services between friends…not only one encounter.