The Bucketlist

45 | OFFICE KARAOKE NIGHT

"Wow! Look at you, all dressed for karaoke!" Miss Scott said as I stalled in the booth, waiting for a glass of water. Honestly, I was trying to avoid Josh.

It was Friday, and I was not happy. The whole Bexley staff was wearing the same thing - fashionable, expensive and black; that's the Friday drill. Well, everyone except me.  I was wearing the cross halter dress that mom sent me for Christmas. It's cherry red, and that's why I stood out as a red traffic signal among black-clad people. I wore the dress to feel sexy, but I guess I had overdone everything. Nearly four guys had flocked around me in thirty minutes, and I don't even remember their names.

At Suzie's Karaoke and Food Bar, almost everyone has shown up for the Company Karaoke Night. Except for Will Turner. My heart pained a little that I won't be able to see him today, but after what happened at Will's apartment. It was best if I kept my distance from him. I didn't want to cry in front of him again or ever.

I sighed and straightened my dress that barely reached my thighs. I traded my black pumps for flats. There was no point powering up when you'll end up with sprained ankles, especially on a karaoke night. Karaoke nights meant singing and dancing crazy till all your bones snap, and you recall that you couldn't shake your booty as you did in high school cause you are aging.

"Looking beautiful, Eva." I heard the familiar voice and turned to see sea blue eyes.

Fuck. Josh stood with his stupid grin, and I am so-handsome shrug. Firstly, he looked pretty. Secondly, even though he looked pretty, he appeared like the same half-ass jerk who had tried to sabotage Creative Dev two days ago.

"You don't look half bad yourself!" I said, to my surprise.

The incident with Will had taken a toll on me. I was trying to soften up and not be mean to people a lot, like a lot. I even brought Miss Mason's Tabby fish sticks for yelling at her. In the past two days, I felt like the worst human being to roam this planet.

"Come, let's go," Josh said, placing his hand on the small of my back, and I found myself squirming away from his touch.

"I know I agreed to attend with you, but could you please not touch me again?" I said in a whisper.

"I would have had you not dressed up like this for me." He said with a smirk.

What a load of bullshit!

"I didn't dress like this for your amusement," I said with apparent rage.

"Oh! I hope you know Will doesn't attend these things if that's why you are all dolled up!" Josh said, and I fought the urge to punch him.

"You know women don't dress up with a desire to please men! They do it to feel happy, sexy, and a little quirky in their skin. Get out of your shitty dream bubble, Mr. Full-of-yourself!" I said and chuckled.

The color from his face drained off.

"Come on, Eva! You know women can't do a thing without men! Be it world, work, or sex." Josh said, thinking he had cracked some joke.

"You know what? Fuck off, Josh! I don't even want to stand near you. You can take your damn truth and shove it up your arse! I am not interested in you or Will." I said and started walking away to the gathering near the karaoke booth.

"You're going to regret this, Eva!" Josh said, and I pretended that the music was too loud and walked past him as if he wasn't there. What a douche! Here I thought he wanted to help me out.

I got myself a shot and lined up in the queue for pick-a-song-singalong. The pick-a-song-sing-along was the best thing about Karaoke. On pressing the button, the song popped up with the unique id of the participants who were going to sing the song. It could be a duo, a trio, or sometimes a quartet! It was fun. The last time we were here, Josh and I did all the great songs. But that was a distant past. Way before my amnesia!