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31 - Meant To Be

Author's Note: I have exercised a little poetic licence in this chapter - it being a work of FICTION and all - in that I've snaffled a couple of songs you may recognise and given them to Cara as being her creations. You know and I know that they were actually written and performed by James Bay and Taylor Swift, but we're just going to pretend for now, okay? Okay.  No copyright infringement is intended. Carry on!

Click, click, click, click. Click, click, click, click.

I made my way to the mic; the guys continued the beat when I began to sing with nothing but the sound of their fingers snapping in unison.

I feel a sin coming on

I feel a right that's about to go wrong

I got a shiver down to the bone

I feel a sin coming on

For this song I needed to be confident, sassy and flirtatious, so I was channelling Ben, imagining his face, his body, his lips, his hands.

I gotta buzz in my brain

Drunk on a love going down like champagne

I got a feeling it's gonna leave a lipstick stain

And I'd be the only one to blame

Instruments kicked in when I got to the chorus; drums, bass, keyboard.

And you can see it all over my face

Sweet temptation, all over the place

Give me tall, dark and handsome

Mix it up with something strong,

I feel a sin coming on.

When I finished the last repeated chorus the clicking was there again; I stepped back a little and strapped on my guitar ready to swing into the next number - more confidence, more sass.

The first thing I did when you said goodbye

Was sit myself down and have a real good cry

The next thing I did was put my red dress on

And go downtown dancing 'til the break of dawn.

It's upbeat, cheeky, I-can-get-over-you-just-like-that.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do

And now I've gotta get to getting over you

Too bad I've gotta do it with someone new

But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do

My fingers were flying over the strings by the time we got to the last chorus, the chords and strumming patterns as familiar as old friends and as easy as breathing. It was only as the last note was echoing and my ears exploded with the sound of applause that I remembered there was a huge crowd in front of me.

"Good evening Dublin! Thank you for that warm welcome. I'm Cara de Luca and I'm here to entertain you with a few songs while you wait for the real reason you bought that ticket for tonight." There's a small titter of appreciative laughter. "Some of the songs will be familiar to you and some will be brand new but you're welcome at any time to clap your hands, tap your feet or even sing along if you know the words." I paused, looking serious. "Please limit yourself to the choruses of the songs...and let me do the verses." There was more appreciative laughter as I grinned and began to play. "You may recognise this one."