Hope Begins to Fade

Euroversion

"What the hell is this?" Kelly asked as we all found ourselves in a corner booth of a Finnish bar.

"This K-Wow, is a karaoke bar," Zacky grinned. He'd taken to calling Kelly K-Wow because he said that two Kelly's was just too confusing.

"Jesus dude, will you stop referring to me as if I'm from the fucking Jersey Shore," Kelly punched him in the arm. Zacky's smile said there was no way he was stopping the new nickname. It was good to see him in a more cheerful mood.

"Why are we in a karaoke bar?" I asked cautiously.

Matt flung his arm around my shoulders and popped his dimples at me. "Because we're gonna sing baby!" I groaned loudly.

"Ace I am gonna blow your mind with my skills," Brian crowed to Steph.

Johnny coughed loudly, "Bullshit."

Oh, boy. It looked like we were in for a crazy night. We hadn't even sung yet and things were getting competitive.

Brooks and Kelly had stayed behind at the hotel and were watching the Stallyns for Matt and me. I was grateful even though Kelly had confided that she was glad for the excuse to spend a night alone with Brooks. After seeing what the guys had planned for the evening I wondered if Kelly and Brooks had just been thankful to avoid an evening of karaoke.

Zacky and Johnny headed for the bar and ordered as Brian distributed a couple of song books. "Think carefully about what you plan to sing. You all need to bring your A game." He was really taking this seriously.

Kelly flipped open one of the books and scanned its pages. Steph leaned in to look with her and when she jabbed a finger at a song title they both cackled with laughter. Brian leaned over to try and see what they looking at and they slammed the book shut before he could see their choice.

Matt slid a book in front of me just as Zacky slid a shot each across the table to us. "Do I have to sing?" I pleaded with Matt because, let's face it, who'd want to sing bad karaoke who made his living singing in front of thousands of people?

He picked up his shot. "Hell yes you do. Come on Sunshine, it'll be fun." He nudged the shot glass toward me with one finger. "Now, bottoms up and pick a song."

I gave the dark contents of the shot glass a dubious look but swallowed obediently. I spluttered and gasped in disgust. "What was that? It was disgusting."

"Black Sambuca," Johnny grinned.

"Well it's vile," I protested. Matt rubbed his hand in soothing circles on my back. I flicked through the pages of the song book and a song caught my eye. Suddenly I knew exactly what I wanted to sing and I forced down a gurgle of laughter that wanted to break free.

"Are you guys competitive when it comes to karaoke?" I asked Matt. He tapped on his lip as if in deep thought before breaking into a broad smile, "Hell yes!"

I pondered that for a moment before deciding on my course of action. I detached myself from Matt and wriggled out of the booth. I gestured Zacky and Johnny to follow me and when we were out of earshot of the others I leaned in and told them what I wanted to do.

They looked at me in stunned silence for a moment before throwing their heads back and roaring with laughter as they high fived me and each other. When we joined the others Brian and Steph were taking turns to give their names and whisper their song selections to the karaoke host. Zacky joined them and once he'd taken his turn to make his requests he turned and gave me a thumbs up.

"Have you got something special planned Sunshine?" Matt growled in my ear as he stood beside me preparing to make his own selection.

"I might." I raised an eyebrow at him.