A banner adorned the wall:
KARAOKE NIGHT
Saturdays at 7 PM
She vaguely remembered seeing the banner as she’d entered the bowling alley, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time. A quick glance at her watch informed Hailey that it was indeed the appropriate time, and the couple began singing along to the song.
She looked over at Erin, who was bobbing her head very slightly to the music. Did Erin like karaoke? Hailey certainly wouldn’t have minded going up to sing, but she wasn’t sure that Erin would like such a public performance. Still, Erin seemed to be in a particularly good mood now; certainly much better than she’d been earlier that morning. It couldn’t hurt to ask.
“Erin, would you like to go up and sing?”
Erin instantly stopped bobbing her head and blushed as she realized Hailey was looking at her. She hadn’t honestly even considered going up there; karaoke was something that people other than her did. It did look like it might be fun, though, but…
“I don’t think I’m very good at singing,” Erin admitted. “I don’t know if everyone wants to hear my voice over the speakers.”
Martin gave Erin a goofy smile. “You don’t have to be good at singing to do karaoke,” he said. “Just listen to those two up there; do they sound like they’re very good?”
The couple certainly looked like they were enjoying themselves, but they certainly didn’t have much talent. Even though they were butchering the song, though, it was still entertaining to watch. “No, I guess not,” Erin admitted. “But I’m still not sure.”
If Erin had been steadfastly against performing, Hailey would have dropped the issue. But it didn’t really seem like Erin was completely opposed to the idea; she just didn’t seem confident enough in herself to immediately agree. “I’m sure you’ll do fine, Erin,” Hailey said. “I’d really like to get up there and sing a song with you… would you do it for me?”
Erin was still a little bit nervous, but Hailey’s appeal held a lot of weight with her. Hailey had been very nice to her this morning; in fact, Hailey had treated her well ever since she’d known her. She owed Hailey a lot, and while she sure wasn’t as confident that the audience would think she was as good as Hailey though she would be, she could at least try out one song.
She nodded at her cousin. “I’ll do it.”
Hailey hugged her, and her aunt and uncle smiled. Apparently they were happy that she was deciding to do this, although she wasn’t certain why. Do they really want to see me sing that much?
The older of the two practically skipped over to the area where the microphones were located. Erin followed, apparently much less enthusiastic than her cousin. A scruffy-looking man sitting behind a computer and some audio equipment handed them a stack of paper held together by a pair of staples. “Pick a song for when it’s your turn,” he said. “There are a few people in front of you.”
Hailey began to thumb through the pages, looking for something good. Erin looked at the paper, but she wasn’t really paying attention to it; butterflies were forming in her stomach as she thought about what was to come.
Hailey said I’d do okay, but I don’t know… it’s not like the people here have a choice not to listen to me, when I’m on the speakers like that. What if I’m really bad, and they’re mad that I’m ruining their game with bad music? But I said I’d do it for Hailey… I have to do this for her; I can’t screw it up…
She noticed that Hailey was mumbling under her breath as she read the titles; eventually, she raised an eyebrow and said, “They have that?”
Hailey pointed to the sheet of paper. “Do you think this one will be okay?”
Erin looked where her cousin was pointing, but she was too nervous to focus her eyes and process the tiny text. “Sure. We can do that.”
Hailey detected the touch of fear in Erin’s voice and patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry so much. It’ll be fun.”
If only it were that easy to feel better about this, thought Erin.
Hailey pointed out her selection to the scruffy man, who nodded and took the piece of paper back from them. They sat down at a table to wait; Erin began to play with the salt shaker, this time ignoring the greasy feel.
I wonder if Hailey’s really good at singing or something. How else could she be so confident about going up there and making everyone listen to her?
Hailey looked over at her cousin, and saw a girl squeezing the salt shaker so hard that her knuckles were the same color as the salt she was in danger of spilling. “Are you okay?”
Erin startled, but relaxed her grip on the shaker. I have to do this for Hailey. I can’t let her think I’m too worried to do this, or she might tell me I don’t have to, even though she’d be really disappointed. I can do it. It’s just one song.
Mustering all the confidence she could, she tried to reassure Hailey. “I’m fine. It’ll be fun, right?”
“Right.” Hailey smiled, apparently believing her.
The younger of the girls still wasn’t certain, though. Whoever had thought of the phrase “butterflies in the stomach” was wrong, she decided. Butterflies were gentle; it felt more like she had a swarm of hornets inside of her. Having to wait her turn certainly wasn’t helping; all the extra time only served to make her even more nervous.
A song finished, and the man behind the audio equipment pointed at their table. “You’re up,” he said.
Erin stood up and followed Hailey towards the microphones, feeling jittery on her feet. Why had she agreed to this? She was going to sound bad, and everyone there was going to hate her, hate her for deciding to sing to them even though she knew she’d be horrible at it…
She found herself turning away from Hailey and the microphones. She couldn’t do this. Avoiding looking at what she knew would be a disappointed face on Hailey, she began to walk straight for the bathroom, the only place she was likely to have some privacy in the crowded building. Her knees barely bent and her clenched fists swung neatly at her side; it was a very efficient walk, perfectly fulfilling its job of getting her out of sight as quickly as possible while simultaneously drawing little attention to herself.
She opened the door to the ladies’ room perhaps more forcefully than she should have, but was relieved to find that the room was vacant save for her. The only other moving thing in the room was her reflection in the mirror, which was currently waving its arms around in an uncoordinated manner, looking as if it wanted to hit something. Her mirror image’s fists didn’t connect with anything, though; eventually the reflection clamped her hands on the counter and began to breathe heavily.
She’d wanted to sing! Not just for Hailey, but she’d genuinely thought it had looked interesting to do. Why had she lost the nerve to do it?
Erin slowly brought her breathing under control, taking very loud, deep breaths. A few of the breaths elicited a weak cough, but eventually, her breathing sounded somewhat normal, and she was able to focus on the black-haired girl staring back at her in the mirror.
Her ghost stared back at her, face puffy and pink, with watery eyes. She hadn’t quite cried; but she was apparently very close to the point; Erin blinked a few times and watched a single tear roll down the cheek of the girl across from her. The girl sniffle and wipe her nose on the back of her wrist, being careful not to let her arm touch the lenses of her glasses.
“I’m sorry,” Erin told the girl. “I… I’ve been horrible.”
Hailey was stunned as she saw Erin turn away and walk to the bathroom. “Skip our turn,” she said quickly, and walked towards the door Erin had just flung herself through.
Reaching for the handle, she paused, and then retracted her hand, standing outside the door. Erin hadn’t said anything to her; in fact, it seemed like she’d deliberately avoided eye contact. She obviously wanted to have some time alone.
As much as she wanted to go in and console her cousin, she knew she’d have to leave her alone for a little bit. I’ll wait a few minutes, and if she doesn’t come out, then I’ll go see what’s up. She began to pace just outside the bathroom door.
The ghost stared at Erin, choosing not to respond to the apology it had just heard. Instead, it mocked her, imitating her every move. And yet, she couldn’t look away. Somehow, having someone there to talk with made her admission of guilt easier to deal with, even if the other person didn’t really exist.
She continued explaining herself. “I promised Hailey that I’d go sing with her. It sounded like fun! And I’d already been happier than I expected today; of course I wanted to go up there with Hailey! But I just couldn’t do it.”
The girl across from her stared deep into her eyes, but didn’t respond.
“What?” Erin queried. “You know that everyone would have hated me for making them listen to me sing if I turned out to be bad, and I couldn’t guarantee I would be good. It wasn’t worth the chance of them all getting mad at me.”
She still received nothing but a glare in response. Erin dropped her shoulders and sighed. “You’re probably right; most of the people out there probably don’t care one way or the other about me. If I was bad, they’d probably just laugh it off, the same way me and Hailey were doing to the other bad singers, and forget about me. So why can’t I convince myself of that?”
Her reflection tilted its head slightly, took another deep breath, and let it out slowly.
“They really don’t care about me,” Erin continued, “and yet I was so worried about what they thought that I managed to hurt one of the few people who actually does care about me. Hailey’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and I disappointed her for no better reason than avoiding making strangers mad at me.”
She paused for a moment, and her reflection looked like it was deep in thought. “I need to apologize to Hailey,” Erin eventually admitted. “Hopefully she’ll give me another chance.”
Erin nodded to herself, and the girl across from her did the same, tormenting her. That was what she had to do. She’d go find Hailey, and she’d beg for forgiveness. Hailey had been so eager to sing with her, and she’d promised to accompany Hailey, and now she’d broken her promise.
She was about to step back from the sink when the bathroom door opened. A twin of Hailey’s came in and stood next to Erin’s own mirror image just as she felt someone brush up against her own shoulder.
“Are you okay?” asked Hailey, apparently noticing how pink her face was. “You look like you’ve been crying.”
“No, I haven’t been crying,” sniffled Erin. “I just got very close to it.”
Erin watched as Hailey’s twin reached her arm around the other girl, pulling her in for a hug. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you get up and sing.”
Erin stepped back and looked directly at Hailey. The girls in the mirror could wait. “No,” she said, louder than she’d intended. “I’m the one who should be saying sorry. I lost control of myself, and I let you down.”
“But you didn’t…”
“I did.” Erin was surprised at the force in her own voice; the expression she saw on her cousin’s face gave away that she was shocked as well. “I can do this. I will do this. Hailey, will you give me another chance to sing with you?”
Hailey’s lips moved a little bit before her voice caught up. “Are you sure you’re really up for singing?”
Erin was stung by her cousin’s doubt, but the doubt was completely warranted. She had to give it another try. She felt her confidence growing. “Hailey, I want to do this.”
Hailey pulled her close again. “Of course.”
Erin collapsed into the hug, sniffling softly. “Thank you.”
The karaoke equipment attendant gave them a funny look as they came back, but he accepted their request to be put back in line. “You two already waited, anyway, so you can go after this song is over,” he informed them.
Erin looked at Hailey and smiled. She’d be fine; her cousin was with her.
The last remaining minutes of the current song flew by, and once again, Erin found herself approaching the microphones. She could still feel her stomach churning, but she was in control. Maybe the people in the audience would hate her, but as long as it would make Hailey happier, she could do it.
The opening notes of the song played, and Erin took a deep breath. The two of them simultaneously began to belt out a silly song they’d both heard way too often when they were a bit younger.
“Movin’ to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches. I’m movin’ to the country, I’m gonna eat me a lot of peaches…”
Erin was amazed. Once she’d gotten over the hurdle of starting to sing, the rest of the song just came naturally. Why had she been so worried? The audience didn’t seem to be cringing; apparently her singing wasn’t horrible.
Hailey was also surprised. This particular song didn’t really require vocal talent to sound decent; the lyrics were much more interesting than the music. And yet Erin was performing the heck out of the song. Apparently her claims that she wasn’t great at singing were false modesty; her cousin wasn’t going to win a record deal any time soon, but she certainly sounded better than the majority of people who’d performed at the karaoke, herself included.
“Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of peaches, peaches for free. Look out!”
The girls finished out their song. Hailey gave a dramatic bow and Erin followed suit by pulling out the sides of her T-shirt and giving a small curtsey. In response, they heard a few claps, which soon spread to the rest of the nearby population for a few moments.
Hailey turned to Erin and gave her a thumbs-up gesture. “They loved you.”
Erin was positively glowing from both the audience’s reaction and her cousin’s praise. “I never could have done it without you, Hailey. They loved us.”
Both girls smiled at each other as they returned to their lane.