Alright. So, where was I?

Oh. True. The karaoke. We got there at like midnight ‘cause cleaning took a while and I wasn’t sure if I should get changed or not.

I mean, who would want to smell like food in front of their crush? And what if I’d sweat a lot and smelled? What if she found it dirty to go out with the same clothes I had for work? What if there was a stain I didn’t see on my clothes?

But then I got told by all of them that if she ever knew I worried that much about my appearance, she’d forever think I’m some superficial guy. Or gay. Or someone interested in looks only. And by all, I mean Dok2, ChaCha and Daniel. In other words, she would never see me as boyfriend material.

So we went straight to the karaoke. After arguing for 15 minutes about if I should get changed or not.

It took us five more minutes to get there.

Quick right?

Heh.

I took my parents’ car. We live 5 minutes away from the restaurant, so it was right in front of it. I called them to ask if I could borrow it to go K with friends and they agreed.

So yeah. We got there around midnight and I went in first. Mainly because Dok2 was being an and pushing me.

I got in, the other three followed right behind and here’s what we saw.

First, they had the big room. Even if they weren’t that many. Probably because Lily was going out with the guy that was working that day.

The big room means this:

A square shaped room.

The TV is on the wall of the door.

There’s one sofa for each other wall. One on the wall of the left, one on the wall at the end and one on the wall of the right.

There’s one more seat. It’s like a tiny cube, white like the sofas and you just sit on it.

And one table in the middle of all that.

The wall at the end is actually a wall on the bottom half and a huge window showing the street on the upper half.

If you draw it from an above perspective, the door and TV are at the top line, door at the left corner and TV in the middle. The rest being symmetrical, that’s all. Oh. We put the tiny cube between the left sofa and the table. Still from the above perspective.

Jenni was talking to Lily on the sofa on the right.

My Jagiya and Thiteya were together on the sofa at the very end. Thiteya was singing. And . She sang well.

Marc was at the sofa on the left. But he was talking to my Baby a little.

I stayed still and the guys pushed me aside to go in.

Everyone looked at us and Jenni said hi in freaking Korean and in English after.

I mean, I know she studies Asian History and Culture in University, but dude. What the . We’re in ing America. I speak English better than Korean. The is up with her? Why does she always have to try and impress with her knowledge on Korea?

I mean, if she goes to Korea, fine. She can speak Korean and all. They’d probably find her really polite and cute.

But we’re in America. In the States. In Seattle.

Speaking Korean when you’re with a group of people that don’t speak it at all is ing disrespectful.

You’re not in Korea. Stop acting like you are. It for everyone around you that acts like they are where they actually ing are.

Lily waved hi, Marc too, Thiteya glanced at me and nodded her head but kept singing.

And my Jagiya smiled and said hi.

So yeah. The guys went in and sat beside Marc. Except for Daniel. He went near Lily.

They were good friends too and he wanted to check the book for songs to put on.

I just stood there like a until I felt someone staring at me.

Well people staring at me.

ChaCha and Dok2. My dear best friends.

And then ChaCha, really subtly, nodding towards Alice and wriggling his eyebrows at me. When I say really subtly, I am sarcastic.

Sarcasm means that it’s the complete opposite.

He was so goddamn obvious.

And it stressed me. To no end. So it all came out quickly and weirdly and I most likely looked like an alcoholic.

Here’s what I said. Really loudly.

-What, there’s no alcohol?

The really sad part is when no one answered. Thiteya was almost done with her song, and everyone kept talking like I hadn’t said anything.

But then… Alice answered.

It went a little like this:

-Well, you can take some if you want.

-Yeah but I don’t wanna drink alone. That’s sad haha.

-Hmm. True. Hahahahaha.

-Would you take some if I did?

-Depends what you take.

-Beer..?

And then she made a face and shook her head.

-I can take a bottle of something and make drinks too. If it’s better.

-Yeah. Haha. Sorry. I don’t like beer.

I nodded at her and just stayed there. Standing still and appreciating the fact that she had talked to me.

We actually talked. And I learned that she didn’t like beer. And we didn’t talk about work related stuff.

I sat on the cube while Marc started singing. He was doing great.

Until Jenni joined him.

You see, in every room there’s two mikes. And Jenni has the bad habit of always wanting both mikes to be used. You could never sing a song on your own. Never.

It was the only song Marc wanted to sing. The only one. And he was doing great at it.

It was Wonderwall. By Oasis. A really good song.

But when Jenni sees a mike isn’t being used and she knows the song, she takes the mike and sings.

She sings well, okay? She gets the right notes and everything’s good. But her voice is annoying. It’s so high. And it covers anyone else’s voice. You couldn’t even hear Marc anymore.

It’s actually Jenni’s voice that got me out of my happy land. And Dok2 elbowing me.

I looked at him and he asked me why the I just sat there without answering her or getting the alcohol.

I stood back up and looked around. I asked each person if they were gonna drink. Lily said yes, Daniel said no, Thiteya said yes, Marc said he was leaving, Dok2 and ChaCha both said yes.

Alice said it still depended on what I was gonna take in the end. I told her I’d mix vodka with juice and she said she’d drink.

I didn’t really ask Jenni. Not because I don’t like her.

She was just an awful that day.

But she still said she’d take some.

ing .

So I went out and asked Lily’s boyfriend, who so happens to be my friend too, for one bottle of vodka and juice with six glasses.

Then, I told him that when we left, I didn’t want the girl with curly hair to pay for the drinks.

Obviously, he asked why.

And I had to tell him that I had a crush on her. A big crush on her.

He told me good luck and I brought the stuff in the room. I moved the table near the TV and I mixed the first drink. I gave it to Lily.

I was making the second one when Daniel called Alice. She went in front of him and squatted down to look at the book with him for a song to sing.

Yes, I’d asked Daniel to try and get her to sing something. I wanted to hear her. And sing with her. And have fun together.

So they were talking and I finally found the courage to give her the drink. She thanked me and our hands touched a bit when she took it. She turned back to Daniel and told him to just pick whatever.

He wanted to sing Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears.

Yeah. We’re never serious when we go K. I mean, K is about having fun not having a singing contest.

I finished mixing all the drinks and I looked for a song to put on.

I wanted to sing for her.

But I didn’t want her to know.

So I took a Korean song my mom showed me once. It’s called “By instinct”. It’s by a guy named Kang Seung Yoon. And there’s a rap by Swings.

Dok2 was a rapper. And he was better at Korean than me. So I asked him to do it with me. My mom showed it to me once, but I checked the lyrics by myself after I met Alice. Yeah. My mom showed it to me when she learned I had the biggest crush on Alice.

But there was still a couple of songs before mine came on.

I finished my glass and looked around.

And then I saw she was almost done with hers too.

And I don’t know what the happened in my brain at that time, but I laughed like a creep while making eye contact with her and motioning for her to come to me. When I say I laughed like a creep, I mean that I sounded a bit like a duck and a bit like some sort of old man. And I probably looked ten years older and like the worst e ever.

She laughed, smiled and came closer. She told me she still had some and I said it was because she didn’t drink fast enough. She laughed and took her now full glass back.

First, I should tell you that the bottle was almost empty. So, I finished it in her glass.

So there was a bit more alcohol than in the first drink she took.

But seeing how she drank it, I’d say she could handle the alcohol.

Jenni came a few minutes later to get a refill and I had to go get another bottle. I gave everyone that wanted one a refill and then my song was on.

I sang, Dok2 rapped and I was too shy to look at her.

I looked at her reflection on the screen and she was smiling.

Smiling and clapping her hands to the beat. And when we were done, she looked almost surprised.

Almost amazed.

And I was proud.

Then, she gave Thiteya her glass and Thiteya got up to bring the glasses to the table. I took them and I was about to give them a refill.

But the told me they were leaving.

Obviously, I didn’t want them to leave.

So I turned to Alice and asked her instead. Yes, I totally skipped Thiteya. I know. I wanted to at least talk to my Jagiya a few more minutes before she left.

But yeah. Well, it didn’t really last long. A few seconds to be exact.

Here:

-What..? You’re leaving already?

-Well yeah. It’s already midnight forty-five.

-It’s only midnight forty-five. It’s still early.

-Hahaha. Say that to the bus drivers. We already missed the last bus to bring us back directly. We have to get a night bus and it doesn’t go to our stop. And Thiteya lives freaking far.

-Why don’t you go to your house instead?

-I’m sleeping over at her place..? Hahahaha.

-Oh. Yeah. Obviously. Haha… Okay. Well… Umm… If you miss your bus, come back here, okay?

-Okay.

I didn’t dare tell her that I could bring them back. What if she thought I was a creep? I mean, we didn’t really know each other that much.

Daniel was telling Thiteya the same thing and then they both got up to leave. They told bye to everyone and I went out with Dok2 and ChaCha before them.

We were outside, pretending that we just needed fresh air while I was actually just waiting for her to come out and make sure she got her bus.

The receptionist, whom is also the cashier, also known as the friend I’d told to not let Alice pay for the alcohol came out to tell me this:

-She just came out with another girl to pay. I know you don’t want her to pay, but what about her friend? I can’t let one not pay and make the other one pay. That’s not fair.

I sighed and told him not to let the other girl pay either. And that I’d pay for both of them. He nodded and told me one last thing:

-By the way. I asked her if they paid for the alcohol and then she said yeah. But I told her I’d ask you. I’ll tell her you wanted them to pay only the room. She’ll know you paid for them. And she’ll be forever thankful and she’ll like you a lot. I know. What would you do without my help?

I laughed and he went back in.

Two minutes later, Alice and Thiteya were coming out.

They told us to have a nice evening, Alice wished me a Happy New Year and waved bye.

ChaCha told them to stop stalking him and they laughed, saying they’d never stop.

Yeah. Thiteya and my Baby had a joke with ChaCha because when he worked, he saw them almost all the time and they started joking that they were stalking him and stuff.

They left and started running a little when they reached the corner. I thought they were gonna be late to get their bus and I was actually happy.

But then I saw them get a taxi.

And I said really loudly.

Because now they had to pay for a taxi. Which is a waste of money, since I could’ve brought them back if I hadn’t been so damn shy.

We went back inside and I didn’t feel like being there anymore.

I listened to the others, I sang a little, and I ended up going back home at 2AM.

I checked Facebook on my phone to thank the guys for helping me out, and I saw this.

Alice added me on Facebook.

I jumped around, screamed, woke my parents up, told them, tried to keep it quiet like they asked, ended up screaming in a pillow, accepting the friend request, staring at her profile, wondering what to write and falling asleep without having written anything.

And that’s how the day finished~