Despite my regret over the ice cream I had after dinner and the initial weirdness of somebody bringing a baby into a bar on a Saturday night, when the bartender exclaimed, "Yes! I remember you two... you sat over there and you couldn't finish your bucket because you had to drive!" I was sure we'd have a really good time there. We were mostly people watching at the bar, noticing the definitive age divide: over 35 on the right side of us, barely legal hipsters in skinny jeans and colorful plaid shirts to the left. The karaoke guy was the best looking guy there, other than The Mr. (I'm not being biased here, I promise!)
Directly to our left a guy we dubbed "Tex" was already good and happy when he got up to sing the first song of the night. It was a country song, and when he sat down we were sure the accent was genuine. While he'd been singing, a cute couple that looked just a little younger than us sat down in his place. She was blond, wearing shorts and a tank top with a fedora that complimented her well. He was black, athletic looking, and probably a soldier. When Tex came back, he started chatting them up as though they were old friends. The Mr. heard Tex say to the girl, "I've seen you here before!" To which her boyfriend replied, "Yes, but has SHE see you?"
At one point, about 2 yummy rum drinks in, The Mr. had gone to the bathroom and the blond looked down the bar at me and asked, "Are you going to sing?" Her name was Melanie and she talked me into going up with her to sing Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield."
I had been looking around at the crowd, singing, dancing and having a good time and feeling a sense of jealousy and nostalgia for the days when I had a group and a place like that of my own. Here I was being invited to join in and I was terrified. When she initially asked me about singing, I had stammered something about how I hadn't sung in years outside of my kitchen, but it didn't take much prodding on her part before I just said, "Sure. I'm down!"
I'm convinced that the Mr.'s reply to my asking how bad it was was kindness in that he said he heard her voice more than he heard mine. I thought I was pretty loud and it is a song I know well. I was drenched in sweat and felt like I was going to hurl, but I made it through with a smile on my face and a picture to prove it.
We chatted with Melanie, "Tex" and her boyfriend Eric bit more before settling back in our spots a few chairs down the bar from them. I was drinking water at this point, not out of inebriation, but out of hydration issues and the nausea that just wouldn't quit.
I sent The Mr. to the car for some gum in the hopes it would help my tummy. While he was away, Melanie came back down and talked about singing together again. Eric had put her in for the karaoke staple, "Summer Nights" from "Grease." I hadn't exactly agreed but hadn't declined either.
The next thing I knew, the temporary crown from my recently root canalled tooth popped off into my mouth. I was flung into an anxiety attack so bad that I was barely able to maintain composure long enough to apologize and say goodbye to the first people we'd met organically out here. I felt awful, but there was no way I was going to be able to stay, let alone sing after that.
We made it home where I promptly lost $14 worth of yummy rum drink, $6 worth of Cold Stone ice cream and a portion of my dinner. I felt much better after that, and ended the night testing out some goodies we picked up at the "toy" shop earlier in the evening.
Another awesome weekend officially ends in 2 hours. Boo for the work stuff. Yay for Pat Benatar and cool people that talk to strangers in bars!
Thanks, Melanie! Hope we bump into each other again.
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