She didn’t say anything. Dad continued. “I do so much for you, Sadie, and this is how you repay me? I love you. Don’t you know that?” He bent down and kissed her, the same way he used to kiss Mom when he fed her his lies of control. She kissed him back, too, just like Mom used to kiss him. I knew right then that Sadie wasn’t going to leave. She was too far tangled into his web.
“We’ll catch up later, Logan,” he said to me. It sounded more like a threat than a happy get-together.
I wasn’t shocked, though. My father knew nothing about happiness, but he was a professional at disasters.
When they left, I felt disgusted. I remained silent, snapping the band on my wrist. Alyssa walked over to me. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head.
“We can go outside for air if you want.”
“Yeah, okay.” I needed more than air, though. I needed my father to disappear, allowing everyone who ever crossed his path to finally be freed from his chains.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Alyssa
As Logan and I walked outside, he clenched his fists, reddening from the annoyance of his father. I didn’t know the history that Logan and Sadie had, but I knew he was afraid for her wellbeing, as he should’ve been. Being around Logan’s father was terrifying. I couldn’t imagine being Sadie, unable to escape his chains.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Just need a moment.” He placed his hands behind his neck and started pacing around the parking lot. There were cars parked on the large plot, and people were outside in the nice weather, socializing and laughing, while Logan was doing the complete opposite. He was dealing with those demons that liked to haunt him. He deserved a break.
I leaned against the side of the building, waiting for him to calm down. He kicked the tall strands of grass with his shoes, back and forth.
“Are you thinking about using?” I asked.
“Yup,” he muttered, shutting his eyes and walking in circles.
Poor guy.
“You know what would make this moment better?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips as my left foot rested against the side of the building.
“What’s that?”
“You know what we should do to really make you feel better?”
“Uh, no. But I’m guessing you have an idea?”
“Oh do I ever!” I locked eyes with him. “Are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“No, I mean, are you really, really listening?”
He laughed. Good. I was so happy he was laughing. I laughed, too, because he was so handsome. I laughed because he was my friend again. I laughed because my heart knew that would’ve never been good enough for me.
“Yes, I’m listening.”
I stood up tall, pushed out my chest, and said, “Karaoke.”
“Oh God, no.”
“What? Come on! Don’t you remember when we went out for karaoke when we were younger?! And you did Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean with all the pelvis humping and all?” I reenacted his hip movements from the past.
He snickered. “Yeah. I also remember being coked up when I did the pelvis humping.”
My face dropped in shock. “What? You were high when you did that?”
“Yeah, otherwise I would’ve never agreed to doing karaoke, trust me.”
“Oh. I just thought you were excited about their Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber collection. Anyway. Today, we are going to do karaoke at O’Reilly’s Bar.”
“No way.”
I nodded taking his hands into mine. “Yes way.”
“Alyssa. I appreciate that you’re trying to make me feel better and stuff, but seriously, you don’t have to. I’m better now. You made me better. Plus, there’s no way in hell I’d ever do karaoke again.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Logan
I was doing karaoke again.
Somehow Alyssa managed to pull me on stage in O’Reilly’s Bar, and put a microphone in my hand. She promised we’d do a duet so I wouldn’t be performing on my own, but still I could feel the nerves in the pit of my stomach. She picked the song, “Love The Way You Lie,” by Rihanna and Eminem.
“You know the words?” she asked me. “I sing it all the time when I’m driving in my car, so I know the lyrics by heart.”
“I can follow along on the screen.”
She smiled wide. I smiled wider.
My greatest High.
When the music started playing and the first lyrics started coming on the screen, no sound came from either Alyssa or myself. The people in the bar started shouting at us to sing, but neither one of us were.
The DJ turned off the track and gestured toward us. “Um, you do know that you have to open your mouth to sing, right?”
I looked at Alyssa with confusion. “Why weren’t you singing? It said it was Rihanna’s part.”
“Oh. I don’t sing her part. I like Eminem’s rapping parts.”
“What?” I hissed, stepping closer to her. “I’m not singing Rihanna’s part.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not a chick.”
“But you have that beautiful high-pitched voice, Lo. I think you’ll make a beautiful Rihanna,” she mocked.
“I’m hitting replay one time, folks. It’s now or never,” the DJ said.
“I’m not doing this, High,” I said as we stood nose to nose, with our chest out.
“Oh, you’re doing it.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
I shook my head. “No.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Alyssa.”
“Logan.”
“High.”
“Lo.”
The intro music started and I kept shaking my head left and right, telling her there was no way I was going to do it, but when Rihanna’s part came on, the microphone rose to my lips and I began singing the female’s part of the song; high pitched, sounding like fucking hell.
Alyssa covered her mouth to keep her uncontrollable chuckles to herself. I gave her a look to kill before turning around to face the audience and fully embracing my feminine side. I thought I did pretty good. I thought I was the one to make our performance magic.
But then something happened.
Eminem’s verse came up, and Alyssa transformed into something I’ve never seen before. She stole the DJ’s baseball cap, tossed it on her head backwards, and started marching back and forth on the stage, getting the audience involved in the performance, making them wave their hands back and forth as she rapped.