Chapter 2: Karaoke
August 28, 2010; Saturday; 10:04 pm
Harper Hotel
Richard pov
Richard went down the stairs and reached the lobby. He looked for the sign where the party was being held.
He walked around. There were little, white lanterns on the plants and trees. There were sofas and couches for people to sit on. There was a stage in the middle, two people were singing on it and there was a small crowd huddled around the stage, a big banner that said "KARAOKE!" was hanging on the bottom edge of the stage.
He went to the big buffet table, took a plate, and grabbed cheese sticks, a club sandwich, and coke.
A girl with short blond hair that reached her shoulders wearing a pink tube top, a pink miniskirt, and pink high heels walked to him and tapped her pink-nail colored finger on his shoulder.
Ugh. Pink. Good thing I'm wearing sunglasses. I would've been blinded . He rolled his eyes behind his shades.
"Hay, handsome!" a flirty, super-girly voice came out of the girl's mouth. Her face was full of make-up. Ew.
Richard grimaced. "Not interested." He walked away with his food.
But the girl stepped in front of him, unwilling to give up. "My name's Kitten. Kitten Moth," she smiled widely at him.
"Uh, yeah. I'm just gonna go," he replied stiffly.
Kitten laughed so loud that other people were staring at her. Damn. This girl's laugh is worse than the Joker's. With a big mouth like that, figures.
"You are like so funny!"
Her phone suddenly rang and she picked it up. Richard took this chance and walked quickly away from her. He went to the other side of the garden and sighed in relief. He sat on one of the loveseats and began eating his food while watching the couple sing on stage.
Kori pov
Kori walked in the garden. Many of the boys were staring at her, many of the girls were glaring at her, and she was just oblivious to that. She went to the buffet table and grabbed an apple.
Someone walked behind her and whispered in her ear. "Hey, cutie."
Kori jumped in surprised and let go of her apple which almost fell to the ground. But the boy who scared her caught before it reached the ground.
She turned around and saw a boy with brown, medium long hair, and brown eyes to match. He was wearing a black collared shirt and dark blue jeans. It was obvious that he was good looking, but Kori was, again, oblivious to that fact.
"Um, thanks," she mumbled while she took her apple from his hands.
"The name's Xavier. Xavier Red," he held his hand out.
She took it and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Xavier."
Xavier took her hand and kissed her knucklesKori blushed slightly, and quickly took her hand back and brushed the back of her hand on her dress.
He raised an eyebrow.
With that said, she turned around and began to walk away.
"Wait," he said, gently touching her shoulder and spun her around. "I didn't get your name," he stated.
"I'm sorry. I don't give my name to strangers," Kori spoke softly.
"Well, I'm not a stranger anymore since you know my name," he answered back with a grin.
Kori chuckled. "You have a point. Um, Kori."
"Kori what?"
"Kori Anders."
"And why Miss Anders are you all alone in this party?" he asked with his silky voice. Trying to work his charm on her.
"My sister forced me to go to this party," she sighed. "She said that I need it."
"Why –
His phone suddenly rang, annoyed, he picked it up.
"Hello? What –
"It's really nice to meet you, Xavier. But I have to go," Kori said quickly and used this as her chance to escape.
"Wait," he growled at his phone. "This better be important."
10:39 p.m.
Kori sat on one of the swings and munched on her apple. She looked around the party; couples were dancing, some of them chatting with other people, and there was a couple on stage singing karaoke.
The song ended and she clapped liked everyone else.
"All right," the male MC said. "Give it up for Mark and Lucy!" The crowd cheered for them.
, "So, who's going to be the next lucky two! Drum roll please!"
There was a drum roll and there were two spotlights going everywhere to point at the 'lucky person.'
The spotlight pointed at Richard on the other side of the stage and at Kori on the swings.
"Come on up!"
Richard groaned. "No freaking way."
"Come on, dude!"
"Yeah, get up there!"
"Don't be a coward!"
The other guys were encouraging him to go up. But when that one guy said 'coward.'That just did it. We'll see who's a coward . He didn't like anyone calling him a coward.
On the other side of the stage, the MC was calling her.
"Get up here, pretty girl!"
"But, I can't sing," Kori replied.
The MC rolled his eyes. "Everyone who came up here couldn't sing. Just have fun."
She sighed heavily and walked on the stage.
Richard and Kori stood side by side on the stage and the crowd cheered.
Richard looked beside him and his eyes widened when he saw her. His eyes wandered over her, she was just as tall as he was. He looked at her legs, smooth and long. Her skin was flawless and looked soft to touch. Her curled hair was gently leaning on her shoulders. He looked at her face and realized that she was beautiful. Her green eyes darted around the garden, and she was biting her soft, natural red-pink lips. He noticed that she didn't wear make-up. He looked down to see her fingers fidgeting around the edge of her dress.
Kori turned and felt him staring at her. She looked at him and saw the immediate handsomeness. His medium long hair fell loosely around the collar of his shirt. His pale skin came in contrast with his navy blue long sleeves and dark brown cargo pants. What she really wanted was to see his eyes. Why is he wearing sunglasses at this time of night ?
Their thoughts were interrupted by the MC.
"Someday you two might thank me for this," he chuckled. "Or not."
The DJ chose a random song and there was a small television in front of them to show the lyrics. The song was you can come to me by austin and ally .
The lights dimmed and a guitar was entering the song.
The lyrics said "girl" and kori realized that he was going to start it off. The words started to form, he took a deep breath and he sang:
And when you're on your own
Drowning alone
And you need a rope that
Can pull you in someon will throw it
Richard stared at his as he sang. she had a beautiful voice. The lyrics said "boy" and richard knew he was up next. he swallowed and sang:
And when you're afraid
That you're gonna break
And you need a way to
fell strong again
someone will know it
After both sang:
And even when
It hurts the most
Try to have a little hope
Cause someone's gonna
Be there when you don't
When you don't
If you wanna cry,I'II be
your shoulder
ıf you wanna laugh ,I'II be
your smile
ıf you wanna fly, I will be
your sky
anything you need
that' what I'II be
you can come to me
kori again
you struggle inside
losing your mind
fighting and trying
to be yourself
when somebody lets you
both sang:
out in the cold
with no where to go
feeling like no one
could understand
then somebody gets you
The crowd erupted with a cheer. There were whistles and whoo's . Richard turned to the girl and grinned.
"Richard Grayson." He held his hand out.
She took it. "Korianna Anders." She grinned.