2.49: Joining In
Thursday, October 11th, 2012
Will, Sonny, Brett, and Kai arrived at Martha's Sports Grille early to find a great place to sit for karaoke. Will checked his phone for any missed text messages because a few of the guys from Kappa were joining them later. Putting his phone away, he looked across the table and said, "Are we doing a special theme tonight?"
Brett looked around the bar to see who would be his competition for the night. "Well, I don't care if we do a theme or not. I just want to show off my voice and wow the crowd with my new favorite song."
Kai gave Brett a playful look and joked, "The new Taylor West song?"
Brett shook his head at Kai. "You think you're funny, but you're not. I'm singing Locked out of Heaven."
Will got excited. "I love Bruno Mars."
"Are you singing anything tonight, Will?" Kai asked while rubbing his back.
Will shrugged his shoulders and tried his best to focus on having a good time tonight. "I'm not sure. I'll sing if Sonny wants to do a duet."
Sonny gave Will a questionable look as Brett and Kai rushed off to get a couple of books with the songs listed in them. When Sonny realized they were alone, he asked Will, "So some of the guys are coming tonight?"
Will understood Sonny was referring to the guys in the frat. "Yeah, I think Brian and Dustin said they would come if they could convince a few others to join us."
Wringing his hands, Sonny gave Will a serious look before admitting, "It's not so bad being in Kappa, but the guys keep asking me to move into the frat house."
Will smiled and shared, "Yeah. They've been trying to get me to move in since last spring."
Sonny wanted to ask Will why he didn't move out but he still had more to say about being a Kappa. He continued his admission, "I still wonder if joining the frat was a good idea."
"It will grow on you," Will maintained as he looked over the room for people he might know. He really wanted to distract himself from having any real moments. He wanted to keep everything superficial tonight.
Sonny wanted to ask Will if he was okay but noted Will didn't seem to want to be bothered by him. Glancing across the room for a waitress, he thought about how different life was now and couldn't help but notice how limited life seemed. He felt like an island that didn't have access to the great things he used to have. It didn't help that his parents took an extended vacation to help his brother, Joey, on the birth of his first baby.
Noting that Will had an odd look on his face, he realized Will spotted someone he knew. Sonny was filled with so much jealousy because of the relationships the other guys had with Will. He missed the closeness they used to have so much. "Who do you see?"
Will turned to Sonny and shared, "Michelle and Beth are here again, but they never sing. I wonder what that's about."
Kai and Brett finally returned with the books and began to look through them. Kai got Will's attention and pointed to a song. "What about that one?"
Will shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure if I can pull that off."
Brett noticed Sonny was staying to himself but didn't give it much thought. Talking to the group, he asked, "So are we officially making this a weekly thing? We've been out here three weeks this semester already."
Kai handed the book to Will, so he could look for a song. "I think we may have to switch nights every now and then because of school and my internship, but I'm down to make this happen weekly. It's fun!"
Will looked over to Sonny to see what he would say, but he didn't speak. "I am down, too. We might have to drag Sonny here every time we come though."
Sonny was not amused with what Will implied. "I'll be here if I have the time."
Spotting Melanie, Nathan, and Nicholas, Will motioned them over. "Hey. You three made it. I wasn't sure if you were serious when I told you about tonight."
Melanie gave Will a hug first with a huge smile on her face. "I love karaoke! Are you kidding me?!"
Will moved closer to Sonny and took the seat next to him surprising Sonny. "Yeah. We're all going to have to sing together at some point tonight then."
"I'm not sure if you guys want me on that stage," Nathan commented as he shook Sonny's hand. Heading over he shook Kai's and Brett's hands as well.
Melanie took Nathan's arm after he finished greeting everyone and suggested, "You can be my back up singer or… my personal interpretive dancer on the stage!"
Nathan laughed. "I'm not so sure if that would be better."
Nicholas walked up and pulled Will and Sonny into a hug from behind. "Are you two singing?"
Sonny felt a bit better since Melanie, Nathan, and Nicholas were there. "I'm considering it. You want to do a duet?"
Nicholas smiled. "If the song is right and fun, I'll do anything," he joked.
Will lifted his eye playfully. "Anything? We don't want to get kicked out of here."
Sonny shrugged his shoulders and jokingly commented, "We could always just have karaoke at our place. We'd have a lot more freedom."
Nicholas let go of Sonny and Will and moved over to the other side of Will. "I like the way you think, Sonny. I'll try to behave myself, but I can't make any promises."
Having overheard Nicholas, Brett walked over and questioned, "Who said anything about behaving ourselves?"
Sonny playfully tapped Will's shoulder. "Will is being behavior police over here. Believe it or not he has his boring moments."
Will forced a smile and grabbed a song book to look over. Moving the conversation along, he recommended, "We should pick songs before everyone else does, so we can get up there as many times as possible."
"Melanie and I already have our first song picked!" Kai announced while giving Melanie a hug. "It's a surprise!" They were clearly excited.
