Back At The Bar

Tegan and Sara perform again. And get a surprise.

After coffee Sara walked back to her apartment to get prepared for playing that night. Tegan called Ted immediately after he left and asked if Sara could play again and he said it was fine. So now Sara was searching through her old notebooks for more songs she could play. She found a few that were finished and picked up her guitar to try and play them. She spent a few hours trying to remember how she played them originally, and she made some changes when she wasn't happy with the sound. She was nervous. She felt like all of the people there would judge her if she made any mistakes or if she sung anything too cheesy. After finally deciding what she would play she called Tegan to pick her up.

"Hey Tegan." She smiled as she said her name.

"Hey there. You ready?"

"I'm nervous, but I'm ready as I'll ever be."

"There's no need to be nervous. You'll be incredible. You'll steal the show." Tegan's words worked to calm her nerves a bit.

"Thank you. But there is no way I'll steal the show from you."

"You keep telling yourself that." Tegan laughed into the phone.

"Oh I will." Sara chuckled.

"Well, I'm heading to my car so I'll be there in a few."

"Okay." She hung up the phone and looked around for what to wear.

She smiled to herself when she saw her heels at the foot of her bed. She put on a pair of leggings and a loosed shirt with her leather jacket over it and then put on her high heels. Not long after she got dressed there was a knock on the door.

"Hey Tegan." She greeted when she opened the door.

"Hi Sar….oh God." Tegan looked up and down Sara's body and bit her lip, "You look incredible."

"Thank you," She took a minute to check Tegan out. Black leather jacket, dark red button up, black skinny jeans and a tie, "You look so much better though." She grabbed Tegan's tie and pulled her in for a kiss, "You ready to go?"

"Uh…yeah…sure, let's go." Tegan stood for a second and then turned to walk down to her car.

"I'm so nervous Tee." Sara breathed out as she got in the car.

"Don't be babe." Tegan grabbed her hand to reassure her, "You'll be great. Trust me."

"Okay."

They arrived at The Hap a few minutes later and the parking lot was already filling up, "Jesus! We don't even open for another five minutes and it's already packed." Tegan drove through the crowded parking lot and found a spot right in front of the door. It had a sign that read, 'Reserved: Tegan and Sara.'

"Gotta love Ted." She laughed as she parked her car, "Come on, let's get you ready to perform."

They walked through the front door, "Ted it's already packed out there!"

"Yeah, isn't it great?" He had a huge smiled on his face.

"It's just, that many people don't usually show up this early."

"Yeah Ted," Tegan eyed him, "Is there a reason there are so many people here."

He tried to act nonchalant and shrugged, "Maybe they are here to see you guys perform."

"Jesus Christ Ted!" Sara shouted at him.

"Did you send out some sort of invite?" Tegan looked at him questioning.

"I might have posted it to a few sites." He shrugged again.

"Ted." Tegan said sternly.

"Okay, so I put it on Facebook, twitter, The Hap's website…and maybe a half dozen others."

"Why?" Sara was in shock.

"I just thought people should see you guys perform." He smiled and then added, "You guys are really good. You deserve some recognition."

"I'm gonna kill you Ted." Sara walked away to get ready to perform.

Ted just smiled at Tegan who was shaking her head, and then he opened the doors.

"Welcome everyone, in just a few moments we'll have a live performance from Sara Clement, followed by a performance by Tegan Quin."

There was a good deal of cheering at the news. Tegan was shocked. There were at least fifty people already there, all of them seemed interested in the music, and people were still arriving. Among them was someone that Tegan recognized. She couldn't put a name to the face. But she knew him, or at least knew who was. He seemed out of place, almost like he had never been to a gay bar before. She didn't have much time to think about him because Sara took the stage.

"Hi everyone." She looked frightened, "I'm Sara Clement." A good deal of cheering with a few cat calls greeted her, "I'm going to play a few songs for you, and then Tegan is going to come on stage and play her set." More cheering.

"Well, here it goes, enjoy the show." She smiled, getting more confident.

"If you're gonna get up, you might as well get up with me

If you're going downtown, I might as well be on your way."

After the song ended everyone gave her a round of applause. She was shocked, people actually liked her music.

"Thank you." She smiled at the audience, "Do you want to hear another?"

"Of course!" She heard Lindsey and Emy shout in unison.

"Alright then."

"You in a simple gray coat

In a simple white room

Now you know you know it now and so

Now you know you know it now."

Even more people had arrived during the song, and again, everyone cheered.

"Alright, one more song and then Tegan will take the stage."

"I've got nowhere to go

I've got nowhere to go

Don't move so slow

Don't move so slow

Don't move so slow."

"Thank you so much everyone!" She beamed out at the audience, "Now give it up for Tegan Quin!"

There was a lot of cheering. Tegan grabbed her Baby Taylor and walked on stage.

"Hey everybody!" She waved at the people, "Sara was great wasn't she?" Everyone at the bar gave her another round of applause.

"Alright, I hope you guys enjoy my set, cause that is a tough act to follow."

"From hundreds of miles you cry like a baby

You plead with me, shout, scream, tell me I'm staying

I know I know I know, I'm still your love."

Tegan's entire set went well, and she felt good about herself. And that was something she wasn't all that used to. During her set she noticed that the man who had walked in, and looked out of place, was writing things down in a small notebook. I know him from somewhere. Why can't I remember where?

After she finished playing she walked up to the bar.

"Hey Ted I'd like a Jack and Coke please."

He got it for her and she started to drink looking around the bar, "This place is really crowded tonight Ted."

"It's because of you guys." He wiped down part of the counter, "A lot of people came because of the music."

She turned to respond to him when someone walked up and spoke, "Hi, my names Chris."

It was the guy Tegan had noticed, "Tegan. Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, and you're Sara, right?" He asked as Sara made her way to where Tegan was sitting.

"Yeah, nice to meet you." She shook his hand.

"I was wanting to talk to you guys about a business opportunity, so if you stay around till the crowd dies down I'd love to talk to you guys." He smiled.

"Sure, we usually close around midnight or one." Sara smiled back at him, "Most people don't stay here too late."

"Sounds good. I'll talk to you then." He smiled and walked back to the booth he had been sitting at.

"I know him from somewhere." Tegan said as she turned to face Sara.

"He does look a little familiar." Sara agreed, "Looks like people need me." She motioned to the other end of the counter where a group of women were holding up empty shot glasses and shouting out another round.

The bar was busy, so Tegan didn't get many chances to talk with Sara, but she had fun with Lindsey and Emy.

"You were great tonight Tegan!" Emy pulled her into a huge hug.

"Thanks Emy."

"Yeah, you guys were both awesome." Lindsey smiled and gave her a hug.

"Thank you." Tegan smiled at both of them, "How've you guys been?"

"We've been great." Emy had a huge smile as she spoke, "We've been experimenting a bit." She raised her eyebrow meaningfully.

"Jesus Em!" Lindsey rolled her eyes, "She doesn't need to hear about that."

"It's okay Linds," Tegan couldn't help but laugh, "She's obviously drunk."

"Unfortunately, she isn't that drunk. This is her mostly sober." Lindsey chuckled.

"It's true." Emy smiled wide, "You should hear what I say when I am drunk. Lots of details." She raised her eyebrow again.

"Just stop Emy." Lindsey started to blush.

"Don't worry Linds." Emy rubber her shoulder, "I'll only tell her details if she wants them."

"I think I'm good Emy." Tegan rolled her eyes.

"So…" Emy looked at Tegan as if she was trying to communicate telepathically, "How've you guys been."

"We've been fine Emy. That's all you need to know."

"Whatever." Emy said playfully, "You know that's not true."

"Emy you're gonna scare her away." Lindsey mouthed a sorry to Tegan.

"Am not." She turned and kissed Lindsey.

"I'll leave you guys alone now." Tegan started to back away.

"Good, because I only say the details, I don't show them." Lindsey's face went beat red.

Tegan laughed and walked back to the bar. The rest of the night was uneventful. A lot of drunk women hit on her, and she noticed that Sara had the same thing happening to her. God, they are acting like we're some kind of famous.

When everyone had left it was just after one. Sara grabbed a rag and some cleaning supplies and went to work on the tables.

"Can we talk now?" Chris asked as she walked by him.

"Sure." She turned toward the bar where Tegan was sitting half asleep, "Tegan!"

Tegan walked over to the booth and sat down.

"So, I have an offer for you guys, and I'm really hoping you agree to it," He took a breath, "Because this will be good for business on my end and yours."

"Okay," Tegan perked up, "I'm listening."

Ted put music on, like he did every time he cleaned up. Tegan heard 'Brothers on a Hotel Bed' start and then she realized why she knew Chris.

"You're Chris Walla!" She shouted in shock, "From Death Cab For Cutie!"

"Yeah, and I also own a production company." He smiled and added, "I think you guys can see where I'm going with this."

"You want us to record in your studio?" Sara was completely shocked.

"Yes, but under one condition." His face went to a grave expression.

"What's that?" Tegan was nervous for the first time since the conversation started.

"I'd like you guys to record together," He gave it a moment for it to sink in, "As a band. I can record guitar and bass for you guys if you don't have anyone in mind."

Tegan looked over at Ted, "We might have a guitarist. I'll have to ask him though." She pointed over at Ted.

"So, do you guys want to do it?"

"When do you want us to record?" Sara finally got over the shock of the offer.

"Whenever you're ready." He smiled at the two girls in front of him.

"Then yes," Tegan answered then quickly turned to Sara, "Unless you don't want to."

"Are you kidding?" Sara's face was now just one huge smile, "Of course I want to!"

"Okay then." Chris smiled and pulled out his wallet, "Here's my card. Call me when you're ready."