stage and find that Ava now has some dude dressed in a black leather jacket and aviator sunglasses up onstage with her, my focus gets sidetracked.
The jerk-off puts his hands on Ava’s hips and pulls her close to him while she continues to sing that fucking song.
I glance to everyone else to see if they see what I’m seeing, but I figure out pretty quickly I’m the only one paying attention to our little performer.
Trevor is busy flirting with a girl in a red wig and a Jessica Rabbit-style scarlet dress, and both Desi and Claire have disappeared to God knows where.
Fucking hell.
“So…how about that drink?” Brooke asks again, and I feel like a real bastard for the next words that come out of my mouth. After breaking up with Sarah last month, I should be jumping at the chance to dip my toes deeper into the college pool, but I can’t just leave Ava to fend for herself like that. When the guy onstage with her moves his hand down her thigh, the urgency of the situation brings me to my feet.
I give Brooke a quick look of apology. “Sorry, but I’m going to have to take a rain check. I just realized I need to get my friend home.”
“Is that your friend?” she asks after following my concerned line of sight.
“Yeah,” I answer, moving to climb around Trevor.
“Wait…is she your friend or your girlfriend?” Brooke questions skeptically.
“Could be his girlfriend, but no, they just have an incredibly weird friendship,” Trevor chimes in for me. Not exactly how I would have put it, but at least he’s saving me the effort of trying to explain it. “Probably two of the most good-looking people I know, get along better than anyone I know, yet they’re literally just friends. It boggles the mind.”
I sigh.
Brooke flashes an amused smile and pulls a pen out of her purse, jots down her number on a bar napkin, and tucks it into the pocket of my shirt as I finally make it out of the matrix of our table to head for the stage.
“Call me,” she orders with a bite of her lip. “For the rain check.”
I smile at her. “Okay.” She saunters off, and I turn back to my mission.
Trevor grabs me by the arm as I go to step away. “What the fuck, dude? Why didn’t you buy her a drink now?”
I glance toward the stage again, where Ava and the aviator-sunglasses-wearing douchebag have now started on a Bon Jovi duet. “Because of that.”
“What?” he questions. “She’s just having some fun.”
“She’s shit-faced,” I retort. “I’m not letting her go home with some idiot who is wearing sunglasses inside a damn bar, only to have her regret it in the morning.”
“Relax, man. I think he’s supposed to be James Dean.”
“Like I give a shit who he’s trying to be,” I grumble. “Did you make any headway with Jessica Rabbit?”
“Fucking nope. Apparently, she wasn’t digging my Fireball Mario costume.”
Personally, between the white overalls, red shirt, and fake moustache, I can understand Jessica Rabbit’s disdain.
“That’s great news,” I respond without hesitation. “Because you’re helping me get Ava home.”
“What?” he questions and adjusts his overalls.
“Get off your ass and help me get the dancing queen off the stage,” I say and stand to my feet.
“Dude, this night sucks balls,” he mutters but follows my lead.
Once I’m standing directly below Ava and her new karaoke friend, she glances down at me with glazed-over eyes and grins a slow, lazy smile. “Luke!”
“Hey, friend. Looks like you’re having some fun, huh?”
“Oh yeah!” she exclaims, but then two seconds later, hands the microphone off to Sunglasses and plops down into a sitting position with her legs hanging off the edge of the stage.
“Karaoke makes me tired,” she says and holds both hands out to place on my shoulders.
“You think it’s time to go home?” I whisper softly into her ear.
“Uh-huh.” Ava nods and lets her head rest on my shoulder.
“Aw. C’mon, sweetheart, we were just getting started,” Sunglasses says and sits down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. The movement jostles her back to an unsupported sitting position and forces her hands to release from my shoulders. “How about you do another song with me, and then I’ll make sure you get home?”
“Nope,” I chime in before Ava can respond. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll make sure she gets home.”
Immediately, the guy jumps off the stage and gets in my face. “What are you, her fucking dad?” he spits,