to feel the panic grow in her stomach, overriding the calming effects of the Mysterious Umbrella.
Eleanor tilted her head. “Well, first of all, everyone knows this song. Even if you think you don’t know it, it’s embedded in your bones.”
“We’re all born with knowledge of this song,” Kirsten agreed.
“Not me!” Teddy said, her voice precariously close to a shriek.
“But most important, we’re all going to be up there together,” Eleanor said. “Also, they put the words on the screen. You can’t get that lost.”
“Don’t underestimate me,” Teddy mumbled, struggling to find the straw with her mouth. “I think I might be drunk.”
Eleanor smiled serenely. “It’s a fast-acting drink.”
Kirsten got them each another drink as they waited for their turn to sing.
“Is this one . . . stronger?” Teddy asked, wrinkling her nose.
Eleanor took a sip. “The magic of the Mysterious Umbrella is that it’s never the same drink twice.”
A lanky guy was dancing onstage to INXS’s “Need You Tonight.” “I love this song!” Teddy said, despite the fact that she’d thought of the song maybe once in the past twenty years. “Or . . . wait. I’m just drunk.”
“It’s an amazing song, and you’re getting blitzed,” Kirsten said. “Those facts are not mutually exclusive.”
“We’re up!” Eleanor said, and Teddy glided behind her to the stage. Somehow she wasn’t holding her drink anymore as the three of them crowded around a microphone. She felt her frazzled nerves for a moment, but then Kirsten squeezed her hand, the opening notes started, and . . . the girls were right. She did know this song. She knew these words deep in her bones, and she didn’t have to look at the screen to know what she should sing next (which was good, because the words were very blurry; someone should get that screen checked). The music poured out of her, she and Kirsten and Eleanor were harmonizing like they were a girl group that did only Pat Benatar covers, and the crowd was feeding their energy right back to them. They did belong to the light! And the thunder! She and Eleanor and Kirsten belonged together, damn it!
Teddy found herself pointing to Wuthering Heights Brian, who was standing right in front of the stage and belting along. He pointed back at her. They were best friends now. She heard his voice inside her; she saw his face everywhere, et cetera.
She looked at Eleanor and Kirsten, and they smiled back at her. They all put their arms around one another and she leaned her head on Eleanor’s shoulder. The girls had been right—this was fun. Teddy felt so grateful to be snuggled in between them now, to be with her favorite people in the entire world, to feel so warm and welcome and light. She didn’t even care that she was wearing a bright, bold dress that practically demanded people look at her. She wasn’t worried about how her voice sounded, or how she looked, or whether her eyeliner was on her cheeks. Everything was perfect.
She let her eyes roam over the crowd, at everyone out enjoying their nights with their own best friends, at the mix of people in the room, when her eyes snagged on someone.
The rumpled brown hair. The big hand gripping a glass. The brown eyes that were . . . that, oh God, were staring directly at her.
Everett St. James was in this bar, and he was watching her sing a Pat Benatar song.
23
Everett was the fifth wheel on a lesbian double date, he was drinking his second mai tai, and onstage, someone was singing “Need You Tonight” by INXS.
Okay, so maybe Natalie was right about the whole “leaving the house and seeing other people” thing. This was a legitimately great night.
“I love this song,” Everett said to everyone and no one.
“Ev.” Natalie leaned across the other couple, Tanya and Meaghan. “How are you drunk already? You’re a giant and this is your second drink.”
Everett downed the rest of the mai tai. “I’m a cheap date. So sue me.”
“Also.” Lillian put a hand on his shoulder. “Why are you drinking mai tais?”
Everett took the umbrella out of his drink and stuck it in Lillian’s hair. “Because they taste amazing.”
She wrinkled her nose and looked at Natalie, who laughed.
“Okay, listen,” Natalie said. “You’re going to talk to a woman tonight.”
Everett opened his mouth, and Natalie cut him off. “No, not us. A woman who actually wants to make out with you.”
Everett started to talk again and Natalie cut him off