The look of pure panic he gives me almost makes me eat my words, but I’m standing my ground. He’s too good to only play around me. Dean grabs my drink as well and throws it back. Guess he won’t be the one to drive us back then.
After the song that’s currently playing gets finished, the bar applauds her and another girl steps on stage, holding a little note in her hand. “Next up, we’ve got Dean. This here says: I dare you, love Morgan.” She holds up the note and waves it in front of the audience. I can feel Dean’s glare boring a hole in me, but I just get off his lap and hand him his guitar.
“Come on bro, you can do it,” Jonah says encouragingly as he smacks Dean on the ass when he walks by. I’ve never understood the need for boys to smack each other’s asses, but who am I to judge?
Dean gets on the stage, grabs a barstool and sets it in front of the microphone. He adjusts the microphone stand, all the while avoiding looking in the room.
When he finally settles down, taking his guitar in his hands, he looks up and his eyes find mine from all the way across the room. He sighs, reminding me of Jeff Buckley before he finally did his final take on recording Hallelujah, and I want to get up and hug him. Suddenly I feel like a crappy girlfriend for making him do this.
“This one is for Morgan,” he says, watching his fingers on the strings. He opens his song by strumming a few accords before setting in the melody.
It’s nothing new for me, I’ve heard him play this a thousand times. It’s not even an exaggeration. He’s been playing this song non stop.
When he opens his mouth and starts singing the words I found all those months scribbled down on a dirty little paper, the atmosphere of the whole room seems to change.
He sings the song I’ve heard so, so many times and know by heart by now, only this time it’s for everyone to hear. He looks stunning, sitting there bent over his guitar, his blond knot sticking out to us.
Every now and again he looks up, and finds me in the audience. When his blue eyes lock with mine, his posture seems to relax, he seems to know what he’s doing. My heart fills with pride as my mouth is stuck in a permanent smile.
When the song ends, the room changes from quiet to a cacophony of applauding, whistling and yelling. I would’ve expected Dean to get a confidence boost, but he meekly picks up his guitar and makes his way back to our table while shyly accepting the compliments people give him.
O and Gil slap him on his back when he sits down, and by the time he’s fully seated and I’ve managed to go sit on his lap again, he seems to relax a little. But his whole body is tense though, and I’m surprised to find him shaking.
O pushes a drink towards him which he proceeds to down in one go.
“Remind me to never, ever, let you decide a dare for me again,” is the first thing he says when he seems to have found his voice again.
“Tsk, this was the best dare ever.” I notice a cute girl with a set of boobs I’m instantly jealous of coming near Dean, batting her lashes at him, and before I know what I’m doing I’m growling at her.
Seems I’ve got a little alphahole in me after all, who knew.
I nestle myself into the little nook of Dean’s shoulder until I feel his body get less tense and his breathing even out. The guys are uncharacteristically quiet, which changes now that Dean seems okay again.
“That was awesome,” Jonah says. “Singing and cooking? It’s a good thing Mor likes us all, because you’d be able to woo her away from us in a heartbeat.”
Dean grumbles something resembling a thanks.
“Stop being humble, dude. That was awesome.” O slides his phone over the table, showing Dean singing on the video he took. And even on the small screen it’s as awesome as it was.
Finally, finally, the corner of Dean’s mouth pulls up. That’s what I thought. He’s awesome.
“Send me the video please,” Gil asks innocently.
“Why?” Dean asks.
“Because I’m going to send it to Loraine,” he deadpans.
“Jesus, I fucking love you, Gil,” I blurt without any form of filter between my head and my mouth. Literally the only thing that could make this performance better is rubbing it in Loraine’s face with exactly how awesome it was.
Dean winces, but doesn’t tell him to stop. O grabs his phone back and starts tapping on it, sending it in the group text we’ve got going. Gil immediately takes out his own phone, somehow sending it to Loraine, and I feel more smug than I’ve ever felt. I wish I could see her face the moment she received it.
Dean brings his mouth next to my ear, grumbling in that deep voice of his all the things he’s going to do to me tonight to make me pay for it, and I’ve never had a better incentive to go home than that.