A Vow So Beautiful - Chapter 96
“Why do you keep looking at your phone?” Alex asked.
Prisana was feeling guilty, as they were out late with the group of boys. It all spiraled out of control. It began with Elliot and Alex suggesting they all have fun around town, mainly because their attraction persisted they be together. She insisted she wanted to leave and return home to wait for her beast like a doting wife but Alex begged her to stay.
She remembered Alex’s words that prompted her to stay, ‘Oh please stay! I don’t want to be alone. If you’re there and consider yourself my friend, stay so I’ll have courage to talk to the guy I like.’
And so Prisana left calls and messages telling Dane where exactly she’d be at. It was no secret.
More like, she wished Cleo or Dane could scoop her up already because she felt out of place. Out of place because her whole life, she’d never been to these kind of fun entertainment places.
They were at some tiny karaoke and bar shop a little south of the downtown area of New Jersey. It was a chic and hip place as it was decorated with a wide array of colors, showcasing artsy paintings of the sort on every inch of the walls.
To her surprise, she noticed there were a lot of others around their age probably either in high school or college.
The reason for Prisana’s guilt was because he hadn’t answered her calls or texts. She wanted to be sure she didn’t miss it when it rang. Not that she was sorry to be out but more like uneasy that she would be inconviencing her dear husband or Cleo for staying out later than usual. Prisana needed to make note of asking him to teach her to to drive so she could further her independence.
“I’m waiting for my husband to call me,” Prisana proudly said without shame.
Alex took away Prisana’s phone. “This silly idiotic wife! It’s okay to worry about your dear husband’s phone call but have some fun with us too, alright?”
She sighed, then eventually smiled. “You’re right. After all, this is my first time karaoking.”
Everyone immediately looked at her in puzzlement.
Noah was the one to ask first, “What…Are you like some sheltered princess from a foreign country?”
Of course, Theo was the one who shot him a look and raked Prisana over with care. “You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to. We all come from different walks of life. It shouldn’t matter if this was her first time or thousandth time karaoking.”
“Now now,” Alex interrupted, shoving the song book into her arms. “Begin choosing a song then. You’ve been sitting there all day and since it’s your first time, you have to at least give it a try.”
All of the music that Theo, Noah, Elliot, and Alex sang were pretty much foreign to her. She didn’t listen to pop, rap, or rock. Prisana was the country and classic kind of girl that delved deep more into the romantic side of music.
“…It’s embarrassing. I only know old classical music with the exception of a few coutnry songs.”
“At least you have a music preference. And no one will sound worse than Noah there if that’s what you’re worried about,” Elliot commented with a laugh.
“What did you say..? Don’t make me tell Alex all your…” Theo covered Noah’s mouth as his words became muffled and incoherent.
“Come on Pris, I’m actually curious to hear how you sound like.”
‘Pris’. It threw her back that he was even calling her nicknames. Then again, Theo’s full name was Theodore.
Prisana narrowed her eyes at him. “So that you can make fun of me?”
“That too.”
She pouted and reluctantly began flipping through the song book. Her mind always wandered to Dane. She missed him dearly. It was like the moment that they parted, she was fine up until a certain degree in time. There were always things that made her think of him.
When her eyes ran across that song title, she instantly knew what she wanted to sing and pour her heart out to.
That exact moment like the universe knew, her phone began ringing. Alex handed it over as Prisana’s face must have lit up like the fourth of July. She excused herself and stepped outside of the room.
“Prisana, are you still busy?” came that voice she so adored.
“I’m not busy. You can come get me anytime. When you get here, just come inside we are in room XXX. I want you to meet some of my new friends I’ve made.”
“Okay. See you soon, my love.”
‘My love?’
Every fiber of her being froze.
Her heart beat at such simple words that she had to slap her cheek with her other free hand. When the call ended, she was already yearning to hear that rough deep voice again. Maybe Alex was right. Prisana was a silly, idiotic wife who thought nothing else but of her beast and husband. She turned and went back into the room.
Even the song she wanted to sing, was about him. It wasn’t accurate but it was how she felt about parting from him.
“Are you ready to sing?” Alex asked as she handed the microphone over to her.
“Why do I have a feeling she’ll sound like an angel?” Noah declared, still watching Prisana with heartful eyes.
“Let’s bet on it. I say that she’ll be at most, mediocre like the rest of us. Theo?”
Theo shrugged and kept quiet as Prisana pressed the buttons to her song and timidly put the microphone right beneath her lips. She closed her eyes and began to sing an instant classic by Ella Fitzgerald, becoming shut off to the world as she imagined saying this to her beast.
♪ A cigarette that bears a lips traces
♪ An airline ticket to romantic places
♪ And still my heart has wings
♪ These foolish things remind me of you
♪ A tinkling piano in the next apartment
♪ Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant
♪ A fairgrounds’ painted swing
♪ These foolish things remind me of you
♪ I know that this was bound to be
♪ These things have haunted me
♪ For you, my dear, enchanted me
♪ The winds of March that make my heart a dancer
♪ A telephone that ring, but whose to answer?
♪ Oh, how the ghost of you clings
♪ These foolish things remind me of you
♪ The smile of Garbo
♪ And the scent of roses
♪ The waiters’ whistlin’ as the last bar closes
♪ The songs that Crosby sings
♪ These foolish things remind me of you
♪ Babe, these things remind me of you
When Prisana opened her eyes, her newfound group of friends were all clapping and Noah even whistled. She didn’t care to pay attention to any of them.
That’s because her attention was focused on her beast of a husband that stood behind the door, that was slightly open ajar.