Karaoke: entertainment, offered typically by bars and clubs, in which people take turns to sing popular songs into a microphone over a pre-recorded backing track.
*
My hair was still wet as I walked down the stairs, a white towel draped over my shoulders as I scratched at some water in my ears. Given what little information I got from Alexis, I was dressed in my black trousers and a maroon dress shirt, hoping this was formal or casual enough for whatever we were going. I covered my head in the towel and started rubbing away the water, sending another shiver down my spine. I ventured into the living room, feeling the wall of heat caused by the roaring fireplace, and saw Mia, reading one of the books she had brought at the coffee table.
"You look like Alice from Alice in Wonderland," I commented sitting on the lounge behind her.
Aside from the light blue towel twirled on her head like a crown, she was wearing an elegant blue dress, inscribed with flowery patterns, that piled around her when she sat down. Mia shuffled to face me, her book now resting in her lap. "Drying off?" I asked, gesturing to the fire.
She nodded, pressing her hand against the towel to check for dampness. I looked over her shoulder to notice a golden hairbrush and a spray bottle sitting on the table. "Are you waiting for Bonnie to come to brush your hair?" I queried as she untangled her hair from the towel, it hung from her head like lengths of rope.
Mia nodded, delicately folding the towel on the ground in front of her. "I can brush your hair for you," I offered, shifting to the ground and resting my back against the lounge, "I use to brush my sister's hair."
Mia hesitated before reaching out for the hair product and brush and holding them out to me. The brush was heavier than I thought and was shocked to notice it was made of golden ivory. I widened my eyes as Mia shuffled herself around, gathering her hair to flick it on her back, small droplets hitting my pants. I shifted some strands of hair while I examined the hair product; Philip B Russian Amber Imperial Detangler Spray for Long Hair. I sniffed the top of it and hummed in delight, "Coconut scented."
Mia nodded, glancing over my shoulder as I read the description. My eyes found a price, "$266!" I looked back at the label, "What is this made of, Unicorn blood? Does it turn your hair gold? Does create world peace?" My overreaction earned me a giggle from Mia as I started spraying her hair, using it sparingly, so I didn't waste such an expensive product.
My sisters use to tangle their hair after a shower, come out with dreadlocks of hair, and all we had to deal with the knots was a $20 bottle of Pantene Detangler.
Mia sneezed.
"Oh! Sorry," I said replacing the bottle on the coffee table.
Mia rubbed her nose as I started brushing her hair, the spray itself making easy work of the jumbles. Mia's hair was deceptively longer then the wet locks led me to believe, what initially stretched an inch past her shoulders managed to reach her mid-upper back. I became worried about the amount of blonde hair in the hairbrush. "Is your hair frail or am I brushing too hard?"
Mia shrugged as she ran her fingers through the side of her hair when her fingers reached the tips she showed me the handful of blonde hair that came with her. "Holy cow," I said looking at the gold hairbrush.
"It's okay, she had thin hair but a lot of it," Bonnie informed coming into the room. I was taken aback by her, her hair straightened, her skin seemingly glowing, and dressed in an amazing shoe string purple dress and knee-high black boots. I whistled, her giving me a wink, "Thanks." She parked next to Mia and crossed her arms, "I told you I'd be out to brush your hair once I got my shoes sorted."
Mia started signing to her, but I couldn't understand her signs.
Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Don't worry about the hair," she said to me, "Mia somehow grows it back by the end of the day." Her wheelchair got stuck in the rug hairs. "Is this what normal wheelchairs do?" she asked, managing to unstick herself.
"Couldn't tell ya," I replied, "Maybe that's just a particularly crappy one."
Bonnie groaned as she rolled to the fireplace, the orange glow making turning her skin an auburn colour. "What's happening with your other wheelchair by the way? Are you getting a new one or are they pulling yours from the water?" I continued running the brush through Mia's hair.
"That wheelchair is an over $100,000 wheelchair that my parents had custom made for me," Bonnie informed, "I felt it break when it hit the water. I don't know if anyone is gonna leaf it out of the water, but I'm sure as hell am not getting a wheelchair like that for a while." She applied the break when the wheels started turning slowly by themselves, rolling her gently backwards. She struggled to lock the break in place. "This break is terrible. Man, I hate this chair…"
I chuckled, running my hands through Mia's hair between brushstrokes, "Where are we going tonight?" I asked. I touched Mia's shoulder to get her attention, "Do you want me to plait your hair or anything?"
"Oh, fancy," Bonnie tweeted.
Mia nodded happily. "All right." I started dividing her hair.
"I'm not too sure where we're going, but apparently it's some diner place with karaoke," Bonnie didn't sound very confident.
"We're going legally clubbing!" Ava cheered, her hands fiddling with one of her golden earrings, Robyn strolling behind.
It floored me how all out the girls were going for this. Ava was wearing a red velvet singlet and a black layered ruffled skirt, her golden earrings matching her tan heels. Robyn nearly tripped on her black heels, clutching Ava's shoulder when she stumbled. Ava laughed, "You okay?" she signed. Robyn continued signing, making a silent laugh as she adjusted her rose pink dress, she reached down to her shoes and loosened some of the strings and buckles.
"What's legally clubbing?" I asked.
"Pretty much a bunch of adults make a nightclub that doesn't sell alcohol," Ava explained, "Music, dancing, and a soda happy hour."
"Sounds very social," Bonnie droned.
"It'll be fun," Ava assured, plonking on the lounge across from me. "Amia told me it's called Karaoke Chaos."
"That too tight?" I asked, holding the end of Mia's plait in my hand. She shook her head, so I tied it off. "Sounds like fun."
Robyn started signing, excitedly explaining something. "There's a karaoke hotel," Ava translated, "And bright lights, and a live band, and a large dancefloor with rollerblading waiters and everything." Robyn clapped her hands. Ava confirmed this, "Yeah, the twins mentioned stuff like that. There's a photo booth, and a disco ball, and even an arcade section. It's gonna be great!"
Bonnie nodded, a smile I could tell was forced curving her lips. "Sounds great."
Ava dialled down her enthusiasm as she said, "I will help you dance even if I have to carry you," she informed, "Because tonight, we're just going to let loose and have a nice time."
"Here, here!" Amia said walking in.
Robyn widened her eyes upon seeing Amia's outfit. "Robyn likes your dress," Ava informed when Robyn signed.
Amia was wearing a black, white and pink dress, the chest a simple black and white striped design, while the skirt was a solid pink with an image of a poodle embroidered on the side with a matching bright pink bow was stuck to her head. She looked the most colourful and juvenile out of all of us. What got my attention was her shoes, which didn't match her puppy-skirt aesthetic, as they were white sneakers with purple and pink lights attached that switched colours whenever she took a step, almost a cyberpunk theme. "I personally like the shoes," she announced jumping on the spot to show off their features.
"Seems a little dated, doesn't it?" Bonnie asked.
"I couldn't care less," Amia admitted, "I've been to Karaoke Chaos before. Trust me. I'm not gonna be the weirdest dressed there." She jumped as if remembering something, "Wait until you see what I got Amada to wear."
As if on cue, Amada appeared in the doorway. I was taken aback by how… normal he was dressed. Like me, he wore long black trousers, but had on a white striped button up shirt and was holding a dark blue coat, and his hair got styled into a loose bun. He looked like a young man.
Bonnie made a quip, "Looking good, Amada. Almost like a real boy."
Amada blushed. "Bonnie," Ava weakly scolded, "I think you look handsome, Amada."
He lifted his chin and smiled, "Thank you."
"Yeah, you almost fooled me, Pinocchio," Bonnie stabbed again.
"Bonnie!" Ava and I said simultaneously.
Amia seemed annoyed, "You're not wearing the bow tie."
"I think it looks silly," he confessed, rubbing his head nervously.
Amia smiled, walking to him and looping her thumbs around his buttons. "But it's adorable," she whined. Amada tried to argue, but his sister continued her plea. "Pleeeeeeeeease!" she sang.
Amada sighed as he revealed a bright blue bow, the same style as the one fitted into his sister's hair, and clipped it against his neck, making a bowtie. "Happy?" He was blushing.
"There's the Pinocchio we all know," Bonnie commented.
Amia ignored her and wrapped an arm around him, "I like it."
"You look positively dashing, Amada," Ava assured.
Robyn made a sign that added to Amada's sudden bashful look. "Thanks, guys."
"I can't see you, but I'm sure you look as amazing as usual," Alexis stated, entering the room and barely stopping herself from running into Amada. She caught herself against his shoulders, feeling the fabric of his shirt. "Whoa, nice! You never wear good quality shirts," she commented pinching the seams as she travelled down his arms and across his shoulders, her fingers eventually found the bow tie and smirked, "Cute."
Amada smiled, "Thanks. I like your outfit too."
Alexis' clothes made her seem naturally taller and slimmer, her tight-fitting black jeans elongated her legs while her red crop top slimmed her torso and upper body, but a light brown leather jacket covered her shoulders. Her blind eyes framed by her sunglasses and wild bush of red hair. "You didn't wash your hair?" I asked.
She shrugged, "I washed out the chlorine, but that air dryer freaks me out." She started whistling as she made her way across the living room and sat next to me. Without warning, she ran her fingers through my damp hair, "Not much of a styler, Landon?"
"He knows how to plait hair," Bonnie informed.
Alexis tilted her head, "Does he?"
Mia practically fell against Alexis, a smile on her face, as she hugged her. Alexis caught her and ran her fingertips through Mia's hair. "Wow, impressive," she commented, tugging on how tight I had tied everything, "Learn from plaiting your hair?"
I rolled my eyes, "Ha-ha, hilarious. My sisters all have long hair, and my Mum worked a lot, simple things like learning hairstyles just made it easier for everyone." I quickly dried off my hair with the towel again, "If needed, I can also do buns, fishtails, most forms of ponytail styles and kinda know how to do curls."
"A hairdresser in the making," Amia stated.
Estelle emerged from the stairway, unlike the rest of us she was still dressed in her pyjamas, her droopy expression stretching to her arms and dragging her feet. Her hair was unbrushed. "You haven't gotten dressed," Ava commented.
"Nothing gets passed you," Estelle murmured, walking to the lounge and plonking on the cushion next to me. Mia stood up and took Estelle's hands in her own in a strange sense of comfort.
"Why aren't you ready to go?" Ava asked.
"I'm not going," Estelle informed, "I don't want to go out."
"How come?" I asked.
She took her hands from Mia and crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm just not in the mood…" Estelle sighed, fixing some strands of hair.
"Well maybe you should go out then," Bonnie said, "Take your mind off your mood."
"I don't want to, Bonnie," Estelle asserted.
Everyone made a form of sigh, some in irritation, perhaps exasperation, but Ava was the one to speak up. "No, Estelle now is not to time to sulk," she informed replacing Mia as she kneeled before her and took her hands.
Estelle tried to take them away, but Ava held on tight. "Ava, I'm just not in the mood."
"And normally, you know I would respect that. However, right now, this is not what you need," Ava informed, "What you need to do, what we all need to do, is belt our lungs out to some cringey pop songs on some old karaoke machines, and halfway through an intense note burp because we stuffed our faces with burgers." This created a chorus of chuckles, Estelle managing to stay stony faced for a few seconds before she too smiled, dropping her eye to the floor. Ava lifted her chin and, with a tilt of her head and a smile, added, "Estelle if you really don't want to go, we won't make you. However, I can't with good conscious let what happened to you yesterday stop you from doing stuff I know for a fact you love."
Estelle's lips curved into an uncertain expression, pulling her chin from Ava's hand to avert her gaze. "So… how about this, I'll help you pick out an amazing modern Princess Star outfit, and we'll go out to Karaoke Chaos, together, and if you get tired or sad I'll come back with you, no matter how long we've been out for, and I'll watch those strange Spanish Soap Operas with you."
Estelle bit the inside of her cheek, the uncertain gesture turning into a small smile as she nodded, "Okay."
Ava nodded, tightening her hands around the Princess' before rising. "Excellent! We'll be off soon then!"
*
While Estelle didn't return to her complete Princess Pastry self, she did perk up when the car pulled in outside the restaurant.
It was difficult to miss. It was a black building wedged between a real bar and a closed café with an enormous, flashing cursive sign that read Karaoke Chaos! with a large mic flickering behind the letterings. At the front, large rectangular windows allowed insight into a lively neon purple and pink disco setting inside. Honestly, it looked like a headache, but a lively headache.
The girls exited the car in a hurry and crowded around the entrance, waiting for Bonnie to be placed in her wheelchair before we all entered the quaint disco restaurant.
Upon entering, I got wafted by the smell of plastic and hot chips, my feet feeling the vibrations of the music running up my spine as a strobe disco ball occasionally blinded my eyes in the centre of a dance floor. While we waited by a reception desk, I noted the bright white letters of an Epilepsy Warning sign.
"Does it stay this loud?" Alexis asked, her voice drowned out by the electro-pop music.
Amia shook her head, taking Alexis' hand as she spoke, "No. It's just in the middle of a disco track. It happens once every hour for ten minutes. It won't be too much longer!"
As if Amia was the D.J, the music died down as a woman greeted us in green and orange roller blades and a candy-striped uniform, she looked like something plucked out of a 1980's petrol station diner. "Table for nine?" she asked, she seemed out of breath, but her smile was genuine.
Amada nodded, "Yes please."
"Right this way," she gestured with an armful of menus and rolled slowly in front of us, skilfully setting up a roundtable on the edge of the dance floor while we seated ourselves. "Does the little one want some colouring in?" she offered when she returned with some crayons and paper.
Mia nodded as she rested her hands on her lap, the waitress placing the paper and box of crayons before her. "I'll give you all a minute to decide on what you want. We have our live DJ for the next hour, and the Karaoke Rooms are down the hallways in the back, $10.00 for three songs." After she said her waitress script, she placed some jugs of water on the table and was off.
Robyn started pouring while we all looked at the menu. Unlike the Karaoke Chaos! sign, the menu font was in capital prints, and in the weird light at times became difficult to read. "What's on the menu?" Alexis asked as she was sitting beside me.
"Honestly, I have no clue," I confessed, misreading Burger for Buster and Bonger.
Mia didn't look at the menu, and when the girl came back, Bonnie ordered for her. When Amia ordered, her brother asked for the same thing, and Robyn was happily surprised when the waitress knew enough sign language to take her order.
After our meals of satisfyingly greasy burgers, lasagne squares, sandwiches, and overpriced milkshakes and soft drinks, Robyn coaxed some of the girls on the dance floor. When Mia slipped off her chair to follow Bonnie, Ava shuffled a few seats over to sit next to me, looking down at the drawings Mia had been working on for the past half hour. "Leave it to Mia to somehow draw better than me with crayons," Ava whined pushing the paper away from her.
I turned the paper to me and scoffed in amazement at the drawing of the Empire State Building, it was coloured red and had added remarkable detail to the trees and bushes on the ground.
"Mia has a remarkable sense of detail," Alexis commented, resting her chin on her hand as she closed her eyes.
The diner was full of other people, some dancing, others sitting at their tables, other emerging from the Karaoke Rooms or the photo booth I had only just noticed tucked away in the corner. A little off centre, the girls were dancing to the music, or rather jumping around in time to the base. I quickly noticed Robyn had abandoned her heels. Estelle was laughing, the biggest smile on her face as she fell against Amia mid-jump.
I looked to Ava, who had a smaller smile on her face but watched on with that rare gleam in her eyes, one I had only recognised in my Mother; adoration.
"How're you so good with them?" I asked, disrupting her stare.
"What?" Ava blinked away the look.
I recalled all the times I had heard Ava talk to the girls, the dedication she has to them, how protective she gets. Our first instance where she slammed the door in my face and called me a pervert came to mind also. "How are you so good at talking to them? At getting them to do things or make them understand?" I looked back to the dancing girls, particularly at Estelle as her smile became natural as she started teasing Amada with a hip bump.
Ava scoffed. "It's just as unpredictable as talking to a stranger sometimes. Pure luck mostly." She stretched her arms above her head, "I bombed at talking to Bonnie yesterday, Mia barely listens to me, and when she does it's always because you're doing it, or Bonnie benefits from it, or because she doesn't talk it looks like she listens to me." That moment of exhaustion appeared on Ava's face, it was a fraction of a second, but it was dismissed with half an eye rub. "There isn't really a skill to talking to them. I talk to them like regular people. Something you and I take for granted sometimes, but… I suppose they appreciate."
"We do," Alexis chimed in, running her fingers over the creases in her napkin.
I looked back to Ava. "You're a good person, Ava."
Her eyes dropped to the table, and she visibly scoffed, a small grin forming, "Not to sound dramatic, Landon, but I'm really not. I'm incredibly selfish."
Before I could tell her otherwise, I was distracted by sudden whooping. I looked at the dance floor and watched Robyn dancing in ballet, contemporary, and jazz movements I could barely decipher. She was pirouetting, her turns going into the twenties, before she altered her dance style. She leapt into the air with such an out of place grace to the electro-music it was almost jarring. Her hands had a fluttering elegance, her back curved to show off a ridiculous range of flexibility, and within moments her larger then life dancing attracted the attention of onlookers.
"Woo! Go, Robyn!" Ava called, punching the table in excitement.
I was in awe seeing the usually absent, mild-mannered Robyn showing off her dance skills. "Since when can she move like that?" I asked.
"I've told you already, she takes classical ballet," Alexis reminded me, "Probably takes a lot of other classes as well."
Ava agreed, "She also does Top-Level Tap."
Robyn fell out of one of her turns, in a state of dizziness, but her sudden stop prompted the applause of her audience, including the dormmates that surrounded her. Robyn bit down on her lip, reverting to her bashful nature as she curtsied at the attention.
"Wow…" was all I could form in the way of words as she started shuffling back to the table and sat next to Ava, amidst her pants she was signing frantically, her words lost to me quickly as she paused now and then to catch her breath.
An hour later, we were all sitting in one of the Karaoke Rooms, watching the twins sing a duet together with impressive harmonising. After some persuading, we got Bonnie to try her hand at a song, but, as she proclaimed, and we refused to believe, she was utterly tone-deaf and abandoned the song halfway through.
"Having to sit down all the time isn't good for the diaphragm," was her explanation.
Ava placed in her money and chose a metal song, an abrasive instrumental blasted from the stereos, piercing our ears and, in my case at least, sending me back against my chair. What frightened me more was Ava's voice, her usually smooth, almost sweet tone hoarse as she screeched in metal music fashion. Everyone laughed in disbelief as they playfully covered their ears, Robyn, utterly unaffected as she had taken out her hearing aids, rested her hand against one of the stereo amps to feel the vibrations of the song. The karaoke machine rewarded Ava with an A+++ for her efforts.
"What about you Gregson?" Ava offered, holding out the cordless microphone to me, "Try your voice at it?"
Before I could decline, Estelle grabbed the microphone and stood up, leafing through the song choices on the touchpad. Ava popped herself down next to Ava, who had started chatting with her.
"Well…" Alexis started, picking at her ear with her pinkie, "That's… one way to relieve tension." She pulled at her earlobes, "You not much of a singer, Landon?"
I shrugged, "Don't mind some karaoke. But I haven't done that since Sing-Star was still a thing."
Alexis released a happy sigh, "Oh I loved Sing-Star when I was little."
Our conversation was cut off by the twinkly instrumental of Estelle's song. I looked at the large flat screen where the lyrics popped up to read the song: Shatter Me, by Linsey Stirling (feat. Lzzy Hale). I didn't recognise it, but its background music was pretty.
Estelle had the voice of an angel. There was an angelic presence to her tone, an emotional connection that made each note seem real, at times almost painful. I glanced at the girls next to me on the lounge, each in a similar state of infatuation, my eyes were drawn to Mia the most, as she sat up straight, her fingertips twitching as if she was playing the violin or the piano in the song, and, what caught my attention immediately, her lips occasionally mouthed the words.
The song got louder, intense in both music and meaning, and Estelle easily matched it. Her performance flooring us with how genuine she sounded, the way she made every note, every word, every mild tremor in her voice tell an unknown story that felt tragic. When the song finished, none of us knew how to react as an A+++ blasted on the screen, breaking the sombre tone with its wild yells of achievement.
None of us knew what to do after the song, not even Estelle, who had yet to move from her place as the microphone trembled in her hand. With an uneven sigh and the flick of her hair, her composure returned, and she smiled, holding out the microphone. "Who's next?"