Closed Off To You (Singing Star Trilogy #1) (6 page)

Climbing into the car, I giggled as I closed the door and wound down the window. “It’s okay. You don’t have to feel sorry for me. I’ll see you around.”

Martin took a step back as I started the engine and turned the steering wheel. I drove away, looking in the rear view mirror as I burst into laughter. Things were desperate. It was time for operation desperado. If my own brother’s best friend asked me out because he felt sorry for me, I had to do something. I needed Ella and Lizzie. Together, we would pull off the best single ladies pity party in the world, before we went out and dominated the dancefloor.

Chapter Six

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Ella said.

My stomach rolled at the thought of what we are about to do. I had stupidly signed us up to audition for a brand new TV show called Singing Star when I was extremely drunk a couple of weeks back. When the girls realised what I’d done, we decided to add it to our bucket list of things to do before we were forty. We had chosen to forget about men and embrace who we were by living out our hopes and dreams.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this, either.” Lizzie glared at me before she squealed when the previous audition ended.

I clenched my hands together as we were called forward by the producers of the show. My hands were sweating so much, I couldn’t keep my fingers balled together.

“I’m going to kill you, Melissa.” Ella ran a shaking hand through her thin hair.

She was the most confident one out of us all, but we were about to make tits out of ourselves. We were going to be filmed while singing to a panel of judges. I had laughed heartily when we got an invitation to go for an audition. I wasn’t laughing now.

“Okay, you can go now.” The woman gestured to the stage.

Lizzie grabbed my hand. It was a good job too; I was about to run away. What the hell were we doing? None of us had amazing voices. Lizzie was the one that could carry a tune. We just backed her up a bit. With our hairbrushes, while playing a singing game on the games console. We had never sang in public.

“I’m so scared,” Lizzie whispered as we made our way across the stage and stood in the centre.

The arena was filled with people. They were about to get a good laugh. I bit my lip as I held the microphone tightly. I hadn’t even noticed them place it in my hand.

“Thank you for joining us on this brand-new show. We would like to hear your names and where you're from.” The first judge spoke quickly, gesturing with her hands.

“My name is Ella, and I’m from Kent.”

“My name is Lizzie, and I’m from London.”

“My name is Melissa, and I’m from…outer space.”

The audience appreciated my humour. My friends didn’t. I hadn’t prepared them because I knew they would kill me. The only reason I had even said such a stupid statement was because my brother, Charlie, had dared me to.

I had lost a bet the day before when he rang and asked if Martin had asked me out. Apparently, Martin had told him, so my denial needed punishment. Charlie knew about the audition so he’d made me promise to say something stupid to pay me back for lying to him.

“And whereabouts from outer space are you from?” another of the judges asked.

I hadn’t banked on getting a response. I stood stock still, unable to relax. Hundreds of eyes watched me, including my supposed band mates.

“Somewhere in the galaxy, far, far away.”

Laughter filled the arena. At least they didn’t boo me offstage. Maybe they could see how uncomfortable I was.

The judges raised their eyebrows but smiled at my stupid humour. Not that it was humour. It was just stupid.

“So does that mean you don’t have to train as an astronaut to go into space?” the third judged asked.

I glanced at Ella and Lizzie. They shrugged at me, allowing me to take the lead. My confidence grew as they waited patiently for my answer. Somehow, I wasn’t making a complete and utter fool of myself. Well, I was, but the judges were playing along. Maybe it was so they could take the piss out of me when they aired the show. What the hell had I got us into?

“No, I’m…talking rubbish.”

The crowd groaned. I couldn’t keep it up, there was no point. It was all just ridiculous. I was ridiculous.

“Okay, now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s hear your audition.”

My friends glared at me, harder than I had ever seen them squint. I was tempted to run off the stage, just to avoid their wrath when we had finished the song.

The music came on and we instantly fell into serious mode. We had practised the song over and over in my living room. Not because we were any good, but because we weren’t going down without a fight.

Lizzie started. Her sultry voice rang out around the arena. When Ella and I joined in, the crowd started to applaud. We were cheesy and old, trying to look young. I had to bite my lip when I wasn’t singing to stop myself from laughing. We strutted around the stage, executing our practised manoeuvres perfectly.

The last beat of the song fell away as we came to rest in the centre of the stage. The crowd cheered and clapped as our crazy rendition of Stay by Rihanna came to an end.

“That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” the first judge said.

I was surprised to see that they all had grins on their face. At least they had enjoyed our crappy performance.

“I quite enjoyed that. It was a bit lacklustre, but Lizzie has a good voice. If you get through, you’ll have to tour five different places over the UK to prove that you can handle the rock star lifestyle. Are you prepared to do that?” another judge asked.

Lizzie nodded her head enthusiastically. Ella slowly agreed, her eyes widening when the crowd applauded. I stood stupefied, wondering what the hell was wrong with people. Would they seriously put us through? Would we really have to go on tour?

“I would! I love the idea of this show. I’ve always wanted to be a singer.” Lizzie suddenly had verbal diarrhoea.

What was happening? We had done this for a joke. No way had I ever thought that we would get through. The touring part of the show didn’t look easy. Playing five different venues, with three different songs, against quite a few other bands. Then having the audience vote for their favourite to go on to the next venue. That did not appeal to me.

“What about you, Alien?” the last judge called.

My mouth open and closed before I could think of a coherent answer. I glanced at the others, gobsmacked by how excited they looked. It wasn’t as if the judges were going to put us through anyway. Why were they getting so excited?

“It’s been my dream to come to this world and storm the charts with our amazing voices.”

Lizzie clenched her fists at her sides. Ella flicked her hair as she tried not to roll her eyes at me.

“I think you’re funny,” one of the judges said.

The audience cheered as I took a bow. It was getting beyond stupid. I had to get out of there.

“Let’s vote.”

As each judge voted yes to put us through to the tour round, I cringed. Ella and Lizzie hopped up and down. Lizzie had been talking shit, she had never wanted to sing for a living. Did the pull of fame change who she was?

“You better get practising, you’ve got a long way to go before you’re ready to go on tour.” The last judge applauded as the crowd clapped.

I made my way off the stage in a daze. My best friends giggled and squealed as they hugged each other as soon as we were out of sight.

“It’s funny, I have a love hate relationship with your sense of humour. You can be so stupid sometimes, but I think you won them round. You made them laugh, which made them want to see us perform again,” Lizzie said.

Ella hugged me and kissed my cheek. “You’re a genius. You said we needed some excitement in our lives that didn’t involve men and look what you’ve created?”

Ella was a firm believer in creating your own reality. I agreed with some of her theories, but I hadn’t intentionally created the scenario we now found ourselves in.

“You do know that we’ll be the novelty act, don’t you?” I said, shrugging the girls off and striding away from them.

They muttered between themselves as I made my way through the building and outside as quickly as I could. I had never aspired to be a singer. I wasn’t even that good. It was bizarre that we were going to be on TV as a novelty act on a talent show when we had no talent.

“What’s your problem, Melissa?” Lizzie called out as she followed me through the exit.

Ella berated her, smacking her on the arm. “Don’t. It’s overwhelmed her, that’s all.”

They followed me as I rushed to the bus stop. There was no one waiting when I got there, so I plonked myself on the metal seat.

“They said I could sing. Why are you not happy for us?” Lizzie’s whiny voice made me bite my lip.

I couldn’t bring myself to be excited. When I’d signed us up, I hadn’t believed that we would get through in a million years. We weren’t talented enough. I wasn’t talented enough. I wasn’t good enough.

“You
can
sing.”

Lizzie did have a decent voice, I wasn’t lying, but I couldn’t say the same for Ella and me.

“I’m not doing it.”

Closing my eyes, I leant my head back against the glass of the bus shelter. I could feel the burn of their stares as I ignored their muttering.

“I don’t get it. This is going to be an adventure. You wanted adventure. You wanted something fun to happen, something different. Well, this is it,” Lizzie said.

The soft touch of fingers on my hair made me open my eyes. Ella sat next to me and stroked my hair away from my neck. “You created this. What harm can it do? It would be more than sufficient to add to our bucket list.”

“Don’t you see? They were laughing at us. They didn’t appreciate how amazing we were, they found us hilarious. And you’re okay with that?” I couldn’t help the sadness that pulled my shoulders down.

“We made people happy. Surely, that’s enough?”

Ella was meant to be the rational one. She usually accepted everyone’s point of view, but not today. She believed that we were supposed to go on the crazy tour. She was the serious one, the one who got things done, the one who created her life perfectly. Except for a man.

“I… It’s been a hard few weeks. I just need time to process it all,” I muttered as the bus pulled up.

My friends were the best. They understood and supported me in everything I did. My freelance writing was going well. They had encouraged me when I left my full-time well-paid corporate job to be a creative writer.

“Let’s go and celebrate. We deserve that much at least, no matter what happens. We achieved something today that may, or may not, change our lives. Stop your whining…” Ella said when Lizzie went to protest. “…and put your happy hat on.”

I smiled at my friends as they dragged me onto the bus. Ella sat next to me and put her arm around my shoulder. Lizzie sat behind, leant forward and wrapped her arms around my neck. They hugged me, knowing that I needed it.

We had somehow managed to get through the first audition of a televised talent show and would be touring the country. How could I take that away from my friends?

*

“Here’s to new adventures and exciting times,” Lizzie said, clinking her glass against mine and Ella’s at the same time.

I sipped the wine, almost spitting it back up when Nathan walked through the door and into the bar. Typical. I had never seen him in my favourite pub before a few weeks ago and now he had apparently become a regular.

“Melissa!” Lizzie squeaked. “It’s Nathan.”

Ella stood to get a better look at him. I grabbed her hand and yanked her back down. Nathan had noticed the clash of our glasses. He looked over and grinned when he saw us. I buried my face behind my hair, not looking at him.

My life had apparently become full of randomness. The day that I had triumphed on my bucket list was the day I saw Nathan again. What was going on?

“Are you going to talk to him?” Ella asked, eyeing him over the rim of her glass.

I shook my head quickly. He hadn’t even wanted my number. I wasn’t going to give him the time of day.

“Er, Melissa, I think you might want to see this,” Lizzie said, her eyes wide.

I resisted the urge to follow the direction of her gaze. If Nathan was with a beautiful young woman, I wasn’t sure how I would feel. Not that he had any emotional tie over me, I would never let him have that. But I still didn’t need to see him with a gorgeous woman.

“No, it’s not what you think.” Ella grabbed my hand.

I flicked my hair away from my face and let my gaze roam towards the bar. My body went still when I saw who Nathan was with.

“Melissa! I didn’t know you came in here,” Charlie called across to us. “Can I get anyone a drink?”

Nathan, Martin, and Charlie stood at the bar as they ordered. How the hell did Nathan know my brother and his best friend? The day could not get any stranger.

I shook my head, holding up my glass to show him that it was full. It was kind of my brother to offer me a drink, but that would mean he would come and sit with us. I was already afraid that he might. Considering there was three of them and three of us.

“I like your brother. He’s cute,” Lizzie said.

I shook my head at her, knowing that she said it to wind me up. I paused as she studied him intently. Now I knew what Charlie felt like at dinner when Martin had taken an interest in me. Great. Martin and Nathan sitting around the same bloody table.

Please don’t let them come over. Please don’t let them come over.

“Can we join you?” Charlie shouted, drawing the attention of the whole bar.