Ketchum, ID

ch 2 - julien

"Come on guys! It'll be fun!" Phoebe pleaded with Lucy and I. "We can sing the song we just wrote and test it on a crowd! Maybe there will be cool people there!" she said in an excited tone, knowing full well the last thing I ever want to do is go out and socialize.

"I mean, singing our song in front of a crowd would be kinda fun," Lucy said, giving in.

"I'm only going if one of you carries my guitar," I said begrudgingly, giving Phoebe what she wants.

Phoebe had been talking about this open mic night since she saw it on the back of a newspaper an old man was reading when we went to get coffee this morning. I'm not big on going out, especially to bars since I've been sober, but the boys get what the boys want.

As we were driving up to Ketchum-All, Phoebe started talking about the research she had done on the bar. She found out the bar was queer owned and operated, run by two best friends who were originally from Ketchum and wanted to bring more of a party scene to the town, and it was Halloween themed. When we got out of the car, Lucy grabbed my guitar to hold up their end of the deal, Phoebe grabbed her guitar, and I grabbed my foot pedals I needed for the song we had decided we wanted to perform.

The second we opened the doors, I was already incredibly anxious. There were so many people that my eyes immediately made contact with my phone and I refused to look up. I knew that the open mic night was already in full swing, because someone was playing the guitar solo from Free Bird, and it wasn't half bad, which of course made me even more nervous. I followed Lucy and Phoebe over to a table to take a seat. Even though there were as many people as there were, there were plenty of open tables because most of the crowd was congregating around the stage cheering for the guitar solo happening.

"If we're going to perform, don't you think we should have a name?" Lucy asked.

"So I've been thinking," Phoebe said cautiously. "We always call ourselves the boys, so what if that was the name?"

"The Boys? That's genius!" Lucy exclaimed.

"That's genius? What about The Boy Geniuses?" I asked, liking where this was going.

"Boygenius. No space. Final answer," Phoebe deadpanned.

"Boygenius it is, boys," I replied.

As we all shook hands, I heard a commotion start over by the bar that I hadn't even bothered to look at when we came in.

"WHO WANTS TO SEE THE PRETTY BARTENDER SING A SONG WITH ME?!" I heard someone yell.

"Oh my god! Those are the owners! I saw their picture in front of the building when I was digging earlier! Don't look now, but the bartender is kinda cute, and don't even get me started on the screamer. I think I read that their name is Alex. The manager that is. I don't remember what the other one's name is," Phoebe said.

Of course I turned my head to look at the excitement, and I turned at just the right time. I made eye contact with the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. She could only be the bartender, as she looked incredibly uncomfortable as people started to chant around her and the person who had screamed had her hand held high up in the air.

"Jo! Jo! Jo!" the bar started chanting. I smiled at her as I watched her face turn red. I broke eye contact when I saw her getting dragged from behind the bar and up the stairs to the stage.

"So I know not everyone here knows the lore of me and this beautiful woman standing next to me," the person who dragged her up there said, while winking at her. "But despite both being from right here in Ketchum," the bar erupted in cheers. "We actually didn't know each other until we both ended up at a small college in Chicago, and only met because our respective roommates introduced us after finding out we were both from Idaho." The crowd laughed as they said this.

"She is so cute," Phoebe said. "Look at how shy she looks up there. I just want to hug her."

"After we met, we became inseparable, ended up moving back here together, and opened this bar for all you gay motherfuckers to enJoy Halloween every day of the year!" they yelled the last few words, causing the bar to explode in cheers once again. "But before we moved back home, we had a few wild nights out at a karaoke bar close to our college campus, and Jo and I always used to sing the same song every week. It always got the room to laugh and sing along, so hopefully it will still have the same effect all the way back here on our home turf."

"Please hang in there for just a moment, as I have not sung this song, or with Alex, or on a stage in front of people for that matter, in literal years. My apologies in advance," Jo said with a blush still hanging on to her cheeks.

And then the music started. The song didn't sound familiar to me, but Lucy started cheering incredibly loud so I knew it resonated with her. Alex started to sing first, but I could not keep my eyes off of Jo. Alex's voice was actually pretty decent, but it took me all the way to the chorus to figure out what they were singing. When the crowd started to sing along, I couldn't help myself.

"AM I A MAAAAN OR AM I A MUPPET?" the crowd sang along. The fact that this is their go to karaoke song made me even more interested in the woman I was watching on the stage in front of me. It made it even better that she sang the background vocals for Alex's chorus.

And then she opened her mouth to sing her verse.