Chapter Twelve

BREAKING COMFORT ZONES

Ken sat in a booth at the back of the restaurant while Sierra and Roman were at a table in the middle of the restaurant. There was soft music playing through the speakers as diners ordered their food and drinks, Roman mentioned earlier that the actual Karaoke only started at nine after most patrons had enough liquid courage to face the night, but Sierra wasn’t one for heavy drinking, she’d experienced the hype of having liquid courage in college and didn’t care much for it. 

“So, what song are you singing?” Roman smirked, his eyes daring her to say she wasn’t going to sing. 

“I’m going to sing…” She rubbed her non-existent beard thinking of the most fun song she could think of, “Girls just wanna have fun.” Roman’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Those are big shoes to fill, think you can do it?” He challenged and she smirked back. 

“Of course I can, now Dr. Leek, what will you be singing?” Roman grinned wickedly. 

“That my darling is a surprise.” He winked and accepted his plate when the waiter put it down in front of him. 

“I would have never guessed a place like this even existed in Singapore.” Sierra eyed the double Texan burger that sat on her plate with a side of onion rings and fries. 

“It’s somewhat a home away from home for me, but the people here love it. The burgers are great and who doesn’t enjoy a good karaoke?” Sierra had admittedly never sung karaoke before, but she was excited to try even though she’d be doing it in front of a crowd. 

“You don’t have stage fright do you?” Roman threw his head back laughing, leaving the forkful of burger hanging mid-air. 

“Not in the least, but I will say this will be my first time singing, I usually just come here for the food and a good laugh.” Sierra looked horrified at his suggestion. 

“A good laugh! It takes a lot of courage to get up there and sing, but for what it’s worth I’m glad the tables are finally about to turn.” She shrugged, taking a bite of her burger, with her hands, the way a burger should be eaten. 

“I don’t mind at all actually, it’s all in good fun after all.” Seeing Sierra’s choice of utensils, Roman placed down his fork and knife and rolled up his sleeves, “If that’s how you wanna play it, then I’m game.” He took a large bite of his double burger, moaning in satisfaction when he did and Sierra couldn’t help but laugh at the look of pure pleasure on his face and the smudge of sauce that stuck to his cheek. 

“Very classy Dr. Leek.” Roman just shrugged, unapologetically proud of himself, and wiped away the misplaced sauce.

“You started it.” Sierra raised a teasing eyebrow at him. 

“I was only eating a burger the way a burger should be eaten.” She pointed out, popping an onion ring into her mouth.     

“Indeed it is, so we’ll leave our manners out of this and enjoy this night without reserve.” She smiled lopsidedly and nodded, raising her glass of milkshake to him.

The conversation flowed from how Roman discovered the place to times he brought friends there, Sierra enjoyed his company despite the rule of not speaking about anything personal, she found they had many things to speak about and before either of them realized, 9 pm arrived and the stage lit up to reveal the host’s smiling face. 

The greying man explained the significance of karaoke and why he chose to open such a place in Singapore before announcing that a friend of his would be kicking the night off. 

Sierra was unfamiliar with the song, but most people in the bar seemed to know it and sang along happily, she was impressed, the opening act was the perfect thing to get the crowd going which is why when the singer asked who wanted to go next a whole bunch of hands went up, waving slips with song choices written on them. 

Sierra and Roman both had theirs written down but he hadn’t allowed her to see what song he chose, though neither of them volunteered just yet. 

The night drew later with many performers taking the stage to sing songs she mostly didn’t know, but a few she was familiar with, even Ken tried his hand at the mic along with the girl he’d invited, Sierra suspected she was his girlfriend or perhaps a girl he really liked despite him introducing her as a friend. 

“You ready to hit the stage?” Roman grinned, scooping up her paper and waving it to the waitress before she could even answer.

“Well, I guess I have to be.” The waitress handed in their song choices before waving them to the front.  

         

Sierra could hear her heartbeat in her ears, the butterflies in her stomach were wreaking havoc within her to the point that she worried her dinner might make a great escape on stage.

“I’m not sure if this is a very good idea,” Sierra whispered to Roman who looked unbothered by the looming attention. 

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, you can do this and you’re going to do great!” Sierra sucked in a deep breath, feeling calmer at the look in his eyes. It was then that she realized something, she trusted this man, a man who the day before was a perfect stranger and that worried her. 

“Next up we have Dr. Roman Leek and Miss Sierra Brightly, singing a duet of Ain’t no mountain high enough.” The host announced and the spotlight focussed on them, catching Sierra off guard. 

“Wait, that wasn’t my choice!” Sierra protested when Roman grabbed her hand and pulled her up on stage. 

“No, it was mine.” Before Sierra could panic about the sudden change in plans, Roman handed her a microphone and frowned, “You said you’re a scientist, wouldn’t that make you Dr. Sierra Brightly?” He raised an eyebrow, but she just smirked. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” his distraction was enough to take away the edge of performing in front of people and Sierra was grateful that the spotlight was bright enough to drown out the crowd a bit. 

Roman nodded at the sound controller to start the music and easily sang the first words locking eyes with Sierra. It was one of those songs that everyone knew word for word and Sierra found herself singing along on cue without even realizing it. 

The first few lines were a little nerve-wracking till Sierra noticed the crowd singing along, their enthusiasm fuelled her and before she knew it, she was singing at the top of her lungs at the beat drop, she and Roman glanced at the screen from time to time but mostly sang to one another, their bodies dancing along to the beat. 

By the time the song came to a close, Sierra had a bright smile plastered on her face and her body was singing with adrenalin, the crowd cheered on their performance, begging for an encore when Sierra made the split-second decision to change her song choice to another duet. 

She kneeled down on the stage and motioned for the host to come closer, whispering her request in his ear, he smiled and nodded and moved to have the sound technician change the song. 

Roman was about to step off stage when Sierra held his hand and shook her head, “Not so fast mister.” She winked and directed her attention to the screen in front of her. 

“Dirty dancing?” Roman laughed but raised the mic to his mouth once the beat rang through the speakers. 

“I’ve had the time of my life, no I’ve never felt this way before…” He started, looking at Sierra with hooded eyes. 

Sierra couldn’t help, but get lost in his electric blue eyes, singing with more passion than she ever anticipated. They weren’t by any measure Bill and Jennifer, but their passion made the song all the more enjoyable and by the time the song ended, Sierra was breathing heavily from exertion, but slightly disappointed that it was over. 

They received yet another loud applause from the crowd as they bowed and rushed off stage hand in hand, laughing happily at the way the night turned out. 

“You ready to get out of here?” Sierra nodded, grabbing her bag from the chair, she waved at Ken who nodded and stood to leave. 

Sierra insisted on paying the bill, much to Roman’s annoyance, stating that it wasn’t a date therefore he should be okay with it. That shut him up.