Thursday I Don't Care About You [Renee]

[Deleted]

"Well, I don't know where you've been karaokeling, but trust me, there are some venues that have systems that are made with high performance grade equipment." Some places even had full stages and surround sound speakers. It was almost like you were singing in a small theater. A small theater full of drunken adults who only paid attention if you were hot or were singing "Friends In Low Places." Or another similarly overdone song. Renee leaned in. "I even know a guy who can get you almost any song you want for karaoke. If it was made, he can find it, download it, and play it that very night." The internet really made it convenient these days. Renee remembered when songs were only available on CDGs that you had to go hunting through catalogs to find out if they even existed.

Goodness, that was ages ago. It made Renee feel old.

Renee rocked her head contemplatively from side to side as she considered Devon's suggestion about keeping up with local bands. "I suppose you're right, buuuut…." She meekly slinked down into herself a tad, clasping her hands together and gently swinging them ever so slightly. "Is it too horrible of me to say I'm a little too self absorbed to pay attention? Well, that and I have my students. My work. It gets fairly busy once classes start." She had her work, her students. Sometimes Renee felt like she was so busy with them, she didn't have a free moment to simply relax. Even during the summer, like now, she was busy.

"What, like, now? Like right now!?" Renee exclaimed when Devon expressed his desire to hear her sing. She shyly covered her whole face with her hands in a show of embarrassment. While she was indeed very confident in her singing, more so than her piano, there was a distinct difference to her in singing in front of an audience and once person, as in, the person actually knew you, at least now he did. Renee peered an eye through her fingers and then slowly slid them down her face to just under her jawline, revealing a very broad, un-modest smile. "What do you want to hear?"

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon gave a soft breath of a laugh and shook his head slightly. “I know some places are awesome, but they are few and far between. Back home, anyway. Not had a chance to find out what it's like here yet.” There was a heavy emphasis on the 'yet'. Devon had every intention of plugging that gap in his knowledge as soon as time allowed. The way Renee leaned in and her choice of words brought an actual laugh to Devon's lips and he smiled brightly. “You sound like you're tryna flog him to me. This is starting to sound like some sorta challenge.”

The art teacher's head tilted to the side slightly as Renee spoke about her busy life and after a moment he gave a small nod of understanding. “Yeah, I get that. Sometimes life gets in the way of living. It got like that for me when I went to uni, and I guess the same again now I'm over here.” He was speaking a partial truth at least; it had gotten harder for him over the past few years but Devon had never let things get in the way of what he loved. If it was a choice between seeing a band he loved playing live in a venue on the other side of the country or attending his morning classes with a clear head and wakeful enthusiasm, it would be driving all night and guzzling Red Bulls all day without a moments hesitation. Sensibility was for grown ups.

However, now that he was thirty, that mindset had not seemed to change. His students and career were vitally important, but he still firmly believed that life was for living. There was plenty of time to be self-absorbed and lazy when he was too old or crippled to run around any more.

At the trainer's dramatic face-covering over his request to hear her sing, Devon couldn't help a slight raise of his eyebrow. He didn't realise people actually did that outside Disney movies and old romance novels. As Renee uncovered her face Devon gave a quick shrug and lopsided smile. “You don't have to sing right now if you don't wanna. Just at some point.”