Just a Night Out (Noa)

[Noa Reese]

"Miiight…be a better idea to let me finish at least one first."

"Then quit yer yappin' and drink up, Scrooge McDuck." Her mind had grasped for some sort of entertaining nickname but the first thing that made it to her lips was beyond awful. Noa pulled a face. "Christ, talk about outdated colloquialisms. That was possibly the worst." She shook her head, "On the plus side, we're equally matched for bad jokes now, right? Or something like that?" She definitely wasn't letting a bit of failed humor get in her way. If anything, she'd rather own up to it and make fun of herself, as she was doing, before anyone else could do it for her.

"Patience; It'll be gone soon enough."

With a wry smirk, Noa raised a brow again. "Maybe I should've suggested shots." But there was that handy little idiom about beer and liquor... and she wasn't eager to play nurse to a vomiting Bishop. Sexy nurse to a tipsy Bishop, perhaps. But not vomiting. Never vomiting.

"…I can only imagine what my brothers would think."

She was tempted to ask which ones, but then realized that, to be honest, she just wasn't that interested in his family. Maybe occasionally, but not tonight. Tonight she was looking for dirt. ...Except not dirt really. She just felt like she wanted to dig deeper and learn more. She usually dominated the conversation, really, and she wanted to hear Zach hold his own for once. Even if he needed alcohol to do it.

"But…you perform all the time at the House, right? I'm sure it's just as great…especially since you would probably make me look like a drunken fool."

Noa glanced down at her hands. Ugh, it was so hard... she kept wanting to blurt out honest truths with Zach, and that wasn't really entertaining. She wanted to explain how hollow it felt to be the one person in a room aware that you were trying, how desperate it felt, how thoroughly uncomfortable. She'd sworn off sober karaoke jokingly, but it came from a place of real vulnerability that she wasn't eager to launch into on a night that was supposed to be lighthearted. So instead, she shrugged off his comment, staring at her fingers that had twisted together tightly, and pulling them apart with a half-hearted smirk she was hoping would pass given his distraction with the beer. "I'm guessing that's not a difficult task," she teased, "but I'll pass on the offer tonight, thanks."

There was a slight pull of a frown on he face and she had to literally give herself a small shake, trying to clear the gloom from her head and stick on the bright and cheery path for the night.

[Deleted]

Scrooge McDuck? Wow, it'd been years since he'd heard that kind of reference. Zach held his head in slight exasperation. "Wow…I'm not sure about bad jokes, but this definitely shows my age." And neither Zach nor Noa were even that old. But that was enough reason to drink some more. And so he did.

Shots? "That would get the job done faster but…I don't really do hard liquor very well." Which was why he stuck with hoppy beer.

If Noa had explained her insecurities over performing karaoke as seriously as she did her professional shows, then he probably would have understood. Not exactly, as he wasn't a performer, but he could at least imagine it. And if not that, then he would have listened. He smiled at her teasing. "Not really. It doesn't take much." And Zach was a bit of a lightweight. It wasn't going to take long for him to get drunk.

Zach took a final drink of the first glass and set it down with a dull thud. "There. That's one down. See? Good things come to those who wait."

[Noa Reese]

"Wow…I'm not sure about bad jokes, but this definitely shows my age."

That definitely deserved a wry smile, and it got one. Who were they, really, to complain about their age? Besides, nostalgia was so... well, 'in' because it was 'out' in that sort of hipster cycle thing that was going on. Noa didn't mind admitting she liked hipsters (though more the real kind than the pretentious sort) - maybe it was something she saw in Zach, a bit. A nostalgia, or a quiet turn away from the norm...

Yeah, she wasn't really in the mood for analyzing hipsters at the moment, either.

"...I don't really do hard liquor very well."

To be honest, Noa preferred cocktails above anything else, but she'd done a shot or two before. She preferred the taste more, but the effects... well, they were all basically the same. If she didn't sober up before sleep, she woke up hating the world and every noisy and/or bright thing in it. She tried to never get to that point with drinks, but - as evidenced not so many weeks ago with the party - there were certainly exceptions.

It was nice to see Zach take her teasing as it was meant: playfully, not intending to make him embarrassed or apologetic or anything. And his good attitude raised her morale a bit as well.

"There. That's one down. See? Good things come to those who wait."

"When can I give your song request to the DJ?" She asked, with a slight smirk, glancing toward the karaoke setup.

[Deleted]

Zach couldn't remember the last time he'd indulged in simple nostalgia like that. Noa was, arguable, a few years younger than Zach in the first place, yet still old enough to understand and to have shared some of the same things he'd grown up with. It was something that would be unreasonable to expect from his youngest siblings, like Savvy, and JJ.

If being 'old' made him a hipster, and if Noa liked that, then so be it. He was painfully unaware of it though. That was still more Ollie's department than Zach's.

Zach had done the experimentation with different kinds of alcohol before. Testing his tolerance, see what he liked and didn't. He found he much preferred the beer buzz to the lazy kind of liquor drunk that spirits provided. And cocktails just seemed too…call it a stereotypical perspective, but it did seem too girly for him to be drinking apple martinis and panty-droppers. Since he couldn't do straight whiskey, beer was the default.

If Zach was taking her teasing well, aside from him being used to it, it was because said alcohol was already starting to relax him. He peered over to the karaoke area. There were a few people putting song in and already the DJ was calling a person onstage to sing. At least he wouldn't have to be first.

"Uhmmm….do you have any requests?" He asked with a slight shrug. It was likely that Zach could get the second beer more than finished by the time they called him up.

[Noa Reese]

Noa hated to admit it, but Zach was actually a bit easier to be around when he was buzzed. She tried not to like people more when they were under the influence of anything, but it was kinda nice having him be a bit more sociable.

"Uhmmm….do you have any requests?"

She was surprised. She'd expected him to beat around the bush a bit, and then chicken out, but apparently alcohol really was the great equalizer. Still finding it hard to believe she'd referenced Scrooge McDuck, her lips curved into a wry smile. "They probably don't have the Duck Tales theme song, do they." Her inflection was flat, making it plain that she was 99% sure she was right, that it wasn't really a question. "How about..." she tried to think of those songs that just worked in rooms full of drunk people. "...Eye of the Tiger, Stacy's Mom, Don't Stop Believing... Don't You Forget About Me..." There were a lot, weren't there. "1985... I Wanna Be Sedated... Smells Like Teen Spirit... Yeah, there's a lot to choose from, don't let me pick for ya."

[Deleted]

It was funny how more talkative of a person Zach became when he had a few beers in him. The tension faded away, he could relax and not worry about being awkward and just say what was on his mind instead of being concerned with how it came out. He could even say that he and his bestie Ollie were "crazed partiers" once they'd gone through a couple rounds.....ok, no, the best they did was just this, karaoke. And Ollie only sang along with the other guys.

But yes, it didn't take much to get drunk!Zach on-stage. Sober he would freeze up and probably stumble over the words...or over his feet on his way up. Get a drink or two in him and he stopped caring about how he looked and, while he still looked like a dork, he could at least do it. Well...there were still some things he probably wouldn't do. "Uh...I don't think I'd pick that even if they did," he said with a strained smile. Even drunk, Zach wasn't one for TV-theme songs.

The list she gave off were, yes, a bunch of classics, stuff that he heard a lot and ones that probably everyone knew. "That...doesn't really help," he stated blandly. He dove into the second glass, searching for something that would work and when he came up for air, Zach decided with, "Something Billy Joel? Maybe?" Any one of them would probably work.

[Noa Reese]

Noa shrugged. "Hey, like I said: don't let me pick for ya." She'd be curious to hear Zach sing just about anything. She'd been pleasantly surprised the first time she'd heard him sing, and hadn't gotten a chance to hear that again. Though she wasn't sure what alcohol might do to his vocal performance. There were some good singers who just failed when they were drunk. She hoped she wasn't one of them, but didn't plan on testing it out.

"So how does it work here, you sign up, or what?" She glanced around, the establishment, taking another sip of her water.

[Deleted]

"Fine, fine." That still didn't narrow it down. But he wouldn't have suggested the artist if he didn't have a song in mind. One more drink and he put both hands on the table to lift himself up. "Yeah, you just tell the DJ and he'll call you up," Zach said with a nod and pointed over there. Zach and Oliver had been here a couple of times in the past. While Oliver had been the one to be in a band, Zach was usually the one who sang the most and acted like a dork on-stage. The last time had been during the Churchkey Halloween party.

"I'll put it in," he said with another nod, stepping away.

Moments later, after giving his song to the DJ, he returned to the table and retook his seat. "Ok. We're set." Zach clasped his hands together, not quite sure where to take the conversation next. Somebody else took the stage and started singing "Don't Stop Believin'". Zach's eyes glanced over to the performer and spiked his eyebrows a moment. "Well...I'm glad I didn't pick that one."