Closed Off To You (Singing Star Trilogy #1) by Rachel S. Rose Page B

in. Karaoke wasn’t the same without a glass of wine or three.
    “Sounds good. I’ll be round in half an hour,” my brother shouted.
    I mumbled some sort of agreement and hung up the phone. My brother always said he’d visit but never actually came. I wasn’t going to start trusting him now.
    “Come on, Melissa,” Ella shouted. “It’s your turn.”
    I grabbed the other bottle of wine from the kitchen side and spun towards the door. A flashback of Nathan pinning my arms above my head came to me. I giggled as I rushed back into the living room and dumped the snacks and drinks on Lizzie, who sat on the sofa.
    “Why are you grinning?” Ella asked as she handed me the microphone.
    “I was just remembering,” I sang, “a time of fun and fucking.”
    “Melissa! It’s not like you to be so blunt. Who were you remembering?”
    I shrugged as I chose my song and stared at the screen instead of looking at my two friends. They would be making eyes at each other behind my back, trying to work out who I was talking about. Not that it would be hard. There was only one man that I had slept with in the last year. Yes, it really had been that long.
    “Come on,” Lizzie called.
    I burst into song as the lyrics started up. They wouldn’t get my attention now. When I was singing, I was in the moment, fully embracing my craziness.
    Once I’d finished, Lizzie jumped up and grabbed my shoulders. “You do have a thing for Nathan.” She looked at me so seriously, I had to laugh.
    “Oh, pack it in. Like I said, he’s too young, and he’s too good looking for little old me. I need someone who makes me feel good about my little curves. Okay big curves.” I handed the mic to Lizzie and slammed myself down onto the sofa.
    “You’re not that bad. I wish you wouldn’t worry so much about how you look. You’re pretty amazing. Your body is womanly; most people would die to have big boobs like yours.” Ella, who was next to me, put her head on my shoulder.
    “That’s not how you feel, is it?” I asked.
    Lizzie was distracted, flicking to find her favourite karaoke song. We’d started off slow but gradually grown more confident. When we were drunk enough the big ballads came out.
    “Sometimes, I look at you and Lizzie, and wish I had more curves. Don’t hate what you got. At least you have a fully functioning beautiful body,” Ella muttered.
    Moving her hair out of her face, I looked into her eyes. I had never heard her talk that way about her figure before. Not that she was directly talking about her figure, but I knew what she was getting at. She was tall and skinny; some would say too skinny. She was beautiful and had model features. Not like me and Lizzie.
    “You have an amazing figure.” I kissed her forehead and leant over to get another glass of wine.
    “Of course Ella has an amazing figure. She’s the skinniest.” Lizzie yelped in excitement when she found her song.
    “And the tallest,” Ella joked.
    We always had fake fights about who was the tallest. Ella towered above us. I was about an inch taller than Lizzie, but she wouldn’t have it. She tried to blame my hair for having extra volume, but a fact was a fact.
    “Then I’m the second tallest,” I stated, picking up my glass from the floor.
    Lizzie glared at me before pressing play on the song. “I don’t think so somehow.”
    I laughed along with Ella as Lizzie started to screech the words to the song. She pulled faces, pretending to be a diva. Ella couldn’t stop giggling as I stood and mimicked the exact same gestures behind Lizzie’s back.
    “You’re mad,” Ella shouted.
    Her words caught Lizzie’s attention. She spun before I could stop pretending to be her. Seeing me, she clouted me gently over the head. I grabbed my scalp and fell to the sofa, feigning great pain. Just like the footballers who annoyed me when they rolled around on the floor.
    “I can’t believe you’re taking the piss out of me. That was a serious bit of singing.”