Hideaway: Chapter 6

The thought of getting up on stage as Casey, any stage, and blowing her cover, made her sick to her stomach. She could have cried in relief when Arthur stuck up for her, insisting that he, too, would not be singing. If he was the one arguing with Paul, it made it much easier for her to back out. That was, of course, if he stuck to his guns.

She was trying not to think about the karaoke part of their evening and enjoying her first restaurant outing without people trying to take pictures of her from all angles. It was actually kind of nice. She snapped apart her wooden chopsticks and picked up a piece of salmon maki.

Across from her, Paul was struggling with his chopsticks and a noodle dish. Only a few noodles were making it into his mouth. Carly glanced over at Arthur, who was holding a dumpling between his chopsticks, and they both stifled a laugh.

A clump of noodles slipped from Paul's chopsticks. “What is it?” he asked, looking up at them. “Oh, you two think this is funny?”

Carly and Arthur exchanged another look, and Carly laughed, “Maybe you should just give up and use a fork, Paul,” she suggested.

Paul took her suggestion and picked up his fork. “You won't be laughing when I convince you to sing,” he said with a sly smile.

Carly found she couldn't smile at him anymore. Why in the world did Paul have to be so persistent? She glanced over at Arthur and noticed that he was also frowning at his friend. Now she understood why Arthur seemed to be annoyed with Paul so often... he had a problem with not knowing when to stop.

“Would you let up?” Arthur said. “This is Casey's what... third day of school, and you're already setting in on her? Give her a break. Give me a break!”

Paul looked down at his watch. “Karaoke starts at eight,” he said as if he hadn't heard a word Arthur had said. “Twenty minutes from now.”

Carly stuffed the piece of sushi in her mouth and chewed on it. Apparently whatever she said, it wasn't going to do any good. Well, it didn't matter anyway. Paul couldn't make her sing. She had just swallowed when her cell phone went off.

Arthur grinned at her. “Your ringer is a Brandon Sloane song?"
 

“I'm surprised you recognized it, you Brandon Sloane hater,” she returned before reaching for her purse and digging through it. She finally located her phone and saw that it was Rita calling. “Oh, I have to take this. It's my aunt. Sorry, guys.”

They looked up at her and nodded, smiling when she left the table and went outside to take the phone call. “Hey, Aunt Rita, how's it going? How was the... thing yesterday?” She had meant to say the press conference, but she wasn't exactly out of earshot of the table yet. “I wasn't able to watch it.”

“You mean the press conference? It went fine, nothing out of the ordinary,” Rita said. “I'm mostly just calling to check on you and see how you're doing.”

Carly opened the front door to the restaurant and leaned against the outside of the building. “Things are pretty good here. My classes are fine... I'm making friends. I'm actually out to eat with two of them right now. Though can you believe it, they brought me to a karaoke bar!”

She heard Rita laughing aloud over the phone. “A karaoke bar? You're not going to sing, are you?”

“Hell no!” Carly said, grinning. “Can you imagine what would happen if I were to sing... my God! No... I will not be singing! Though one of the guys is very insistent upon it, he can't make me do it. I assure you!”

“Well, good!” Rita agreed. “Hey, listen, Carly... the other reason I'm calling is regarding the stalker.”

It was a moment before Carly replied, “What about him?”

“We only received one letter from him today,” Rita told her. “And the gist of it is that he's confident that he'll find where you are, and that he's actually going to enjoy playing this little game. It was quite disturbing, actually.”

Carly repressed a shudder. “Game?” she echoed. “My life isn't a game!”

“I know, Carly, dear...” Rita said soothingly. “And there's no way he can know where you are, I assure you. You're perfectly safe! The FBI wouldn't have placed you there if you weren't.”

Carly looked around at the cars driving by and watched an attractive couple walking past her and into the restaurant. He could be anywhere. How did they know where he was and if she was safe? Maybe they had been a bit rash with this whole college thing.

“If anything changes,” Rita continued. “We'll pull you out in a heartbeat. Trust me... you're safe.”

Carly quickly said goodbye and headed back into the restaurant. She was feeling a little vulnerable outside by herself and was in a hurry to be next to Arthur and Paul again... even if it meant being pestered about singing karaoke.

“Everything okay?” Arthur asked when she sat down in her seat again.

Carly nodded at him and picked up another piece of sushi. “She's just checking in with me and seeing how I'm doing after my first week of classes.

“Hurry up and eat!” Paul told them. “Karaoke starts soon! Ten minutes!”

“Paul,” Arthur said in a warning voice. “This is getting really old.”

“Artie,” Paul said, his tone matching Arthur's. “You're getting really old. Why can't you just have a little fun every now and then? Why do you always gotta be a stick in the mud?”

Arthur leaned forward over the table. “Listen to me closely, Paul. I am not singing tonight, nor will I ever sing karaoke.”

“Why the hell not? Are you scared people are going to laugh?” Paul looked around them, and Carly followed his gaze, noticing that some of the tables up front were beginning to fill up. Paul went on, “There aren't that many people here. No one cares what you sound like. It's karaoke for Christ's sake! No one is going to sound like a rockstar!”

Arthur took a bite of a dumpling and chewed on it, staring at Paul in contempt.

“I will drag you up there!” Paul threatened, pointing his fork at his friend.

Carly laughed, and both Arthur and Paul looked at her. “I think if you do that, they might throw you out of here,” she said and then looked at Paul. “Why is it so important to you that he sings, anyway?”

Paul sighed. “I brought you two all this way and now neither of you are going to have any fun... it's kind of a downer!”

“No, it's not!” Carly insisted. “The food is great! We don't have to stay here and do karaoke. I'm sure there are plenty of other places we could go to. Unless... you have a wonderful voice you'd like to show off, Paul?”

Now it was Paul's turn to laugh. “Not exactly,” he admitted, and then puffed up, blushing slightly. “Though I must admit, I'm not too shabby. Probably better than either of you!”

Carly had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing, but Arthur didn't hold back. “Ha!” he said after he caught his breath. “I'll believe it when I see it!”

Paul folded his arms over his chest and glared at Arthur. “Well... if you think you're so much better than me, then you're going to have to prove it!”

Arthur held up his hands. “Oh, no! That's not going to work!”

“Then you can't claim to be better if you can't prove it!” Paul smiled smugly, sticking his fork into his noodles and twisting it around as if he were eating spaghetti.

Arthur laughed. “Forget I said anything!”

“Now, I really want you to get up there and sing,” Paul whined before stuffing his mouth full of noodles.

“Well, too bad,” Arthur said. “Because it's not happening.”

Carly smiled at them and ate another piece of sushi. She couldn't be happier that it was Arthur fighting with Paul instead of her. As she laughed along with Paul and Arthur while the three of them finished up their meals, she was almost able to forget about the press conference and her stalker.

Karaoke started, and Paul was practically bouncing in his seat while they watched the first few people go up to the microphone and belt out Dancing Queen followed by Tiny Dancer. It was when the third singer got up on the small stage and the first notes came through the speakers, that Arthur nudged Carly. It was her first hit single. She looked over at him, smiling awkwardly.

“Are you sure you don't want to get up there?” he teased.

“One hundred percent positive!” she told him and grinned, trying hard to cover the fact that her face was probably bright red.

For the forth song, Paul sauntered up to the stage, chose his selection, and stood waiting in the center of the stage, tapping the microphone. It made several screeching noises and both Carly and Arthur, along with everyone else in the room, covered their ears.

“Sorry,” Paul said, smiling at crowd.

The clapping and stomping beginning to Queen's We Will Rock You came over the speakers, and Arthur put his head in his hand. “Oh, God,” he said to Carly. “Please help me convince him to leave after this.”

Carly was laughing as Paul began to sing. That was, if you could call it singing. The song itself didn't really lend itself to a lot of singing, and Paul was really just yelling the lyrics into the microphone. Both Carly and Arthur were cringing in their seats. Carly turned to Arthur. “It'll be my first priority,” she promised him.

Paul finished up his song... thankfully, and walked off the stage. A few guys shouted, “Yeah!” at him and he pointed at them. Carly caught Arthur rolling his eyes. When Paul reached their table, he raised his eyebrows at them, and Arthur gave a sigh, smiling at the last moment.

“Great job, pal!” Arthur said, mustering up a little enthusiasm.

“What, you didn't think so?” Paul asked.

Carly smiled. “You had fun!” she said. “That's what matters, right?”

*****

After karaoke, they had driven into Minneapolis and walked around uptown, caught a live band at a coffee shop and sipped expressos. Arthur had joked that maybe with Paul's exquisite singing voice he should lend his talents to the band. Paul, on the other end of the joke for a change, had slugged his friend in the arm and sulked for a good five minutes.

When Carly and the guys got back into St Peter it was just before midnight.

"Oh, hey!" Paul said suddenly when they got off the freeway. "Casey... I almost forgot! My parents are having a barbeque tomorrow at noon, and I wanted to invite you and Becca if you're free. Do you think you can make it?"

Carly hesitated, thinking about Becca and how pissed she had been at Paul the other night over Gwen and the party. She wondered if Arthur was right and if Paul would continue to pull the same tricks at the barbeque, too. She turned slightly back to smile at Paul. "I'll run it past Becca tonight and let you know," she told him.

Arthur pulled into a parking space alongside their dorm building and the three of them climbed out of the car and walked up to the door. Just before Carly reached her room, Arthur touched her arm and stopped her.

"Don't worry," he said, smiling. "I'll be at the barbeque so you won't have to deal with Paul and Becca by yourself this time."

Paul, several steps ahead of them, turned his head around. "I heard that!"

Carly was laughing when she said goodbye to the guys and slipped into her dorm room. Inside, she saw Becca sitting at her computer desk, staring at her, looking very unhappy.

"What's wrong?" Carly asked immediately.

Becca turned away from her and looked at her computer screen. "I don't mean to dump all this on you," she said in a strained voice that sounded like she was trying to hold back tears. "But you should probably know something."

Carly swallowed a lump in her throat and locked the door before sitting down on Becca's big bean bag chair under her loft. "I wish you could have come out with us," she said quietly. "Paul invited us to his parents' barbeque tomorrow, though, if you want to go."

"This is about Paul," Becca said, still holding her gaze away from Carly's.

"Okay," Carly said. She should have figured. She had been on the road so long that she had been away from all her friends back home and had forgotten about boyfriend drama. Beside her own love life, which had been relatively uncomplicated, she hadn't really had to deal with this kind of thing since she was in high school.

Becca finally turned to face Carly, and when she did, there were tears in her eyes. "I'm really sorry about last night. I wasn't acting very nice at the party... but it was all Paul's fault... he brings out the worst in me!"

"It's okay, really," Carly told her, afraid she would start crying at any second. "It was fine, and it all turned out okay. We'll go out again and have fun... without Paul."

Becca gave her a weak smile. "You're really too nice," she said, and then sighed. "But really... I should tell you about what happened last year between us." Becca turned her chair so that it was facing Carly. "We met freshmen year during our First Term Seminar class... we were in the same group. He wouldn't stop asking me out."

Carly smiled to herself, thinking that sounded like Paul, but decided not to say anything.

"I finally said yes," Becca continued, looking up at Carly to gage her reaction. "Well, you have to admit... he's pretty cute."

"He's very cute, in a Paul sort of way," Carly agreed, smiling.

"Anyway," Becca went on. "We went on a few dates, and we had a lot of fun. Everything was going great. Well, I thought it was. Then Paul told me things were moving a little fast for him." Becca looked exasperated. "After only a couple dates! He told me that he wasn't ready for a serious relationship and only wanted to date casually. So..."

When she looked up at Carly and paused, Carly said, "I take it you didn't want to date casually?"

"No!" Becca said. "I wanted a boyfriend! Anyway, I told him it was off. Obviously, we stayed friends after that. It's hard not to be friends with Paul. He's so persistent! Plus, we had the rest of the year together in that class... it would have been unbearable if we hadn't been."

Carly wasn't sure what to say. From the few days that she had known Paul, and from what Arthur had told her, it sure seemed like Paul wanted to do a little more with Becca than just 'have some fun.' However, she didn't want to betray Arthur's confidence, so she couldn't really discuss that theory with Becca. "You did the right thing," Carly finally decided to say. "And he has to know to that he made the wrong choice... doesn't he?"

Becca pulled her long strawberry blonde ponytail over her shoulder and combed it with her fingers. "Well," she said, smirking at Carly. "He did ask me out again several times at the end of last year."

"I take it you turned him down," Carly guessed.

"Turned him down flat," Becca smiled, but it quickly faded. "I don't know. Being friends with him is hard. I guess I never really got over him from before... and then when he just flaunts his girlfriends in my face... I kinda freak out. So, I wanted to explain it all to you so you didn't think I was a complete bitch. I'm really sorry, Casey. I truly am. I hope you don't think I'm a bad friend."

Carly reached over and patted her knee. "It's okay, Becca, really," she assured her. "I kinda figured something was going on between you and Paul. But now that you told me, it all makes sense."

Becca wiped the few tears that had fallen onto her cheeks and smiled at Carly. "I'll try not to get so weird next time, okay?"

Carly smiled back at her. "It's a deal."