Chapter.19- Musicians? Oh, Yeah We Think Outside The Bachs!

Nineteen: Musicians? Oh, Yeah We Think Outside The Bachs!

We made our way to the wine bar but were led to the Piano Lounge--located adjacent to NYLO Hotel's lobby wine bar. The Piano Lounge boasted crushed velvet banquette seating, a blend of exposed brick walls, wooden panels and furnishings, a dark setting with minimal lighting, and there was this stunning red piano at the end of the room-- it was perfect for evening time functions and small celebratory events.

And by small celebratory events, I meant a party of sorts with a little bit of booze. Immediately we were cloaked in lively chatter of other people, laughter and the sound of piano keys. People paused for a split second to look at the new arrival and then continued with their conversation.

"Hey, wanna hear a joke about a staccato?" A lad asked as we passed by.

"Mhmm, never mind, it's too short," I replied. And his group of friends laughed.

A group of lads were chatting to each other and their conversation went like this:

"...Did you hear about the musician from Guac 'n' Roll, who committed suicide? He didn't even leave a note."

"Why?"

"He fingered a minor while teaching guitar, so he was arrested! His girlfriend left him and he was homeless."

"He also threatened to hit me with the neck of his guitar and I replied if that was a fret? I thought he was kidding. But I got to know he was twisted."

"What a trebled man! He had a lot of problems." Another tutted.

I heard a commotion and turned around slightly and a couple were involved in a heated argument.

"You bastard!" She shrieked.

"Come on I'm a drummer banging is what we do!" The lad shrugged and in return, the girl threw her drink on him. A round of gasps went around.

Serves him right, I thought.

We made our way towards the table filled with nosh and different types of beverages because there is nothing like a uni going boozer at a meet and greet party. I only hoped that none of our girls would be sloshed tomorrow for the competition and nurse a hangover.

A girl with short auburn hair and bright bluish-green eyes made her way over to us and beamed. "Hi," she waved enthusiastically, "I'm Caroline, I hope you had a comfortable ride."

Charlotte's eyes lit up with recognition. "Ah! Caroline! Hi, and yes we did! Thank you for asking!"

"Thank God!" Caroline breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried and this is my first time and year hosting this so yeah... umm... I hope you didn't have to wait long, there was a bit of a snag and I had to send Blaze to pick you guys up," she rambled, a bit flustered.

"It's all right! We're all here in one piece and that's what matters. You're doing a fantastic job!" Charlotte winked.

Caroline let out a nervous laugh. "Haha, thanks!"

Whilst we nibbled on snacks and got chitty-chatty with the other groups. We clicked a group picture and posted it on our official and personal social media accounts with the #ICCA tag just to hype up the event--and also because they requested us. Charlotte then introduced each of us to Carol and then Carol introduced us to Gary-- who had dark hair, dreamy green eyes and tattoos adorned his arms and to some other individuals. We even met Blaze-- who I'd learned was from the co-ed acapella group Tone Down For What, who was already sloshed.

But every trace of the alcohol-induced stupor seemed to leave his system as soon as his eyes met Emma's. His eyes were filled with the sparks of a blacksmith's fire, as they held hers. She sat down next to him, his lips curved into a seductive smile and said:

"Baby girl, you're like Katy Perry's single California Gurls."

"Why's that?" Emma smiled as curiosity filled her eyes.

"'Cause I just can't get you out of my head!" Blaze stared intensely at her.

"You're like dandruff because I just cannot get you out of my head either. No matter how hard I try," Emma replied.

"That's some flaky love." Caroline snorted which was followed by a round of laughter.

"Girl, you remind me of Jason Derulo, because every time we meet I want to sing your name!"

"Have you been fishing before?"

"Not really, but we should hook up." He winked.

"You just read my mind," Emma smirked as their lips met. A few catcalls and whistles could be heard from the group of people who were sat around the large semi-oval couch who'd heard their conversations. We turned away from Emma and Blaze's ridiculous smarmy chat up lines and snogging.

We were sat close by to the stunning grand red piano, but the lad who was playing had a lot of used tumblers and trash around it and he accidentally knocked off a tumbler that spilt some of the red liquid onto the white carpeted floor.

"Yo! LITTERACHI!" Gary cried out. People around him snickered. "Stop dirtying the piano and clean that shit up or else imma make sure you play them damn keys by the ear!"

Litterachi or whoever that lad was, stood up immediately picking up all the trash around him and running to the nearest garbage can and grabbing some paper towels.

"Hey, what up pitches!" A tall attractive bloke yelled as he lifted both his hands up in the air. He was clad in tight blue denim trousers and a leather jacket.

"Erick, my man!" Gary exclaimed. "I thought you couldn't make it." Standing up did their bro handshake and one-armed hug.

"Well, you thought wrong, brother. I'm a musician going to a party, I always make a big entrance and I never come early." Then he turned around as his dark eyes skimmed over each of us, then his eyes stayed the longest on me, a cheeky smile appeared on his face.

"Who do we have here?" He sat down next to me.

Another round of introductions went around. "They're the Wrecking Belles. Ladies, this is Eric." Gary introduced.

"You can call me Eric Clapton," he took my hand, "'cause I'll pluck your heartstrings." Wiggling his eyebrows, he looked at me and smiled. I nearly snorted my drink.

A round of oooh's went around.

"Mhmm, I'd call you Legato but you're not so smooth." I removed my hand from his. "And I'd rather have someone tickle my keys, Eric." I countered back.

"Ba-dum tsssh! Shot down!" Gary whooped.

Eric flipped Gary off and then turned to me with a smile. "Ouch!" He tutted. "Soo... Are you playing a solo or in a duet?" He tilted his head to the side.

I frowned and studied his facial features. He had a nice facial structure with a square jaw, high cheekbones, an aquiline nose that was slightly tilted up because he had a smug expression and his light brown eyes shone. I didn't feel threatened by his flirting and I wasn't even encouraging him.

"Erm, no. I'm not playing solo this time?"

He clicked his tongue. "Not what I meant."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What d'you mean?" I sipped my drink, looking around for a second, everybody was busy chatting, then I turned my attention back to Eric.

"Are you playing a solo or in a duet?" He repeated, holding my gaze with his dark ones.

It took me a while to understand and I flustered. "Hahaha, are you asking me if I'm single?" My lips twitched. The cheeky lad!

"Yes, but in a musical way." Smirking, he wiggled his thick dark eyebrows.

"She's not interested, she's got two boys plucking her heartstrings and playing a duet back home," Rachel said curtly.

T-two boys? Cue record scratch.

Then she looked at me when I gaped at her. "What? You're welcome." Shrugging, she blew me a kiss.

Then I turned back to Eric then turned to Rachel and repeated this for two more times and I could literally hear the crickets chirping. I opened my mouth to correct her but then Nicole said something that made us all stop and look at the new arrival.

"Well, well, look what Debussy dragged in."

***********

I shouldn't be surprised but I was--all of us were when we saw The Singing Trolls standing in front of us with huge sneers on their collective faces.

"Oh, gosh not these Trollops again!" Hannah groaned.

"Don't tell me they've come here as the Wildcard Champions to the Finals?" Rachel whispered.

"Oh look they've got a smart one amongst themselves," the girl who'd had a spat with Rachel during the semi-finals commented. "You're sharp!"

Rachel beside me let out a low growl nearly crushing her plastic tumbler containing some blueberry spritzer. "Well, I can't say the same for you!"

"Did you think we'd let some silly egoistical little girls get in our way of winning the ICCA?" The lad whose name was Brian asked sassily, then answered the question himself. "Of course not darlings! We're going to finish what we started and win the Championship!"

"Well that's going to be the most insignificant conflict in the history of conflicts," Audrey muttered.

"Let's see if it's going to be insignificant or not when we kick your arse!"

"I'm sorry I speak 5 languages but the loser is not one of them. So, what did you say?"

"I said--"

"Can I have your attention, please?" A gruff male voice resonated through the crowds cutting off our conversation.

Thankful for the interruption we turned our attention to the source of the voice. All talks ceased immediately and the room became quiet. It was a young bloke with tanned brown skin, he looked Hispanic.

"Thank you for your attention," he said with a hint of humour. "For those of you unaware of my name, I'm Jasper from Aural Fixation," a round of cheers could be heard, "Now I know that some of you are probably tired, suffering from jet leg and wanna sleep, but before we do that, let's indulge in some activity, shall we?" He rubbed both his hands together.

"Yeah!" A chorus of enthusiastic responses echoed.

"What's Acapella without some good ol' riff-off? It's time for the RIFF-OFF!" Throwing his hands up in the air, he announced, the crowd began to cheer and gathered around in groups-- all signs of exhaustion and sleep forgotten.

"WELCOME TO THE RIFF-OFF!" Gary sang, surprised as to when he'd hopped on over there. The crowd went wild.

"What the bloody hell is a riff-off?" Hannah asked gormlessly.

Caroline was busy explaining the rules to Hannah. "A riff-off is like a little game to see who's better and Uhm... we start with a topic, lay down a beat and sing. You must sing a song that's based on the given category. If it doesn't match the category then they are "Cut Off", meaning they can no longer compete. When you interrupt another group's song, you must start your song with the same word that the other group's song has landed on."

Understanding dawned on Hannah's face. "Ohhh that sounds rather nice!"

"Indeed! It's like the BBC's version of Pitch Battle," I informed her, "but this is proper!"

"Oooh fancy!" Hannah smiled.

"A riff-off? That's not what I had in mind, to be honest." One of the members of Aquapella quipped.

"You know the rules: if you screw it up, you are cut off! Don't gotta explain that. And the prize?" Jasper looked around. "It's going to be epic! Winner gets bragging rights!"

The crowd mumbled in disappointment.

"Oh, and... $30,000 gift card to Chai-kovsky's Organic Teas plus the microphone used by... Limp Bizkit!"

Musicians? Oh, yeah we think outside the Bachs!

Uproars in cheers could be heard. Chai-kovsky was a famous musician who'd crafted his very own tea--only second best to Mariage Frères in France hence how he earned the name, and Limp Bizkit was a famous British acapella singer in the 70's who was a ginger head and he had his leg bitten off by a shark, so his teammates called him Limp Bizkit and the name stuck. He was considered the God of A Capella.

"So, let's begin with A-Dell, the singing laptop," Gary turned around, his singing laptop with the help of a projector, a virtual wheel--that was projected onto the wall was spun to choose the categories.

We all came together and stood with our groups. Rachel rolled her shoulders getting ready to battle it out with the other groups and win.

"The first category is... Foreign languages!"

All of us were trying to come up with a song, my eyes flickered to every one of them trying to think of a song, I remembered one song that I'd been listening to whilst being driven to the hotel, then ran into the midst of the crowd and sang.

"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?"

I turned around whilst singing and the girls immediately backed me, singing along with me.

"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Voulez-"

I was interrupted by the Trolls.

"Voulez-vous

Take it now or leave it

Now is all we get

Nothing promised, no regrets

Voulez-vous

Ain't no big decision

You know what to do

La question c'est voulez-vous

Voulez-vous pa--"

Nicole started belting out the lyrics to the next song.

"Pa-parl'Americano

Pa-parl'Americano

Come te po' capì' chi te vo' bene

Si tu le parle miezo americano? Quanno se fa l'amore sott'a luna

Come te vene 'ncapa 'e di' "I love you"? Pa-parl'Americano

Pa-parl'Americano

Whisky and soda e rocchenroll

Whisky and soda e rocchenroll

Whisky and soda e rocchenrol-"

The Trolls cut her off.

"Ils sourient rouge et me parlent gris

Je fais semblant d'avoir tout compris

Et il y a un type qui pleure dehors

Sur mon visage de la poudre d'or

Nous et la man on est de sortie

Pire qu'une simple moitié

On compte à demi-demi

Pile sur un des bas côtés

Comme---"

The Aquapellas came forward to sing but Hannah pushed her way and began singing.

"Cómo se llama? (Sí), bonita (sí)

Mi casa, su casa (Shakira, Shakira)

Oh, baby, when you talk like that

You make a woman go mad

So be wise (sí) and keep on (sí)

Reading the signs of my body (uno, dos, tres, cuatro)

I'm on tonight

You know my hips don't lie (no fighting)

And I'm starting to feel it's right

All the attraction, the tension

Don't you see, baby, this is p-"

Her body did some Shakira like moves and it was starting to look like the only ones competing were The Trolls and Wrecking Belles and everyone else seemed to be pretty narked off at this.

"Punker Und er lebte in der großen Stadt

Es war in Wien, war Vienna

Wo er alles tat

Er hatte Schulden, denn er trank

Doch in liebten alle Frauen

Und Jede rief

Come and rock me Amadeus

Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus Amadeus, oh, oh, oh Amadeus Come and rock me, Amadeus."

Jasper stopped the game, looking displeased.

"Let's give everyone a chance, guys! I'm sure the other groups would appreciate it if they could sing along and participate as well. Thank you!"

"Alright, the second category is..." Gary rubbed his hands together in anticipation, the virtual wheel spun and stopped. "Sunshine!" He yelled.

Jasper pointed at The Aquapellas, they were just bouncing around like deranged bunnies, still trying to come up with a song and not singing. Whilst looking at each other's face 40 seconds had passed and they still hadn't sung.

"YOU ARE CUT-OFF!!" Everyone chorused loudly. Some of the members cursed and mumbled in disappointment.

8 groups were waiting to battle it out.

The virtual wheel spun again, and we waited for it to stop. "WEDDINGS!" Jasper yelled.

"Weddings?!" Rachel looked at me in confusion, I shrugged thinking hard of a song that had weddings in it. We all thought hard about what to sing, as Gary pointed to the Scatter Tones and they started singing.

"All the single ladies, all the single ladies All the single ladies

Now put your hands up, oh, oh, oh

Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it

If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it

Don't be mad once you see that he want it

If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it

Oh, oh--"

They even did the iconic step!

Rachel cut them off and sang.

"oh, come on girl

Who cares if we're trashed, got a pocket full of cash we can blow

Shots of patron and it's on, girl

It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do

Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you

Is it the look in your eyes or is it this dancing juice?

Who cares, baby, I think I wanna marry you--"

This group called Voices In Your Head cut her off.

"You gotta know how to treat me like a lady

Even when I'm acting crazy

Tell me everything's alright Dear future husband

Here's a few things you need to know if

You wanna be my only all my life

Dear future husband

If you wanna get that special lovin'

Tell me, I'm beautiful every night (That's right)

Oh whoa-"

Blaze from Aural Fixation cut them off.

"whoa-oh-oh

Birds all sing as if they knew

Today's the day we'll say, "I do"

And we'll never be lonely anymore because we're

Goin' to the chapel and we're

Gonna get married

Goin' to the chapel and we're

Gonna get married

Gee, I really love you and we're

Gonna get married

Goin' to the chapel of love--"

Gary pointed to the Amazin' Blue to sing and Eric sang whilst he gave me a goofy grin and I only shook my head laughing.

"Love me or leave me, make your choice but believe me

I love you

I do, I do, I do, I do, I do I can't conceal it, don't you see, can't you feel it?

Don't you too?

I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I've been dreaming through my lonely past

Now I just made it, I found you, at last, come on, now let's try it, I love you, can't deny it

'Cause it's true

I do, I do, I do, I do, I do."

The Trills were next, and since they couldn't come up with a song they were out.

"Aight, let's see the next category," Gary spoke and we all looked at the wheel spinning with anticipation and anxiety and it painfully slow landed on a category. "TROUBLE!"

The Nor'easters jumped at the opportunity and began singing.

"I knew you were trouble when you walked in

So, shame on me now

Flew me to places I'd never been

Now I'm lyin' on the cold hard ground

Oh, oh

Trouble, trouble, trouble

Oh, oh

Trouble, trouble, trouble--"

Hannah cut them off.

"Trouble troublemaker yeah

That's your middle name, oh oh oh

I know you're no good but you're stuck in my brain

And I wanna know, why does it feel so good but hurt so bad?

Whoa, my mind keeps saying, "run as fast as you can"

I say I'm done but then you pull me back

Whoa, I swear you're giving me a heart attack, troublemaker."

Gary pointed to Aural Fixation, they couldn't come up with a song, 40 seconds had passed and they were cut off.

*************************

Three more categories later...

There were only three groups standing-- the Trolls, Scatter Tones and our group.

"Okay, the next category is... Famous People!"

"Famous People?!" Shrieking, I looked at Charlotte, who in turn was thinking hard.

"Take me by the tongue and I'll know you

Kiss me 'til you're drunk and I'll show you

You want the moves like Jagger

I've got the moves like Jagger

I've got the moves like Jagger

I don't need to try to control you

Look into my eyes and I'll own you

With them moves like Jagger--"

"Ra ra Rasputin

Lover of the Russian queen

There was a cat that really was gone

Ra ra Rasputin

Russia's greatest love machine

It was a shame how he carried on--"

Unfortunately, at the same time, Gary pointed to our group. We stood there like spare lemons looking at everyone else with wide eyes, they, in turn, stared at us like the eyes and lips emoji. I dreaded what came next.

"YOU ARE CUT-OFF!" Gary and the others yelled.

We lost. Only two groups were remaining now--the Trolls and Scatter Tones. Feeling absolutely gutted we stepped back to watch the showdown.

The category was Lonely. And the only song that was popping up in my head regarding the category was Akon's Lonely.

"It's been a long time since I rock and rolled

It's been a long time since I did the stroll

Ooh let me get it back, let me get it back

Let me get it back, baby, where I come from It's been a long time, been a long time

Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely-"

The Trolls were cut off by Scatter Tones.

"lonely

So lonely Well someone told me yesterday

That when you throw your love away

You act as if you just don't care

You look as if you're going somewhere But I just can't convince myself

I couldn't live with anyone else

And I can only-"

Gary pointed to the Trolls, but they came up short with a song and lost the battle to Scatter Tones.

"My fellow aca-people I present to you the victorious SCATTERTONES FROM UCLA!" Gary announced.

Siren wails were made by the crowds. The ScatterTones along with the crowd went rowdy with cheers. Raucous celebrations took place as the winning team held their prize and drank to it.

"Thanks, y'all for participating, it's been my pleasure to meet all of you, I had a fantastic time and it's also my last year," Jasper laughed, absolutely leathered, a few awww's went around, "yeah, so I'm shitfaced right now and probably will have a killer hangover tomorrow, but it was fun. Fuck!" He cursed, and we heard a loud thud.

People gasped and some of them laughed as Jasper was sprawled on the floor and some of them took out their phones and videotaped the bloke.

"Alright, we're wrapping it up, grab yourselves some drinks and get a good night's sleep. All the best for tomorrow's competition. Make good decisions. Peace!" Pounding the left portion of his chest twice with his right hand, then flashing the peace sign, Gary disappeared off into the crowd.

************

We made our way into the hotel room, right knackered and a tad tipsy, some of them just dove into bed with the clothes they had on. But few of us actually managed to wash--whilst Lauren and Samantha had this detoxifying charcoal goop slathered on their faces and invited Rachel and I to sit with them as well, whilst offering to paint each other's nails. So we sat sit by side and watched a few American shows, nibbling on some late midnight snacks.

"This face mask is very good for your skin, it has a secret ingredient from my Grandmother's kitchen," Samantha explained as she applied some strange looking yet fragrant mixture on Rachel's face.

"You know," I began as I recalled an informative piece about the beauty remedies in the Stuart period. "The beauty remedies of women during the late Stuart period contained some ingredients recognisable today, such as olive oil, pine kernels, honey, rosewater, orange-peel and jasmine powder," I explained.

"Oooh, fancy! I must be from the Stuart period because I use all of those ingredients." Samantha's nose turned upward as she smiled smugly.

I wasn't finished yet and revealed some shocking information and their expression was priceless. "However, there were more alarming items in the Stuart beauty kit as well, such as dried bees, pigeon dung, snail ash, opium, hog's grease and urine." I rested my leg on the coffee table and nearly laughed at their expressions. "Oooh, one especially horrifying face cleanser from Mary Evelyn's The Ladies Dressing-Room Unlock'd lists a roasted nine-day-old puppy dog among other ingredients." I finished.

"R-roasted nine-day-old puppy?" All of them gasped. Horrified expressions marred their faces.

"How cruel!"

"Why would they recommend such a horrific thing!"

"The medicinal use of puppies, known for their moisturising quality, was intended to restore the complexion. However, depending on the method of application, one stomach-turning recipe can be seen as a medicine and the other as a rather disgusting method of artifice." I shrugged, recalling how horrified I was when I'd first read about it.

"I'll be sticking to the day cream, thank you!" Rachel shuddered.

We spoke some more about the strange beauty remedies we'd heard and read about until finally, I checked my phone for anything related to Kayden, he'd seen my message and left me on read, sighing backed away from my chats and got back to watching telly.

I was the last one to shower and got ready for bed, the girls were all tucked in. So I tiptoed my way to the side of the room and opened my bag to retrieve my clothes, I pulled out a pair of shorts and at the precise moment, my phone pinged, something fell out. I quickly jumped to my feet, reaching for my phone which I nearly dropped in the process, excited. I assumed it to be Kayden. There were ten notifications, yet none of them were from him, my face fell.

But the most recent one was an Instagram notification, disappointed I clicked on it instinctively, it was a follow request from a Maison Tremblay.

Frowning I clicked on it, it was a very familiar face--a face that I loathed presently. But I was sceptical and thought it must've been a fan account. As far as I was aware, he didn't have an Instagram account, except for his Facebook and Twitter account. I didn't believe it was him until I went to his profile-- one that was certified and verified and saw that it was indeed Caleb, my eyes widened in mild shock.

He was officially on Instagram and that jammy bastard had nearly 2 million followers in just a day of creating an account!

His bio had the football and red heart emoji, and the first post on his profile was of a black and white smouldering picture of himself. It was dark and broody.

And of course, I wasn't surprised when Carter had commented and liked the post. I shook my head as I read their conversation and backed out of the app and threw my phone on the bed. Ignoring his request I began my quest to find my shorts my eyes landed on the object that'd fallen out of my bag and bent down to retrieve it, my eyebrows furrowed when I turned it around and saw a sticky note attached to it. It read:

Apology and compensation for the ice cream I consumed! xx

I flipped the note and beneath it was a beautiful 3 set gold hairpins from GETMEBLING.

Did I feel warmth course through me and feel absolutely touched by this gesture?

Absolutely! But I also had mixed feelings about it if I was being genuinely honest. Confused even. Like did he have some sort of axe to grind with me? Was it retribution of some sorts?

Ugh! Blast him to the seventh circle of hell!

No doubt, I really melted at the gesture, the hairpins were so pretty I nearly squealed at the sight of them. I read the note. Again. And again. Taking in each word and the calligraphy--he had nice calligraphy, although the memory of him eating my ice cream flared my anger, I decided not to delve too much into it and accept it as it is.

And that's when I excruciatingly slow realised that if he was going to make an effort then I should too.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Call the lad!"

I nearly superman jumped to heaven and back when I'd heard that voice right next to my ear.

______________________

Hellloooo!! Yes, my version of the riff-off is based on BBC'S Pitch Battle, LMAO! And also the prize OM-ACA-G, LOL, I wanted it to be ✨✨unique✨✨ and punny! 🤧😂😌✋I hope you guys loved it and I think this book is slow-paced/a slow burn one!

Please COMMENT. VOTE. SHARE. FOLLOW. I like to hear your thoughts. Also follow me on Instagram: parisian_elitex

Have a lovely day/night, my Oompa Loompas!

Your Willy Wonka! xx💜