VIII

.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖(episode 4 pt. 3 - nineteengrand opening of lark café //third week of October 2023).𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖

The clock strikes at 1:00, yet out of 10 songs they originally picked since the morning, only 2 songs were chosen (both argued that the 2 songs fit best as a "conclusion song" for the event).

Still in her comfortable Lorax-themed pajamas and her tangled bedhead, Bea bit her fingernails as she listened to the 2nd song for god knows how many times she had listened since morning, her right leg started to bounce involuntarily while sitting at her chair. Meanwhile, Nathan, who was sitting on the floor with his guitar on his lap, played with his instrument of the 1st song while glancing at his phone for guidance. Phoebe, who already dressed up and arrived an hour ago to help her getting dressed, slept on her friend's bed while subconsciously cuddling the 30 inches Lorax plushie, her boots with floral patterns placed beside the bed.

During her time as a glee club member, Bea would always overhear their club's president about the processing of picking songs together with the other officers. Although their adviser was known to be a jokester, times like this is where they became dead serious.

And despite not knowing the exact procedure on how they do it, Bea was trying to apply their method now.

"Yeah, I think I'm going with this one. This is final." Plugging her earphones out from her laptop and threw it  on her bed (which landed beside Phoebe), she groaned.

"What? I actually practiced the 1st song," Nathan paused his practice session. "I think this is very fitting, especially if you're playing last."

"Huh? Nate, I told you that you don't have to do this for me."

Apparently, Bea didn't expect for Nathan to bring his guitar at the house. She only needed his presence to help in picking the best song for her to perform. At first, she thought he was going to just play in her room until he brought up the conversation about how he was going to accompany her in her performance during lunch time.

"You look like a mess since morning," he chuckled. "Of course, I'm going to help you."

"I insist, honestly."

"Bea, it's okay!" He put his guitar aside. "You said yourself you wanted to play an acoustic."

"Yeah, but I can just put flash drive on the speaker with the instrumental of the song."

"You mentioned you wanted to play with a guitar yesterday at our call. You didn't even know how to play one."

"Ah fuck, you got me."

Nathan laughed at her reaction. "So, is that a yes?" Bea rolled her eyes and just nod at her friend, which made him smiled and pick his guitar again. "You picked the 1st one, right?" Bea picked up his phone. Below the chords were the lyrics of the song, and she read the whole lyrics of the song before giving it back to him.

"I think you're right. This song fits the vibe," she stood up and stretched herself. "You're incredible. Thanks for this."

"Anytime," Nathan said before he strummed the guitar.

"You better prepare yourself now. We need to practice this."

"Yeah, I know."

"And you're stinky."

Bea gasped and playfully kicked Nathan's shoulder, which he groaned loudly in return. Phoebe woke up from Nathan's groaning, rubbing her eyes and stretching herself before standing up.

"And good morning to you too, Princess Phoebe,"  Bea joked.

Phoebe turned towards where Bea's voice was, eyes squinting from the bright light in the room. 

"Can I look at your closet?"

"Yeah, you're helping me picking an outfit anyways."

"Oh, and he's right. You stink. Now, go!"

It's Bea's time to groan. She  grabbed her towel and headed towards the bathroom on the same floor.

Amidst the noise of the running water from the shower, she can still hear both of her friends' voices.

"Hey Phoebs, do you think my outfit looks okay?"

"You have your suit jacket. And you have your extra collared shirt, right? No worries, you'll be good."

"But Skylar will be there! He'll help at the event."

"It's fine, really!"

"Phoebeeee!"

"Oh my god stop — woah, are these branded?"

"What do you expect? She's from the city. Do you have a vision on what she'll wear?"

"Of course, duh! And also I have gifts for her—"

Bea quickly turned up the faucet in the shower high so that she wouldn't hear the whole conversation.

Whatever that "gift" was, she'll know she'll enjoy it.

_________________

It was no surprise to the trio that the café was packed with people, all of them being the staff members. As Nathan spotted his brother talking to a staff member, he called him. Will smiled and headed towards them. 

"Nathan, you're here early!"

"Yeah, I'm helping her,"  Nathan replied, showing his guitar case at his left hand.

"Bea!"

Both Bea and Will exchanged small smiles. Will told her "goodluck" and Bea thanked the oldest Walter. He then instructed them to go to a corner where the other performers were waiting.

Bea sighed in relief as she saw most of the performers were still in their comfy clothes. Wearing her outfit now for what was supposed to be for later was really not ideal. Apparently, Phoebe insisted her to wear the outfit that she picked for her, but Nathan suggested it's best for her to wear it during the event.

The first performer was a duet, bringing their hats and shades with them as they situated themselves in front of the mic stand. As they finished wearing their props, both clicked their fingers and the instrumental of "Leave the door open" started playing from the speakers. Bea wasn't expecting a Bruno Mars song to be an opener song for this event, but she's glad they picked the perfect artist, let alone a perfect song. 

Soon after, the other performers started to follow after. Some were in solo, and some were in a band. Others performed covers from other artists' songs (mostly the popular songs), and others performed their own songs (which in this part, both Nathan and Phoebe enjoyed more). Bea thought all of them were incredible and clearly know what they're doing, and applauded them each time they finished their performance. Many performances later, the second to the last one started rehearsing on the stage.

It's natural for a person to become nervous when it comes to performing in front of the people, even at rehearsals. When they were still in backstage — regardless if it's a performance or a singing contest — the glee club members would always try to calm down, both to themselves and to the other members. But most of the time, they gather around and squeeze their hands together, while making jokes or just talking to pass time until it's their time to perform.

But there was nothing to hold for Bea now.

What's more is she'll be singing alone.

No glee club members, just her.

Bea started to bit her fingernails, her tongue tasted the freshly nail paint.

"You good?", Phoebe asked, worry painted in her voice.

"Yeah!"

"You don't need anything?"

"Yeah."

Phoebe looks like she's going to ask more, but stopped herself as the singer finished his rehearsal. She then went in front of the stage, acting like an audience.  Both Nathan and Bea went to the stage, and then sitting on the high chairs.

"Let's do this!" Nathan whispered, but enough for Bea to hear it.

She only gave him a weak smile. Then, Nathan started strumming his guitar.

________________

To say that the opening of Lark After Dark was a success is an understatement. It was packed, guests buzzing inside and lots of "congratulations" filled inside the establishment.

The program started long ago, yet the two girls were still inside Phoebe's car since the time Bea and Nathan finished their rehearsal. Nathan excused himself from his friends to helped his brother setting up the café, leaving the girls on their own. Bea had already changed her clothes in the comfort room — dressed in a white tank top paired with dark brown leather jacket, black denim mini skirt with flea tights underneath as her bottom, a red heart shaped necklace hanging in her neck, and of course, her Doc Martens 1460 boots.

Bea gave Phoebe a kudos for picking her outfit, albeit not the style that the whimsy girl usually wore.

Phoebe, on the other hand, was ecstatic to style her friend, aside from the clothes. After putting her on makeup, she styled her hair in twin braid — with a little bit of plot twist, such as putting her on a headband full of buttons. It was a perfect match, as the colors of the buttons complimented the color of her current outfit (with most of them have designs such as checkered). 

"This is cute!" Bea flushed.

"Made especially for you, girl. I'm just excited for your performance."

Bea swore she was going to cry on the spot. 

It's been many weeks since she set foot in Silver Falls, and swore Phoebe was a gift from heaven, basically for being a great friend to her.

"Oh, I still have something here for you."

"Phoebs, you dont have-"

"Tada!"

It was a beaded necklace —the colors were mostly earth toned, with hints of green and red in some beads, and a pendant in the middle with the capital letter "B". "Now we can match!" Bea took the necklace and wore it.

Phoebe was indeed, wearing the beaded necklace too. Unlike Bea's, hers was more colorful, and a cursive "P" pendant on the middle.

"I'm still not done with Nathan's. Don't tell him yet!"

The two friends then set off to the café.  A man, who's probably in her 40s, was on the stage, giving a congratulatory speech to Will, and the audience clapped before resuming their own business.

Both spotted their schoolmates — Kylie, Skylar, and Alex  giving foods and drinks to the guests —, and even their school guidance councilor and the drama club adviser.

"Seb!"

Seb and his father were chit-chatting just few meters beside the entrance, drinks on their hand and two plates of carbonara and 2 boxes on the table. Her cousin turned around and urged her to come over. Phoebe immediately makes an excuse about talking to Alex and Kylie since it's their break (spoiler: they're still working) and walked away, which made Bea rolled her eyes while chuckling.

"Bea! I'm so excited for later,"  Seb gave her a smile, putting his arm around her shoulder. "You should've seen the performances earlier. Who would've thought the first two performances were Bruno Mars's songs?"

Although hesitated, Bea didn't have a choice but to tell them that she'll perform as soon as she went back home yesterday, since she has the feeling anyways that they'll go to the café. The three of them were excited, and Bennett immediately called his trusted assistant to take over the bakery for this day.

"Mom's having an overnight shift at the hospital today. But don't worry, I promise her to record you."

"Thanks, Seb."

"Kid, I bet Benjy's proud of you "

That's what she's been hesitant to tell them in the first place: them telling her father about this.

"Oh right, have you told uncle about this, right?"

Thankfully, they didn't.

"Yeah."

She bit inside her cheek, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Well kids, let me excuse myself. Gotta give these to the gentlemen." Bea took a glance of the boxes and couldn't quite pinpoint whether they're cinnamon rolls or not.

"Oh, these? These are ensaymadas. Don't worry, you had an extra one at home."

Another thing that her uncle's bakery became popular in town was adding pastry recipes from Amelia's home country, the Philippines. It was added initially after Amelia became homesick and missed the food from home. Although Bea has tried her in-law's Filipino inspired home cooked meals (mostly it was Seb who cooked) since she got here, she hasn't tried eating the pastries yet.

Her uncle grabbed them and headed towards Will, who was talking with the same man who gave a speech earlier.

"You nervous?"

"Not really."

Another lie.

Seb pursed his lips, gently caressing her arm to soothe her down, but stopped when he noticed her cousin attempt to bit her nails. "You got this.", he said calmly, removing her hands and gently caresses her hand with his thumb. Bea glanced at her cousin, briefly smiling.

Looking at the stage, Bea immediately recognizes the performer. "Shit, I'm next," she whispered. The song was still in the 1st chorus part — as she can remember —  and that means she still has time to prepare for herself.

Seb gave her a hug and wished her good luck. Bea headed to the corner where they waited during their rehearsal. Nathan was already there, adjusting the chords of his guitar.

"Hi!"

"Do I look good?"

Nathan was taken back by her question that he stopped adjusting the chords. "Uh—what? Yeah, you look fine. You good?"

"Can I squeeze your hand?"

She started to recall the memories with her glee club members; being nervous, squeezing each other's hands, and telling jokes.

Nathan immediately offered his hand and squeezed her hands. Throughout the performance, Bea could only watch the singer while squeezing Nathan's hand. The singer finally finished his performance, and left the stage. She released her grip and both went to the stage.

"You're not alone, I'm here,"  Nathan said as both of them sat on the chairs. The Walter boy then started strumming  the chords. 

Bea watched the audience. While most of them were occupying their own business, some were patiently waiting for them to start. Phoebe, who was literally noticeable with her striking blue star cardigan and multi-layered deep violet maxi skirt, at the frontmost of the crowd, recorded them with her digital camera and giving her thumbs up, ensuring that everything will be fine.

As Nathan finished strumming the notes before the intro, it was now time for Bea to sing.

Good day in my mind, safe to take a step outGet some air now, let your edge out

On the counter, both Skylar and Kylie briefly stopped their tracks and watched her in awe, with Skylar more focused on the guitarist. 

Too soon, I spoke, you be heavy in my mindCan you get the heck out

Her uncle raised his half bitten donut ,as if it was a toast, in her direction. Will started to slowly bop his head, the melody starting to dance around his mind.

I need rest now, got me bummed outYou so, you so, you, baby, baby, babeI've been on my empty mind shit

Seb, still in his spot, recorded them with his phone as he promised. Despite the cellphone blocking his face, his eyes were evident that he got the biggest grin plastered on his face. 

But he wasn't alone. The other Walter boys were there, except for Alex who was still working and Cole, whom she hasn't seen ever since she entered here. Heck, even Jackie's presence was nowhere to be found. Lee and a familiar guy that she frequently saw getting in and out of their auditorium in their school were talking, but the guy kept glancing at them while still conversing with Lee. On the other hand, a very familiar guy was beside them too, but his attention was infront of them.

I try to keep from losin' the rest of meI worry that I wasted the best of me on you, babyYou don't care

Isaac listened to Bea intently, staring directly at her honey brown eyes. Bea stared at him back. He gave her a small smile and playfully winked at her. She just shook her head and averted her gaze from him instead of rolling her eyes, and swore he chuckled from her peripheral vision.

Nathan helped harmonize the next few lines of SZA's "Good Days", the melody from the strumming of the chords  complimented both of their voices. Like caramel and cream, they blend together — smooth and warm, the kind of feeling that lingered in the air long after the last note faded.

The song finally ended, earning claps from some audiences, with Phoebe clapping the loudest. As they leave the stage, Phoebe ran to her friends and hugged them tightly.

"Yay! Thats so good!"

"Phoebs! You almost made me drop my guitar!"

Phoebe released them, chuckling as Nathan put his guitar back on his guitar case. After that, he hugged the brunette singer tightly. "I am so proud of you!" Phoebe joined them, saying that she's proud of them, then broke the hug because Bea couldn't breath.

Will, who was beside the counter, called them and gestured them to come over. The three of them went towards him, and he congratulated both his brother and, most especially, Bea.

"Letting you perform last minute wasn't a bad idea, after all. Both my fiancé and I loved it.", he handed her an envelope. "Even Mato enjoyed the R&B vibe."

Maybe Mato's the guy who gave the speech earlier.

Bea get the envelope, but decided not to peek inside.

"That's for you. Enjoy for the rest of the night." Will patted her shoulder before leaving them.

This is it! So this is what it feels like having a salary?

She never thought of buying her wants. The only thing occupying her mind was to send it to her father. Not now obviously, but soon.

Kiley, Alex, and Skylar congratulated them, which made Nathan blushed as Skylar went near him and complimenting him about his performance.

"That's why you went here with me yesterday, huh?" Kiley smiled. "Congratulations, again! That was so cool."

"Thanks Kiley!"

"Pinsan ko yan! (That's my cousin!)" Seb jogged toward their direction, the other Walter boys soon followed after. Sensing that Phoebe might have walked away, she gripped her arm, but was quickly released when he hugged her. "Already sent to mom. Bet she'll watch it during her break time."

Bea felt overwhelmed — from her performance, her first "salary", and the people around her congratulating. She needed an air.

"By the way Seb, aren't these headband and beaded necklace look cute? Phoebe made them."

Bea took this chance to excused herself and quickly get out of the café, but not by without witnessing Phoebe getting flustered and "stealing" a random cupcake.

______________________

This is peace.

Under the night sky, breezy air, and muffling sounds inside the building, Bea leaned her back on the wall and started peeling the wrapper, putting it on the pocket to where her envelope was placed in.

Citrus and sweetness tasted her tongue as she took a bite, realizing that it was a lemon cupcake. She sighed as she savored the dessert, and continued to devour until crumbs was all left on her hands.

"I think you need this."

Bea's head turned. Isaac walked towards her, a glass of water on his hand.

"No thanks. Who knows, you might put poison there?"

"That's what you thought of me, princess? A murderer?"

"Fine, give me that."

Out of annoyance, she snatched the glass and gulped down. Isaac just chuckled at her reaction, and leaned his back on the wall, just a meter from where she leaned.

"Never thought you sang, huh?"

"I sang since I was a kid, thank you very much."

Isaac whistled. "Really?"

Bea hummed. "It's just a hobby." She looked above, millions of luminous lights staring at her back.

Sensing something, she turned around and saw Isaac staring at her. He tilted his head slightly, curiosity flickered in his eyes.

"What?"

"Don't just end there."

Knowing what he meant and  that he's not on his usual flirty-jerk-whatever you call it behavior, she sighed. 

"My dad loved to play some old songs on the radio, and next thing I knew, 7 year old me knew the lyrics and started  singing out of nowhere in our house," she chuckled, that particularly memory started replaying on her mind. 

"My mo—, I mean my dad took me to some singing lessons, and fast forward to middle school, I auditioned to the glee club, and became a member ever since, 'til last year."

She cursed herself, almost spilling that her dad's ex-wife was the one actually who took her to her first singing classes. She pressed her lips together, knowing that the bittersweet memory will forever be etched onto her mind.

She looked down, without knowing she gripped the empty glass hard. Noticing this, Isaac snatched the glass away from her grasp, which she got startled.

"You good?"

That's probably the third or fourth time someone asked her that today.

And definitely the first time Isaac asked her that.

Bea sighed in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"I really don't know what's on your mind, pretty, but you did good back there."

Silence followed — not the awkward kind, but rather unknowingly comfortable.

The breeze of the night was cold, yet the heatness of her cheeks said otherwise. Another breeze followed and hummed — a strange sort of ease that neither of them dared to disturb.

For once, she didn't have the feeling of rolling her eyes at him. Her lips parted, thinking whether she'll chuckle or say something stupid. But instead, she met his gaze, in which he stared at her in return.

"But I'm still good at singing. Better than you, actually." Isaac shrugged, chuckling as he flipped his hair. He gave her his usual cocky grin.

"Oh yeah? Show me a sample then."

"Woah, would you look at that! The weather's seems chilly. I think we should go inside."

Bea scoffed, and rolled her eyes. It was a silly excuse, but he was right.

"Yeah, your singing might trigger a rain."

"Ha ha, very funny."

Both straighten themselves, and started walking to the entrance, their shoulders almost touching.

"Did I ever mentioned that we look like a couple, right now, pretty? We're both wearing leather jackets."

She playfully bumped his shoulder. "In your dreams, Garcia."

__________

Woah 3,700+ words :0

hope ya'll enjoy :)) and yes, Seb is half-Filipino half-American!

i'll update the moodboards in the intro after i publish this :p

and thank you for 200 reads! dont be shy to comment/vote :)

im so packed this month because of school but i'll try to update :)