Sometimes you got to treat yourself

The Diesel Only was a bit of a dive, enough space to hold maybe 20 people on each floor, It was decorated with old highway signs and traffic lights that gave the place an eerie multicoloured hue. It was a hodgepodge of various ideas all scrambled together and it was half the reason Alan enjoyed being there so much. That and Harold the bartender could whip up a mean gin fizz.

It was never very crowded, being a bit too out of the way for most of the local college scene but a bit too niche for most bar goers looking for someplace to watch the current sports game. Still that kept it nice and relaxed and quiet. But every other Friday was Karaoke Night, and for Alan that was a fine sort of Noise

Whether singers were good or bad, Karaoke was a sort of Zen experience for Alan. You had to admire people, drunk or not, getting the courage to sing in front of a bunch of strangers, likely a song they also know and can compare your performance to. It was an activity devoid of pretense and yet nothing could be more pretentious than trying to sing “Take on Me” with your worst falsetto and full bravado.

Alan sat at the bar sipping a gin and tonic watching other people perform, occasionally glancing over at a table of other regulars. A group of girls he recognized from previous Friday night excursions. Every so often one of them, a long haired blonde wearing skinny jeans and a black crop top would catch his eye and smile. Alan immediately would break eye contact and return to his drink.

While Alan had dated before, he had never been exactly good at the bit before that. In fact if scaled metrically the thermometer of where his game landed would likely hover around absolute zero. Still he couldn’t deny she was definitely hot.

“If I tried…could I influence her to come over?” Immediately he was ashamed of the thought. That certainly was not a helpful or kind use of his power. But even so…was it wrong to just overcome a shortcoming? He wouldn't be lying or tricking the girl…just starting a conversation.

He finished his drink, a plan forming in his head. As the last person performing stepped off the stage he approached and started scrolling through the Karaoke machine, trying not to glance up at the woman as he picked the song.

The guitar of the Door’s “Hello, I Love You” picked up and Alan began to sing. To be perfectly honest he wasn’t sure if this would work, it was different from what he had attempted at the office. The singing he was less worried about. He had been forced to do choir in childhood and had a decent baritone, and his dad had forced his love of the Doors on him so the stumbling up would be solely if his power could impact reactions.

He kept singing and as he moved into the chorus and as the woman’s eyes met his he felt the thing. The little moment he could put something into. He then as he sang began weaving different thoughts, he wasn’t sure any would work. Intrigue, amusement, attraction, arousal. When she stopped engaging with her friends and kept her eyes on him, Alan figured something…something had clicked.

He finished the song, gave a mock little bow to the stuttered claps of the few patrons and went back to his seat. He was about to call for another drink when he caught the smell of roses and looked over to see the blonde now next to him.

“Hey that was some nice singing, I’m Caroline by the way"