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Despite what most would think, the doctors were friends outside of work. To an extent, at least. Not only did Neil and Eva spend days off watching Dr. Who together, but from time to time, Roxie, Robert, Eva, and Neil would make plans altogether.
The first time was a drive-in movie. It was some old-time-ish film, which fit the whole feeling of being in a drive-in movie well. Neil and Eva sat in the backseat with Roxie and Rob sharing the front. One popcorn per row, and they all got their own candies. It was nice.
It was a cold winter day when Roxie, all chipper and energetic, skipped into Eva's office. Neil sat down nearby playing on an outdated Gameboy, squinting and sticking his tongue out while in combat with the boss of whatever game he was playing. Roxie moved to Eva's desk, placing her arms on it and leaning on it.
"What is it, Roxie?" Eva's eyes stayed glued to her screen. Neil's stayed glued to his. They were both very comfortable. Eva had her lab coat unbuttoned, and she leaned back in her office chair. Neil was in a more scrunched-up position, resting his head on his knees and holding the small console in front of him.
Roxie tilted her head, a smug smile on her face, "Karaoke Night." That was all she said. That was enough to get Eva's eyes away from her computer.
Her chocolate brown eyes glimmered with excitement, "you're a genius, Rox."
Then, the fourth member of their crew joined in the conversation, sticking his head into Eva's office, "did you tell them about Karaoke Night?"
Neil only looked up after muttering a couple of curses at his game, realizing other people now surrounded them. His position shifted to something a bit more average, sitting up in his chair with the game in his lap, "what's going on?"
"We're doing Karaoke Night," Eva grinned, "Saturday? We all have that day off, right?"
Neil's expression faltered, "no way."
Roxie dramatically groaned, "Neil, stop being an ass and just go with us. You always have fun at these things."
He silently rolled his eyes, going back to his game and muttering, "I'll think about it."
There wasn't much thinking for himself involved because once everyone left, Eva started giving him a long lecture on how he hasn't gone out with them for months and constantly blows them off, and if nothing else, he was good at what they were doing, so why not just join them and try to have some fun? The mixture of how excited Eva looked and the guilt of blowing her off one more time pushed him to finally say yes.
So, he waited outside his apartment building in jeans, a strangely patterned collared shirt, and a worn brown leather jacket that was just a bit too big on him. Eva was always on time, and she kept up that unspoken promise when she picked up Neil approximately five minutes before nine-thirty at night. He insisted that he could drive himself, but Eva didn't want to have too many cars if a designated driver was needed (which would probably be the case).
Eva wore something a bit more casual than usual attire, a pair of ripped black jeans and a purple tank top. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and she had a bit of eyeliner on. She also wore a bright smile. It was nice seeing her outside of work. She always acted so uptight, so professional, but now this was just Eva. The same Eva that Neil used to hang out with for hours in her dorm until they started making all the guys leave the girl's dorm rooms at 9 pm. The same Eva he made laugh so hard that soda came out her nose in a Mcdonald's at two in the morning.
"Get in, loser," she said with a laugh.
"Aww, here I was thinking you wanted me to come along," Neil slid into the passenger seat.
Eva stuck her tongue out at Neil before starting to drive again. They listened to music that quietly hummed in the background from the radio. It was a comfortable silence. They had a bit of back and forth conversation, but nothing too extensive. That's just how things were between them—communicating through secret code and understanding the other perfectly. Well, at least, most of the time.
The doctors made it to the bar around ten, and without missing a beat, Roxie found them a spot to sing Karaoke. She had made sure before that she had plenty of storage to record nearly the entire night.
They all had a drink as they scrolled through the songs. Finally, they decided that the order would be Roxie, Rob, Eva, then Neil. They all had another drink after everyone except Neil had belted out one of the overplayed songs on the radio that you couldn't get out of your head, no matter how hard you tried.
Eva sat down, excited to hear Neil's voice again. It had been a while since she had. Maybe it was senior year, him standing up on the auditorium’s stage as she tried to figure the spotlights. Perhaps it was his quiet humming while on a half-asleep road trip back to Sigmund. It was a song on the radio that Eva enjoyed, and he remembered. It was a whisper of his adoration for her, but to Eva it was everything in the moment.
But when he went up, she noticed a slight blush on his cheeks that could easily be played off as the drink he held in his left hand, but after knowing him for years, she knew that Neil Watts was many things, and a lightweight was not one of them. He tapped the tablet controlling the Karaoke, and some random joke song started playing. Instead of hearing his voice, she heard him putting too much effort into sounding bad. He had a playful smile on his face as he winked at Eva. The kind of smile that made more frequent occurrences rather than his kind, genuine one.
Why did he do this?
They had another drink when Roxie sang I Will Always Love You. Neil and Roxie took shots as Rob sang along with some oddly fitting heavy metal song. Neil took another drink while Eva sang I Will Survive to her best abilities. She was no singer, but god, did she look beautiful while she did it.
Finally, Neil was giggling at things that weren't even all that funny. The red on his face was attributed to the drinks that you could easily smell on his breath. He even had the confidence to drape his leather jacket over Eva when he saw her shiver, chills covering her arms.
They were about to leave, but Roxie wanted to do just one more rotation. Reluctantly, they all agreed, even though all their throats were sore from the singing and screaming over all the other people at the bar.
And just like that, it was Neil's turn again. He popped up from his seat but was held off by Roxie.
"Wait. I want to choose the song," she smirked, going to the tablet. Neil shrugged with a quiet laugh, complying with Roxie's schemes. At this point, he was too drunk to care. He likely wouldn’t remember a single thing from this night in the morning anyways. He stepped up to the singer’s podium and the song began to play. The second he heard the beginning couple notes of the piano, he recognized it. It was slower than the majority of everything else they had sung that night.
Eva watched Neil with an adoring look in her eye. There was something about seeing him under the colored lights that made her heart race. There was something about the eye contact he made for a second before starting to sing, really sing. Roxie, who assumed that it would be highly comical (especially since he was drunk and it was a love song), held up her phone to record him.
"Just this once, before you go. Just one dance, it's only you and me. Don't be scared; I'll help you through. I'll give you something to hold on to."
It was like everything in the bar went silent, probably because the idiots that had been screaming for an hour and a half had a genuine performance going on. Roxie's eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly and forming a small 'o' shape.
"All my life, I never dreamed that I could be as happy as this, as this. I'm right here, always for you. This is our something to hold on to."
Eva pulled Neil's jacket closer to her. It smelled of coffee, but it had a nice scent. She felt her face form a smile as red spread across her cheeks.
"Hold on to me, Hold on to me, this is as free as I'll ever feel. Oh, and just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's not real!"
Neil was belting it out, voice blending beautifully with the instrumental. Even Rob looked stunned.
"Just this once before you go. Just one dance, it's only you and me. Don't be scared; I'll help you through. I'll be your something to hold on to."
Before beginning the next part, he took a deep breath, making quick glances at Eva and then back down to the lyrics.
"Hold on to me, Hold on to me, this is as free as I'll ever feel. Oh, and just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's not real!"
If the first time he sang the intense bit didn't feel paralyzing, the second did. Neil's voice overpowered any of the sounds going on at the rest of the bar. Then, finally, he held eye contact with Eva, a soft and genuine smile on his face. The kind of smile where she could see that he had dimples on each of his cheeks.
"Take my hand! I'll guide the way! Rest your head! Be in the now! Right now! Nothing else could ever undo this, our something to hold on to…."
He paused for a moment, voice quieting down, shutting his eyes, and singing the final line, "I'll give you something to hold on to…."
Then, people started clapping. Some even cheered. Neil looked like he didn't even realize what he had done, but judging by the look on Roxie's face and her phone recording in her hand, Neil knew he'd never live it down.
But then he looked over at Eva, stunningly beautiful, astonished by him. The same kid that she'd seen do just about every dumb thing in high school, the one that she stuck with through today despite all the odds of her leaving. The one person that he was able to hold on to.
And the look on her face, the way she smiled at him when the instrumental ended, it made it all worth it.