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“I’ll take a Bloody Mary please.” Mary MacDonald said, smiling brightly at the handsome, young bartender. He grinned back at her, blushing. Her best friend, Marlene rolled her eyes dramatically. “Don’t you think it’s just a tad cliche that you drink Bloody Marys? I know you prefer sweet drinks anyways; you just do it cause of the name.”
Mary bumped her shoulder into Marlene’s playfully. “I don’t know what you’re talking about McKinnon, I love Bloody Marys, what’s wrong with the name?” Marlene raised one eyebrow before shrugging. “It’s fine, I know you’ll always be ridiculously cheesy, there’s nothing I can do to save you now MacDonald.” Mary gasped indignantly before turning her nose up at her friend. She started laughing pretty quickly though, it was wildly difficult to actually ever offend her.
“Holy shit.” Marlene gasped, punching Mary in the arm and gesturing wildly towards the makeshift karaoke stage. “Ow! Marlene!” “Shut up, just look at her.” Mary glared at her before turning to the stage. Her jaw dropped as her eyes landed on the gorgeous red-haired girl who had just picked up the microphone. “Oh... oh my god.” Mary sputtered, choking on her drink. “Yeah.” Marlene said, nodding. “I knew you’d like her.” Mary stayed quiet, eyes tracking the girl as she leaned over to the DJ and pointed to a song on the list. He gave her a thumbs up and she smiled prettily at him. Mary felt a twinge of jealousy but then she scolded herself, she didn’t know this girl. The pretty red head wasn’t hers. Yet.
As a new tune quietly came into existence, Mary heard loud cheering from a rowdy table of 5 guys and 2 girls. Mary squinted at them, recognizing the 4 of the men. She was pretty sure that she had gone to school with them, but Mary had moved around a lot, so she wasn’t sure.
“You’ve got this Lily!!!” One of the boys yelled, a fairly handsome boy with black tousled hair and crooked glasses. The smallest boy, one with pale skin, dark hair, and the highest cheekbones Mary had ever seen smiled quietly at the loud boy before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. The glasses boy grinned brightly before planting a kiss of his own on the short boy’s lips. ‘Holy shit.’ Mary thought. ‘Why is that friend group so damn good looking.’ And they were.
There was ‘Lily’ (Mary assumed this was the name of the girl on stage)
The glasses man and his quiet boyfriend
There was another loud man with curly black hair in a bun and a ratty band shirt
There was a very tall and handsome but sort of soft looking man who was covered in scars and wearing a knit jumper. (He seemed to be either dating, or in love with the man in the band shirt, giving the way he was making eyes at him) Mary is practically certain she remembers him, at the very least.
The last man was a charming and cute guy with dirty blond hair and a kind look in his eyes. He was clapping and cheering loudly for Lily.
Then there were the other two girls. One of them already had Marlene practically in her lap. Mary gawked before turning to her side and seeing her friend’s empty seat. Mary rolled her eyes but could admit that the girl was fucking ethereal. Marlene’s hand was tangled in her long dark braids.
The last girl seemed to be good friends with the pale boy dating glasses. She had some of the longest white, blond hair Mary had ever seen and was wearing a long, hippy style dress with plenty of crystal jewelry adoring her neck, ears, and wrists.
Mary shot one last annoyed glance at Marlene, for just abandoning her, and finally turned back to the stage as the girl, Lily, started to sing.
‘Oh, my fucking god.’ Mary thought. Maybe the universe really was trying to tell her something because she recognized the song that this girl was singing.
"Mary is the girl that I wanna kiss, she’s got big red eyes and big red lips."
Mary stared slack jawed at Lily. ‘Oh. My. God. Her voice.’ It was gorgeous. And also. The song??? Mary isn’t religious, but if she was, she would consider this a sign.
No one in the bar seemed to care that it wasn’t a pop song like the others that had been sung that night. No one seemed to move, let alone breathe. Mary wasn’t breathing either if she was honest. This drop-dead gorgeous girl who has friends that Mary thinks she knows, gets up at a random bar and sings a song called ‘Mary’??? No way. This has to be a dream and she doesn’t think she wants to wake up.
Mary’s drink sits forgotten at the bar for at least the next 30 minutes. Lily’s song finished to loud applause, especially from her table of friends, but everyone else was clapping too. She blushed slightly at all the cheers and went to sit back down. The glasses boy is grinning and reaches up to pat her on the back, she playfully pushed him off before laughing about something Mary couldn’t hear. Mary only snapped out of her daze when Lily stood again and made her way to the bar. Oh shit. Mary’s sitting at the bar. Oh shit. She made contact with the gorgeous green eyes of the girl she had been watching all night.
“I’ll take a strawberry daiquiri and a round of lemon drop shots please.” Lily was right next to her. Lily was sitting down next to her. Lily’s foot just bumped into her calf. Lily was talking to her. Wait what??
“Hello?” Shit shit shit. Mary choked a little before regaining some semblance of sense. “Hey. Sorry, I’ve probably had a bit too much to drink.” ‘More like not enough’ Mary thought to herself wryly.
Luckily, Lily laughed. “Yeah, me too. Honestly, I never would have gotten up there sober.” She gestured to the stage and Mary smiled at her dreamily. “You were wonderful.” Shit. That was embarrassing. Lily smiled right back at her though and Mary felt those all too dormant butterflies start to re-awaken. “You’re too sweet, I haven’t sung in front of people in ages.”
Mary tilted her head at that. “Why? You’re so talented, it feels like a bit of a waste, no?” Shit. That was none of her business. Why the hell would Lily open up to a stranger at a bar, especially one who had been open staring at her all night. Fuck. Mary had been openly staring at Lily all night. ‘She probably thinks I’m such a freak oh my god.’ Mary mentally facepalms at her stupidity. Lily pauses and takes time to consider how to answer. “My um.. My parents died last year.” Oh. Oh no. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! That’s awful.” Mary exclaimed.
Lily nodded. “It’s definitely unfortunate but my dad was the one who used to sing with me, so it’s been difficult to sing without him there.” Lily smiled as the bartender placed down her drink and a tray with the shots. “Thank you.”
Mary doesn’t know what to say. She’s never been good at consolation. “I’m...so sorry.” Lily smiles again. This girl is always smiling. In an odd way, Mary kind of wants to see her breakdown. “It’s ok.” Lily responded. “I’m ok. It’s been a year, I’m a lot better than I was.” Mary nodded before making one of her classic, Mary MacDonald impulse decisions. She grabbed one of the lemon shots and downed it. “I’ll pay you back. Wanna get out of here?” Lily grinned and this smile felt more genuine. “Yeah.”