I see you- Chapter 10: Karaoke night
The beginning of the Bridgeton Karaoke Night is like every time the family plays-pall ball with the family heirloom. The only difference is that anyone could write anyone's name on the list of singing contestants. Like always, Anthony and Kate are competitive against each other and every other Bridgeton sibling.
Tonight, they started by singing a duet with the song, Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams. Lady Violet began to dance while she kept Eloise by her side.
Pen looks at Lady Bridgetion's direction with confusion on her oval face until she hears Colin declare to Edwin in amusement, "Poor El. Mom told all of us through text that she wants Eloise to spend the weekend with her siblings."
Edwina states in (fake?) shock, "Really. do tell?"
Pen didn't know why Edwina was acting. She continued to listen in to gain clues from her friend's reaction while Colin talked to Edwina like they had been friends for years.
Colin enthusiastically states with amusement, "Kate told Mum that Eloise spends too much time with Penelope. She believes El has forgotten to communicate with my other siblings."
Edwina smiles at Colin's confession while she asks in a friendly tone," How did Eloise take it?"
Pen gives a raspberry before remarking in a teasing tone," As if Elose would let her mother control her. I bet El doesn't even know about Lady Violet's scheme. Am I right?" with one of her eyebrows going up with a teasing smile.
Colin gives Pen a cheeky smile, "My word, I didn't know you were witty."
Edwina replies on Pen's behalf, "There is so much more to Pen than your siblings led you to believe, Colin!"
"Is that so?" Colin exclaims as he takes his last portion of pasta salad into his mouth.
Pen was to respond with another teasing remark when Eloise walked down towards the stage set to sing.
Pen waits to hear her raspy voice singing the words Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin, and of course, Eloise hits each note flawlessly.
After many years of hanging out with the Bridgeton family, Pen learns that almost every sibling knows how to carry a tune, but Ben says that Eloise has the ashtray sound that makes her voice stand out in the crowd. Anthony would say it is because she smokes too much, and Pen agrees to the extent. Still, Pen loves hearing her friend sing.
Pen was about to cheer for her best friend when she noticed Hy was searching for the next song on Gregory's phone from the right side of the patio.
Right next to her is another sibling who looks like Belle from the cartoon version of Beauty and the Beast. She writes someone's name on the Karaoke list.
The scene before Pen is scary. The younger siblings always have a scheme up their sleeves, and tonight is no exception.
It seems like Hy has gotten her sister Francesca into her plans. The only question in Pen's mind is, "What are those two up to?"
Eloise keeps singing while Colin and Gregory go to the long buffet-style dinner table to serve themselves a second or third plate after finishing their previous food portion.
Pen waits until Colin is gone from their earshot before fumbling with her question," Edwina, how can you talk to him like you have known each other for a long time?"
"I think you meant to ask how Colin and I know each other?" Edwina replies with uneasiness behind her calm demeanor before reassuring her best friend that she didn't break her trust, " Pen, I will tell you tomorrow while everyone is swimming. I promise."
Pen didn't know if she should feel betrayed by the realization that Edwina had a friendship with Colin. Or that she felt left out from their inside jokes. Nevertheless, Pen knew there must be some information she was missing, and Edwina would tell her soon.
Sophie Baek, now known as Benedict's wife, is drinking her second alcoholic drink from across Pen as Ben cheerfully makes everyone at their table laugh from the constant commentary after every singer.
The lovely aisan's woman's straight dark brown hair is curled in layers while her dark brown eyes beam at her husband's remarks.
"Good for you, Eloise. Show us the benefits of your smoking habits." Ben teases Eloise while the singer gives him the bird.
"Eloise Elanie Bridgetion!" Lady Violet scowls at her.
Sophie and Ben chuckle at the aftermath before hearing the song end. While the content family waits for the next participant, Hy takes one of the four microphones and shouts, "Now the moment we've all been waiting for... Colin Bridgerton!
"No," Colin whines from his seat while the rest of the family begs him to go up.
"Yes, brother! Please, come and take this microphone away from me! So that I may be able to let out of my misery." Eloise teases him.
Pen hears Sophie laugh while seeing Ben whisper in her ear.
"Oh, Colin, you should go up!" Daphne exclaims from beside Lady Violet's right side.
Kate chimes from Daphne's left side, "Colin, you must grace us with your talent."
Pen sees the dread from behind Colin's dark blue eyes, so she says in a calm tone, "Colin, you don't have to go up there. If you don't want to..."
Edwina cuts in with excitement behind her teasing comment, " Oh, Pen, you should be encouraging him to sing! Not the other way around".
Pen looks at her friend with confusion while a light-skinned lady with brown hair and eyes adds, "Oh, that is right, Pen hasn't heard you sing. Now, you should definitely sing, dear brother!"
"Fanny." Colin holds the n of her name a little longer while the lady asking him to sing stares at him with a please pout.
The quiet middle child of the family then smiles at Pen while her brown eyes state, "You will find out why Ediwna stated that comment in a few seconds."
Colina sighs while murmuring, "Fine." before getting up from his seat.
Everyone cheers while Gregory, Eloise, Ben, and Kate shout his name until he grabs the mic from Eloise's outstretched hand.
Within seconds, Pen sees her best friend rushing to take Colin's seat when an ivory lady with light brown hair and hazel brown-green eyes beats her from sitting beside Pen.
Eloise glares at her older sister, "Daphne, move!" as the lady on the other end of the order taunts her younger sibling with her medium-sized eyebrows going up in a "Or what?" expression before calming stating in a motherly tone, "Come now, Eloise. I am older than you. Therefore, you should be more respectful to those around you. Must I tell Mother to collect you? Or are you going to leave?"
Knowing that Eloise is about to fight with her sister Daphane, Penelope decides to move away from their conversation.
She moves her attention back towards Edwin and Fanny's small conversation about their previous Karaoke night and asks, " Fan and Edwina, why are you so persistent on Colin singing?"
Daphane decides to answer on their behalf," Pen. What you are about to experience is going to change your life."
Edwina nods in agreement while Fanny adds in a teasing tone, "Daph is right, Pen. Tonight will be a moment you will never forget."
Pen is about to respond to Fanny's remark when everyone goes silent.
The song's cadence playing from the speakers makes her blue eyes widen in shock from recognizing the song he was about to sing as her whole body faces the small stage.
Colin Bridgerton opens his luminous mouth to sing a B note, and Penelope Featherington has fallen more in love with him than the night before.
"He is singing my favorite, Yellow by Coldplay," Pen whispers in awe of his talent.
Edwina smiles back at Pen because she knows how important this song is for her best friend before the red-haired beauty notices Colin's eyes on her.
Shock by his actions, Pen shyly looks away as her cheeks get warm before finding herself lost in a memory.
As Colin sings the chorus, Pen remembers her last time with her dotting father. She recalls his big smile while he held a bouquet of the huggest flowers she had ever seen between them.
"A bouquet of Sunflowers for my sunshine." He would say to her with endearment while handing her the bouquet she would receive for her birthday.
Seventeen-year-old Pen blushed from hearing her father call her "his sunshine!" but who could blame him when her mother made her wear a color that always washed out Pen's ivory skin?
It is one of the last good memories she had with him until they cut his throat in May XXXX due to his gambling addiction.
Now, Pen associates sunflowers with her father, and throughout the years after his death, the sunflowers have become Penelope's favorite flower.
A tear from her left eye brings Pen back to the present to see Colin sing the last notes.
Pen takes a few seconds to collect herself while she closes her eyes to hold back her emotions before hearing the singer ask, "Pen, are you alright?".
Pen is shocked to hear Colin was in front of her so quickly. And yet, Pen had to find a way to avoid the question Colin was asking before finding herself breaking down in front of everyone.
"Colin, How did you get here so fast?" Pen asks with amusement behind her cracked voice as she wipes the tears away with her right hand and opens them to find him back in his seat with a concerned expression on his chiseled face.
Colin shrugs, "I don't know!" and Pen can't help but laugh at his gesture, and soon, he joins in.
Their fits of laughter is comforting for Pen due to the awkwardness of their conversation but not enough to prevent her from thinking of her father. Colin and Penelope embrace the silence after they calm down from their shared fits of giggles until Fanny grabs his brother's attention.
Penelope takes this time to think about an excuse to leave when Edwina speaks into the microphone in her hands, "Now that we heard the singer in the family. Let us give it up for Penelope Featherington."
No, Pen thought of the idea of singing in front of everyone.
Internally, she wanted to scream and run away. Instead, Pen takes a breath in and out to calm her nerves before walking up to the small so-called stage.
Edwina whispers in her ear, "I will sing backup with you. And if you want Eloise to come up for extra moral support. Let me know."
Pen surprises them both by saying, "No, I think you being here is the only support I need.
Edwina nods with an understanding smile, "Fanny wrote down Things I'll Never Say by Avril Lavinge."
'Shit. I knew Fanny was up to something! Dam, I should have never told her about my crush.' Pen thought as she turned her neck over to the side before glaring in the scheming lady's direction to see Fanny smirking back at her with a huge grin.
"I am going to murder her!" Pen declares behind her tired voice as she grabs a second microphone from their position on the folded table.
Edwina chuckles at Pen's comment while her brown eyes gleefully tease her.
"Ah, so you do have a crush on Colin. Is this why you are glaring at Fan?" Edwina asks before seeing Pen blush from her question.
Edwina was waiting for her to respond. There was no response.
Pen didn't know what to say because she just learned about Colin's friendship with Edwina.
In a way, she wanted to confess to her Edwina. Yet, she could not find the voice to say anything because Pen is sharp with her words when she is upset.
Edwina realizes that Pen was holding back on telling her anything tonight because of her recent discovery. She sighs in defeat at Pen's silence and begins the music from the iPhone.
Pen stares out to find Eloise giving her a thumbs up beside a lady who looks Identical to her daughter on her left side before finding her eyes staring at her crush, Colin.
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@girlbloke wow ok some interesting choices on here…
roots by sepultura is absolutely nu metal but arise is just straight up thrash so i have no idea why that’s on here. also surprised there’s 2 sepultura albums but no soulfly, same singer but soulfly was more firmly nu. lots of big huge drums in roots, i love it.
i will never listen to devil without a cause because we live in a world where kid rock was invited to the trump white house
follow the leader is like half a good album? there’s a track where jonathan davis and fred durst are just homophobic at each other for several minutes. but also i’m not a huge korn fan, i could probably cobble together one album i enjoy from the 4 that i’ve heard. the bass strings are so floppy. i enjoy their first 2 albums more bc they sound like shit, this one is more polished for sure and that’s not what i want lol
system of a down s/t A+
slipknot s/t 💕💕💕💕 i front to back this album all the time. drums are insane. all hope is gone is another odd choice, it’s way more thrash/straight up metal. after their 3rd album they moved away from nu for the most part. i really like at least half the songs on it tho. shocked iowa isn’t on here
hybrid theory is great for baby’s first heavy album bc there is no cursing so your parents would let you listen to it. incredibly vague lyrics by design so you can apply them to whatever is happening to you. a technically very good album, v polished and well thought out. kind of like the nexus of what nu metal could achieve, like where to even elevate from here. they were like the last super popular nu band. a place for my head rules
make yourself also an odd choice! i would have gone with fungus amongus or SCIENCE. SCIENCE is SO fun, my mom loved it lol. for the 311 connoisseur for sure. the elements are still there with the turntables and the bass but it’s definitely more alt rock imo. also brandon boyd said it made him sad to be lumped in with nu metal bc of all the machismo lmao
i have yet to listen to chocolate starfish bc i cannot sanction fred durst’s buffoonery. rollin’ is great though obviously. there’s a ben stiller shout out in livin’ it up. he also says he’s seen fight club “about 28 times” which i believe
the jane’s addiction pull is insane. in no way is this nu metal. probably influenced some groups wrt funkiness but that’s all i got. also just a sidenote my mom and i saw jane’s addiction like 10 years ago and we realized simultaneously that perry farrell looks like michael douglas as liberace
i was going to say i’m shocked there’s no deftones but i assume white pony or around the fur is on there, ppl just love to say they’re not nu metal bc they’re “good”
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