My karaoke crush, or KC as I called her in my head—being that my brain always forgot her actual name, being that we had never actually talked to each other—and her group of friends weren’t here every time our group was, but like a lot of other Moonie’s regulars, we frequently overlapped. When she didn’t show, I had a rotation of other karaoke crushes amongst the Moonie’s Strangers Who Didn’t Necessarily Feel Like Strangers When We Were Here, as I had a rotation of crushes for almost every aspect of my life.

I was very good at being thirsty. Less successful at the actual drinking part.

Everyone else paled in comparison to my #1 KC, though. She always wore the prettiest clothes, usually brightly colored dresses, as she was tonight. Sometimes she mixed it up, though. Last summer, during a particularly rough heat wave, she came to Moonie’s wearing short overalls in this wacky checkered pattern over a tight tank top. I had never seen her show that much arm or leg before, and she looked so powerful on the dance floor when she sang that I almost passed out.

Because that’s what #1 KC was: powerful. I’d overheard her chatting at her table with her friends before, and her speaking voice was surprisingly feather light and high pitched. But when she had a mic in front of her, she had one of those voices that you could tell came straight from her gut. Like the strength of her lungs could blow, blow, blow your house down. She didn’t prance around the dance floor like some of these queers did—although to be clear, I was always here for a prancing queer—but moved her body in a way that mattered, in a way that made you stop and pay attention. She was big and gorgeous and whenever she sang I wanted to just...melt into her.

And then sneak into the bathroom with her and bang against the wall.

Not that that would ever happen.

But a non-binary-person-who-appeared-to-have-no-friends could dream.

Aaaand there she went. Walking up to Kiki. Putting in her first request.

I took a big swig of Rainier. Which I then proceeded to choke on. The bar was starting to fill up now, and not only was I taking up a whole table by myself, I was apparently losing the ability to even function properly.

I got a hold of myself, and moved to a small two-seater, back in the corner. As far from ÜberTable as I could get. Such was my fate.

My phone buzzed in my pocket again.

Text from Steve: wait so is anyone making it to Moonie’s tonight?? Running super late anyway, let me know!

Kiki picked up the mic and moved to the center of the floor.