“I don’t know,” she said through her fingers. “I might have to work up to that.”

Oh my god. She hadn’t been lying. She was...shy.

And it was absolutely, thrillingly adorable.

“That’s okay.” I stepped back. Gave my skirt a little twirl. Because I was feeling full of possibility, my body a tiny bit more free. “No pressure.”

She dropped her hands and we kept walking.

“I am okay with one thing,” she said after a minute.

“Yeah?” I looked over.

“Singing along to the radio.” She grinned. “The inside of a car is definitely the best place for singing, outside of Moonie’s.”

“Oh my god.” I grabbed her hand again and started jogging toward my beat up Corolla. “Let’s fucking go.”

“Okay, okay,” she laughed as we got there, out of breath. “But I get to choose the station. And warn me next time you’re going to make me run like that; my boobs are angry at you now.”

“You’re on, Fischer.”

I unlocked the door and threw my bag in the backseat.

“And I’ll make it up to your boobs later,” I added as I put the keys in the ignition.

She snapped her seatbelt into place.

“Deal.”

I turned the engine.

And then I waited for Lily to sing me a song.

Acknowledgments

This is a little story, but I still have big-sized gratitude for many people who contributed to it and gave me the courage to publish it. Thank you:

Em Roberts, for the gorgeous cover which captures all three main characters: Sam, Lily, and Lily’s dress. Piper Vossy, Jen St. Jude, Manda Bednarik, Kate Cochrane, and Chandra Fisher for your valuable feedback, editing, and friendship. Matthew Broberg-Moffitt and Sossity Chiricuzio, thank you for your kindness and encouragement.

My Fork Family, who get me through every day, and especially the self-pub Forkies, who helped inspire me to do this.

Mom, for all those trips to the fabric store, no matter how much we whined about them at the time. You are my favorite fashion designer.

Kathy, for being the best “Sweet Child O’ Mine” duet partner, and the best partner in all things.

Finally, thank you to you, for reading this queer karaoke love story! I wrote this novella at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, when I was missing the friendship and magic of public spaces like Moonie’s, and needed to remind myself that they existed, and will exist again, one day. Writing it brought me necessary escape and joy; I hope you found even a fraction of both in Sam and Lily’s story.

If you did like their story, it would mean so much to me if you left a review for this novella on your preferred review site, or recommended it to a friend.