When they got back to Josh's place - both men were conspicuously quiet. "I need another drink", said Kyle as he plopped onto Josh's couch.
"You and me both", replied Josh.
Just then, a bright light flowed across the window which overlooked the bay. It wasn't a quick flash, but slower, the way a car's headlights shine through a living room window. However, this window only overlooked the water - and there did not appear to be any boats out at the moment.
Josh ran his hands through his hair and down his neck.
"I feel like I'm losing my mind tonight, man. We need to get out of here."
"It's still not too late", offered Kyle .... "We could uber back to that karaoke bar?".
"That was a pretty fun night ... at least from what I remember about it. Maybe I'll text Amanda and see if she's interested in a reprise. Whatever happened with you and that other chick - Jess or Jessica?".
"Hmph. Her sister? Not much. She got sick on the ride home and passed out", Kyle said - rolling his eyes about it.
"Amanda just texted back - she's not available tonight. So, I guess it's just you and me...", said Josh.
The uber driver pulled up to Josh's place, and both men climbed into the back. This car was a bit older, and beat up. And there was a peculiar odor in the back seat that neither of them could clearly identify. It was like a blend of body odor, pot smoke, and sweat. They had to roll their windows down to make the drive even bearable.
Once they got to the karaoke place, they mounted stools at the bar. The place was divided into two rooms. The front room contained the bar, and a few comfortable seating areas with couches. The back room was the music room, which featured tables and chairs to sit at, a dance floor, a DJ booth, and a small stage arranged at an awkward angle across from a large projector screen. The stage had a speaker mounted from the ceiling and facing down at the microphone stand. Facing out toward the crowd were two more, larger, speakers, and there must have been several large subwoofers in or under the stage as well, because the bass was always very loud, and you could always feel it in your feet.
From the bar, they could hear someone singing Bjork's "Human Behavior". Whoever it was had a pretty good knack for emulating the peculiar vocalizations of Bjork. Josh and Kyle were in the mood for more bourbon, but the selection seemed to include nothing much better than Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey - which they both, generally, despised. They settled on a special cocktail called "Black Eyed Redneck". The "Black Eyed Susan" was a popular drink across Maryland, thanks to the famous Preakness horse race. That drink has a vodka base, and includes a variety of citrusy additions. The "Black Eyed Redneck" was essentially the same thing, except replacing the vodka component with Jack Daniel's. They figured at least the other mixers would mask the disagreeable flavors of the bourbon-wannabe.
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A few rounds later, and Josh had wandered to the back to visit the men's room. On the way back, there was a large, lumberjack of a man on the stage. He didn't even look all that drunk. But what really got Josh's attention was that he was performing a song called "The 7th Element", from Russian pop sensation Vitas. The song features all Russian lyrics, but also features a characteristically silly part where Vitas does something like a falsetto lip and tongue trill. Seeing the lumberjack do this part, and even exaggerate it, had the entire back room in tears from laughter.
When he got back to the bar, he was stumbling and still laughing. "Dude - you gotta come see this!"
"What is it? Sounds terrible whatever it is...", said Kyle.
"Just come on...", Josh pulled Kyle's arm, and as he fell off the stool, Kyle followed him into the back room just as the lumberjack was doing the weird lip and tongue trill thing. Kyle gave a strange look at Josh, and then burst into laughter.
Over the loudspeaker, they heard - "Next up we have ... Kyle - who is performing...", and then the familiar sound of the LinnDrum drum machine and a staccato synth started up. Kyle turned to Josh, "What the... man, come on!".
"Don't worry, I'll sing the chick parts...", Josh replied.
Kyle grabbed a microphone, while the DJ handed Josh a second microphone. Kyle belted out "You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when I met you". Nearly all the woman in the place were up on the dance floor doing their best old-school 80's white girl dance. When Josh took over the second verse, the women all cheered. Once the song finished, they both held hands and jumped off the stage. Stumbling back into the front bar area, Josh could see that one of the blonde women was eyeing him, and strained his neck to try and look back at her.
At that moment, there was a scream or set of screams from the back room. Suddenly there was a lot of commotion, and all the people who were in the back room were wrestling to get into the front room and out the door. Josh and Kyle immediately thought there might be a fight or something, and so they turned to head into the back room. When they did, they noticed that the lumberjack man was also on his way out, and that there was suddenly the smell of smoke. The bartender smelled it too, and grabbed an extinguisher from under the bar. Kyle and Josh turned around, and made their way out of the bar as well. The crowd was on the sidewalk, spilling into the street. The bartender and DJ were the last out the door, though the sirens could be heard in the distance now.
When the firetrucks arrived, smoke was already billowing out the front door and there were flames visible inside. The firemen established a boundary and pushed the crowd back. As they did, the blonde chick that was eyeing Josh stumbled backward onto her feet. He caught her enough to keep her from falling completely on the ground. She looked up at him - her drink still in her hand. She was nursing the straw and gave him an enchanting look. "You ok?", he asked. "I knew you were hot... but you didn't have to burn the fucking place down!", she said - and gave him a light hit on his arm with her purse. Then she started laughing hysterically like it was the best joke anyone had ever heard.