Driving Needs, part sixteen

"Okay, where to now?" asked Chris, once they'd returned their skates and left the ice rink. 

"Karoake," said Antoinette. 

"Karaoke?"

"Karaoke," she affirmed. 

"I have," Chris said, "this vague image of karaoke as a thing where people get up on stage and sing songs."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." 

"Oh!" said Elyssa. "That sounds like fun." 

"Singing?" asked Chris. "Or watching other people sing?" He couldn't help sounding dubious. 

"Well, both really," Elyssa said. 

"All right, you win," Chris said. "Now I'm afraid." He was only half-kidding. 

"Really?" Antoinette looked at him across the roof of the car. "You'll fall all over the place on ice skates, but you won't sing? Why not?"

He shrugged and unlocked the doors, then climbed into the driver's seat. After a few minutes he said, "I think it's because I don't mind sucking at skating. You all know I'm athletic, and it's something I could learn, so it doesn't bother me as much. Singing is... I can't look at how badly I sing and reassure myself that I have a good voice and could pick it up with practice." He glanced at Antoinette. "And also, I'd want to get some practice if I was going to step onto a stage and sing in front of people."

Antoinette considered that, then nodded. "All right. No karaoke. Take us back to the training center." 

Elyssa mimed a pout. "Aww..." She gave it away by grinning at Chris in the rear view mirror. 

"Karaoke's best kept for when we're old enough to drink, I'm told," Antoinette said. "And anyway, magus Frummelt has something else in mind for our training, starting tomorrow."

"All right," said Chris, and pulled up GPS before setting his phone in its cradle on the dashboard. "We're heading back."