Everyone except Efe understood what I meant and nodded briefly. Smiling at Efe's tense state, I turned forward. Even though I knew he'd like the surprise waiting for him, I also knew he'd want to turn back out of pride if he found out, so it was better for now that what was about to happen inside stayed a surprise for him.
As soon as we walked in and I saw the girls sitting near the stage, I spotted an empty table as far back as possible and headed there quickly without drawing attention. Bora, Demir, and I sat facing the stage, with a clear view of the girls. Rüzgar and Efe sat across from us, facing us with their backs to the girls. After placing our orders with the waiter, Bora nudged my arm. Knowing exactly what he was going to say, I turned to him.
"Adonis, would it be okay if I went and kissed my teeny Daisy? Hmm? Please, please! I won't get caught."
"How are you going to kiss her without getting caught?" He grinned from ear to ear.
"I'll corner her in the bathroom."
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I looked at him helplessly. Sitting on Bora's other side, Demir smacked him on the head and snapped,
"Sit your ass down, you spineless bastard!" Bora rubbed his head and muttered irritably,
"I hope one of those fresh girls you mess with turns out to be the daughter of the most uncontrollably breeding tribe ever, and you end up going down a bad path while running from her seventy-two psychotic brothers, Teddy! Amen!"
Including Demir, we all grinned at Bora's heartfelt curse. When our drinks arrived, the heat from the dancing crowd made the air even more suffocating, so I took off my jacket and hung it on the chair. Demir downed his glass and grumbled angrily. I looked at him curiously.
"What is it now?"
"Getting cheated on didn't sit well, I guess. I'm not okay. I'm seeing things that aren't there."
Bora grinned and patted Demir on the back.
"If you're seeing beehives full of honey, don't worry, Teddy—that's in your nature."
When Demir only shot Bora a glare, I frowned.
"What are you seeing that isn't there?"
Running a hand through his hair, he turned to us.
"I must've lost my mind. I'm literally seeing insanely sexy Aylins in black, low-cut dresses!"
Rüzgar, Bora, and I all looked at the girls' table at the same time, then back at each other and laughing. Pointing at Demir, Bora sang happily,
"My curse worked this time, guys. God finally punished this Teddy."
"What are you laughing at? I'm telling you I've lost my sanity! Is that funny?"
Rüzgar replied with just as much amusement as Bora.
"There's nothing to lose your mind over. She actually looks really good." I nodded with a grin, backing Rüzgar up.
"She's pretty anyway, but tonight she's especially eye-catching."
Our comments confused him, and without saying anything, he turned back to the girls. While Rüzgar and I exchanged satisfied looks, Bora examined the two of us, shook his head with a knowing grin.
When the music cut off, we all automatically turned toward the stage. A guy around our age stepped up to the microphone, smiled, and after a classic vocalist intro, announced that he'd invite a friend he liked to sing the first song and asked for applause. When I realized the table he was looking at was the girls' table, I waited curiously to see which one would go up.
A few seconds later, Mete stood up and walked briskly to the stage. After briefly talking with the band members—probably about the song choice—he turned to the audience. As he rolled up his shirt sleeves with a flirtatious smile and began speaking into the microphone, my attention shifted to Efe. From his side profile, he looked surprised, but more than that, tense.
When Mete scanned the crowd and spotted us, he threw the girls a cocky grin, then looked back at us. For some reason, he muted the mic, said something to the band, and then, as the music started in rehearsal mode, looked our way again. Fixing his gaze on Efe, he spoke with a confident smile that matched his stance.
"First of all, I'd like to thank Fırat for the opportunity he gave me without even knowing it, because among you tonight is someone I owe an apology to—someone my friend would call a 'Sugar Bowl'—for the trouble I unintentionally caused."
When a few girls seated near the front asked for the name, he laughed and shook his head.
"Sorry, ladies, no can do. He's pretty shy, and if I reveal his identity, I'll owe him another apology for annoying him. So, without dragging this out, shall we start having some fun? After all, there's a sexy blonde whose heart I still need to win."
When the crowd erupted with cheers and applause, he laughed and said, "This song is for you, Sugar Bowl. I hope you accept my apology," and winked at Efe.
Judging by the faint blush spreading across Efe's face, the apology had already been accepted. Meanwhile, the girls had grown suspicious after Mete's speech and were trying to spot Efe, but thanks to my successful choice of seats and the increasingly crowded atmosphere, it wasn't easy.
If Mete hadn't gone on stage, he wouldn't have noticed us either, but I couldn't deny that I was glad about this for Efe's sake. Watching Mete sing the song for him while Efe listened without taking his eyes off him, trying to hide his smile, made it pretty obvious that he liked him. And of course, I wasn't the only one who noticed.
When Mete boldly looked Efe up and down and winked at him during a few specific lyrics, Efe's blush became even more pronounced. At this rate, the poor guy would be beet-red by the end of the song. While we all grinned at Efe's state, I seriously doubted he was even aware of our presence, let alone able to see us. Even after the song ended, he kept watching Mete, so Bora nudged his arm and smiled mischievously.
"Your eyes say 'stay,' buddy. What's going on?"
Efe uneasily shifted his gaze from Mete to Bora.
"It's nothing. I just zoned out."
"Uh-huh. Yeah. Must be myopia. If it were astigmatism, you wouldn't be able to stand still."
Since Efe was too new to decode Bora's language, he stared at him blankly. Rüzgar spoke up.
"He picked an effective way to apologize. If I were you, I'd like it too."
Frowning, Efe snapped,
"It's not like I liked it or anything."
Rolling my eyes, I jumped in to help him skip the unnecessary denial phase.
"If you've noticed, there's no one here who hates or judges Mete, Serter. We respect both of your preferences. Hell, we've respected yours since high school."
His eyes widened slightly in panicked disbelief.
"You knew?"
I replied casually,
"Knew what? That you're gay, or that you were dating Atakan?"
Seeing him on the verge of shock, Rüzgar placed a hand on his back.
"Relax. You look like you're about to have a panic attack. If that's what you're worried about, both Kerem and I knew it wasn't our business and never shared that information with anyone. Not then, not after."
Once he relaxed a bit, he looked at the two of us with confusion.
"How did you know?"
"I won't deny that you tried to hide it, but how successful you were is debatable. I guess you can blame teenage hormones for that."
When a fresh blush spread across his face, I laughed and patted his shoulder.
"Now that everything's out in the open, you can be comfortable around us about Mete. That way, we've evened out the number of players."
He muttered grumpily with an emotionless look,
"Now I remember why they call you the Devil."
I shrugged with an amused smile.
"I have to live up to my nickname, right?"
At that moment, I noticed Rüzgar scanning the room with a frown and turned to him.
"Is something wrong?"
He looked at me suspiciously.
"There's something off about this place, but I can't tell what. It feels like we forgot something important."
As I carefully examined the bar and the people inside, my eyes landed on Duru, and I forgot why I'd been looking around in the first place.
Watching her sweet smile as Mete leaned in and whispered something in her ear, and her delighted giggle after replying to him and seeing his expression change, made me feel both pleased and inexplicably jealous at the same time—because I wasn't the reason behind that smile.
There was a truth I'd realized long ago but resisted accepting: Duru was different for me.
There was something very special about her, something only I could see. Like a missing puzzle piece I'd been searching for all this time, Duru was perfect for me.
And if there was one thing I'd learned during this week of trying every possible way to stay away from her, it was that I didn't need anyone else's face in my life but hers—just as she could only ever be my Sunshine.
In the end, even if I had to fight by her rules, I would definitely be the one who won by the end of this night.