Garden Grounds was open for its weekly night of Open Mic! All were welcome to share poetry, music or whatever. There was a karaoke machine setup, with the usual tag of donating money to get your friends to sing…all for charity of course! A customer favorite, and it always brought in tons of money for a local women’s shelter, all donations matched by the coffee house.
The coffee house had undergone a revamp, and was now a larger, more open space. Gone were the smaller tables and chairs, replaced with repurposed tables, bigger, and more rustic looking. The regular chairs were replaced with reupholstered arm chairs, some with arms, some without. There were even some couches now! Perfect for those larger groups or even study groups, arranged comfortably around lower coffee tables, also redone, but still a bit beat up.
The wisteria is still hanging from the ceiling, with fairy lights hidden among the blooms, but there is less. Instead, there are exposed beams, lights intertwined.
All in all, it was a more cozy and welcoming space. The patio was closed, still too cold in the owner’s mind to open for customers.
Open Mic night meant specials on coffee, tea and treats, and the place was packed! Turns out, there was rumor of the owner agreeing to take the stage and sing, there had, of course, been a sizeable donation to get her up there. But customers flooded into the business, eager to hear the angelic voice of Sarah.
And true to the rumors, the owner her self had taken the stage. Had she dressed up for it? Damn right she did. In an outfit she hadn’t worn in years, one that had been someones favorite, and you know what? Fuck him. This was Sera taking her life and emotions back, this was her final fuck you as she crawled out of her depression.
The crowd was on fire from the pure, raw emotion the Nix poured into each word and note, each hit perfectly. That stage was hers.
5 successes
After the song was finished, and she finally made it through the crowd, she was at the counter having tea, curious who would pop by for the night.