16 Two Chrises
Lucas doesn't find any problem accepting the invitation from Paul, inviting him.
After all, he doesn't have anything to do in the meantime.
After that, Lucas washed himself in the bathroom. After finishing, he dressed himself formally.
After Lucas finishes in the bathroom, it is then Paul's turn to use it.
After a while, Lucas saw Paul was also already prepared. As they were walking out of the apartment building, Lucas talked to Paul for quite a while, and they boarded a taxi.
After Paul told where to go, the taxi went off to the locations of the meeting place.
And after boarding out of the taxi, Lucas was quite surprised that they actually came into a bar.
"Bar?" Lucas said in curiosity. Then he saw Paul nodding.
"Yup, the Alphabet Lounge. We agreed to meet here to relax," Paul said with a smile.
Lucas and Paul entered the bar, and Lucas saw the place looked kind of cozy. There were already people inside, but they were drinking or talking together while a beautiful woman sang a song. There was no loud music or TVs.
Lucas saw that the bar focused on conversation and relaxation, with the background murmur of laughter and the clinking of glasses.
Lucas followed Paul, and then they went to a certain table occupied by three people.
It was one woman and two men.
When Lucas looked over, he was quite surprised to see the two men among them, but he remained calm and just followed Paul to that table with three people.
The three people noticed Paul approaching, and the woman waved her hand. It seemed like they were waiting for him. Paul smiled and waved back, making his way to their table.
After Lucas and Paul reached the table, the three people greeted Paul. Then they noticed Lucas beside him.
"Paul, who is he?" A brown-haired man who had just greeted Paul asked.
The woman also looked curiously at Lucas beside Paul.
Paul smiled, patted Lucas' shoulder, and said, "This is my friend I'll introduce to you. He is Lucas Knight, an aspiring actor."
"Oh? Your friend? Nice to meet you." The brown haired man stood up and offered a handshake to Lucas, which he accepted.
Lucas simply said, "Lucas Knight. Nice to meet you."
After greeting the young woman, who seemed to be an actress, Lucas went on to greet the two men.
"Nice to meet you, Lucas Knight. I'm Chris Hemsworth." The brown haired man introduced himself with a smile.
The man beside Chris Hemsworth also stood up, shook hands with Lucas, and introduced himself, "Hi, Lucas. I'm Chris Evans. Nice to meet you."
Lucas chuckled and said as he shook hands with Chris Evans, "Another Chris?"
Then, Lucas and Paul took seats around the same table. After settling in, Lucas glanced at the two Chrises and remarked, "I can't tell you two apart."
When Paul heard that, he couldn't help but chuckle. He didn't expect his friend to make a joke right after the first meeting with new people.
The two Chrises looked at each other and smiled. Chris Hemsworth playfully teased Chris Evans, "How does it feel having a doppelganger?"
Chris Evans smiled faintly in response to Chris Hemsworth's tease and countered, "Honestly, it's a bit of a relief. Now I finally understand who's been eating all my cereal."
"Hahaha..." Lucas, Paul, and the woman named Rachel laughed at Chris Evans' response.
Chris Hemsworth, the only one not laughing, responded a bit awkwardly, "I think I made a mistake. You're my doppelganger this whole time, you're the one who eats the cereal."
Chris Hemsworth's awkward response, as if he's trying hard to make a comeback, only made the banter between the two Chrises funnier.
After that, the brown-haired woman looked at Lucas and asked, "So, you're an actor?"
When that was asked, the two Chrises turned their attention to Lucas, while Paul remained silent, sipping his beer.
"I aspire to be. For now, I am still a beginner," Lucas responded calmly.
"Well, you look kind of young. How old are you, mate?" Chris Hemsworth asked Lucas.
"I'm 19 years old this year," Lucas responded.
"19? You're indeed young. Compared to Paul, he's already 24 years old," Chris Evans said as he glanced at Lucas.
When Paul heard that, he immediately retorted, "Hey, I'm not that old. You say it as if I'm already ancient. 24 is still young."
"I never said you are," Chris Evans innocently remarked.
"You have the guts to tease my age when you're already 27 and about to turn 28 this year," Paul said with a chuckle.
"Young man, I may be 28, but I look younger than you," Chris Evans insisted.
Lucas looked at the two bantering as he sipped his beer. While chatting with Chris Hemsworth and Rachel, the bar introduced another singer who requested to perform on stage.
Lucas observed the singer—a beautiful young woman, seemingly in her teens, probably 17 or 18. She sang, and her heavenly voice resonated with the guitar notes played by her hands. She wore jeans and an ordinary T-shirt.
The bar became even more serene with the ballad song performed by the young woman.
As Lucas listened to the song, memories of his favorite tunes from his past life flooded in. He contemplated searching for those nostalgic 90s or 2000s songs. However, with Paul's invitation tonight, he lacked the opportunity. His phone lacked internet access, and the apartment he was in lacked a computer for effective online searches.
Observing that patrons could request songs, Lucas jotted down a song title on the table's paper in case someone wanted to make a request. He handed it to the nearby bartender.
Paul then inquired, "Are you requesting a song?"
Lucas nodded and replied, "Yeah."
After a while, local artists, including the young woman, continued to grace the small stage one after another. In each performance, they read requested songs from the written papers, and various local artists or musicians showcased their talents, aligning with the categories of songs suitable for their styles.
The paper with Lucas's requested song was then read aloud by the beautiful young woman who had just performed an alternative rock and ballad simultaneously, "Wonderwall by Oasis? A britpop, alternative rock, and ballad song?"
As the young woman read the requested song, she realized she didn't know such a song, and a confused expression crossed her face. Despite the confusion, being an alternative rock and ballad piece, she was the one slated to perform it.
Lucas smiled, amused by the beauty's perplexed expression. It was, after all, the song he had requested. The intriguing aspect of song requests in this bar unfolded—they can request songs in varying musical genres, even if the original wasn't in that style. Once the name of the song and its original artist or band were written down, the local artists on stage were expected to be familiar with the song and perform it in the requested musical style, whether it be ballad, alternative rock, or country.
However, Lucas could see that the young woman didn't know the song, and almost everyone in the crowd shared in her confusion.
"Does someone know this song, Wonderwall?" The young woman queried the audience through the microphone, but the crowd remained silent as they too were unfamiliar with it.
In response, the young woman requested, "Whoever requested this song, can you raise your hand?"
The crowd exchanged glances, finding the situation quite intriguing. It wasn't unheard of for someone to request a nonexistent song, and if the requester didn't step forward, the local artists could choose to overlook the request.
Lucas raised his hand, drawing the attention of the young woman on stage.
The crowd looked a bit surprised at Lucas.
Meanwhile, Lucas sensed something amiss. The song he had requested should have been known by at least one or two in the crowd, but not a single person spoke up.
---
+Bonus Chapter.
