No Strings Attached

Chapter 14: Are you gonna be my girl?

"I need to start playing again." Becca said as she tipped her bottle to her lips, her feet resting on the small coffee table in the garage in front of the couch she was occupying. "We need a fuller sound if we're going to give it our best. I mean, Freen is excellent..." She said, smiling at Freen who slightly puffed up her chest and grinned. "However, she can be even better focusing on the melody and solos when she doesn't have to play rhythm."

Heng lifted a brow at Becca, "So you want to play rhythm?" Becca shot him a dubious look, "What? Don't think I can handle it?" Heng was about to respond when Richie chipped in. "Becca is a good guitarist, she can manage rhythm with her vocals. It's not taxing."

"Do you even have a suitable guitar?" Heng asked, still not convinced. "I've barely heard you play." Becca swiftly stood up and walked off into the house, leaving Heng confused but Richie grinned. "Oh man, Heng, seriously? You think she'd start a band if she couldn't play an instrument?" Heng shirked his shoulders, "I knew she could pull a couple of strings, but I assumed she stuck to vocals and got a guitarist because she wasn't good enough."

Becca entered the room again, holding a shiny black semi-acoustic Gibson in her hand. She promptly plugged it in and strummed it in order to get it properly tuned. She hadn't used it in a while, but she was far from dusty in playing it. "Bro, just back me up when needed." Becca began strumming a familiar song that didn't seem to require much more than that. It was 'Riptide' by Vance Joy and Becca strummed the chords with ease while singing, her brother soon enough picking up the same rhythm with his drums.

"There's this movie that I think you'd like.
This guy decides to quit his job and head to New York city.
This cowboy's running from himself,
And she's been living on the higher shelf..."

Becca sang the second verse as she kept her eyes on Freen and a genuine smile on her lips. That part of the song made her think of their movie the previous day. Allie was from old Southern money, while Noah was a coal miner. Their love seemed impossible, and yet...

When the song finished Becca lifted her arms while facing Heng, "Is that good enough for you?" Heng tapped his chin, deep in thought. "Okay, fair enough, but that was an easy song to strum. What happens to your vocals when you have to go faster and harder?"

Freen spat a bit of her drink to the side by accident as she heard Heng's question to Becca, her mind going south fast. Becca craned her neck to look back at Freen and the smirk she had settling below blushing cheeks, chuckling at the display of surprise.

"Heng, do you want to place a bet? This is getting boring." Becca's shoulders and body slumped in order to emphasise the boredom she was talking about, her head even rolling back across her shoulders. "If I can nail the next song, you pay up. Five thou. If I miss a chord, even just one, I'll pay you." Heng grinned and nodded his head enthusiastically, jumping to his feet to shake Becca's hand. "But I'm choosing the song.", he said. Becca just shrugged in agreement.

"Okay, band, take your marks. We're doing 'Are you gonna be my girl' by Jet. Time to make Becca lose some cash!" Becca grinned as she took her place at the mic with her guitar in hand, "You wish." She mumbled and shot Freen a wink. The darker woman had been very amused throughout the interaction.

Becca turned her stance around so that she could face the rest of her band while playing. She had to use the mic stand now that she had to play the guitar, so she positioned it as she needed and grinned at Heng as she clipped the mic into place.

Richie started the beat with his cymbal, a few ticks further joined by Heng with a catchy bass line before picking up the percussion intensity by incorporating more drums. A few more beats down the line and Freen kicked off the melody with her electric, indicating it was time for the highly energetic song to really get going. Once Becca shouted "Go!" Over the mic, the band was in full swing, including Becca on the rhythm.

Initially it was easy for her to keep rhythm and sing during the verses because her singing parts brought the music to a standstil. However, the pre-chorus had her strumming with her words, and once the chorus came it was full on jamming and singing with electricity coursing through her veins.

"So one, two, three, take my hand and come with me,
Because you look so fine
That I really wanna make you mine.

I say you look so fine
That I really wanna make you mine.

Oh, four, five, six c'mon and get your kicks.
Now you don't need that money
When you look like that, do ya honey?

Big black boots,
Long brown hair,
She's so sweet
With her get back stare!

Well I could see
You home with me
But you were with another man, yeah!
I know we
Ain't got much to say
Before I let you get away, yeah!

I said, are you gonna be my girl?"

Becca switched on her flirty stage charm that usually has the girls going mad as she looked them dead in the eye and sang to them, every now and then turning her head and biting or licking her bottom lip as if she was experiencing some form of pleasure.

This time though there was no girl but Freen, and so Becca did what was natural to her and focused all her stage tricks on the beautiful woman. Freen seemed so entranced that she was close to slipping up, but she barely managed to at least hold it together as Becca's dark eyes basically seduced her. She could feel that tell-tale tingling gripping and twisting her stomach and slipping lower as she watched Becca. God, Freen thought, she looked so fucking sexy with that guitar and her messy hair, growling at the mic.

Throughout her singing and strumming Becca could still see the effect she was having on Freen, noticing her blown pupils as she watched Becca almost consistently. Becca loved it. She wanted Freen to feel the sexual energy she was giving off. She wanted Freen to notice how defenseless she could be in Becca's presence. She wanted Freen's insides to kneel at Becca's feet. Maybe that made her somewhat narcissistic, but nevertheless and more than anything, Becca wanted Freen to become aware of the potency of her attraction to the singer. Becca wanted the power this time around.

"Okay okay, you win." Heng sighed when they finished the song. "You can handle the rhythm from now on. It actually sounded pretty badass." He smirked as he removed his guitar and reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet. "Here, you deserve it." He gave Becca her cash and shook her hand again. "Okay kids, it's 8pm and I'm out of here. Got myself a drink date."

"Suuuure you do." Richie laughed as Heng flipped him off and headed to his car. "And that's my cue for a shower before bed. See ya ladies." Richie gave the two women a small salute and headed into the house. Becca knew he was going to be up till midnight texting with Irin anyway.

"Alright well, guess it's my turn to get out of here." Freen smiled at Becca and started heading for her car, though she quickly found Becca's hand gripping her wrist before she could move too far away.

"You maybe wanna stay a while?"